All Child Schemes and Plans in India

Children are the future of any nation in this world. India is no exception to this golden rule of thumb. Keeping this in mind, every generation that takes control of the nation’s progress and maneuvers it into the future needs to ensure that some steps are taken towards the betterment of the children of the country.

When it comes to child schemes in India, both the public and the private sector play a vital role. Both sectors come up with several schemes and plans that allow parents to invest for securing the future of their children. While the public sector schemes are mostly geared towards the deprived class of the nation, the private sector schemes are mostly driven by capitalistic taste of profit making. Nonetheless, private sector schemes also make a good addition to the options that can be availed by parents and guardians to ensure that their children grow up into great humans on whom the whole nation can depend on.

Cutting down the unnecessary words, let us concentrate on taking a look at the child schemes that are available in India. For the purpose of simplicity, we will break down this article into three categories – central government schemes, state government schemes and private sector schemes. The last section on private sector schemes may or may not have subsections, which we will decide over the course of time as we keep working on this article. Until then, please bear with us because this article is going to be a long article.

Central Government Child Schemes in India

In this section we will create a list of all child schemes that the central government launched from time to time to ensure that Indian children can enjoy a better future. Whether these schemes really worked or not is something debatable and we will deliberately skip that debate part. So, lo and behold all the child schemes launched by government of India. You get to see a table!

Scheme of National Child Labor Project

Target Group -Children under the age of 14 years who are involved in child labor

Purpose- Withdrawing and rehabilitating children involved in child labor under hazardous conditions.

Scheme for Grant in Aid on Child Labor

Target Group-Non-governmental involuntary organizations

Purpose-Providing financial aid to such organizations to come up with several schemes to aid with child labor prohibition in areas/districts where central government has not reached effectively.

Integrated Child Development Services

Children between the age group of 0 and 6

Improve health, provide proper nutrition, reduce school dropouts, reduce morbidity and mortality, lay foundations for proper social, physical and psychological development of children.

Grant in Aid on Child Development

Non-governmental involuntary organizations

Providing financial assistance to such organizations so that they can extend welfare services towards child development where government has not reached effectively but urgent intervention is required.

Balika Samriddhi Yojana

Female children born on August 15, 1997 or later and belong to Below Poverty Line families

Change negative attitude towards girl child among community and family members, retaining girl children at school, raising the age for marriage of girl child, help the girl child to take part in activities for income generation.

Early Childhood Education for Children Belonging to Age Group 3 to 6

Non-governmental involuntary organizations

Provide financial assistance to such organizations like public trusts, voluntary societies and non-profit making companies so that they can assist with the objective of early childhood education.

Pre-Matric Scholarships to the Children of those engaged in Unclean Occupations

Children of all people who are engaged in unclean occupations like Flaying, Tanning and Scavenging

Provide 100% financial assistance to state governments and UT administrations to cover up the expenditures of the scheme so that pre-matric scholarship can be provided to target group.

Ujjawal0a

Women and children who are vulnerable to and victims of human trafficking aimed towards commercial exploitation

Rescuing, rehabilitating and re-integrating women and children who are vulnerable to and victims of human trafficking through various agencies who have prior experience in the field of trafficking.

Integrated Child Protection Scheme

Vulnerable children living in difficult circumstances

Integrate different child protection schemes under a single umbrella and help to protect children from harm through various interventions at both family and community levels.

Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (Sabla)

Adolescent girls of age group 11-18 years

Self-development as well as empowerment of adolescent girls; measures to spread awareness about aspects like sexual health, hygiene and health; measures for helping adolescent girls to improve and increase their skills.

Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme for the Children of Working Mothers

Children belonging to age group 6 months and 6 years

Generating provisions for daycare facilities for children, ensuring that emotional development of children, ensuring that social development of the children. Physical and cognitive development of the children are to be ensured. Also providing proper education to parents and caregivers so that the provide better childcare.

Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana

Female children Prevention of killing of girl child or even female feticide, equipping the girl child for survival, ensuring protection of the female child and ensuring continued education of girl child.

Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (part of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana)

Female children between the age group 0 years and 6 years

Promote savings for girl child for her future education and marriage.

State Government Child Schemes in India

Just like the Central Government, the State Governments in India can decide to come up with some child scheme for the betterment of children in their particular state. Unfortunately, not many schemes exist. For some odd reason, the state governments do not focus on the development of children in their states. Let us take a look at the few child schemes that are run by state governments in India:

Girl Child Protection Scheme

Girl Children

Andhra Pradesh

Enrolling and retaining female children in school, spreading awareness among female children about their rights, encouraging them to get married only after they reach the age of 18, encouraging parents to adopt family planning, getting rid of negative attitude towards girl child in society and in family and more

Girl Child Protection Scheme

Girl Children

Telangana

Integrated Child Development Services Scheme

Children of age group 0-6 years and adolescent girls

Puducherry (UT)

Providing immunization to all children, providing all basic health checkup, ensuring that children get supplementary nutrition, making sure that children get nutrition and offer basic preschool education as well as nutrition and health education

Child Protection Programme

Children

Chandigarh

Protection from and prevention of child abuse, children welfare, providing proper education, creating police stations that are child-friendly, safety of children in slum areas and other parts of the state, prevention of malnutrition, teaching importance of personal hygiene, offering health camps for children and more

There aren’t any other state government sponsored child schemes available. Once they become available, we will be updating the list accordingly.

Private Sector: Insurance Companies Child Plans in India

While government-run child schemes are all geared towards welfare of Indian children and their education as well as overall quality of life, the Child Plans offered by insurance companies in India are geared towards individual children of families who opt for such plans and insurance policies. Interestingly, in addition offering insurance coverage, these plans also offer financial security for education of the children. These are actually investment plans are not generalized like government child schemes. Let us take a quick look at the child plans available from different life insurance companies in India.

