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The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has created a monitoring application called ‘MASI’ – Monitoring App for Seamless Inspection. It enables the real-time monitoring of Child Care Institutions (CCIs) and their inspection mechanisms throughout the country. The app is linked to the MASI portal where automatic reports are generated.
The initiative aims to ensure the effective and efficient functioning of the processes for inspecting CCIs as provided under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (amended in 2021). The app facilitates synchronous monitoring of the entire system, making it easier to oversee and assess the operations of CCIs directly.
The MASI application facilitates unified inspections by Child Welfare Committees (CWCs), State Inspection Committees, District Inspection Committees, Members of Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs), and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs) in accordance with the JJ Act, 2015. It serves as a single platform, allowing any of these authorities to conduct inspections of all CCIs nationwide.
The application ensures regular follow-up both before and after the completion of the inspection cycle. Once the inspection questionnaire is filled and submitted by the respective authority, the MASI portal automatically generates comprehensive reports, streamlining the monitoring and assessment process. As of 24 July, a total of 4,268 inspections have been completed on the MASI portal by 32 states/union territories.
Under the JJ Act, 2015, it is a legal requirement to set up a CWC in every district. The CWC serves as the designated authority to handle cases related to the care, protection, treatment, development, and rehabilitation of children in need of care and protection.
Integrating technology into the handling of cases leads to streamlined documentation and tracking, data analytics for decision-making, secure digital records for accessible information sharing, real-time monitoring and reporting, and child tracking systems for safety. This enables a more efficient and transparent care and protection system, ensuring the welfare and rights of vulnerable children are upheld.
Last June, NCPCR launched an application under the Baal Swaraj portal to help rehabilitate children in street situations (CiSS). Baal Swaraj also enables authorities to track children in need of care. The portal has two functions: COVID-19 care and CiSS. The COVID-19 care link caters to children who have lost either or both parents due to COVID-19 or otherwise post-March 2020. When a child is reported under the CiSS link, a registration ID is generated along with the contact information of the concerned District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) to follow up. The DCPO will get information about the child on the portal’s dashboard.
More recently, NCPCR launched the Go Home and Re-Unite (GHAR) portal, aimed at monitoring and tracking the restoration and repatriation of children across the country. As OpenGov Asia reported, GHAR facilitates the digital tracking of children within the juvenile justice system, ensuring their smooth repatriation to another country, state, or district. It enables the digital transfer of cases to the relevant state’s JJB/CWC. Moreover, the portal allows for requesting a translator, interpreter, or expert from the state government when necessary.
It features a checklist format in the necessary forms to identify children who are facing challenges in repatriation or not receiving their entitled compensation and other monetary benefits. This allows for timely and appropriate intervention. A list of government-implemented schemes is available on the portal so that, at the time of restoration, the CWC can link the child with the schemes and ensure that they remain with their family.
