New Delhi: A web portal to be used as social medium for people to share information about missing children was launched on Tuesday by the government here.
Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad jointly launched the website -- 'Khoya-Paya', a platform for citizens to report children sighted as abandoned, lost or with suspicious person.
At present, there is a website called 'Track Child' for missing children which provides a networking system among all the stakeholders, including police and citizens, to facilitate tracking of a lost child.
"This is a unique initiative. Though we have Track-Child website but it has certain limitations as it is basically for the police. Therefore, a need was felt to have a portal in which everybody can take part. With the help of this portal people will be able to upload the information on their own," Gandhi, said.
Besides enabling those who spot a missing child in suspicious circumstances to upload data along with photo, the portal will allow parents to upload information about their missing children in real time.
The website, however, is not a substitute for registering First Information Report (FIR) or police action.
"Maximum of missing children belong to poor families. This website will help such people to search for their children," Prasad said, adding that it will also be launched in the form of mobile application.
According to National Crime Record Bureau, the figure of missing children every year is 70,000. In 2010 and 2011, it was 77,000 and 90,000 respectively. While in 2012 and 2013, 65,000 children went missing. The total number of recovered children from January 2012 and April 2015 is 23,597.
The portal is developed by Women and Child Development Ministry in partnership with Information Technology and Communications.
