<p>Over 2.75 lakh children went missing in the country in the last five years, while more than 2.4 lakhs were traced, Union women and child development minister Smriti Irani informed the Lok Sabha on Friday, with Karnataka figuring third in the list of states with the maximum number of missing children.</p>.<p>Among the missing, over 2.12 lakh children were girls, more than three times the number of boys—62,000.</p>.<p>In Karnataka alone, over 27,000 children went missing in the aforementioned, with the state being third in this regard.</p>.<p>These numbers were furnished in the Lok Sabha to a query posed by BJP MP from Hisar Brijendra Singh on the number of children who went missing between January 2018 and June 2023.</p>.<p>The total number of missing children stood at 2,75,125, and this included 2,12,825 girls and 62,237 boys and 63 children of the third gender.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/metrolife/metrolife-cityscape/helplines-to-call-in-case-of-child-abuse-1239085.html">Helplines to call in case of child abuse</a></strong></p>.<p>Madhya Pradesh topped the list with 61,102 missing children—49,024 missing girls and 12,075 missing boys. This was followed by West Bengal with 49,129 missing children, including 41,808 missing girls and 7,311 missing boys. Karnataka, which was the state with third highest number at 27,538, saw 18,893 girls and 8,632 boys go missing in the aforementioned period. </p>.<p>In MP, 56,962 children were recovered in the time period, including 45,108 girls and 11,850 boys. West Bengal, with 45,634 recoveries came in second, and this included 35,802 girls and 9,811 boys. Karnataka came third in recoveries as well with 21,817, including 14,649 boys and 7,163 girls. </p>.<p>The ministry has a portal called TrackChild which has a module called ‘Khoya-Paya’ where any citizen can report missing or sighted children, the ministry said.</p>.<p>In June last year, the ministry unified its efforts and schemes related to children under Mission Vatsalya, and announced that four portals – TrackChild (for missing/found children), CARINGS (for the adoption of children), ICPS portal (for monitoring the scheme) and Khoya-Paya (citizen-centric application for missing and sighted children) – would be integrated into one common platform. </p>.<p>The TrackChild portal has been implemented with the involvement of the ministries of Home Affairs and Railways, as well as state governments, Child Welfare Committees, Juvenile Justice Boards, National Legal Services Authority, among others.</p>.<p>“Standard operating procedures have been issued for the ‘TrackChild’ Portal. Advisories have also been issued to all States and UTs including Director General of Police of all States & UTs … The TrackChild portal 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 FIRs of missing children with data base of TrackChild to trace and match missing children,” Irani said in her reply. </p>
<p>Over 2.75 lakh children went missing in the country in the last five years, while more than 2.4 lakhs were traced, Union women and child development minister Smriti Irani informed the Lok Sabha on Friday, with Karnataka figuring third in the list of states with the maximum number of missing children.</p>.<p>Among the missing, over 2.12 lakh children were girls, more than three times the number of boys—62,000.</p>.<p>In Karnataka alone, over 27,000 children went missing in the aforementioned, with the state being third in this regard.</p>.<p>These numbers were furnished in the Lok Sabha to a query posed by BJP MP from Hisar Brijendra Singh on the number of children who went missing between January 2018 and June 2023.</p>.<p>The total number of missing children stood at 2,75,125, and this included 2,12,825 girls and 62,237 boys and 63 children of the third gender.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/metrolife/metrolife-cityscape/helplines-to-call-in-case-of-child-abuse-1239085.html">Helplines to call in case of child abuse</a></strong></p>.<p>Madhya Pradesh topped the list with 61,102 missing children—49,024 missing girls and 12,075 missing boys. This was followed by West Bengal with 49,129 missing children, including 41,808 missing girls and 7,311 missing boys. Karnataka, which was the state with third highest number at 27,538, saw 18,893 girls and 8,632 boys go missing in the aforementioned period. </p>.<p>In MP, 56,962 children were recovered in the time period, including 45,108 girls and 11,850 boys. West Bengal, with 45,634 recoveries came in second, and this included 35,802 girls and 9,811 boys. Karnataka came third in recoveries as well with 21,817, including 14,649 boys and 7,163 girls. </p>.<p>The ministry has a portal called TrackChild which has a module called ‘Khoya-Paya’ where any citizen can report missing or sighted children, the ministry said.</p>.<p>In June last year, the ministry unified its efforts and schemes related to children under Mission Vatsalya, and announced that four portals – TrackChild (for missing/found children), CARINGS (for the adoption of children), ICPS portal (for monitoring the scheme) and Khoya-Paya (citizen-centric application for missing and sighted children) – would be integrated into one common platform. </p>.<p>The TrackChild portal has been implemented with the involvement of the ministries of Home Affairs and Railways, as well as state governments, Child Welfare Committees, Juvenile Justice Boards, National Legal Services Authority, among others.</p>.<p>“Standard operating procedures have been issued for the ‘TrackChild’ Portal. Advisories have also been issued to all States and UTs including Director General of Police of all States & UTs … The TrackChild portal 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 FIRs of missing children with data base of TrackChild to trace and match missing children,” Irani said in her reply. </p>
