The Madhya Pradesh government has called a 32% reduction in its data of abandoned children during the second wave of Covid-19 “a technical error”, after emerging because the state with the very best number of such recorded cases. A National Commission for Child Rights Protection (NCPCR) status report on orphans and abandoned children between April 2020 and June 2021, submitted to the Supreme Court, had pegged the quantity of abandoned children at 226, of a complete of 274 recorded throughout the country. A month later, an analogous status report, submitted on July 23, brought the quantity right down to 153.
When NCPCR sought an evidence for the change within the data, officials of the Madhya Pradesh Women and Child Development Department said that this was because of a “technical mistake” within the submission of knowledge within the Bal Swaraj portal.
NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo said, “Due to a technical mistake and submission of knowledge hastily, the department submitted incorrect data which they later rectified. But we are verifying the small print of each child through a social investigation report. We are handling the case very sensitively.”
Madhya Pradesh Women and Child Development Department joint director Vishal Nadkarni admitted that they’d asked for an “edit option” within the data as district child protection officers had entered incorrect details. “They included children within the age bracket 6 to 12 years who were found at different places and shifted to child care institutions, but they might be those that went missing instead of who were abandoned, so we rectified the info. We informed protection officers about the definition of abandoned children and 73 were found inappropriate for the category,” he added.
Child rights activists in Madhya Pradesh asked where the 73 children were. “The biggest question is that where are these 73 children. Are they still in shelter homes? Are the authorities sure that they’re missing and haven’t been abandoned by parents? the girl and child department shouldn’t behave so irresponsibly because this matter is being monitored by the apex court,” said Prashant Dubey, a baby rights activist.
Ashok Shah, Principal Secretary, WCD, said that it had been “human error.” “The MP government has no intention to cover data. We are helping orphan kids and providing ₹6000 per month to them with free ration and free education. We are one among the leading states where over1000 children are being taken care of by the govt. under the Bal Sewa scheme,” he said.Grammar CheckCheck PlagiarismDownload Report
