Indian government to launch website to track missing kids
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- Category: National Political News
- Last Updated: Thursday, 22 January 2015 21:00
Indian government to launch website to track missing kids
By Monday, the Indian government may have a portal for lost-and found children that it can roll out nationally. Bangalore's software industry responded with ala crity to a statement by IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was keen on such a portal. India suffers an epidemic of missing children, with some estimates suggesting that over 60,000 children go missing each year — that's about one child in eight minutes.
"We'll have a workable portal ready by Monday," said Sharad Sharma, one of the founders of software product association iSpirt and a former head of Yahoo's R&D operations in India. He said an entrepreneur had been assigned to the job, but declined to name the person. We will also offer options to the government on funding the project and in a way that the parents who have lost children do not have to pay anything," Sharma said.
The Union IT minister, who was in Bangalore for meetings with IT and technology bodies, including Nasscom and iSpirt, listed out IT initiatives the PM was keen on. The foremost among them was the need for a portal for lost-and-found children. "At times, these boys and girls are rescued but they are not able to reach their parents. It's a moving idea (to have a portal)," he said.
There have been initiatives by non-profits to trace missing children with the help of technology . But they generally do not reach out to sufficient numbers of people. A government-backed programme could provide the necessary reach, rigour and enthusiasm.
Children go missing in India largely on account of kidnappings. They are exploited as forced labour, commercial sex workers, and some are put up for illegal adoption. Among cities, Mumbai and Kolkata have the worst records. In the US, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, funded in part by government departments, has an elaborate progamme to keep children safe from abductions and sexual exploitation, and to find missing children.