Operation Muskaan | 18 Nov 2025

Why in News?

A 17-year-old girl missing from Madhya Pradesh, was located and rescued near the Pakistan border in Rajasthan, through coordinated efforts under Operation Muskaan.

Key Points

• Operation Muskaan was launched by the Ministry of Home Affairs to rescue missing children, prevent child trafficking and ensure safe repatriation.
  • It is also commonly referred to as Operation Smile. It originated as a pilot project by the Ghaziabad Police in 2014, which, after massive success, was adopted and scaled up nationwide by the  Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in July 2015.
• It involves police, Child Welfare Committees, labour and social welfare departments, and uses tools like the national database of missing children, citizen tip-lines, and inter-state coordination.
• The teams use the MHA's TrackChild portal and often employ Face-Recognition Software (like Darpan) to match rescued children with the national database of missing children.
• Key activities include registration of missing children, mapping vulnerable spots, rescue operations, rehabilitation, and prosecution of traffickers or exploiters.