Small Hands - Big Battles: Challenges Encountered by Indian children and the Approaches Implemented by the Indian Government to Alleviate Them during COVID-19 Pandemic

Since the origin of COVID-19, everyone is getting accustomed to the new rules and regulations, travel restrictions and new lifestyle. Constant changes in the government advisories and the COVID-19 guidelines poses a real challenge for children to adapt to causing stress, anxiety and other mental health issues. Therefore, it is imperative to raise awareness about the challenges that Indian children are dealing with to help them better cope with this stressful and frantic time. The focus of this review is on various child-related problems that the Indian government is trying to tackle such as stress, depression, malnutrition, school closures, digital divide, child labor, child trafficking in context of mental health issues caused by them during COVID-19. Highlights:The reader will come to appreciate that: Digital-divide caused by shifting offline learning to online mode. Strategies implemented by Indian government to combat malnutrition Effect of COVID-19 lockdown on children suffering from mental disorders Child labor and trafficking and the strategies that aim to decrease child labor during the pandemic Educating the children appropriately regarding COVID protocols