UNION GOVERNMENT FINANCING FOR CHILD PROTECTION THROUGH CHILD PROTECTION SERVICES (CPS) SCHEME, NEW DELHI, INDIA

OBJECTIVES

·        To study the status of implementation of CPS (Child Protection Scheme) prior to the pandemic with a focus on the possible impact of COVID-19 on child protection and welfare.

SUMMARY

India is home to largest number of children in the world, constituting approximately 40 per cent of the country’s population (Saini, 2013). Investing to ensure protection of child rights and child welfare, apart from a moral imperative, is also supported by economic rationales—taking either the narrow outlook of economic growth or a broader perspective development that builds towards a more equitable society (Jha et al., 2019). An analysis of the budgets of the Union government and state governments in India in 2019, found a high correlation between per-child expenditure and comprehensive wellbeing of children, measured based on an index on child and adolescent development (Jha et al., 2019). This suggests that spending more on child development can have a direct impact on children’s overall well-being. Moreover, a comparison between states showed that irrespective of the fiscal capacity of states, prioritising children in the budget allocation can lead to significant improvements in child development.