Skip to main content

Integrated Child Protection Scheme fails to take off, children falling prey to petty crimes remain neglected

By Our Representative
A recent workshop, held under the auspices of the Dalit Hak Rakshak Manch (DHRM), an Ahmedabad-based NGO working on child rights issues, has found that the Gujarat government is showing "gross indifference" towards the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), a Government of India scheme floated in 2009 for the vulnerable sections of children, who, finding themselves in certain special conditions, are victims of abuse, neglect, exploitation, abandonment and separation from family.
Referring to a Government of Gujarat presentation before the Union ministry of woman and child, DHRM workshop stated that the state government could not even spend the pittance, Rs 6.41 crore, sanctioned to it for the purpose. Whatever grants were demanded were for staff. As for the ICPS' actual functioning, which would require activation of different schemes, these have remained on paper. Analyzing different heads under which the state government should implement ICPS, which operates under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, amended in 2006, the workshop found that a state support project unit had been set up to create ICPS structures all over the state. However, “while the government demanded funds for setting up the unit, it did not demand any funds to create awareness which is the necessary part of the unit's work. The result was, out of Rs 19 lakh sanctioned, Rs 12 lakh remained untilised last year”.
Further, while as many as 26 district support units have been set up, there is no inkling towards ensuring that these function in their true letter and spirit. Thus, of the 26 units, only three are functioning Vadodara, Kheda and Narmada districts. As for the rest, they are non-functional because of lack of staff. As a result, out of Rs 2.09 crore sanctioned, a whopping Rs 1.19 crore remained unutilised. “There was bi demand for grants from the Government of India for capacity building, advocacy and awareness”, the workshop said.
The situation was found to be very similar with regard to other programmes under ICPS. Thus, while a state adoption resource agency was set up, grants were demanded for staff, but nothing for creating awareness campaign. The result was, out of Rs 5.38 lakh grant, Rs 3.48 lakh remained unutilized. Then, as against Rs 45.8 lakh for specialised adoption agency, Rs 23.78 lakh, again meant for things other than staff salaries, remained untilised.
Further, juvenile boards were set up in all the 26 districts, but no meetings of the boards have so far been held in districts. Worse, in rest of the districts, not more than one meeting has been held. The result is, of the Rs 16 lakh sanctioned for proper functioning of these boards, the government could spend merely 0.78 lakh. The workshop said that as many as 3,930 cases are pending with these district boards. “How it is going to dispose of the rest is a big question”, the workshop wondered. Then, out of Rs 22 lakh sanctioned for child welfare committees, just about Rs 3.96 lakh were utilised, as the committees did not function, with 323 cases remaining pending.
Coming to the juvenile homes, the workshop found that most of them remain non-functional. “The government has converted each of these homes into children homes. However, it is not clear where to keep children from the observation homes. This is because the government just forgot to demand from the Government of India grants for starting new observation homes”, the workshop said, underscoring, “Our study found that Kutch-Saurashtra's seven out of eight district observation homes were converted into children homes. The result is, children from all the districts are brought to Rajkot, where alone an observation home functions.”
“This has resulted in a strange predicament”, the workshop said. “A teenager who was caught for thieving a motorbike in Gandhidham in Kutch district is kept in Rajkot, which is hundreds of kilometres away, to remain in the observation home. However, at the time of hearing, the boy is transported all the way to Gandhidham, and again brought back to Rajkot and kept in confinement there. Ordinarily he should have got bail in the matter at Gandhidham itself. But this is not done”, the workshop said.
Participating in the workshop, senior sociologist Gaurang Jahi said, “It has generally been found that the teenagers who are involved in different types of crimes come from vulnerable sections of population – Dalits, tribals, OBCs and backward sections of Muslims. There is a need to find out why this is so. Many of these vulnerable sections, mainly tribals, come to Ahmedabad with their parents to work in construction and other hazardous jobs. Then there are young girls who are pushed into prostitution. There is no policy to take care of their health, educational, security and psychological needs.”

Comments

Anuja Kastia Shah said…
Not setting proper implementation system for ICPS and not taking up adequate measures in direction of ensuring child protection for children talks about the political will of Government of Gujarat. The utilization figures are extremely low which truly reflects how little work has been carried out in the last couple of years.

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Regional political dynamics 'leading to' institutional violence in SAARC University

By Sandeep Pandey*  South Asian University is a university set up in Delhi by member countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Maldives – which is open to students from all these countries. However, as SAARC is receiving little attention these days because of regional political dynamics, it appears as if SAU has lost significance too. Because of the hiatus in peace process between India and Pakistan, the Board of Governors of this University is dysfunctional.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das  Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.

Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Ban Ki-moon, others ask Bangladesh PM to 'protect' Yunus

Counterview Desk  A campaign has been launched to support Bangladesh-based economist, micro-finance guru and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, seeking signatures from citizens across the globe in order to “protect” his work, life and safety.

Electricity sharing opens up new window for India’s eastern neighbourhood engagement

By Sufian Asif* Today, challenges like climate change, pandemics, energy reliance, economic crisis, and many more are concerning us. No nation can overcome these obstacles without the assistance and collaboration of other nations. Most importantly, many of these problems have international repercussions. South Asia is facing much more difficulty when compared to other regions. In South Asia, we have some regional organizations, but they are ineffective.

'Vulgar display of wealth': Govt of India using G20 presidency for political, electoral gains

Counterview Desk  Seeking endorsement for a public statement on India's G20 Presidency, several people’s movements, trade unions and other civil society groups have come together to say that not only will G20 and its priorities “will worsen economic, social and climate crisis”, already, India’s presidency is being used “for vulgar display of pomp & for electoral gains.”