Heartbreaking! Covid orphan gets loan recovery notice of Rs 29 lakh; FM Nirmala Sitharaman swings into action

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asked the officials of the Department of Financial Services and Life Insurance Corporation to take up the case regarding a teenage Covid orphan over repayment of loans worth Rs 29 lakh.

The father of 17-year-old Vanisha Pathak from Bhopal was an LIC agent and had taken a loan from his office. The aforementioned debt has been purportedly debt left behind by her late father.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman immediately swung into action after reports emerged that the teenage Covid orphan was being troubled by loan agents for the repayment of outstanding debt.

"Please look into this. Also brief on the current status," Sitharaman tweeted while attaching the news report titled "Orphaned Topper Faces Loan Recovery Notices" with it.

Since Vanisha is a minor, LIC has blocked all her father`s savings and the commissions he would get every month, as per the report. Her father died during the second wave of Covid in 2021. She had reportedly received the last legal notice on February 2, 2022, to repay Rs 29 lakh, or else would be subjected to legal consequences, IANS has reported.

It may be recalled that in the year 2020, PM Narendra Modi had launched the PM CARES for Children Scheme. It covers all children who have lost: i) Both parents or ii) Surviving parent or iii) legal guardian/adoptive parents/single adoptive parent due to COVID 19 pandemic, starting from 11.03.2020 the date on which WHO has declared and characterized COVID-19 as pandemic till 28.02.2022. 

The PM CARES for children scheme inter-alia provides support to these children through convergent approach, gap funding for ensuring education, health, monthly stipend from the age of 18 years, and lump sum amount of Rs 10 lakhs on attaining 23 years of age.