Maharashtra's State Minister for Women and Child Development, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, said that the Maharashtra government will issue the orphan certificate to children living in orphanages within three months through an online process. The Minister added that the government will also open skill development centres in all of the state's orphanages so that the kids in the orphanage can acquire the skills they need to find employment by the time they turn 18 years old.
He was responding to a question raised by BJP MLC Shrikant Bhartiya, as stated in a report by PTI. “The state government would give the certificates to the children living in orphanages within three months. The entire procedure would be online," he said. Regarding skill centres, he said, “The state government is also starting a skill centre for street children in Mumbai on a pilot basis,” stated the PTI report.
Bhartiya brought attention to the difficulties that a number of children currently encounter in obtaining an orphan certificate, which has prevented them from taking advantage of government schemes. He claimed that the current process is tedious and has several loopholes. He requested the government to offer training to orphanage residents because they are unable to continue to stay there after turning 18. They also lack any skill set due to which their survival becomes a major challenge, Bhartiya said, as reported by PTI.
