Rewiring child protection – The Hindu

The urgency is clear. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 shows that Odisha’s total fertility rate has dropped to 1.8, down from 2.1 in 2015-16, below replacement level. The 2011 Census pegged the population at 4.1 crore; this is projected to reach 4.9 crore by 2036. Over these 25 years, the State will see 25% fewer births, which roughly translates to 70 lakh fewer children. This demographic contraction, coupled with an ageing population, alters the policy landscape.

These shifts intersect with entrenched inequities: women constitute 49.46% of the population; 83% of citizens live in rural areas, and 83.6% of women live in these spaces. About 40% of Odisha belongs to the Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste communities. Policy cannot afford to be reactive; it must anticipate vulnerability.

Despite measurable progress in several areas, Odisha’s journey towards gender justice faces structural headwinds. The sex ratio at birth has declined to 894 (NFHS-5). Odisha ranks high nationally in cyber-crimes against women, with 542 cases (2.4 per lakh). In 2022, 1,120 people were trafficked, including 140 minor girls. The State registered 5,581 missing children. These statistics signify a deeper malaise.

Odisha’s recent reforms reflect this recognition. The revised SSAP 2024 reorients child-marriage prevention around family strengthening, community surveillance, institutional convergence, and accountability. The outcomes are noteworthy: between 2019 and 2024, the State prevented over 14,000 child marriages; 13,536 villages and 954 Gram Panchayats declared themselves child-marriage-free. The institutional architecture has expanded accordingly. In 2024, Odisha appointed over 10,000 child marriage prohibition officers and more than 63,000 child marriage information officers, creating a decentralised vigilance system.

If SSAP is the protective framework, ADVIKA is its empowerment engine. Reaching 23.14 lakh adolescents, the programme promotes leadership and agency. It has cultivated 90,000 sakhis and sahelis and 84,000 sakhās and bandhus, who function as peer educators and first responders to prevent child marriage, trafficking, and abuse.

Meanwhile, the integration of Child Helpline 1098, Women’s Helpline 181, and ERSS (112) has reduced response times. Child Help Desks at 10 major railway stations serve as frontline defence against trafficking and unsafe migration. The Amari Shishu dashboard links multiple databases to track vulnerable children and ensure scheme convergence.

Prevention cannot succeed without social protection. The Ashirbad scheme has supported over 51,000 COVID-orphaned children, preventing distress-induced early marriage, or labour. Jashoda supported 1,486 children in 2024–25. A renewed emphasis on family-based care — kinship, foster care or adoption — has led to 278 adoptions in 2024–25, indicating reduced reliance on institutional care.

Complementing these measures are the Orphan Survey and Disability Survey, which identify the State’s most invisible children and ensure timely linkage to services.

Economic agency completes Odisha’s empowerment architecture. Subhadra has enabled over 1.1 crore women to open digital bank accounts, asserting financial independence as a right, not a privilege. Subhadra Plus interventions further safeguard the girl child across every stage, keeping her in school, connecting her to skills and enterprise, and surrounding her with networks of peers and protection. Collectively, these initiatives turn finance into freedom. Odisha’s experiment shows what can be achieved when child protection is treated not as a welfare obligation but as a governance priority.

Shubha Sarma is Principal Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Odisha.

Anu Garg is Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary, Planning and Convergence Department, Government of Odisha

Published – December 16, 2025 09:27 am IST