Bengaluru: As per recent information provided by Union Women and child development minister Smriti Irani in the Lok Sabha, Karnataka ranked third among the states with the highest number of missing children. During the last five years, more than 275,000 children were reported missing in India, with over 240,000 of them being successfully traced. Among the missing children, approximately 212,000 were girls, outnumbering the boys by more than three times, accounting for 62,000.
Specifically, in Karnataka, more than 27,000 children were reported missing during the mentioned period, making it the third state with the most missing children. These figures were presented in response to a query raised by BJP MP Brijendra Singh from Hisar regarding the number of missing children between January 2018 and June 2023.
The highest number of missing children was recorded in Madhya Pradesh, where 61,102 children went missing, including 49,024 girls and 12,075 boys. West Bengal followed closely with 49,129 missing children, comprising 41,808 girls and 7,311 boys. In Karnataka, as mentioned earlier, 27,538 children were reported missing, with 18,893 girls and 8,632 boys.
Efforts to address this issue include the Ministry’s portal called TrackChild, which incorporates a module called ‘Khoya-Paya’, enabling any citizen to report missing or sighted children. Last year, the Ministry integrated its various initiatives and schemes for children under Mission Vatsalya, merging four portals into one common platform: TrackChild, CARINGS (for child adoption), ICPS portal (for scheme monitoring), and Khoya-Paya (citizen-centric application for missing and sighted children). The TrackChild portal was developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Railways, state governments, Child Welfare Committees, Juvenile Justice Boards, National Legal Services Authority, and others. It also integrates with the Crime and Criminal Tracking & Network Systems (CCTNS) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, allowing for better coordination and data matching to trace and locate missing children.
