National Child Survey Mospi Mowcd Mission Vatsalya Child Index

The central government is planning to conduct a National Child Survey, with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) having begun discussions with the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD).

According to the 42nd report of the Standing Committee on Finance, tabled on Monday, the survey hopes to “map the needs of children under Mission Vatsalya, specifically focusing on children in need of care and protection and juveniles requiring legal and social rehabilitation”.

Formerly known as Integrated Child Protection Scheme, Mission Vatsalya focusses on child rights, advocacy, and awareness as well as strengthening of the juvenile justice care and protection system.

In its report, the Standing Committee on Finance noted that while a robust legal framework exists, “the abolition of child labour remains a complex challenge”, with coordination gaps and absence of updated data being key obstacles. As such, the committee has called on MoSPI and MoWCD to “move beyond the discussion stage” regarding the survey.

Specifically, the survey must capture data on children working in the informal sector, street children, and out-of-school children, the committee said, adding that a periodic child well-being statistical dashboard and a National Child Index should be developed to evaluate the performance of districts and states.

“The Committee had raised concerns over the absence of a comprehensive, updated and disaggregated national database on children for effective monitoring of child-centric programmes. They were of the view that in the absence of such a robust statistical foundation, gaps persist in identifying vulnerable groups and assessing the real impact of existing welfare measures,” the report noted.

MoSPI, in a submission to the committee, said its officials had met with officers from MoWCD earlier this year on May 12. At the meeting, it was decided that MoWCD may consider setting up of a Technical Advisory Group “at the earliest” to examine the objective, scope, coverage, methodology, feasibility of data collection, convergence with existing surveys and administrative databases, among other issues, to conduct the proposed survey. The Technical Advisory Group is to be chaired by a domain expert in child welfare, include members from various concerned ministries and areas, and submit its report and recommendations within three months of its constitution.

Siddharth Upasani is a Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. He reports primarily on data and the economy, looking for trends and changes in the former which paint a picture of the latter. Before The Indian Express, he worked at Moneycontrol and financial newswire Informist (previously called Cogencis). Outside of work, sports, fantasy football, and graphic novels keep him busy. ... Read More