National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has released data on crimes against newborns and the unborn.
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| Context: | National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has released data on crimes against newborns and the unborn. |
| Who are abandoned Children? | The UN defines- “orphan” as a child who has lost either one or both parents. But, many children without parental care have been abandoned by a living parent or parents. Child abandonment occurs when a child’s parent or guardian willfully withholds emotional, physical, and financial support, with no regard for the child’s safety and welfare.This may include physical abandonment, such as leaving a child somewhere with no intent to return for him, or it may include failure to provide physical supervision, emotional support, and other necessities of life for a child living in the home.
India is home to 31 million orphaned children, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The adoption rate of 800 to 1,000 per year in India, which has around 50,000 orphan children as per Women and Child Development Ministry. |
| What are the findings of the Report? | 1. Maharashtra tops the ranking when it comes to crimes against newborns and the unborn.
2. In abandonment of newborns, Maharashtra tops (1,093 cases during 2011-2015), and in infanticide and foeticide, number two (39 and 69 cases. On an average, each year sees 219 cases of abandonment, eight cases of infanticide and 14 cases of foeticide in Maharashtra. 3. As per the Bombay High Court, there is only one home at Mankhurd in Mumbai for the mentally challenged children abandoned by their families. On this lieu, the government had filed a compliance report on earlier orders passed by the court regarding the status of the Mentally Deficient Children’s home (MDC) at Mankhurd. The mentally challenged children who could talk and comprehend had not been given proper names in the register. The names end with NK (for example: Raju NK) NK stands for not know, making it difficult to trace their families. Therefore, disability certificates could not be issued and further complication arises to apply for important government documents and identity cards (for e.g. Aadhaar cards ) 4. In abandonment, the state is followed by Rajasthan (851 cases during 2011-2015), Madhya Pradesh (641), Gujarat (445) and Karnataka (323). In infanticide, Madhya Pradesh leads with 77 cases, followed by Rajasthan (65), Maharashtra, Karnataka (26) and Gujarat (2). In foeticide, again, Madhya Pradesh leads (228 cases), followed by Rajasthan (121), Maharashtra, Gujarat (10) and Karnataka (5). |
| Major Recommendations of the Report: | 1. While basic food and shelter had been provided, education and vocational training needs of the children should be taken care of.
2. Steps should also be taken for development and social integration of these children. 3. Timely disbursal of salary funds of staff and teachers who had earlier been paid a meagre amount as per the number of children they handled. 4. While physiatrists are available, counsellors are required to attend on them as these kids are in need of special assistance. Many figures and facts are unknown about the children who could not talk and all they had was a badge number, which made it difficult to trace their kin. The basic right to identity was violated at all the homes. |
| What are the Adoption Reforms brought by the Government? | 1. In adoption reforms, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has notified the revised ‘Guidelines Governing Adoption of Children 2015’ which have come into force with effect from August, 1, 2015.
2. The revised guidelines coupled with the new IT enabled adoption system – CARINGS, provide a transparent process of adoption under which all the child care institutions of the country have been brought into an integrated system. 3. The provisions include declaring orphan, abandoned and surrendered children legally free for adoption by Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in a time bound manner, mandating District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) to expedite placement of all adoptable children including setting up of linkage between Specialised Adoption Agency (SAA) and Child Care Institution (CCI) to reach all adoptable children etc. 4. For hassle-free adoption, CARINGS will contain a Centralized Data Bank of adoptable children and PAPs. Clear cut timelines for domestic and inter-country adoption have been laid down to ensure early deinstitutionalization of such children. 5. A toll-free adoption helpline no. 1800-111-311, has been initiated by CARA for helping domestic prospective adoptive parents, Indian adoption agencies and general public in adoption related matters. |
| Other Initiatives in Child care for Abandoned, Orphaned and Missing Children | Several measures have been taken up for tracking, rehabilitating/restoring lost, missing and trafficked children.
a. KhoyaPaya portal: The Ministry of Women and Child Development, with the assistance of Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), has launched a web portal Khoya-Paya this year for reporting and searching missing children. The web portal ‘Khoya-Paya’ will have information of missing and sighted children. b. MOU with Railways: Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Railways have framed path-breaking Special Operating Procedures (SOPs) to be implemented by Railwaysfor runaway, abandoned, kidnapped, trafficked children via medium of railways. c. Child Helpline Centres: Child Helpline Centres at 20 major Railway Stations for rehabilitation and rescue of such children have been established. The Railway Stations will have NGOs/Child Help Groups/Childline Units working with them who will work towards restoration of children to their parents/guardians or their rehabilitation in the absence of the former. Posters are being put out in railway coaches and railway stations to entail citizen participation in spotting and reporting missing/lost children. Regular Public announcements will be made at railway stations for information of public as well as children. |