Lucknow: To strengthen child safety, child welfare protection committees will be set up across 331 districts and 20,000 villages with support from NITI Aayog and Just Rights for Children. The initiative aims to ensure that children are in school, safe and protected through community-level awareness, monitoring and early intervention.Founder of Just Rights for Children, Bhuwan Ribhu, said, “Uttar Pradesh has reported significant progress in tackling crimes against children through coordinated action between govt departments and civil society groups.”In 2025-26, a total of 3,805 rescue operations were carried out, compared with 1,904 in 2023-24. More than 5,000 children were rescued and 919 FIRs were registered, up from 261 FIRs in the previous period. The labour department issued challans in 2,552 cases during this period.“Efforts to prevent child marriage also increased. A total of 17,303 child marriages were stopped through coordination with local administration, anganwadi workers and police. Most cases were resolved through written undertakings by families, while some required police action and FIRs,” said Ribhu.
