Lok Sabha Question No. 1212 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-09
Subject: Implementation of POCSO Rules
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: S. Jothimani

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1212

TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.02.2024

## IMPLEMENTATION OF POCSO RULES

## 1212. MS. S. JOTHIMANI:

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

- (a) The total amount of funds allocated and utilized on information dissemination in public spaces as per Section 3(2) of the POCSO Rules, 2020, year-wise;
- (b) The steps taken by the Government for awareness generation under Section 3(3) of the POCSO Rules, 2020 along with the Centre-State financial share in the same;
- (c) The expenditure incurred by the Government on training, orientation programmes and sensitisation workshops for personnel coming in contact with children under Section 3(6) of the POCSO Rules, year-wise; and
- (d) The details of the programmes conducted under Section 3(6) along with the number of participants (classified by their profession), year-wise?

## ANSWER

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

(a)to  (d): As  per  section-  44  of  the  Protection  of  Children  from  Sexual  Offences Act,2012,  the  National  Commission  for  Protection  of  Child  Rights  (NCPCR)  is mandated to Monitor the implementation of the POCSO Act. The Ministry of Women and Child Development releases funds to the NCPCR for carrying out the various activities including the monitoring of implementation of POCSO Act.

Section 43 of the POCSO Act, 2012 provides that the Central Government and every State Government shall take all measures to give wide publicity to the provisions of the Act.

In accordance with this, the Government has taken various steps from time to time to create awareness of the provisions of the POCSO Act through electronic and print  media,  consultations,  workshops  and  training  programmes  with  stakeholders concerned. In order to generate awareness about the POCSO Act, a short film on POCSO Act was disseminated in Cinema Halls and Doordarshan across the nation.

Thereafter,  Ministry  has  undertaken  awareness  campaign  to  encompass various aspects of the POCSO Act in an effective manner by way of a short video clips, an audio clip and a poster which have been disseminated through various means all over India. For effective dissemination of the creative, the creative have also been translated into regional languages for effective outreach.

National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has published Childline (1098) - 24x7 Helpline for children and POCSO E-box on the back side of the front cover of all the course books from class 6th to class 12 th  to equip the children with the information regarding the possible modes of protection/ complaints.

Further, the Ministry has organized following zonal conferences and sensitization/dissemination workshops under Mission Vatsalya Scheme:

i. Zonal  Conferences: Outreach  with  State  Governments/UT  Administrations  and Stakeholders through Zonal Conferences on Strategic Interventions for addressing Malnutrition  Concerns  and  for  the,  Development,  Empowerment  and  Protection  of Women and Children including Mission Vatsalya scheme during the last financial year.

ii. Dissemination Workshops: National Dissemination Workshop on Juvenile Justice (Care  and  Protection  of  Children  )  Act,  2015,  Protection  of  Children  from  Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and the rules there under and the Adoption Regulations, 2017 including Mission Vatsalya Scheme  on  17.08.2022 and 29.08.2022 with all States/UTs,  line  Ministries/  Departments,  representatives  from  Police,  National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Child Protection functionaries including members of  Child  Welfare  Committees(CWCs)/Juvenile  Justice  Boards(JJBs)  and  other stakeholders.

iii. Workshops: Workshops on Sensitization/ Training Programme for representatives of Panchayati Raj Representatives (PRIs), Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and Police on Child Rights & Protection including Mission Vatsalya Scheme at Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) on 16.11.2022 and 14-15.09.2023 in collaboration with UT Administration. This workshop was attended by officers from Ministry, NCPCR, UT of J&K, Administrative and Police Training. Institutes, District Child Protection Officers (DCPOs), CWCs, JJBs, Special Juvenile Police Units (SJPUs), representative from UNICEF and other Stakeholders.

iv. Vatsal Bharat: Regional Symposiums on 'Child Protection, Child Safety and Child Welfare'  including  Mission  Vatsalya  were  organized,  starting  from  02.07.2023  to 18.08.2023 at Delhi, Bhopal, Mumbai, Ranchi, Guwahati and Varanasi. In the Regional Symposiums, representatives from States/UTs including members of Child Welfare Committees  (CWCs),  Juvenile  Justice  Boards  (JJBs),  Members  of  Village  Child Protection Committee (VCPC) and Anganwadi Workers had participated. The list of Regional  Symposiums,  participating  States/  UTs  and  approximate  total  number  of representatives is attached at Annexure I.

v. A  three  day  consultation was  organized  by  the  Ministry  from  22.03.2023  to 24.03.2023  at  NIPCCD  to  improve  adoptability  of  Mission  Vatsalya  portal  by  its user/stakeholders.

vi. A virtual technical training Session on  the  Modules of Institutional and NonInstitutional Care in the Mission Vatsalya Portal for North Eastern States (Arunachal

Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura) was organized by the Ministry on 15.11.2023.

vii. Training conducted by National Institute of Public Co-operation and Child Development (NIPCCD) : Under Mission Vatsalya Scheme, NIPCCD has conducted 129  training programmes  during  the  financial year 2022-23  and  82  training programmes during the current financial year (as on 01.12.2023).

