In January 2025, a social activist dialled 1098, the number of the national child helpline, flagging a case of child labour that needed urgent attention: about a dozen children were being illegally made to work at a brick kiln in a village near Dhule in North Maharashtra.Usually, within 60 minutes of such a call, members of a local non-governmental organisation would have reached the spot.But the call centre transferred the matter to the district child protection unit in Dhule. Instead of visiting the spot, an official contacted the organisation that had made the call, the Saptshrungi Bahuuddeshiya Mahila Sanstha, and asked it to inform the labour department. “He said this is not in their jurisdiction,” said a social worker from the Sanstha who did not want to be identified.The Sanstha wrote to the district labour department but by the time help reached the spot, some days had passed. “Someone had alerted the brick kiln owner,” said the social worker. “Several children had been moved out by the time they reached. Only six to seven were left.”The child welfare committee sent the rescued children back to their parents, who had first pushed the children into illegal labour. The case was closed.On March 10, activist Lotan Karankal, too, called 1098, seeking urgent medical help after four children under the age of six fell sick in Tonde village in Shirpur, in North Maharashtra.When no help came, local residents took the children to the village’s primary health centre. The four boys, under the age of six, had been given stale khichdi by the anganwadi worker.Three days later, “someone from 1098 came, noted details and left”, said Karankal. He alleged that no action was taken against the anganwadi. “Earlier our complaints on 1098 were promptly handled,” Karankal said. “Now there is a delay.”The national toll-free emergency number 1098 is for children who need any kind of assistance, care or protection.It was launched by a professor from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in 1996. Eventually, it was funded by the Indian government and run by the Childline India Foundation in collaboration with over 1,000 nonprofits. Over the next three decades, the Childline helpline became the one-stop contact for any child-related issue, from psychological support, to complaints of child labour, or child marriage. It became the model for similar helplines in Bangladesh and Nepal.But in 2023, the government took over the helpline’s operations as part of its push for a “one nation, one helpline”.Since then, activists and current staff say there is a noticeable decline in the quality of assistance the helpline provides to children in distress.Significantly, the number of calls made to 1098 has plummeted in several states, records accessed by Scroll show.Call #CHILDLINE @ 1098 to help any child in distress. #WCDMin4Children pic.twitter.com/hErKnPnztk— Maneka Sanjay Gandhi (@Manekagandhibjp) September 10, 2016