India marching towards a USD 5 trillion economy sees many challenges that could pose to be an obstacle in this aspiration. All over the world when children remain the focus group of human development a glaring disparity prevails in India. With an HDI value of 0.633, India ranked 132 out of 191 countries in the 2021 human development index, according to a report released by the United Nations Development Program. This is due to social inequality and a large segment bereft of opportunities.

The researchers take the journey of inquiry to assess the level of awareness of the educated people of society with respect to child rights and child menace in society. There has been a large body of research on studies relating to adult begging but very few on child begging.

An attempt is made in this research endeavor to assess societal initiatives to overcome this issue of child beggary.

Children are the most vulnerable part of our society. It is the right of every child to have a positive, nurturing and healthy childhood. Only then will they be able to reach their full potential. Children are the future of a country and it is very crucial for both the government and the society to protect and take care of their well being to ensure that they become fruitful individuals and contribute positively towards the society. But sometimes children have to take up the role of an adult and become their own guardian. One such group of children are child beggars. It is estimated that 3 lakh children in India are forced to beg. Sometimes it’s their parents itself that force them to beg. Whereas sometimes these children become victims of child begging rackets where they are tortured, exploited and taken advantage of. In some cases, these children are abandoned by their own parents and they have no one by their side. Under such circumstances, these children have to resort to begging in order to survive.

As per Census data taken in 2011 by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, there are 45,296 children between the age group of 0 – 14 years are engaged in the act of begging.

In order to curtail this problem, government as well as members of society play an important role. In our research we are focusing on four categories of members of society – teachers, social workers, parents and students.

Legal framework for child beggars:

Child begging has become an increasingly rampant issue in the Indian society. The Indian government has constitutionalized several laws and policies regarding child begging. This research paper focuses mainly on two things-how aware people of laws and policies against child begging and how involved people are in reducing this menace.

Studies on public awareness about child begging are very scanty. Majority of the studies done so far focuses on government’s role in reducing child begging but rarely any studies have been done to measure the societies’ involvement.

Also, multiple studies have been done centering different geographical areas but there are very few such studies focusing on Mumbai.

The present study is qualitative in nature and is conducted on the basis of primary and secondary data. The primary data used in his research is collected using surveys. Secondary data is obtained from research papers, government websites and online articles. The data is collected from 4 categories of people: teachers, students, parents, and social workers. A total 100 responses were received.

The google from was circulated among teachers, students, parents and social workers. 100 people responded to this google form. Among these 100 respondents, 30% were teachers, 20% were social workers, 30% were parents and remaining 20% were students.

The above question option was given in a checkbox format i.e. one respondent can select more than one option.

Majority of the respondents (52) would give these children food, clothes and other necessities. 40 respondents said they would ignore if a child comes to them to beg whereas 42 respondents occasionally give these children money. Only 6 respondents would always give money to these child beggars.

The responses received unveil that a staggering 44% of people never ask these children about their reason behind begging. Half of the respondents (50%) would sometimes ask these children their reason behind begging whereas only 6% of people always ask these children their reason behind begging.

The above question option was given in a checkbox format i.e. one respondent can select more than one option.

45 respondents didn’t enquire anything about these children. 30 respondents wanted to know their reason behind wanting the money. 23 respondents enquired about their family background whereas 20 respondents chose to enquire about their educational status. 16 respondents offered to help these children and are willing to approach the authorities for them. Another 16 respondents were concerned about whether anyone was forcing these children to beg. 11 respondents checked whether if these children were in danger. Only a small percentage of 9 respondents enquired whether if they had a permanent place to stay.

Out of 100 people who responded, only 22 people were able to answers the Childline number correctly. Remaining 78 respondents are not aware of the Childline number.

Out of 100 people responded, a small percentage of only 14% people were able to answer the ages of boy and girl correctly. Remaining 86% respondents don’t know the answer to this question.

As per the responses received from 100 people, only 8% of people who responded were able to answer the question correctly.

Out of 100 people who responded to the above question only 23% of respondents are aware of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme. A vast majority of respondent are not aware of this scheme.

The above question was answered by only 7 people correctly out of the 100 people who responded. Remaining didn’t know the answer to this question. This shows that majority of the respondents are not aware of the main emphasis of Integrated Child Protection Scheme.

As per the above data out of 100, 22 respondents are aware of Childline number but this data reveals that only 4 respondents out of 100 respondents have used the Childline number.

A minority of only 17% of people feel the government is doing a good job at protecting these children. The majority of 83% people feel like the government could do more for these children by introducing more policies and creating more awareness about the existing policies.

The above question option was given in a checkbox format i.e. one respondent can select more than one option.

65 people are aware of police station. The second option after police station that people are aware of is the railway department. 39 people chose this option. 27 people are not aware of any of the above-mentioned platforms used for reporting child beggars. 32 people seems to be aware of the child welfare committee. 13 people are aware of trackchild@nic.in whereas only 9 people are aware of trackthemissingchild.gov.in

A small portion of only 4 people are aware of no more missing Facebook page.

The above question option was given in a checkbox format i.e. one respondent can select more than one option.

Since 85 respondents chose the none option, majority of the people have not personally used these platforms. 9 respondents have used police station to report child begging where as 6 respondents have ?led a report against child begging through the railway department. No respondent has used trackchild@nic.in. 1 respondent has used trackthemisssingchild.gov.in and 1 respondent has used no more missing Facebook page to make a report.

The laws and policies in place to address child begging are robust, but their effectiveness depends largely on public awareness and active participation. Legal intervention must go hand in hand with community mobilization and awareness campaigns, such as promoting the use of the 1098 Childline number, informing the public of existing child protection laws, and ensuring that citizens know how to report cases of child begging. With greater legal awareness and the active involvement of the community, child begging can be signi?cantly reduced, and the rights of children can be better protected.

1. Yatharatha Foundation v. Union of India (2023): In September 2023, the Delhi High Court directed the Delhi government to submit a detailed status report on the rehabilitation of children rescued from begging. The court emphasized the need for comprehensive measures to address child begging, including the assessment of rehabilitation centers' long-term impact on the children in their care.

People’s mindset of normalizing child begging should be changed. More people should be encouraged to take actions against child begging.

Schools and colleges can conduct seminars and workshops regarding various laws and policies against child begging to make the youth more aware of this issue.

In public places such as railways stations, junctions, highways, malls, busses, etc. installation of banners, posters, etc. can be done to make people more aware of this issue.

In trains, busses, railway stations, etc. announcements can be made about dialing 1098 Childline number to report cases of child begging. This will make more and more people aware of the existence of this number.

Banners and posters can also be made and installed in public places to increase the awareness.

Government can make advertisements to educate and increase awareness among people on the existence of various laws and polices and Childline number.