Three years on, Uttarakhand yet to implement child protection plan

Even after three years of the Centre rolling out the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) to ensure care and protection of vulnerable children, the Uttarakhand government is yet to implement it. Moushumi Das Gupta reports.

Even after three years of the Centre rolling out the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) to ensure care and protection of vulnerable children, the Uttarakhand government is yet to implement it.

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This came to light recently when a team of officials from the Women & Child Development (WCD) ministry visited the state to assess the condition of vulnerable women and children affected by the flash floods.

"We were shocked to find that despite the Uttarakhand government signing a MoU with the Centre in 2011, it has not rolled out the scheme. No proposal has been sent to us under ICPS," said a WCD official who was part of the team that visited the state.

Not having ICPS means that at present there is no institutional mechanism in place to take care of and rehabilitate children in difficult circumstances. "Absence of such a scheme makes children affected by the floods especially vulnerable and puts them at great risk of falling prey to traffickers or other anti-social elements," said the official.

The team in its report submitted to the WCD minister Krishna Tirath has urged the Uttarakhand government to immediately set up ICPS.