Further  as  per  the  information  received  from  National  Institute  of  Public Cooperation  and  Child  Development  conducted  a  total  of  65  Programmes  under Section 3(6) of POCSO Rules during the year April, 2020 to December, 2023. These programmes  were  attended  by  about  3515  participants  including  Principals  of Kendriya  Vidyalaya,  Government  Officers  of  Railways  Banks  and  others  Public Service Undertaking (PSUs), Representatives of Voluntary Organizations working in the  field  of  Women  and  Children,  Officials  of  Ministry  of  Women  and  Child Development, Faculty of National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, Child Development Project Officers, Supervisors, Anganwadi Workers, Functionaries of Competition Commission of India (Superintendents, Child  Welfare Officers,  Protection  Officers,  Social  Workers  &  Counsellors),  School  Teachers  and Staff,  Faculty  of  University,  Secondary  and  Higher  Secondary  School  Children, Functionaries  of  Mission  Vatsalaya  (  District  Child  Protection  Officers,  Protection Officers,  I/C,  Protection  Officers  NIC,  Social  Workers  and  Counsellors),  Special Juvenile Police Units, Child and Functionaries, Law Enforcement Agencies like Police & Judiciary, Medical Professionals, Members of Child Welfare Committees & Juvenile Justice  Board  and  Coordinators  of  Special  Adoption  Agency.  The  details  of  total number of programmes conducted, total no of participants, and actual expenditure incurred in year 2020-21, 2021-2022, 2022-23 and April'23 - December'2023 is at Annexure-II.

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## Annexure-I

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN PART (A)-(D) OF REPLY TO IN LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  1212 TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.02.2024 ASKED BY MS. S. JOTHIMANI ON IMPLEMENTATION OF POCSO RULES INDICATING LIST OF REGIONAL  SYMPOSIUM,  PARTICIPATING STATES/ UTS AND APPROXIMATE TOTAL NUMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES.

|   Sl.No. | Place     | Date              | Participating States/UTs                                                                                                                 |   Number of approximate representatives |
|----------|-----------|-------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
|        1 | New Delhi | 2 nd July,2023    | UT of Jammu & Kashmir, UT of Ladakh, UT of Chandigarh, UT of NCT of Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh, |                                    2000 |
|        2 | Bhopal    | 9 th July,2023    | Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh Rajasthan                                                                                                   |                                    1500 |
|        3 | Mumbai    | 22 nd July,2023   | Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andha Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, UT of Dadar Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu                                            |                                    2500 |
|        4 | Ranchi    | 30 th July,2023   | West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar                                                                                                    |                                     800 |
|        5 | Guwahati  | 12 th August,2023 | Assam Arunachal Mizoram Nagaland Tripura Sikkim                                                                                          |                                    1200 |
|        6 | Varanasi  | 18 th August,2023 | NGO partners                                                                                                                             |                                    1500 |

Annexure-II

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN PART (A)-(D) OF REPLY TO IN LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  1212 TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.02.2024 ASKED BY MS. S. JOTHIMANI ON IMPLEMENTATION OF POCSO RULES INDICATING THE DETAILS OF TOTAL NUMBER OF PROGRAMMES CONDUCTED, TOTAL NO OF PARTICIPANTS, AND ACTUAL EXPENDITURE INCURRED IN YEAR 2020-21, 2021-2022, 2022-23 AND APRIL'23 - DECEMBER'2023.

| S.No.   | Year                       |   Total No. of Programmes |   Total no. of Participants | Expenditure (Rs.)   |
|---------|----------------------------|---------------------------|-----------------------------|---------------------|
| 1.      | 2020-21                    |                        27 |                        1533 | 45,254              |
| 2.      | 2021-22                    |                        10 |                         548 | 41,832              |
| 3.      | 2022-23                    |                        15 |                         793 | 1,40,248            |
| 4.      | April 2023- December, 2023 |                        13 |                         641 | 6,57,407            |
|         | Grand Total                |                        65 |                        3515 | 8,84,741            |