The Centre will launch a new programme ‘Operation Smile - II’ from New Year’s Day, after its success in the two such initiatives earlier this year for the rescue and rehabilitation of children.
‘Operation Smile-II’ will run from January 1 to January 31, 2016, with the Home Ministry having decided to come up with the initiative following the success of two similar programmes earlier this year when 9,146 children were rescued and rehabilitated under ‘Operation Smile’ with a further 1,972 children recovered under ‘Operation Muskan’.
“It is felt that a similar campaign, ‘Operation Smile-II’, from January 1 to January 31, 2016, be rolled out throughout the country as a follow up to the earlier campaigns,” Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said in a letter to the chief secretaries of all the states.
A large number of missing children were reunited with their families under the earlier missions, he said, noting that that was a remarkable achievement. Calling for effective coordination among the various departments like police and women and child development ministry, the home secretary advised the states to extend all possible help during inter-state rescue operations to ensure proper provision of foods and clothes.
Before January, 1, 2016, police personnel in each State are to be properly trained in the methodology of eliciting information from such children tactfully and without making them feel intimidated, said the MHA.