Integrated Child Helpline to Be Admin-Run in Nine States/Union Territories From Next Month in India

Childline 1098, a child helpline in India, will be integrated with the Emergency Response Support System 112 (ERSS-112) and run directly by state and district functionaries in nine states and Union Territories from next month. The Indian government has taken this decision to ensure immediate help can be provided to children in distress. The transition is in progress in the following states and union territories: Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Puducherry, Goa, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu, Mizoram, Gujarat and Bihar. Earlier, 1,500 NGOs were serving the helpline service, but now it will operate directly by officials. The ministry was previously supporting the 24×7 helpline Childline 1098 service, which was handled by Childline India Foundation (CIF) and its partner NGOs. However, it lacked interoperability with other services which lead to loss of precious time in distress situations. The incoming calls to 1098 will now be classified into three categories: emergency calls, non-emergency calls and information calls. All emergency calls on the switch of a button will be forwarded by the WCD-control room to ERSS-112 for further actions.