Four states in Northeast India - Arunachal, Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim, have no children in street situations, according to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).
The NCPCR data on children in street situations mentioned (1) children living on the streets with their families, (2) children stay on the streets in the day and are back home in the night with their families who reside in a nearby slum/ hutments (3) Children without support living on the streets all alone.
According to the State/UT-wise data as of January 11, 2022, there are no reports of children in street situations in Arunachal, Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim in Northeast India. However Assam has a total of 151 children in street situations, while Nagaland has one, Meghalaya has five and Tripura has 14 in total.
India has a total of 9,945 children in street situations, as per the data mentioned in the NCPCR portal - Bal Swaraj (as on 11.01.2022).
The information was provided in a written reply by Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Zubin Irani in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
The minister also mentioned that the Women and Child Development Ministry is implementing the Centrally sponsored ‘Child Protection Services (CPS) Scheme’ – Mission Vatsalya for rehabilitation of children in difficult circumstances including, orphan and destitute children.
Under the CPS scheme, financial assistance is provided to the state/UT governments for providing services which include institutional care, non-institutional care, support for capacity building, human resources etc, Smriti informed the house.
The minister said grants are also provided for setting up and maintenance of various types of Child Care Institutions (CCIs) including children homes, observation homes, special homes, place of safety, open shelters etc. CCIs provide for age-appropriate education, access to vocational training, recreation, health care, counselling etc. The execution of the scheme lies with the respective States/UTs.
Apart from this, as informed by the NCPCR, the Supreme Court has taken suo-moto cognizance of the issue of children in street situations.
The ministry has taken various measures and regularly engaged with all State/UTs to ensure continued and uninterrupted delivery of services and also for effective implementation of the schemes, she said.
Various guidelines and advisories have been shared with the States/ UTs to keep operational and available the institutions and facilities run under different schemes, Smriti added, according to a PIB release.
