According to the 1993 UNDP human development report, India probably has the greatest number of street children with around 100,000 each in New Delhi, Bombay, and Calcutta and 45,000 in Bangalore. In order to survive, they must collect rags, shine shoes, sell newspapers, and scavenge in rubbish heaps. Many also turn to crime raising India's juvenile crime rate to 3.2 per 1,000 people, the report points out.
The number of children pushed into begging has been estimated by census figures as about 151,000 -- 120,000 in rural areas and over 30,000 in towns. Of those listed, West Bengal has 25 per cent of the national total followed by Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Orissa. Police records indicate that in many cases, parents themselves use their children for begging. Other children may be victims of cruel exploitation in beggar colonies, where kidnapped children are maimed and mutilated and forced to beg.
Tortures By Police and other Law enforcement Officials
Children mutilated to make more money by begging