In recent years, India has captured the attention of the global community for its promising and steady economic growth coupled with a high proportion of young population. Urbanisation holds key if the country has to emerge as the next superpower. With 37% of future adults in the country, of whom, 120 million will be living in urban spaces, mainly in slums, on and off the streets as well as in shelters, this number will only grow and is estimated to reach around 180 million by 2030.
For the urban deprived children, access to basic services such as clean water, toilets, decent education is a daily struggle. Lack of legal identity forces them to stay out of schools and deprives them of basic facilities such as health centres, proper nutrition and right to play among others. Insufficient protection measures make them vulnerable to all kinds of harassment and abuses, often inflicted by adults. Girls especially fall prey to archaic beliefs, forcing them to abandon their studies, stay restricted within the confines of their homes and subject themselves to physical exploitation, while spending their entire life fulfilling gender-specific duties. In all, for these children, one form of deprivation leads to another.
It is time that we hear their side of the story.