Lok Sabha Question No. 1505 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-10
Subject: Child Beggars
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Diya Kumari

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1505 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.02.2023

## CHILD BEGGARS

## 1505.  MS. DIYA KUMARI:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has any data regarding the number of child beggars in the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise, especially for the State of Rajasthan;
- (c) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  introduce  policies  for  rehabilitation  of children forced into begging;
- (d) the substantive measures undertaken for deterrence and prevention of child begging; and
- (e) whether the Government has carried out any assessment regarding the number of children involved in begging under Integrated Child Protection Scheme and if so, the findings thereof

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a)  to  (c)  :   The  Ministry  of  Women  and  Child  Development  is  administering  the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act, 2015) which is the  primary  legislation  for  ensuring  safety,  security,  dignity  and  well-being  of children. The Act provides for protection of children in need of care and protection and  those  in  conflict  with  law  by  catering  to  their  basic  needs  through care, protection, development, treatment and social re-integration. It defines standards of care and protection to secure the best interest of child.

Section  2  (14)  (ii)  of  the  Juvenile  Justice  (Care  and  Protection  of  Children)  Act, 2015 provides that a child  who is found working in contravention of labour laws for the time being in force or is found begging, or living on the street is included as a 'Child  in  Need  of  Care  and  Protection'.  The  JJ  Act,  2015  also  provides  for punishment with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and fine with one lakh rupees in the case of employment of child for begging.

The  Ministry  is  implementing  a  centrally  sponsored  scheme  namely  'Mission Vatsalya' (erstwhile Child Protection Services (CPS) Scheme) under which support and financial assistance on predefined cost sharing pattern is provided to State and UT Governments for delivering services for children in difficult circumstances.

The Child Care Institutions (CCIs) established under the Mission Vatsalya scheme support inter-alia age-appropriate education, access to vocational training, recreation, health care, counselling etc. As per the scheme guidelines, quantum of sponsorship of Rs. 4000/- per child per month is available for Non-institutional Care of children in Need of Care and Protection and the provision for maintenance grant of Rs. 3000/- per child per month for children living in Child Care Institution.  Statewise details of beneficiaries supported under Mission Vatsalya Scheme including Rajasthan, as on 31.03.2022, is at Annexure-I. (d) & (e) : Under the JJ Act, 2015 (Sections 27-30), the Child Welfare Committees (CWC) have been empowered to take decisions with regard to the children in need of care and protection, keeping their best interest in mind. They are also mandated to monitor the function of the Child Care Institutions (CCIs). At the national and state level, the JJ Act authorizes the National/State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights  to  monitor  the  implementation  of  the  Act  (Section  109).   Further,  as  per section 106 of JJ Act, 2015, the primary responsibility and execution of the JJ Act, 2015 lies with the States/UTs. As informed by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), an online portal Baal Swaraj has been devised to do real time monitoring of children living in street situations - Baal Swaraj Portal-CISS . All the States/UTs have been directed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in SMWP(C) No.6 of 2021 In Re. Children in Street Situations to upload the data of children who have been identified to be in street  situations.   The  State/UT-wise  details  of  Children  in  Street  Situations uploaded on Baal Swaraj-Portal-CISS, as on 24.03.2022, is given at Annexure-II. These children are produced before CWCs for taking decision regarding declaring them as children in need of care and protection and further support to them. Further,  Ministry  of  Social  Justice  and  Empowerment,  has  formulated  a  scheme 'SMILE - Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise', which includes sub-scheme titled 'Comprehensive Rehabilitation of persons engaged in the act of Begging'. The scheme provides for necessaries like food, shelter homes, skill development,  economic  linkages  including  education  to  the  children/  children  of

medical facilities, counselling, rehabilitation, basic documentation, persons found to be engaged in begging.

******

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) TO (C) TO THE LOK SABHA UN-STARRED QUESTION NO.1505 FOR 10.02.2023 RAISED BY MS. DIYA KUMARI REGARDING CHILD BEGGARS

## STATE-WISE DETAILS OF BENEFICIARIES SUPPORTED UNDER MISSION VATSALYA SCHEME INCLUDING RAJASTHAN (AS ON 31.03.2022)

| Sl. No.   | State                                |   Total Beneficiaries |
|-----------|--------------------------------------|-----------------------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh                       |                  3069 |
| 2         | Arunachal Pradesh                    |                   147 |
| 3         | Assam                                |                  1378 |
| 4         | Bihar                                |                  2372 |
| 5         | Chhattisgarh                         |                  2167 |
| 6         | Goa                                  |                   685 |
| 7         | Gujarat                              |                  1299 |
| 8         | Haryana                              |                  1786 |
| 9         | Himachal Pradesh                     |                  1147 |
| 10        | Jammu and Kashmir                    |                   579 |
| 11        | Jharkhand                            |                  1537 |
| 12        | Karnataka                            |                  3974 |
| 13        | Kerala                               |                  1380 |
| 14        | Madhya Pradesh                       |                  2982 |
| 15        | Maharashtra                          |                  3468 |
| 16        | Manipur                              |                  1980 |
| 17        | Meghalaya                            |                   915 |
| 18        | Mizoram                              |                   776 |
| 19        | Nagaland                             |                   597 |
| 20        | Orissa                               |                  7077 |
| 21        | Punjab                               |                   685 |
| 22        | Rajasthan                            |                  3670 |
| 23        | Sikkim                               |                   534 |
| 24        | Tamil Nadu                           |                 13877 |
| 25        | Tripura                              |                   875 |
| 26        | Uttar Pradesh                        |                  4722 |
| 27        | Uttarakhand                          |                   457 |
| 28        | West Bengal                          |                  6494 |
| 29        | Telangana                            |                  2822 |
| 30        | Andaman & Nicobar                    |                   301 |
| 31        | Chandigarh                           |                   153 |
| 32        | Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu |                     5 |
| 33        | Ladakh                               |                     0 |
| 34        | Lakshadweep                          |                     0 |
| 35        | Delhi                                |                  1835 |
| 36        | Puducherry                           |                   373 |
| Total     | Total                                |                 76118 |

