Railway Childline

Providing Care and Protection to children: A joint initiative of Ministries of Women & Child Development and Railways

1. The largest number of homeless children, pavement dwellers, street and working children, child substance abusers and child beggars left on their own and in need of care and support reside in urban areas. These children suffer extreme deprivation compounded by lack of shelter and access to basic services for survival. Many of them travel from small towns and rural areas to urban areas, alone or with families, in search of livelihood, or hope for a better life, or in anger, or on impulse. A large number of children who run away from their homes use railways as a mode to travel. There are also children who are trafficked and transported through railways. Finally, a number of children get separated from their guardians during the course of their journey through railway. Such children are vulnerable to the harsh reality of street life and are often victims of various forms of abuse; physical, sexual, emotional as well as economic exploitation. They often end up living on their own in streets, market places and especially at railway stations. All these places are transit points for trafficking and need focussed programmes and attention for rescue and rehabilitation.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Railways have jointly taken an initiative to ensure the care and protection, security and well- being of run-away, unaccompanied and trafficked children who come in contact with the railways.

2. In order to address issues, a Standard Operating Procedure was formulated in March, 2015 and a Memorandum of Understanding signed between Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Women and Child Development

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on 19.05.2015. Towards implementation of the above SOP, one of the operative instructions was to set up Child Help desk/ Kiosks/ Booth. These were to be manned by CHILDLINE and their partners, for receiving, rehabilitating and restoring children. These Kiosks were to help in providing immediate attention to children at railway stations who are found unaccompanied by any adults and thereby address the issue of runaway, missing, abandoned children and children in other difficult circumstances in a more systematic and institutionalized manner.

3. This initiative is currently operating at 20 railway stations including New , Delhi (main), Nizamuddin, Anand Vihar Terminus, Mumbai Central, CST Mumbai, Howrah, Sealdah, New Jalpaigudi, Ranchi, Central, Chennai Egmore, Lucknow (NR), Lucknow(NER), Guwahati, Bangalore City, Patna, Varanasi Cant., Secunderabad and Nagpur. This is going to be extended to more railway stations progressively.

4. The CHILDLINE service has commenced in all the above 20 railway stations, with the support of the Railway authorities. The services are being provided by CHILDLINE Foundation (CIF) in collaboration with local NGO partners. The presence of CHILDLINE volunteers at the Railway Stations helps in identifying such vulnerable children and bringing them into the safety net. These services are being provided to children who directly come into contact with the Railways, based on calls and cases reported to CHILDLINE 1098, and also walk in referrals by concerned adults. Assistance to children includes protection of children from exploitative situations, production before Child Welfare Committee and restoration efforts and linkages to long rehabilitative services. Since its inception, till date, CHILDLINE teams have provided assistance to 4443 children in these railway stations.

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5. For such an initiative to be successful, citizen participation is of utmost importance. In order to get ordinary citizens to participate, an awareness campaign was launched on 25th November, 2015 when posters were pasted at Railway Station in one train viz: Shiv Ganga Express, by the Hon’ble Ministers of Railways and Women and Child Development alongwith Dr. Harsh Vardhan ( Hon’ble Minister of Science & Technology), Ms. Meenakshi Lekhi (Hon’ble Member of Parliament), Ms. Rekha Gupta (Municipal Councillor), senior officers of Ministries of Railways and Women & Child Development and CHILDLINE volunteers. It has been decided to put posters in all bogies of all trains across India. These posters will also be displayed on the railway stations.

6. The posters advise the public to be cautious and conscious of children who may need protection and also advise to what to do in case they come across such a child. The posters are being provided by the Ministry of Women and Child Development and it is expected that all bogies of all trains carrying passengers will have these posters in the next six months.

7. The first step in this long journey has been taken. We hope this initiative is the beginning of a movement; to ensure the protection of our most vulnerable children and for putting in place for the task, many such dedicated institutional mechanisms and teams across the country. It is our collective responsibility to make this work.

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Railway CHILDLINE Units

Sr Region Railway station Organisation Date of No Commencement of service

1 North Lucknow NR Ehsaas 31.8.15

2 North Lucknow NER Ehsaas 31.8.15

3 North Varanasi Cant. Gudia 01.06.15

4 North Old Delhi Salaam 01.07.15 Baalak Trust

5 North New Delhi LS Prayas 03.09.15

6 North Hazrat Butterflies 01.07.15 Nizamudin

7 North Anant Vihar Don Bosco 01.07.15 Terminus Ashalayam

8 East New Jalpaiguri CINI North 22.06.15 Bengal Unit

9 East Sealdah CINI Urban 15.6.15 Unit

10 East Howrah Don Bosco 1.7.15 Ashalayam

11 East Ranchi National 1.7.15 Domestic Workers Welfare Trust

12 East Patna BalSakha 19.7.15

13 East Guwahati ICCW 10.6.15

14 South Secundarabad Divya Disha 1.5.15

15 South Bengaluru Bangalore 1.8.15 Oniyavara Seva Coota

16 South Chennai Central Bro.Siga 1.6.15 Social Service Guild

17 South Chennai Arunodhaya 1.6.15 Egmore Centre for Street and Working Children

18 West CST -( Mumbai) CCDT, 1.8.15 Mumbai

19 West Mumbai Central Hamara 3.8.15 ( Mumbai) Foundation

20 West Nagpur Railway Varadaan 27.7.15 Station