Understanding MWCD’s ‘3 Years of Designing A Better India for Children’ Tweets

It’s that time of the year again. The government is reaching all the way around and patting itself on the back. Social media platforms of every ministry have been releasing bite-sized report cards of their work and impact for about a week. After all, everybody loves a good birthday party.

The Ministry of Women & Child has been no different. With hashtags ranging from the generic #KeyInitiatives to a numerical #3YearsofModi to a delirious #DecisiveSarkar, it has been interesting to follow they claim as the highlights of their term till date.

As with such celebrations, there is a tendency for an optics over-reach. No one wants to bring up bad news at a birthday party but at least the good news deserves to be understood in context. The fundamental questions that we need to ask are simple:

“Has there been a radical improvement in the lives of Indian children everywhere?”

“Have there been missed chances?”

“Are children from vulnerable sections as or more vulnerable than ever before?”

The issuing of periodic reports is laudable but the celebratory tone that is imposed upon it sometimes feels (like the ending to the movie ‘Dangal’)-  unnecessarily and nakedly crowd-pleasing, out of place and detracting from an otherwise perfectly decent story.

Transparency without context just adds up to another exercise in half-baked knowledge which is perhaps more dangerous that fully baked ignorance. We feel that the cited impacts need to be clearly understood and discussed. So, we have compiled the tweets with a little bit of information that is needed to put it all in context:-

This tweet is a compilation of the following 4 primary impacts regarding children that the ministry has sought to highlight.

  1. Childline:-

In late 2015, Childline, the national child emergency helpline,which is a platform of the Ministry signed an MOU with the Indian Railways regarding the rescue, rehabilitation and restoration of missing child found in railway stations. The rationale behind the MOU was that a large number of children were trafficked using railways as a mode of transport. Also there have been several instances where children and parents become separated during train journeys and the fact that children who run away from their home use trains to reach other cities and towns.

The impact highlights the release of the revised  “Standard Operating Procedue (SOP) for Railways to ensure Care and Protection of Children”. SOPs designed to encompass and address subtleties of an issue in a progressive and effective manner are much needed . But the true impact would lie in the implementation of these practices and this is where we have seen the effectiveness of the best laid SOPs can be absolutely negligible. For instance the SOP mentions that the MWCD will identify and nominate an NGO who will not only facilitate all matters pertaining to the child in contact with the Railways at selected stations but could also be asked to man the Child Help Desk around the clock. Without any information on other aspects including financial support to the NGOs it is a matter of speculation whether these provisions can be implemented & sustained on the ground.

The tweet also claims that over 1000 railway stations (For context, there are estimated to be a total over 8000 railway stations) are being equipped. What they are being equipped for and with is unclear. Possibly it may refer to training & sensitization of staff, setting up of kiosks at railways stations, rolling out the Child Help Groups etc referred to in the SOP.

It also mentions that Childline now operates in 402 locations. Circa 2014, the Childline website mentioned 296 locations. So it indicates additional reach of over 106 new locations.

2. KhoyaPaya

KhoyaPaya is an online database for missing children run by the MWCD. After a confusing roll-out, it has been good to note that the KhoyaPaya website now looks to have achieved some stability in form and function. The tweet claims that 3355 children were reunited/rehabilitated using the website in the last three years. (For context, according to a CRY report in 2016, 180 children go missing every day in India.)

3. Central Adoption and Resource Authority (CARA)

Online registration, central databases and fixed timelines were some of the measures introduced to expedite the sluggish adoption processes in the country. The graphic cites a total of 11766 adoptions. However, when the last reports came in, number of adoptions had seen a dip after a brief rise and experts claim that there are many regulatory and bureaucratic roadblocks that continue to be prohibitory and need to be smoothed out.

4. POCSO e-Box

POCSO e-box is an online reporting mechanism developed with NCPCR where child sexual abuse can be reported. Launched in 2016, it claims to have received and handled over 300 cases. It is worthy initiative that could benefit with a slight design overhaul and some testing with the intended users: the children.

Launched in 2015, the Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao Campaign intended to be a corrective to India’s skewed gender imbalance and helping empower women to achieve full potential, has been most popular in terms of optics. It has, without doubt, gained popular cache. But in claiming on-ground impact, critics have been advising restraint.

The National Alliance Against Online Child Sexual Abuse

On January 2017, the Ministry hosted the inaugural meeting towards setting up a National Alliance against Online Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation with a specific focus on Child Sexual Abuse Imagery. The foundations have been laid but this is a promise that is awaiting structured and strategic follow through.

A Glimpse of The Last 3 Years at the MWCD

Birthdays are celebratory occasions but they are also a time for receiving unsolicited advice on the year ahead. Optimistically, the first three years can be considered foundations of what must be long terms goals if the stated initiatives needs to have any long-term on-ground impact. At best they are a bunch of first steps and promises in waiting.

‘Designing a Better India for Children’ is a worthy manifesto for any nation’s future. But to follow through, it needs the kind of focus and priority that is currently being given to the cow. Because truly and objectively, cows are having it better than ever before. They have rights, choices and dignity like never before. And now, if we are done with the cows, we can perhaps consider moving on to our children.

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