“As India approaches Children’s Day, there is a need to draw attention to the alarming crisis of missing children across the nation, where over 174 children disappear daily, and girls account for 75% of cases.”
Humra Quraishi
Sure enough, on this upcoming Children’s Day, 14 November, one would get to hear speech after speech from the political rulers of the day, but beyond those typical speeches, nothing very substantial in terms of the much-needed search for the missing children of the country—India’s missing children.
The grim fact is that thousands of children are missing, yet we sit a bit too quietly! A large percentage of the missing are girls; their percentage higher than boys.
The Missing Children
Today’s rulers might claim this or that achievement in their shrilly synthetic speeches but cannot overlook the fact that hundreds and thousands of our children are in the missing slot! Where are they? Who will find them? And when?
Have these children been kidnapped or stolen and sold? Who are the masterminds? Who operates this entire nexus of stealing kids and then using them for various deals and deeds?
Some of the missing kids are said to be traced and found. Even if found, one is not sure in what condition. What happens if they are unable to live with their parents or grandparents? What happens to their general upkeep? Are the government ‘homes’ where they get lodged safe in the actual sense of the term? Why are senior citizens not involved with the day-to-day interactions with these kids? How transparent is the system?
Above all, who is accountable for the checks and balances and for ensuring that these hapless children are not abused, inside and outside the shelter homes?
And if one were to confront the bigger and broader picture of the general condition of our children, then once again a dismal picture emerges.
Missing Childhood
A disturbing reality emerges even for those kids who are not missing! Tragically, missing is their very childhood!
Not sure how many even manage to reach adulthood. Yes, that’s the case as a substantial percentage of our children are malnourished, facing severe health-related issues. Their survival is at stake, compounded by the fact that their parents cannot afford to pay for the required medical treatment nor give them an adequate diet to battle the various ailments.
The school dropout rate is high, and many don’t reach the college stage. Financial, social, and health hurdles come in the way. Many become victims of the political poisoning spreading around—grabbed, kidnapped, and picked up by the political mafia on the prowl, on the lookout for fresh recruits. Foot soldiers, to unleash hate poisoning amongst the masses!
Criminalised or Victimised
Many teenage boys face a severe crisis when picked up by the cops. Even as and when released, their names remain in those police records and registers. Next time, even if there’s a cracker burst, they are the first ones to be rounded up for questioning and much more. Communal biases compound the situation.
Not to overlook the fact that the young are attacked during rioting and civil strife. Goon brigades are out to hound and pound them. After the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, I met mothers in Ahmedabad, and they told me they’d shifted their children to relatives’ homes residing outside the State.
Even during the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013, children were sent off, away from their homes, so that they could survive… Quite obviously, with that shift, school dropout rates peaked, ruining their childhood and leaving imprints on the lives of hundreds of innocents.
And now with bulldozers destroying homes, the poverty graph is sure to peak, affecting the very well-being and survival of our children. Isn’t it time that the concerned citizens of this country play a role in halting the blatant destruction of homes and, with that, of entire families? Once a home is bulldozed, it’s akin to demolishing an entire family or clan.
Gone are not just their dwelling but their very vital base for day-to-day survival. With bulldozed homes gone are the children’s school books and uniforms and clothes and the very kitchen… also hit is the very wish to carry on, to take on challenges. Entire families and clans were ruined!
Many more children and their childhoods will be destroyed if homes get destroyed—bulldozed so very steadily and systematically. And yet we sit like mute spectators to the destruction spreading out so very blatantly, right in front of our eyes. Bulldozed not just homes but childhoods of hundreds and thousands!
On this Children’s Day, let’s focus on the stark reality. It is time we sit up and ask the whereabouts of the country’s missing children.
Data on Missing Kids
One doesn’t have to be an investigative reporter to grasp the exact facts about the missing kids. They’re all up there, online.
Putting these figures on the missing children in the country, from some of the reports about our missing children:
* A matter of grave concern is that girls constitute a significantly higher proportion of missing and kidnapped children in India. In 2022, of the total 83,350 missing children, 62,946 were girls. That means more than 75% of missing children were girls. The proportion of girl children in total missing children has been rising from about 65% in 2016 to 75% in 2022 at the all-India level. This has been the trend for all the states mentioned above.
* NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) figures for the five years up to 2022 also show a mostly rising trend in the figures of missing children—a spike of 7.5% in 2022 in comparison to 2021, a significant surge of 30.8% in 2021 against 2020, a drop of 19.8% in 2020 against 2019, and again an increase of 8.9% in 2019 against 2018 and of 5.6% in 2018 against 2017.
* 174 Children Go Missing In India Every Day, Half Of Them Remain Untraced!
That’s how chilling the reality is!
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The post India’s Silent Crisis: The Missing Children first appeared on Kashmir Times (Since 1954): Multi-media web news platform..
The post India’s Silent Crisis: The Missing Children appeared first on Kashmir Times (Since 1954): Multi-media web news platform..