Modi government plans to launch a website to track missing children

NEW DELHI: If you have lost a child or want to report a missing one, there is help at hand. The government for the first time plans to launch a web portal that can be accessed by a common man to upload visuals and details of missing children and help track them.

The website khoyapaya.gov.in will act as an enabling platform for citizens to report missing children or those found as well as sightings. The web portal has been initiated by the ministry of women and child development (WCD) along with the department of electronics and information technology (DEITY). It is likely to be launched in June.

WCD minister Maneka Gandhi said, “The aim is to ensure that there are a million eyes looking at the pictures of children and help police track them.'' The web portal will be in English for now but plans are afoot to translate it into Hindi and regional languages over a period of time. The ministry also hopes that it will be linked with social media like twitter for a multiplier effect.

Gandhi said the ministry would like to include public announcements through newspaper inserts, slots on television channels and local cable operators and monetary awards to supplement the tracking process. The minister is likely to raise these issues with union home minister Rajnath Singh soon.

According to NCRB data one lakh children are reported missing in India every year. Child rights activists, however, say the number is much higher because children missing in rural areas and in deep hinterland are neither reported by police nor are efforts made to find them. Adding content to the site is restricted to police and authorized personnel. Videos or pictures will be uploaded on the website after being cleared by the moderator.