West Bengal government has formed thousands of child protection committees in villages to monitor child trafficking, state minister Shashi Panja said here today.
Panja, who holds the portfolio of Minister of State for Child and Women Development and Social Welfare, said the committees, which have children, local leaders, doctors etc, are monitoring cases of child trafficking.
"There are about 37,000 such committees at the village level, while at the district and block levels also there are child protection committees," Panja said while releasing UNICEF's 'State of the World's Children Report 2016'.
She asked girl students to track cases of absenteeism of other girls in the school saying it may be a sign that they were getting married early.
Girls from 'Kanyashree' clubs were already tracking such girls who suddenly absent from classes, she said.
On the link between poverty and children's future, she said girls from the poorest households were twice as likely to get married as children than those from wealthiest households.
