Organised syndicates involved in child trafficking and abject poverty in rural areas of the country are making it difficult to stop the menace, experts said Saturday.
"The network of these organised syndicates is so strong that it is impossible to break them," Vinod Tikku, member of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, told reporters here.
He said in most of the states the child welfare committees are so weak that it is not possible to keep track of all children who go missing every year.
"In remote areas the local governance has failed completely," he added.
According to Enakshi Ganguly of voluntary organisation Haq: Centre for Child Rights, although majority of people are aware about trafficking of women and children for prostitution, exploiting children as domestic workers and the problem of child brides in states like Punjab and Haryana has become more grave recently.
She said that rehabilitation of rescued children was also a major issue. "Most of the time things cannot move due to police apathy."
Ravikant, director of NGO Shanktivahini, said: "Police pass the buck citing jurisdiction issues in most cases."
He said nearly 100,000 children go missing every year of which 26,000 children belong to West Bengal alone, which is the focal point of child trafficking.
Tikku called for proper implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme in villages to tackle poverty.
