4 days ago
Amidst heat waves, the plight of Delhi's street children demands greater attention
Written by Pintu Paul
This summer, my daily commute in Delhi offered me a stark and troubling glimpse into the lives of street children. As I struggled with even a 30-minute bike ride in the scorching heat, I frequently saw young children selling small items like flowers, balloons, pens or other stuff near Hauz Khas in South Delhi. These children, often barefoot, approach stopped cars to sell their wares or offer to clean windshields — all in an effort to survive.
This sight has always triggered a torrent of questions: Why are they forced to live on the streets in this unbearable heat? Where are they from? How do they access basic necessities like food, water, and sanitation? In Delhi, where temperatures regularly exceed 40°C during summer, these questions need deeper introspection. In the last few days, Delhi has been experiencing a severe heat wave, with unbearably high temperatures reaching 45°C, making these children more vulnerable.
A 2011 study by Save the Children estimated that there are around 51,000 street children in Delhi. In 2021, Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation estimated the number to be 60,431. In the same year, the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) reported that around 70,000 children live on the streets in Delhi. The DCPCR also identified 53 begging hotspots in Delhi.
These children mostly belong to the Dalit and Adivasi communities. They are primarily involved in begging, rag-picking, street vending, and working in roadside stalls, repair shops, or dhabas/hotels.
UNICEF identified three common conditions of street children based on their living: (a) Children who run away from their families and live alone on the street, (b) children who live on the street with their families, and (c) children who spent most of their time on the street, fending for themselves, but return home regularly. These street children often migrate from neighbouring states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Bihar. This migration is driven by a multitude of push factors, including pervasive poverty, marginalisation, dysfunctional families, violence, and a severe lack of economic opportunities.
Their living conditions are acutely precarious. They typically sleep on pavements, under flyovers and bridges, in parks, markets, religious places, bus stands, railway stations, and dump yards. One striking and ironic fact is that many flyovers are often barricaded with concrete walls or iron cages, preventing these children from even finding rudimentary shelter underneath.
The unfortunate reality for most is a complete lack of access to education. Although most of them are of school-going age, their days are consumed by the immediate need for survival, leaving no time or opportunity for schooling, thereby trapping them in a cruel cycle of illiteracy and poverty. Save the Children found that over 50 per cent of children are not literate, 23 per cent received some form of informal education, and 20 per cent had some formal education.
They face severe food shortages, leading to widespread malnutrition, and struggle to obtain proper sanitation facilities, hygiene, and safe drinking water, which results in frequent health issues. Tragically, they sometimes have to pay for access to a toilet and drinking water from their meagre, hard-earned money. They also lack access to healthcare facilities.
Beyond these fundamental deprivations, they are tragically susceptible to physical and sexual abuse, often at the hands of older street dwellers, exploitative adults, or even those in positions of authority who should be protecting them. They are also vulnerable to human trafficking, where they are coerced or tricked into forced labour, commercial sexual exploitation, or other forms of modern slavery. Notably, girl children are more vulnerable to such abuses and exploitation. Against this backdrop, many, seeking an escape from their harsh realities, also fall prey to drug addiction. The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) estimated that around 50 per cent of street children are addicted to substance abuse.
Their undeniably precarious condition becomes worse with the intense heat, dust, and pollution. In the extreme heat of summer, they are exposed to the risk of dehydration, exhaustion, heatstroke, respiratory disease, kidney disease and other health hazards.
In 2022, the Delhi government launched projects to rehabilitate and reintegrate street children with the help of two NGOs — Salaam Baalak Trust and Youth Reach. Youth Reach reported that as of January 2024, only 3,695 children had been identified for whom the rehabilitation process had been initiated. Other NGOs like Save the Children and Jamghat have also been working with street children in Delhi. However, additional efforts are needed to reach more street children and rehabilitate them.
Since there is no recent survey on street children, their actual number is still unclear. Further, the Covid-19 pandemic may have pushed many children to live on the streets due to job loss and poverty. Therefore, a survey on street children should be urgently conducted to identify and rehabilitate them, besides ensuring access to the government's social safety and welfare schemes.
Street children mostly don't have proof of identity. They are not covered by the government's social safety nets. The government should provide them with basic necessities like food, shelter, clothes, sanitation, safe drinking water, and healthcare. Children should be enrolled in schools, reinforcing their right to education. Further, generating more employment opportunities is essential to sustain the livelihoods of poor families in highly out-migration regions.
The writer is an Assistant Professor at the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi
