The transfer of administrative control of the helpline from the Ministry of Women and Child Development to the home ministry would mean that police personnel, instead of social workers, would answer calls made to 1098.
NGOs have argued that these calls require experts who understand children and their psychology and are trained appropriately to protect and guide them. Photo: Charu Chaturvedi/Unsplash, (CC BY-SA)
New Delhi: As police officers are expected to soon handle the call centres of Childline 1098, the national helpline for children launched for rescuing and assisting those in distress, non-government organisations – which had so far performed this task – are concerned that the move may deter a number of children and others from calling for help.
As of now, the helpline receives nearly 10 million calls a year. However, the transfer of administrative control of the facility from the Ministry of Women and Child Development to the Ministry of Home Affairs may impact these numbers.
In March earlier this year, Union minister for women and child development Smriti Irani had announced that the round-the-clock helpline, which is run by the Childline India Foundation (CIF), the nodal agency of the WCD ministry, may move into the hands of the MHA. She said this would mean that police personnel, instead of social workers, would answer the calls made to 1098.
‘Move aimed at preserving data sensitivity’
Elaborating on the rationale behind the move, secretary in the ministry of WCD, Ram Mohan Mishra, had said, “We want the interface to be the state. The other reason for the move is to preserve data sensitivity. We have already held discussions with the MHA and it is in the process of setting up a portal.”
When the concern regarding police personnel having the inclination and training to handle such calls was posed to Mishra, he added that “we will build an ecosystem such that after a complaint is registered, the call can be handled by NGOs.”
However, the move has not gone down well with hundreds of NGOs who are linked with the scheme. Many of them have openly protested against meddling with a successful initiative.
Childline assists in rescue of nearly 300,000 children annually
The Childline 1098 has proved to be a great initiative ever its launch. While Childline 1098 was originally launched by Jeroo Billimoria, a professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, in 1996 as an experimental project, the central government later institutionalised it in 1999 under the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The CIF, which was founded in 1999, was then entrusted with the task of establishing the Childline service across India and looking after aspects such as service delivery, finance, training, research, documentation and advocacy.
Representative image of school children. Photo: Maia Maia/Flickr, CC BY 2.0
The Childline is now a 24-hour helpline that covers 595 districts and 135 railway child helpdesks to help children in distress. Its reach and success can be gauged from the fact that between January 2018 and September 2020, which also covered the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, it received a total of 2.15 crore calls.
The Childline’s role is limited to addressing calls and ensuring action, including rescue. On average, it helps in the rescue of around 300,000 children across the country annually.
‘Police handling of complaints may lead to psychologic harm’
Meanwhile, various child rights groups have opposed the Centre’s move to place the Childline under the MHA. In a statement in mid-May, the All India Working Group for Rights of Children (AIWGRC) had cautioned that the shift in administrative control could lead to reduced use of the service by children and that it may also adversely impact them psychologically and cause them distress.
The statement, signed by representatives of various organisations, pointed out that the nature of calls received by Childline was not limited to complaints that required police intervention and recording. “Many are from children in mental distress and require immediate as well as long-term counselling and support,” it added.
Pointing out that a large number of these calls include requests for support for food, books, shelter and even scholarships, the group said these calls require experts who understand children and their psychology and are trained appropriately to protect and guide children.
‘Childline seeks to provide assistance within an hour’
Talking about this important role of the helpline, A.K. Tiwari, the media spokesperson at Salam Balak Trust, told The Wire that Childline India Foundation had set up its call centres zone-wise across the country. “So any child could call 1098 in the same zone and the call centre used to forward the matter to the concerned NGO for immediate action. We would record the call in our register. Then the volunteers and team members of NGOs go and help that child. Usually we would try and reach the child within an hour.”
On the nature of assistance provided by the NGOs and their team members, he said, “It could range from taking the child to a hospital if he is unwell, providing food or clothes, or bring the child to a centre if he is lost. Also children are provided protection if they have been threatened or assaulted.”
On how the changes would impact assisting children, Tiwari said: “The difference was that earlier NGO workers would be trained and deployed at the call centres too. And they would pass on the information to the district level childline. Now police personnel will sit in the call centres and man these like they do with the ‘100’ number. They would then direct the NGOs to the child in need.”
‘How is preserving data sensitivity a concern here?’
Asked about the claim that the change in the administrative structure was being suggested so that there was no breach of privacy of children from data pertaining to them, Tiwari said that it was hard to fathom how this is a concern when in these cases only those in need were being provided help.
Speaking from his experience in dealing with various situations involving children, Tiwari said the main concern was that people may not feel as comfortable as before to inform 1098 since the police would be manning these. “For example, if there is domestic violence taking place in a house or a child was engaged in child labour in a house, or if there was physical abuse against a child, a neighbour would earlier simply call up the helpline and inform them about what was wrong. But now with the police being involved, they may not feel that comfortable in lodging a complaint fearing they too would become a part of the case.”
Representative image of a mother and her child during the lockdown in Delhi. Photo: PTI
‘Children would even call up to discuss how they felt depressed’
Tiwari further said that till now a large number of children, who were emotionally distressed, would call and discuss their problems with the call centre staff. “They would for example discuss that they are worried or that their parents do not love them or that they were being ill-treated by a particular family member,” he said, wondering how comfortable they would be in discussing similar issues with police personnel.
However, Tiwari said, one thing that will not change is that the NGOs and police will continue to work together. He also spoke about how the monitoring of railway stations and setting up of helpdesks there result in the rescue of a large number of children.
“At the Old Delhi Railway Station, we have 20 staff members who remain at the platforms and keep an eye out for children who are lost or are being trafficked. They even stop people and question them if they find someone suspicious. Usually, the traffickers panic and run away when confronted. In a year, we rescue around 1200 to 1400 children each year,” he said.
On how so many children land up at the station, he said, “While many of them are being trafficked, a majority of them leave their homes due to poverty. Sometimes their parents send them away to find work. Some lose their jobs or run away when ill-treated by their employers. Then there are also cases of elopement or of children getting lost.”
source ; the wire
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