Context
- On November 20, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) launched a web portal called “GHAR – Go Home and Re-Unite.”
- The portal will serve as a digital tracking and monitoring platform for children from every district, easing the process of their repatriation and restoration.
- NCPCR also launched the –
- Training Modules for Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) in order to implement the Juvenile Justice Act amendments.
- Protocols for Child Restoration and Repatriation
Relevance
GS Paper 2: population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues. Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Mains Question
“Child labour had been progressively waning in recent years as a result of government policies and intervention, but the pandemic has reversed this trend in India,” the authors write. (250 words)
About NCPCR
- It is an Indian statutory body that was established in 2007 under an Act of Parliament – the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 – and works under the auspices of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD).
- Its mandate is to ensure that all laws, policies, programmes, and administrative systems conform to the vision of children’s rights (ages 0 to 18 years) as enunciated in the Indian Constitution and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- The Commission envisions a rights-based approach that pervades national-state-local policies and programmes.
- As a result, the Commission envisions the state playing an indispensable role in ensuring o Children and their well-being, o Strong institution-building processes, o Respect for local bodies and decentralisation at the community level, and greater social concern in this direction.
- Some NCPCR portals – o MASI Portal (Monitoring App for Seamless Inspection for managing inspections at shelter homes)
- The Baal Swaraj Portal (for online tracking and digital real-time monitoring mechanism of children in need of care and protection)
Concerning the Juvenile Justice (Care or Protection of Children) Act of 2015:
- The Juvenile Delinquency Law and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 were repealed by the WCD.
- One of the main provisions of the Act is that juveniles in conflict with the law between the ages of 16 and 18 can be tried as adults.
- A Juvenile Justice Board was to determine the nature of the crime and whether the juvenile should be tried as a minor or a child (JJB).
- The Act also streamlined adoption procedures for orphans, abandoned, and surrendered children, which is the second major provision.
- To enable it to perform its function more effectively, the existing Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) has been made a statutory body.
- By notification, the State Government may establish one or more Child Welfare Committees (CWC) for each district or group of districts to exercise the powers granted by this Act.
- The Committee has the final say in cases involving child care, protection, treatment, development, and rehabilitation, as well as basic needs provision and human rights protection.
Need for the GHAR Portal
- The portal will allow for the digital transfer of cases involving children to the appropriate authorities.
- It will ensure that children’s rights to restoration and repatriation are realised, which has been a challenge due to a lack of convergence and information sharing among authorities.
- Many children who were taken before JJBs and CWCs were discovered to be from another country, but repatriation was difficult due to a lack of information on their native country.
- A step toward significantly reducing the number of children incarcerated in child care institutions (CCIs).
