Telangana to adopt orphans as 'Rashtra Biddalu'

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has decided to introduce a Comprehensive Act aiming at providing better living conditions for the orphaned children in the State. The Cabinet Sub Committee on Child Welfare and Women Development on Saturday took a slew of important decisions which includes declaring orphans as 'State Children' (Rashtra Biddalu) to extend all kinds of assistance to the orphans. The committee headed by State Women and Child Development Minister Satyawati Rathod held a meeting attended by IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao, Finance and Health minister T Harish Rao and Panchayat Raj Minister E Dayakar Rao here. It approved a proposal to set up integrated educational campuses on the lines of Gurukuls to provide KG-to-PG education to the orphans. Children who lost their parents during the Corona pandemic will also be provided every facility that is extended to the orphans in the Gurukuls.

Officials said that under the proposed comprehensive Act, the State would adopt orphans and give them special smart cards to avail of all the benefits extended to the deserved. The sub-committee resolved to strive for total abolition of begging by orphans at traffic signals on busy roads. Strict action including the arrest of child traffickers under the PD Act is also proposed in the new Act.

Corporate companies will be invited to extend their assistance as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the orphan homes. The government will take the responsibility of education, employment and settling in their lives.