Over the past year, the child helpline number 1098 has received more than 53 lakh 'silent calls' from children calling for help or adults calling to help the child.
Silent calls are calls where the child dials the number and the person on the other end of the line can hear the background audio for a few seconds and the caller hangs up. The child or the adult seeking help is still making up their mind about whether they should speak or not.
Harlene Walia from Childline India Foundation told The Times of India, "These silent calls are taken very seriously by those manning 1098...In case of silent calls, those manning the helpline have instructions to give inputs that generate confidence in the caller to speak or share details".
Walia went on to say that the number of children calling due to parents fighting, separation of parents or domestic distress is also rising rapidly.
There are many cases where the NGO workers have to intervene. Over one lakh cases in 2017-18 required the intervention of the NGO workers. These cases were protection from abuse, missing children, and even emotional support.
According to The Times of India, many calls are just for guidance and emotional support. Since 2015, the data shows that more than 66,000 calls have been made seeking someone to talk to and hear out their problems. In 2015-16, there were 17,828 calls. Now, it rose up to 25,724 in 2017-18.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development has created the helpline number 1098 which is implemented through NGO ChildLine India Foundation.
