India to pay $674 compensation to COVID-19 victims

New Delhi — India's Supreme Court approved Monday a government plan to pay only 50,000 Indian rupees, approximately $674, as compensation to families of all those who died of COVID-19. 

Families of the more than 448,000 people who have officially died of COVID-19 in India and also of those who may die of the illness in future are expected to benefit, though there have been reports that the unofficial death toll could be much higher. 

The Supreme Court's order came on the back of two petition filed in June this year by advocates Gaurav Kumar Bansal and Reepak Kansal, who had sought a compensation of 400,000 rupees — approximately $5,392 — for every COVID victim.