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Street and working children contribute as much as 20% of India's GDP, rag picking, luggage carrying, selling newspapers and flowers, pickpocketing, pimping or just plain begging. Street children make up a considerable proportion of this figure. They can be seen everywhere - at stations, bus stops and bazaars – occasionally alone, but usually in small gangs.
As such these children with no childhood are an economic powerhouse for their masters. Few operate as autonomous economic units but are drawn by adults into workshops, gangs or brothels where pay is very low, quality of life is very low and future prospects very dim or non-existant.
Although the government of India has banned child-labour and the children are protected by law, the failure of agencies to tackle the problem ensures that the number and exploitation of children remains high. The recent rapid economic growth of India has often resulted in the loosening of extended family ties further threatening the traditional support for struggling families.
Whilst the long term solution is economic, the short term is to provide this generation of children with secure childhoods and an educational attainment that will enable them to live out a fulfilling adult life.
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Myriad Dreams3 Member(s)
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