Insurance Company	Name of Child Plan	Type of Policy	Age of Entry		Age of Maturity		Term of Policy	Policy Sum Assured
Insurance Company	Name of Child Plan	Type of Policy	Minimum	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum	Term of Policy	Minimum	Maximum
AEGON Life Insurance	EduCare Advantage Insurance Plan	Money Back Policy – Traditional	20 years	60 years	–	75 years	14 yeas or 16 years or 20 years	INR 1 lakh	There’s No limit
AEGON Life Insurance	Rising Star Insurance Plan	ULIP	18 years for parent and 1 day for child	48 years for parent and 15 years for child	–	65 years	25 years minus the entry age of child	10 times annual premium or 0.5 x policy term x annual premium, whichever is greater OR 7 times annual premium or 0.25 x policy term x annual premium, whichever is greater	18 times or 10 times the annual premium
ICICI Pru	Smart Kid Assure Plan	ULIP	20 years for parent and 0 years for child	60 years for parent and 15 years for child	Not applicable for parent but 18 years for child	75 years for parent and 30 years for child	15 years minimum and 25 years maximum	5 times total annual premium subject to 1 lakh minimum	According to max multiples
Aviva Life Insurance	Young Scholar Secure Plan	Traditional Money Back	21 years for parent and 0 years for child	50 years for parent and 12 years for child	–	71 years	21 years minus entry age of child	10x of annual premium or sum assured at maturity, whichever is higher OR 105% of all premiums that have been paid	–
Aviva Life Insurance	Young Scholar Advantage Plan	ULIP	21 years for parent and 0 years for child	45 years or 40 years (for regular pay or limited pay respectively) for parent and 17 years for child	–	60 years	10 years minimum and 25 years maximum	Basic sum assured + top-up sum assured OR 105% of all premiums that have been paid, whichever is higher, with waiver of all premiums in future	–
Bajaj Allianz	Lifelong Assure	Traditional Whole Life	10 years	55 years	–	100 years	100 years minus entry age	1 lakh	No limit
Bajaj Allianz	Young Assure	Traditional Child Insurance	18 years	50 years	28 years	60 years	10/15/20 years	10x annual premium payable	–
Bharti AXA	Child Advantage Plan	Traditional Child Plan	18 years	50 years for regular pay and 55 years for limited pay	–	71 years for regular pay and 76 years for limited pay	11 years minimum and 21 years maximum	INR 25,000 minimum	No limit
Birla Sun Life	Vision Star Plan	Traditional Money Back	18 years	55 years	–	75 years	14 years minimum and 21 years maximum OR, 16 years minimum and 23 years maximum	INR 1 Lakh	No limit
HDFC Standard Life	Young Star Super Premium	ULIP	18 years	65 with just Life Option and 55 years with both Life and Health options	–	75 years for just Life option and 65 years for both Life and Health options	10 years minimum and 20 years maximum	10 times or 7 times of annual premium (depending on age of the insured)	40 times the annual premium
HDFC Standard Life	Young Star Udaan Plan	Life Insurance – Traditional Type	30 days	60 years	18 years	75 years	Minimum of 15 years and maximum of 25 years	Term for paying premium, term of the insurance plan and age of the insured person are the three factors that determine the sum assured.
Max Life Insurance	Shiksha Plus Super	ULIP	21 years	50 years	–	65 years	10 years or 15 to 25 years	10x annual premium	No limit
PNB MetLife	Smart Child Plan	ULIP	18 years for policy holder and 90 days for beneficiary	55 years for policy holder and 17 years for beneficiary	–	–	10/15/20 years	10x annual premium	–
PNB MetLife	College Plan	Traditional Money Back	20 years	45 years	–	69 years	12 years minimum and 24 years maximum	INR 212,040	INR 42,44,482
SBI Life	Smart Champ Insurance Plan	Traditional Participating	21 years for policy holder and 0 years for child	50 years for policy holder and 13 years for child	–	70 years for policy holder and 21 years for child	21 years minus entry age of child	INR 1 lakh	INR 1 crore
	Smart Scholar	ULIP	18 years for policy holder and 0 years for child	57 years for policy holder and 17 years for child	Not applicable for policy holder but 18 years for child	65 years for policy holder and 25 years for child	8 years minimum and 25 years maximum	1.25x single premium for single pay variant and for regular pay variant, greater of 10 or 7 times annual premium or 0.5 or 0.25 times term times annual premium	1.25x or 5x single premium for single pay and for regular pay, 20x annual premium
Edelweiss Tokio	Live Edu Save Plan	Traditional Child Insurance	18 years	45 years	–	60 years	10 years minimum and 30 years maximum	INR 225,000	No limit
Future Generali	Assured Education Plan	Traditional Child Insurance	21 years for parent and 0 years for child	50 years for parent and 10 years for child	35 years	67 years	17 years minus entry age of child	10x all premiums or 105% of total premium paid, whichever is higher
Kotak Life	Headstart Child Assure Plan	ULIP	18 years	60 years	28 years	70 years	10 years minimum and 25 years maximum	10x or 7x annual premium OR 0.5 x term x annual premium or 0.25 x term x annual premium, whichever is higher
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)	New Children’s Money Back Plan	Traditional Money Back	0 years	12 years	–	25 years	25 years minus entry age of child	INR 1 lakh	No limit
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)	Jeevan Tarun	Traditional Child Plan	0 years	12 years	–	25 years	25 years minus entry age of child	INR 1 lakh	No limit
Tata AIA	Super Achiever Plan	ULIP	25 years for life insured and 30 days for child	50 years for life insured and 17 years for child	–	70 years	10 years minimum and 20 years maximum	10x of sum of all premiums paid
DHFL Pramerica	Future Idol Gold+	Traditional Child Insurance	18 years	50 years	–	65 years	15/20/25 years	INR 1.5 lakhs	INR 5 crores
IDBI Federal Life Insurance	Childsurance Savings Protection Insurance Plan	Traditional Money Back	18 years and 1 month for child	40 years if opted for regular pay and 50 years if opted for limited pay and 18 years for child	28 years	65 years if opted for regular pay and 75 years if opted for limited pay	10 years minimum and 25 years maximum	Minimum will depend on factors like age, tenure of policy and premium amount	There is no limit
IDBI Federal Life Insurance	Wealthsurance Future Star Insurance Plan	ULIP	18 years	54 years	28 years	64 years	10 years minimum and 25 years maximum	7/10x annual premium or 0.25/0.5 x term x annual premium, whichever is higher	If policy holder is above 54 years of age, 7/10x annual premium. If policy holder is below 54 then term of paying premium x 2 x annual premium but cannot exceed 15 times annual premium
Shriram Life Insurance	New Shri Vidya Plan	Traditional Money Back	18 years	50 years	–	70 years	10 years minimum or 25 years maximum	INR 1 lakh	No limit
Shriram Life Insurance	New Shri Vivah Plan	Traditional Insurance	18 years	50 years	–	70 years	10 years minimum or 20 years maximum	INR 1 lakh	No limit
Star Union Da-ichi Life Insurance	Bright Child Plan	Traditional Money Back	19 years for parent and 0 years for child	45 years for parent and for child there are two options: (a) term for premium paying until child reaches 18 years minus 8 years and (b) 10 years term for premium paying minus 7 years	–	69 years for parent and 24 years for child	16 years minimum and 24 years maximum	INR 5 lakhs	INR 1 crore
India First Life Insurance	Happy India Plan	ULIP	18 years	50 years	–	60 years	10 years minimum and 25 years maximum	7/10x annual premium or 0.25/0.5 x term x annual premium, whichever is higher	7 or 14 times yearly premium (totally dependent on age of policy holder) or if the age of the policy holder is greater than or equal to 45 years then, 0.25 x policy term x yearly premium

