COIMBATORE: While the rape of two minor girls in Pollachi drew the attention of civil society on the security of children living at care centres and orphanages, safety of Children in Need of Care and Protection (CNCP) is yet to be satisfactorily addressed in the State.
As per the statistics of National Tracking System for Missing and Vulnerable Children run by the Ministry Women and Child Development (WCD), the State has reported 35,550 children under the CNCP category in the last one year, as on Sunday.
Such a huge number of CNCP points towards the need of establishing more facilities across the State to ensure better rehabilitation.
The State portlet of National Tracking System for Missing and Vulnerable Children showed that 849 children were identified as CNCP during the last month alone.
Though ministry of WCD and police could together recover 36,646 children in the State in one year, 35,550 of them were still listed under the CNCP category. The data also showed that 565 children were still under the ‘missing’ category. During the past one month, as many as 49 children have been reported missing from the State. In past one year, as many as 14 children have reportedly been trafficked in the State.
In comparison with its southern neighbours, the data provided by the national portal claimed that Tamil Nadu had the highest number of children under the CNCP category .
While Andhra Pradesh reported 4,667 children under the CNCP category in the last one year, Karnataka had 3,681 children. Kerala reported only 72 children under the CNCP category.