‘CHILDLINE’ (1098) helpline was started nearly two decades ago, not recently by PM Modi.

A post is being shared widely on social media with a claim that PM Modi announced a child helpline (1098) for the benefit of children in various crisis situations. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.

Claim: 1098 child helpline announced by PM Modi.

Fact: The child help line (‘CHILDLINE’) was started nearly two decades ago as a field action project at TISS. Currently, the CHILDLINE India Foundation (CIF) is the mother NGO for managing this helpline and gets funded under the Child Protection Services by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. So, an already existing helpline is being promoted as something PM Modi has recently announced. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.

When searched about the helpline on Google, the official website of ‘CHILDLINE 1098’ can be found in the search results. On the website, it can be found that “CHILDLINE 1098 is a 24-hour a day, 365 days a year, free, emergency phone service for children in need of aid and assistance”. In the ‘Our Story’ section, it can be read that the helpline was started nearly two decades ago as a field action project of the Department of Family and Child Welfare, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). Formed in 1999, CHILDLINE India Foundation was granted the exclusive ‘Nodal Mother NGO’ status, in 2006-07, by the Ministry of Woman and Child Development to set up CHILDLINE services across the country. So, an already existing helpline is being promoted as something Modi has recently announced.

Similar posts about the helpline went viral previously with the claim that it is a helpline to pick up the food leftovers. The fact-check article written by FACTLY debunking that claim can be read here.

To sum it up, ‘CHILDLINE’ (1098) helpline was started nearly two decades ago, not recently by PM Modi.

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