The above list provides more or less all of the insurance companies operating in India and offering child plans that can be used for securing the future of a child. Unfortunately, these plans are not designed for charity-type work. They have no connection with government plans and schemes whatsoever. While government plans are all designed for India as a whole (since the Indian government is responsible for development of the nation), child plans from insurance companies are all designed for individual children whose parents can afford to purchase such insurance policies.

Since we are talking about insurance companies, there is an important question that you should be asking, ‘which life insurance company to select and how to select?’ Definitely you do not want to take risks when the future of your child is concerned and also you will be putting in your hard earned money!

This is a difficult question to answer because this financial decision should be taken by you based on your proper research and understanding. However, you should keep in mind the following points:

While selecting an insurance company take a look at how long the company has been in business in India.
Usually all insurance companies in India are a joint venture between an Indian company and a foreign company (not true for LIC). You need to check out the track records of all individual companies – foreign or national.
Don’t forget to take a look at the claims settlement ratio of all the companies, i.e. the number of claims they pay out every single year against the number of claims they declined or number of claims that are pending for processing.
In case you are opting for unit linked plans, you need to check out the net value of the funds managed by each company and their performances over the period of past 5, 8 or 10 years to understand how they have been performing in market.
If possible, talk to old customers of the company you are eyeing for. You can gain some amazing knowledge from their experiences.
Thoroughly compare the insurance policies of different companies to understand how they fair against each other. Some may offer higher sum assured against lower premium rates. But remember, this condition should not be the only parameter for selecting a company. You should invariably look into their claims settlement ratio.

With above points in mind, there are a few companies that can be easily trusted. LIC ranks highest amongst all companies because it is the oldest insurance company in the nation and has the best settlement ratio for claims. ICICI Prudential, Bajaj Allianz, Tata AIA, Birla Sun Life, Max Life, SBI Life, HDFC Standard Life, Bharati AXA and AVIVA are some of the best companies that you can depend on while selecting a proper child insurance plan.

In case you are not looking for an insurance plan but for a government-backed child scheme, you can go for Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana. However, this is restricted to only and only female children. So, make a wise and informed decision before you invest your hard earned money into something.

All Child Schemes and Plans in India