Childcare institutions: India

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=Government oversight is limited=
 
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==Audit,  c.2018==
 
[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F08%2F09&entity=Ar00301&sk=ECF4492A&mode=text  Ambika Pandit, UP, Bihar among 9 states that refused audit of child shelters, August 9, 2018: ''The Times of India'']
 
[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F08%2F09&entity=Ar00301&sk=ECF4492A&mode=text  Ambika Pandit, UP, Bihar among 9 states that refused audit of child shelters, August 9, 2018: ''The Times of India'']
  
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With over 1,300 child care institutionsstill out of the registration framework set out under the Juvenile Justice Act, the ministry of women and child development has stepped up action sending out letters to states asking them to verify all their homes and cancel those that fail to register. Telangana has so far cancelled 42 child care institutions and more reports are pouring into the WCD of the action taken.
+
With over 1,300 child care institutions still out of the registration framework set out under the Juvenile Justice Act, the ministry of women and child development has stepped up action sending out letters to states asking them to verify all their homes and cancel those that fail to register. Telangana has so far cancelled 42 child care institutions and more reports are pouring into the WCD of the action taken.
  
Recognising that registering or cancelling homes was not enough, WCD minister Maneka Gandhihas decided to write to MPs and MLAs asking them to visit homes in their constituencies. In order to bolster monitoring mechanism the government has also asked state commissions to fill up vacancies in Child Welfare Committees which hold magisterial powers.
+
Recognising that registering or cancelling homes was not enough, WCD minister Maneka Gandhi has decided to write to MPs and MLAs asking them to visit homes in their constituencies. In order to bolster monitoring mechanism, the government has also asked state commissions to fill up vacancies in Child Welfare Committees which hold magisterial powers.
  
 
Parliament was informed last week that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has reported that it has registered 43 complaints regarding child abuse and neglect of children in Child Care Institutions (CCIs) during the last three years up to June this year. Out of the 43 complaints, 38 have been closed and the remaining five cases are still pending.
 
Parliament was informed last week that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has reported that it has registered 43 complaints regarding child abuse and neglect of children in Child Care Institutions (CCIs) during the last three years up to June this year. Out of the 43 complaints, 38 have been closed and the remaining five cases are still pending.
  
Gandhi also feels that there was need to consolidate the Child Care Institutions more systematically to prevent adding more and more homes and instead create more centralised facilities. She has asked the ministry to put in place a scheme in consultation with states where centralised facilities for children can be created in states and which are run only by state authorities.
+
Gandhi also feels that there was a need to consolidate the Child Care Institutions more systematically to prevent adding more and more homes and instead create more centralised facilities. She has asked the ministry to put in place a scheme in consultation with states where centralised facilities for children can be created in states and which are run only by state authorities.
  
 
=Malpractices=
 
=Malpractices=

Revision as of 13:01, 23 November 2018

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Contents

Government oversight is limited

Audit, c.2018

Ambika Pandit, UP, Bihar among 9 states that refused audit of child shelters, August 9, 2018: The Times of India


1,339 Homes Yet To Register, SC Deadline Ended On Dec 31 Last Yr

At a time when cases of sexual abuse from children homes in Muzaffarpur and Deoria have shocked the nation, it turns out that the agency appointed for pan-India mapping and audit of children’s homes as per the

directions of the Supreme Court has been denied access to childcare institutions in nine states, including Bihar and UP. This despite the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the ministry of women and child development writing to the states to comply with the SC’s orders.

The states where the audit agency is yet to access homes also include Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Kerala and West Bengal. Odisha, too, was on this list but the Centre’s intervention finally led to it agreeing to the audit exercise. The view emanating from these states is that they want to do their own audits.

According to data available with NCPCR, there are 5,850 registered childcare institutions as on date and 1,339 homes that are yet to register though the SC had set a deadline of December 31 last year.


71 childcare institutions in Bihar, 231 in UP: NCPCR data

There may be more such institutions which are not in the NCPCR list and hence the mapping exercise under the audit is critical. In Bihar, as per NCPCR data, there are 71 childcare institutions and 231 in UP.

The NCPCR has intimated the status of the audit to the SC in a recent hearing in the ongoing public interest litigation, officials said. So far, the Lucknow-based Academy of Management Studieshas carried out the audit and mapping of 3,000 institutions across states.

