(a) whether the Government has made it mandatory for States/UTs to set up the 24 hour childline services and if so, the details and the compliance thereof;
(b) the number of childline services existing in the country, State/UT-wise;
(c) the number of complaints reported in childline during each of the last three years and the current year, State/UT-wise; and
(d) whether there is a mechanism in place to monitor and evaluate the functioning of these services and if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(DR. VIRENDRA KUMAR)
(a) The Government of India has enacted the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, (JJ Act). The Ministry is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme “Child Protection Services”, under the umbrella scheme of Integrated Child Development Scheme, to provide Institutional and Non-institutional safety net for vulnerable children as envisaged under the JJ Act. The scheme supports 24x7 outreach helpline service for children in distress. This service is available through a dedicated toll free number, 1098 which can be accessed by children in crisis or by adults on their behalf from any place in the geographical location of India. Currently, CHILDLINE service is functional in 412 locations. In addition to this, Child Help Desk (CHD) has been set up at 33 major Railway Stations.
(b) The number of Childline Services existing in the country, State/UT-wise is at Annexure-I.
(c) The number of complaints reported during each of the last three years and the current year, State/UT-wise is at Annexure-II.
(d) The outreach service is presently executed through a mother NGO namely, Childline India Foundation, Mumbai which has partners (City/District level Advisory Board, Nodal Organisation (Urban and Rural), Collaborative Organisation (Urban and Rural) and District Sub-Centre(s) (Rural). Under ICPS, there is a provision of Regional Resource Centres (RRC) and there are four RRC located in New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. The program teams of these RRC monitor and evaluate the service of partners at the District level.
******