Status of Orphans/ Street Children in India

• India is the worlds largest democracy with a population of over a billion-400 million of which are children
• India is known for its multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious background. It has 15 official languages and 36 states and union territories.
• There are approximately 673 million Hindus, 95 million Muslims,19 million Christians, 16 million Sikhs, 6 million Buddhists and 3 million Jainsin India.
• Approximately 26% of the Indian population lives below the poverty line and 72 % live in rural areas.
• Even thought the percentage of the Indian population infected with HIV/AIDS is 0.9%, (5) it has the second largest number of people infected with HIV/AIDS in the world, the first being South Africa.
• Despite the many recorded gains in the recent past, issues such as gender inequity, poverty, illiteracy and the lack of basic infrastructure play an important role in hindering HIV/ AIDS prevention and treatment programs in India. The impact of the AIDS crisis has not begun to fully emerge in India and AIDS related orphaning has not been documented.
• Yet, it is estimated that India has the largest number of AIDS orphans of any country and this number is expected to double in the next five years.
• Out of the 55,764 identified AIDS cases in India 2,112 are children.
• It is estimated that 14% of the 4.2 million HIV/AIDS cases are children below the age of 14
• A study conducted by the ILO found that children of infected parents are heavily discriminated-35% were denied basic amenities and 17% were forced to take up petty jobs to augment their income.
• Child labor in India is a complex problem and is rooted in poverty.
• Census 1991 data suggests that there are 11.28 million working children in India.
• Over 85% of this child labor is in the country’s rural areas and this number has risen in the past decade.
• Conservative estimates state that around 300, 000 children in India are engaged in commercial sex. Child prostitution is socially acceptable in some sections of Indian society through the practice of Devadasi. Young girls from socially disadvantaged communities are given to the 'gods' and they become a religious prostitute. Devadasi is banned by the Prohibition of Dedication Act of 1982. This system is prevalent in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,Tamil Nadu,Kerala, Maharashtra,Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Assam.
• More than 50 % of the devadasis become prostitutes: of which nearly 40 per cent join the sex trade in urban brothels and the rest are involved in prostitution in their respective villages. According to the National Commission on Women an estimated 250,000 women have been dedicated as Devadasis in Maharashtra-Karnataka border. A study conducted in 1993 reported that 9% of the devadasis are HIV positive in Belgaum district in Karnataka .
• Street children are those for whom the street more than their family has become their real home, a situation in which there is no protection, supervision, or direction from responsible adults. Human Rights Watch estimates that approximately 18 million children live or work on the streets of India. Majority of these children are involved in crime, prostitution, gang related violence and drug trafficking.