"More Than 50% Of Street Children Have Been Sexually Abused," Says This Recent Survey

The concrete jungles of urban India have long since been built up as beacons of aspiration for the millions who reside in the country's rural areas. The dreams of a better and safer life, both financially and socially speaking, have attracted an unprecedented migration to metros and urban cities, with India set to see its highest population rise in the coming decades. This would all be very well if people's dreams and the realities on ground matched even partially, but when the facts are analysed through and through, the assumption of this 'better, safer life,' fails to hold true.

Save The Children

PriceWaterhouse Cooper

Forgotten Voices: The World Of Urban Children In India’

“There are not enough resources being put into the urban settings. One of the things that we hope this report will cause a change in the allocation of national resources,”

IndiaSpend,

1) A Worse Sex Ratio Than Rural India

Child-Sex-Ratio

2) More than 50% Homeless Children Say They Have Been Sexually Abused

“This boy who grew up with me tried to rape me while I was sleeping. He is a nice boy but under the influence of alcohol he became different, and the police took him and thrashed him so hard that he was unable to walk for a week,"

Sexual-abuse-1

Sexual-Abuse

3) One In Three Street Children Admitted To Substance Abuse

2013 study

National Commission For Protection of Children's Rights

NCPCR

Substance-abuse-1

Substance-abuse

4) The Rich and Poor Divide Translates Into Overweight And Malnourished

National Urban Health Mission Report

Malnutri

Perhaps the data and information revealed by this survey comes as a shock to readers, and perhaps it seems justified to those who witness these harsh realities in their day to day life and work. The fact of the matter remains that despite having the youngest population in the world, India's children are amongst the most developmentally and socially challenged in our population. If we, along with our government, don't take bigger strides towards bettering their plight, then the future of this country is eight million times more frightening than the personal futures each one of these children.

Words: Devang Pathak

Feature image credit: Steve McCurry

Child Rights

sexual assault

"More Than 50% Of Street Children Have Been Sexually Abused," Says This Recent Survey

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