Nearly 300 children go missing everyday, while hundreds are pushed into child labour daily in India. But, the country’s nodal body for child rights is, quite apparently, in a state of paralysis for the last six months. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) — the watchdog for safeguarding the interests of children — has been looking for a designated head and its six members since October 2014.
The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, under which the NCPCR works, has not been able to appoint a head for the organisation, ever since the three-year tenure of its previous chairperson Kushal Singh ended last year.
The WCD Ministry’s secretary VS Oberoi has been holding the additional charge as the acting NCPCR head. Notably, the six members can be nominated only after the chairperson is appointed. And two of the six members have to be women — a clause that does not apply to the head of the NCPCR.
The NCPCR also runs the childcare helpline for people looking for missing children. Meanwhile, according to the latest data on missing children — provided by the National Crime Records Bureau — shows that over 3.25 lakh children have gone missing between 2011 and 2014 (till June), which averages to nearly one lakh missing children every year.
The International labour Organisation has also pegged the child labour numbers in India at six crore. “We had sent a list of the short-listed candidates to the Prime Minister’s Office but after much delay, they ultimately rejected the list,” said an official from the WCD Ministry.
“We have very recently re-advertised for the post and have started getting responses,” said the official. The NCPCR is responsible for effective implementation of critical child rights laws like the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
“We have left the decision to appoint the chairperson of the NCPCR to the PMO. Once we have short-listed the candidates, we will forward the list to the PM office,” WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi told The Pioneer. “The Ministry is addressing the issues, which come under the purview of the NCPCR,” she said.
Sources said Maneka has left the appointment of heads of key posts in her Ministry to the PMO, after her recommendation to appoint a non-political person as the chairperson of the National Commission for Women was ignored by the PMO. The PM’s office had appointed former BJP spokesperson lalitha Kumaramangalam as the head of the NCW in September.
The NCPCR Act says that the chairperson shall be appointed on the recommendations of a three-member selection committee under the chairpersonship of the minister of the WCD Ministry.