Govt sits on Rs 90cr child protection fund

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Govt sits on Rs 90cr child protection fund
AS Reported in Times Of India, TNN,25 May 2008, 0000 hrs IST

NEW DELHI: A flagship scheme for children is likely to be jeopardised, thanks to government apathy. The women and child development ministry has been sanctioned Rs 90 crore for implementation of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme but with hardly any child protection units to implement it, the scheme could meet a fatal end.

ICPS is a rights-based approach to introduce both prevention and protection for children from all walks of life. The scheme can only be implemented through child protection units in each state. Each unit is an agency consisting of people from the police, state, judicial members and non-government organisations.

According to the Juvenile Justice Act, 2006, each state is expected to have a panel that will ensure rescue and rehabilitation of children found deserted, abandoned, in distress or delinquents.

However, the ministry has no record of how many states are running such units. Replying to a RTI query posed by NGO Pratidhi’s Raj Mangal Prasad, the WCD ministry has admitted that it does not maintain such information.

Explaining this, a WCD spokesperson said, "We have asked states to maintain a record. Our work is to monitor their overall functioning.”
The panel also seems to be a low priority for state governments. Amongst the state governments, only 10 have replied. Amongst these, none have constituted a CPU. These include Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana, Kerala, Bihar, Delhi, Jharkhand, Goa, West Bengal and Orissa.

Govt sits on Rs 90cr child protection fund-India-The Times of India