Mission Vatsalya: A Step Towards The Better Future Of Every Child

Women and Children are an essential part of our society. As per the Census of 2011, 67.7% of the total population of India was Women and Children. Thus, the Union Ministry of women and Child Development has taken several initiatives to safeguard and improve them. In 2021, this ministry's schemes were clubbed under three umbrella schemes, namely Mission Poshan 2.0, Mission Vatsalya, and Mission Shakti. These schemes will be implemented during the period of the 15th Finance Commission, i.e., from 2021-22 to 2025-26. While the other two schemes were about the nutrition of women and children and women's empowerment, the third was about the children's safety and well-being.

What is Mission Vatsalya?

The term 'Vatsalya' means 'affection'. Mission Vatsalya is an umbrella mission of the Ministry of Women and Child Development that focuses on Child Protection Services and Child welfare schemes with a contribution from both the centre and the states. It emphasizes child rights, advocacy, and awareness, strengthening of juvenile justice care, and a protection system with the motto to 'leave no child behind'. Till 2009 -10, there were three that the women and child development ministry implemented. They were:

Programme for Juvenile Justice for Children in need of care and protection and children in conflict with the Law;
Integrated Programme for street children
Scheme for assistance to homes for children (Shishu Greh)

In 2009-10, these schemes were clubbed under an Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS). In 2017, it was renamed 'Child Protection services'; the previous year, it was included in Mission Vatsalya. In Budget 2022, ₹10916 crore have been allocated to this scheme. In this, the centre's share is ₹6928 crore, and the state's share is ₹3988 crore.

The vision of Mission Vatsalya

The vision of mission Vatsalya is 'To secure a healthy & happy childhood for each and every child in India'.

The mission of Mission Vatsalya

The mission of Mission Vatsalya is 'To foster a sensitive, supportive, and synchronized ecosystem for children as they transit different ages of their development'. With this, it aims to:

Support and sustain Children under challenging circumstances
Develop context-based solutions for the holistic development of children from varied backgrounds
Provide scope for encouraging innovative solutions
Cement convergent action

Objectives of Mission Vatsalya

The goals of Mission Vatsalya are:

To secure a healthy and happy childhood for every child in India
To ensure opportunities that enable them to discover their full potential
To foster a sensitive, supportive, and synchronized ecosystem for their development
To assist States and Union Territories in delivering the mandate of the Juvenile Justice Act of 2015
To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals

Components of Mission Vatsalya

Improve the functioning of statutory bodies
Strengthen service delivery structures
Upscale institutional care/services
Encourage non-institutional community-based care
Emergency outreach services
Training and capacity building

Guidelines for Mission Vatsalya

Recently, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has issued some guidelines regarding Mission Vatsalya. Under these guidelines, the center has asked all the states and union territories not to change the name of their child welfare schemes. They can only translate it into the local language. It also talks about the fund's disbursement. The Mission Vatsalya Project Approval Board will allocate funds to various states and union territories for various projects. The fund will be shared by the center and states proportionally. The ratio for all states and union territories is 60:40, except for a few states. Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, and the eight states in the North-East will have a ratio of 90:10. In a union territory with no legislature, the center will provide all the funds for initiatives under Mission Vatsalya. To read the detailed guidelines, visit: https://wcd.nic.in/acts/guidelines-mission-vatsalya