Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely ‘Mission Vatsalya’ in all States and Union Territories on predefined cost sharing basis between the Central and the State Governments to deliver various services for children in difficult circumstances including orphan children. The scheme provides institutional care and non-institutional care. Child Care Institutions (CCIs) established under the Mission Vatsalya scheme provide, inter-alia, age-appropriate education, access to vocational training, recreation, health care, counselling etc. Under Non-Institutional Care Service, support is provided through Sponsorship, Foster Care, Adoption and After Care.

During revision of centrally sponsored schemes in 15^th Finance Commission, financial norms were appropriately increased to ensure basic needs, care, protection, development, treatment, rehabilitation and social re-integration of children living in Child Care Institutions.

The TrackChild Portal is implemented with support and involvement of various stakeholders namely Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Railways, State Governments/ UT Administrations, Child Welfare Committees, Juvenile Justice Boards, National Legal Services Authority, etc. Advisories have been issued to all States and UTs including Director General of Police of all States & UTs and other stakeholders regarding providing information of missing children on the TrackChild portal.

Under Mission Vatsalya, States and Union Territories are supported to conduct awareness and capacity-building programmes for strengthening child protection systems at the grassroots level. Further, the Ministry also organizes zonal conferences and sensitization/dissemination workshops under Mission Vatsalya Scheme to create awareness and strengthen implementation among stakeholders.

This Ministry has developed an integrated unified Mission Vatsalya Portal in consultation and coordination with States and UTs. The TrackChild portal for Missing/Found Children, and Khoya-Paya application for Missing/Sighted Children have been integrated with this unified Mission Vatsalya Portal. The TrackChild portal is implemented with support and involvement of various stakeholders namely Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Railways, State Governments and UT Administrations, Child Welfare Committees, Juvenile Justice Boards, National Legal Services Authority, etc. Standard operating procedure have been issued in this regard. Advisories have also been issued to all States and UTs including Director General of Police of all States & UTs and other stakeholders regarding implementation of TrackChild. It is also integrated with the Crime and Criminal Tracking & Network Systems (CCTNS) of the Ministry of Home Affairs which allows interoperability in terms of matching of F.I.Rs of missing children with data base of TrackChild to trace and match missing children by the State and UT police concerned. Further, through Khoya Paya module any citizen can report about any missing or sighted children.

Further, This Ministry has directed all State and UT Governments to appoint designated nodal officers for Missing children at State Level and District levels. The details of these nodal officers have been uploaded on Mission Vatsalya portal.

Under the JJ Act 2015 (Sections 27-30), the Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) have been empowered to take decisions with regard to the children in need of care and protection, keeping their best interest in mind. They are also mandated to monitor the function of the Child Care Institutions (CCIs). Similarly, the Juvenile Justice Boards are empowered to take decisions regarding the welfare of children in conflict with law (Sections 04-09). At the national and state level, the JJ Act provides the National/State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights to monitor the implementation of the Act (Section 109).

The Ministry regularly follows up with the State and Union Territory Governments and various advisories have been issued so as to ensure the effective implementation of Mission Vatsalya Scheme.

Section 143 of BNS defines trafficking as recruiting, transporting, harbouring, transferring, or receiving a person for exploitation using various coercive means. The section outlines severe punishments for trafficking, with higher penalties for trafficking multiple persons or children. Further, Section 144 of BNS, 2023, deals with the exploitation of trafficked persons, including sexual exploitation. The section outlines different punishments for exploiting trafficked children and adults including women, with distinct terms of imprisonment and fines. Section 95 of BNS related to hiring, employing or engaging a child etc.to commit an offence, Section 99 of BNS related to buying a child for the purposes of prostitution are also relevant in the context of human trafficking. Additionally, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 also recognizes trafficking as a cognizable and non-bailable offence.

'Police' and 'Public Order' are the "State” subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. The responsibility for preventing and countering the crime of human trafficking, therefore, primarily vests with respective States and Union Territories, who are competent to deal with such offences under extant provisions of law.

However, the Government of India supplements the efforts of the States and Union Territories by providing them guidelines on preventing and countering the crime of human trafficking, in the form of various advisories issued from time to time. Some of the initiatives of the Central Government are as under:

1. The Government has provided financial assistance to all States and Union Territories, for upgrading/ setting up Anti Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) covering all Districts of the States and UTs. Currently, 827 AHTUs are functional including 807 in States and UTs, 15 in Border Security Forces (BSF) and 5 in Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). SSB has also established dedicated helpline number 1903.
2. The Ministry of Home Affairs also provides financial assistance to the States and UTs in holding 'State level conferences' and Judicial Colloquiums', which are aimed at sensitizing the Police/ Law officers of the States and UTs about the latest initiatives/ developments relevant in addressing the issue of human trafficking in a focused and efficient manner.

iii. A national level communication platform - Crime Multi Agency Centre (Cri MAC) was launched by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on March 12, 2020 for online sharing of information on crime & criminals on 24x7 basis among various Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and ensure seamless flow of information between them. It facilitates dissemination of information about significant crimes including human trafficking cases across the country on a real time basis and enables inter-State coordination.

4. The Government has mandated the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate cases of human trafficking having inter-state, national and international ramifications.

5. 14,653 Women Help Desks (WHDs) have been established in Police Stations with financial assistance under Nirbhaya Fund focus on making the Police Stations more women friendly and approachable.

vi. Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences (ITSSO), an online analytical tool, has been launched to monitor and track police investigations in sexual offences as per Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2018 (now included in BNSS). It enables a regular review by the States and UTs concerned to monitor the progress of case investigation.

7. National Database on Sexual Offenders (NDSO) is a database available exclusively to police. It was Launched on 20.09.2018 to facilitate investigation & tracking of sexual offenders, which allows Investigating Officers to track habitual sex offenders along with initiating preventive measures against sexual offences.
8. National Database of Human Trafficking Offenders (NDHTO), facilitates the LEAs to search the trafficker's portfolio which provides crime history, personal details, movement, court actions, appeals, visitors, etc. Trafficker's data search provides details for prevention/detection and investigation of such crimes.

The Government of India is committed to enhancing inter-agency collaboration at the national and international levels and strengthening public awareness campaigns to prevent trafficking. The NIA, in conjunction with the new criminal laws and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (ITPA), coupled with the initiatives of the Ministry of Women and Child Development constitute a more robust framework for handling trafficking offences.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Women and Child Development Smt. Savitri Thakur in Lok Sabha in reply to a question.

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