School going children account for 7per cent of Internet users in India: UNICEF

A report on 'Child Online Protection in India' was released by UNICEF which helps in mapping the existing laws on safeguarding children from online exploitation, flags the lacunae in them and puts forward recommendations to ensure cyber safety. 

According to the report, the surge in mobile and Internet use in India has brought 400 million people online. It adds that according to a survey conducted by Internet and Mobile Association of India, school going children account for seven per cent of Internet users in the country.

As a result of "deep proliferation" of Internet, offline forms of crime and violence against children are finding new platforms in the online world, it says. "India is leading in Internet Communications Technology (ICT).

If you look at the annual growth of ICT in India, it is phenomenal. The question now is, how are we going to be able to tackle this exponential growth in ICT so that it can be conducive and works as an enabler of children's education and empowerment and also, protects them from violence and abuse, which are on the increase in India and internationally.

"We need more regulations and we also need all the stakeholders and duty-bearers such as parents and teachers to contribute to this. There is also a need to engage with the private sector to invent some of the protections," UNICEF Representative to India Louis-Georges Arsenault told PTI. Cyberbullying, cyberstalking, grooming, webcam sexual abuse, pornography are just some of the several forms of sexual abuse through Internet.