## ANNEXURE - II

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (D) AND (E) TO THE LOK SABHA UN-STARRED QUESTION NO.1505 FOR 10.02.2023 RAISED BY MS. DIYA KUMARI REGARDING CHILD BEGGARS

## THE  STATE/UT-WISE  DETAILS  OF  CHILDREN  IN  STREET  SITUATIONS UPLOADED ON BAAL SWARAJ-PORTAL- CISS (AS ON 24.03.2022)

|   Sl. No. | State/UT                             |   Children living on the streets with their families |   Children stay on the streets in the day and are back home in the night with their families who reside in a nearby slum/ hutments |   Children without support living on the streets all alone |   Total |
|-----------|--------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------|---------|
|         1 | Andaman & Nicobar Islands            |                                                    0 |                                                                                                                                  0 |                                                          0 |       0 |
|         2 | Andhra Pradesh                       |                                                  530 |                                                                                                                                240 |                                                         17 |     787 |
|         3 | Arunachal Pradesh                    |                                                    0 |                                                                                                                                  0 |                                                          0 |       0 |
|         4 | Assam                                |                                                  107 |                                                                                                                                183 |                                                         32 |     322 |
|         5 | Bihar                                |                                                  145 |                                                                                                                                 90 |                                                         13 |     248 |
|         6 | Chandigarh                           |                                                   40 |                                                                                                                                  8 |                                                          5 |      53 |
|         7 | Chhattisgarh                         |                                                   54 |                                                                                                                                129 |                                                         22 |     205 |
|         8 | Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu |                                                   11 |                                                                                                                                  0 |                                                          0 |      11 |
|         9 | Delhi                                |                                                  589 |                                                                                                                               1203 |                                                         61 |    1853 |
|        10 | Goa                                  |                                                   25 |                                                                                                                                 28 |                                                          0 |      53 |
|        11 | Gujarat                              |                                                 1086 |                                                                                                                                895 |                                                          9 |    1990 |
|        12 | Haryana                              |                                                  392 |                                                                                                                                362 |                                                         23 |     777 |
|        13 | Himachal Pradesh                     |                                                   15 |                                                                                                                                 93 |                                                          0 |     108 |
|        14 | Jammu and Kashmir                    |                                                   33 |                                                                                                                                212 |                                                          1 |     246 |
|        15 | Jharkhand                            |                                                   25 |                                                                                                                                 32 |                                                         12 |      69 |
|        16 | Karnataka                            |                                                  466 |                                                                                                                                649 |                                                        105 |    1220 |
|        17 | Kerala                               |                                                   33 |                                                                                                                                  8 |                                                          2 |      43 |
|        18 | Ladakh                               |                                                    3 |                                                                                                                                 30 |                                                          0 |      33 |
|        19 | Lakshadweep                          |                                                    0 |                                                                                                                                  0 |                                                          0 |       0 |
|        20 | Madhya Pradesh                       |                                                  638 |                                                                                                                                808 |                                                         45 |    1491 |
|        21 | Maharashtra                          |                                                 3848 |                                                                                                                               1266 |                                                         39 |    5153 |
|        22 | Manipur                              |                                                    0 |                                                                                                                                  0 |                                                          0 |       0 |
|        23 | Meghalaya                            |                                                    0 |                                                                                                                                  5 |                                                          0 |       5 |
|        24 | Mizoram                              |                                                    0 |                                                                                                                                  0 |                                                          0 |       0 |
|        25 | Nagaland                             |                                                    0 |                                                                                                                                  1 |                                                          0 |       1 |
|        26 | Odisha                               |                                                  172 |                                                                                                                                 11 |                                                         43 |     226 |
|        27 | Puducherry                           |                                                    9 |                                                                                                                                 18 |                                                          0 |      27 |
|        28 | Punjab                               |                                                   41 |                                                                                                                                167 |                                                         18 |     226 |
|        29 | Rajasthan                            |                                                  387 |                                                                                                                                175 |                                                         12 |     574 |
|        30 | Sikkim                               |                                                    0 |                                                                                                                                  0 |                                                          0 |       0 |
|        31 | Tamil Nadu                           |                                                 1073 |                                                                                                                                522 |                                                        124 |    1719 |
|        32 | Telangana                            |                                                  115 |                                                                                                                                690 |                                                          6 |     811 |
|        33 | Tripura                              |                                                    0 |                                                                                                                                  2 |                                                         14 |      16 |
|        34 | Uttar Pradesh                        |                                                  510 |                                                                                                                                258 |                                                        270 |    1038 |
|        35 | Uttrakhand                           |                                                   45 |                                                                                                                                 22 |                                                          1 |      68 |
|        36 | West Bengal                          |                                                    9 |                                                                                                                                156 |                                                          8 |     173 |