'Children In Street Situations': Over 17,000 Children Live On Streets, Reveals NCPCR

The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has submitted an affidavit before the Supreme Court citing that 17,914 children in India are still on the streets or are under the 'children in streets situation' (CiSS). NCPCR works under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and has informed that Maharashtra has the highest number of children living in the streets. Out of the 17,914 children who live on the streets, 9,530 children reside with their families, while 834 live alone. Moreover, 7,550 children live on the streets during the day and return to their families living in slums during the night.

2 Lakh Children Earlier Already Counted

About 10,359 are young boys, and 7,550 are girls. The NCPCR has filed its compliance affidavit in response to a Supreme Court order on January 17 in a suo moto writ petition on children living in street conditions, The Indian Express reported. The states had compiled the data until February 15 and had uploaded it on a portal created by the Commission and named 'Bal Swaraj'. The number submitted to the Apex Court excludes the 2 lakh children who NCPCR earlier identified under the 'Save The Children' exercise.

Maharashtra Tops, Followed By Gujarat

The most significant number of children living on the streets belong to the 8 to 13 years age bracket, followed by 3,954 children aged 4 to 7 years. However, the number significantly drops for children aged between 14 to 18 years, and the Commission has asked for an inquiry to assess the drop. With 4,952 children on the streets, Maharashtra topped the list, followed by Gujarat with 1,990 children and Tamil Nadu with1,703 children. The Commission mentioned that street children are most commonly found in religious places, traffic signals, industrial areas, railway stations and tourist places.

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