A mobile application for tracking missing and abandoned children was launched by Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu and Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi. The app, christened as ‘ReUnite’, is collaboration between Bachpan Bachao Andolan led by Satyarthi and IT major Capgemini.

Missing children should not be considered as just figures as it's a tragedy for the parents whose lives are thrown off track after losing their loved ones, Satyarthi said.

“Each missing child reflects hope and dream of family that loses them,” he said. Prabhu lauded Bachpan Bachao Andolan and Satyarthi for working for the children and hoped the app would help in reuniting missing children and their parents.

The app will use Amazon Web Services based on face recognition technology to match the photographs of missing children with a database to give result after face matching.

The app will be connected with missing children’s database of Delhi Police. It’s a multi-user platform which can be used to upload photos of missing children. Parents of missing children will be able to report details of such children.

Capgemini chief operating officer Ashwin Yardi said that the idea for the app took root at an internal hackathon event organised by the company.

“After the tech challenge to create a pool of concept to address the problem of missing children in India was over, the winning team’s solution was taken forward to develop the app,” he said. The database for the app will be updated mostly by end users who will come out with details and image of missing children and upload it. The photos of missing children will exist in algorithmic equations only and not be saved in physical memory of the phone.

Every year, around 44,000 children go missing in the country, of whom just 11,000 are rescued, said a Bachpan Bachao Andolan representative.