The District Child Protection offices of Tamil Nadu have identified about 1,400 children in the state who have lost either one or both parents to the COVID-19 pandemic since the first wave hit the state.

This data compiled by the district child protection offices are as on Wednesday.

Of this 50 children are orphaned, losing both parents. The Tamil Nadu state government has announced 5 lakh to the children who are orphaned due to COVID-19.

However if a person is cured of COVID-19 and dies due to post COVID complications, there is no compensation to the children who lose their parents creating a major discrepancy.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPR) informed the Supreme Court that between April 1, 2020, and June 5, 2021, more than 30,000 children across the country lost both the parents or one of the parents due to COVID-19.

These details include those who died due to post-COVID complications and was compiled by Bala Swaraj portal on the basis of data collated from the states.

The court also directed the state to upload all information regarding the children orphaned or lost one parent due to COVID or other diseases after March 2020 on the NCPR portal.

Priyank Kanoong, Chairperson, NCPR said: "We can link these children to welfare schemes of the central government and provide them with right protection and care. We don't want them to end up in institutions and we need to take care of them properly and equally."