The Union ministry of women and child development to integrate 1098 childline helpline with the telephonic shortcode 112 national emergency number.
Childline 1098 service across the country is a 24-hour emergency phone service for children in need, running successfully for the past 26 years. It integrates between civil society and the government to ensure their rights and protection to build a child-friendly society. Childline 1098 receives 8 million calls annually. These units do not have a proper phone operator.
The ministry on Monday wrote to states to identify a State-level nodal officer to support C-DAC and provide space for setting up a control room for takers of call on the helplines.
Childline 1098 is run as a private trust and it is meant exclusively for children, on the other hand number 112 is an integration of Police, fire and helpline numbers. If police be the first responders there may be drop in reporting of offences where children cannot open up due to fear and also police personnel cannot provide the support the children needed. This a great matter of concern.
A letter of September 12 from the Ministry of Women and Child Development Manoj Kumar Prabhat says that “The ministry has decided to integrate the Child Helpline (1098) with Emergency Response Support System with telephonic short code 112 and 112 India App and their linkage with District Child Protection Units with the help of Centre for Development Advanced Computing”
