CiSS Application and Baal Swaraj Portal- Relevance for UPSC Exam
CiSS Application and Baal Swaraj Portal: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes under UPSC Mains GS Paper 2 covers the welfare of children and their protection.
CiSS Application and Baal Swaraj Portal in News
- Recently, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has launched a “CiSS application” under the Baal Swaraj portal.
What is CiSS portal?
- About: CiSS Portal of NCPCR is expected to help in the rehabilitation process of Children in Street Situations (CiSS).
- The CiSS initiative is taken under the direction of the Supreme Court of India.
- Categorization of CiSS Children: The SOP for Care and Protection of Children in Street Situations 2.0 categorizes any child under ‘Children in Street Situation’ if the child is living on the streets alone, living on the streets during the day, or living on the streets with the family.
- The root cause of this phenomenon is the migration of families from rural to urban areas in search of a better standard of living.
- Key Functions: The CiSS application is used for receiving data of children in street situations from all the states and union territories, tracking their rescue and rehabilitation process.
PM CARES for Children- Scholarship for PM CARES Children
Significance
- The program embodies Article 51 (A) of the Constitution of India, as it provides a platform to the public and organizations catering to the welfare of the children to report any child in need of assistance.
- The CiSS platform serves to collect data and report to the District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) for them to take necessary action.
- It also provides a platform for professionals and organizations to provide any help that they can to children in need.
- Help can be provided in the form of open shelters, counselling services, medical services, sponsorships, identification of hotspot, identification of CiSS, or any other assistance.
- The organizations and institutions that can utilize the platform are the Non-Government Organization, Civil Society Organization, higher educational or technical institutions, Foundation, Society, or a Trust.
Key Points about Baal Swaraj Portal
- About: Baal Swaraj is a portal launched by NCPCR for online tracking and digital real-time monitoring mechanism of children in need of care and protection.
- Key Functions: The portal has two functions- COVID care and CiSS.
- COVID Care link caters to the children who have lost either or both parents due to COVID-19 or otherwise post March 2020.
- Steps followed for Rehabilitation of Children: Baal Swaraj Portal follows following six steps for the rehabilitation of Children.
- First stage: collection of the child’s details, which is accomplished through the portal.
- Second stage: Social Investigating Report (SIR) i.e. investigating the child’s background. This is done under the supervision of the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) by the District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) by conversing and counselling the child.
- Third stage: formulating an Individual Care Plan (ICP) for the child.
- Fourth stage: the order of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) based on the SIR submitted to the CWC.
- Fifth stage: allocating the schemes and benefits that the beneficiary can avail of.
- Sixth stage: a checklist is made for the evaluation of the progress i.e. (Follow Ups).
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015