According to senior NCPCR officials, the audit agency assigned the task in March conveyed to them in May that 10 states were not giving them access to their CCIs. Before that some of these states had written to the child rights body on their own expressing reservations over allowing the audit agency into these homes. NCPCR wrote back to these states and then sought the intervention of the WCD ministry to step in to resolve the impasse.

The ministry’s brass is learned to have issued an advisory in July. Meanwhile, NCPCR put forth its status report before the SC.

While Odisha had agreed to the audit exercise, NCPCR or the WCD ministry are yet to hear from the nine states on allowing the audit exercise, officials said. The NCPCR, too, has not yet heard from the audit agency if they have received any response from these nine states.

B

Ambika Pandit, Step up registration of child shelters, Centre tells states, August 9, 2018: The Times of India


With over 1,300 child care institutions still out of the registration framework set out under the Juvenile Justice Act, the ministry of women and child development has stepped up action sending out letters to states asking them to verify all their homes and cancel those that fail to register. Telangana has so far cancelled 42 child care institutions and more reports are pouring into the WCD of the action taken.

Recognising that registering or cancelling homes was not enough, WCD minister Maneka Gandhi has decided to write to MPs and MLAs asking them to visit homes in their constituencies. In order to bolster monitoring mechanism, the government has also asked state commissions to fill up vacancies in Child Welfare Committees which hold magisterial powers.

Parliament was informed last week that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has reported that it has registered 43 complaints regarding child abuse and neglect of children in Child Care Institutions (CCIs) during the last three years up to June this year. Out of the 43 complaints, 38 have been closed and the remaining five cases are still pending.

Gandhi also feels that there was a need to consolidate the Child Care Institutions more systematically to prevent adding more and more homes and instead create more centralised facilities. She has asked the ministry to put in place a scheme in consultation with states where centralised facilities for children can be created in states and which are run only by state authorities.

Malpractices

Piyush Tripathi, Sexual abuse rampant in 15 Bihar shelter homes: Report, August 14, 2018: The Times of India


The infamous shelter home at Muzaffarpur where 34 inmates were raped is not the only one in Bihar where sexual, mental and physical abuse was rampant. Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), whose social audit report revealed the Muzaffarpur horror story and led to the arrest of kingpin Brajesh Thakur, has identified 14 other such shelter homes across the state.

Underage inmates were reported to be pregnant in some of these shelter homes “and some even had babies”.

TOI is in possession of the 100-page TISS report, which audited 110 shelter and shortstay homes across 35 districts. Sources said the government is likely to make the report public soon.

The TISS report elaborates on sexual and physical abuse in 15 centres, including the one run by Thakur, in a separate section titled “Grave Concerns — Institutions Requiring Immediate Attention”.

On Thakur’s shelter home, run by his NGO Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti, the report says: “The institution was exclusive in carrying out sexual violence on girls, all of tender age and from marginalised backgrounds, in the name of punishment and discipline. The girls said they were molested by the male staff regularly.”


Boys locked up after dinner, had no access to shelter toilets

Among the 15 notorious institutions are short stay homes run in Patna by AIKARD, Motihari (Sakhi), Kaimur (Gram Swaraj Sewa Sansthan), Madhepura (Mahila Chetna Vikas Mandal) and Munger (Novelty Welfare Society). The other shelter homes are government run Observation Home in Araria, Sewa Kutir run by Om Sai Foundation in Muzaffarpur, Kaushal Kutir run by Don Bosco Tech Society in Patna and Sewa Kutir run by Metta Buddha Trust in Gaya.

The boys’ home identified by TISS in this category are in Motihari run by Nirdesh, in Bhagalpur by Rupam Pragati Samaj Samiti, in Munger by Panaah and in Gaya run by DORD. Three specialized adoption agencies - Patna’s Nari Gunjan, Madhubani’s RVESK and Kaimur’s Gyan Bharti – are also in the “grave concerns” category.

The report highlights rampant physical and sexual harassment, corporal punishment, neglect and humiliation in “institutions of all categories”.

Elaborating on the living conditions of inmates in boys’ homes, the report says: “After dinner, the boys are locked up inside their wards and have no access to toilets throughout the night. We found plastic bottles with urine in them.”

The inmates of Muzaffarpur Sewa Kutir run by Om Sai Foundation showed bruises and broken bones to TISS members. They alleged sexual assault on them and thrashing on a daily basis by the caretakers.

The report said that many inmates lodged in short stay homes were girls who were picked up by police from eateries “while they were out with their male friends, and sent to these homes for protection”.

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