India has the largest child population in the world. In 2010, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund reported that 20 percent of worlds’ children population are in India. India children population for ages 0 to14 exceeded the Chinese children population in 2010 by 66 million (UNICEF 3). However, India has the world’s largest children population, not all Indians children have the same opportunity to grow up healthy, educated, and able to fulfil their desires and potential as other children from other nations around the world. Forty percent of children in India are vulnerable to experience difficulties (Actionaid India, 9). Extreme poverty, social stratification, lack of education, and child labor have had devastating consequences on India’s children; these reasons are the main causes that create the phenomenon of street children in India, and especially in Mumbai. Many poor households due to the low wages in adult labor market have sent their children to the streets of busy cities such Mumbai to earn supplementary income to help their families to survive. India’s caste system also deeps the gap between poor and rich, and increases the social stratification between the social classes. Therefore, many poor families have found themselves forced to exclude their children from education to help them earning extra income to pay for basic life’s needs. In my paper, I will examine the causes, effects, and consequences of street children problem in Mumbai from sociological prospective using our textbook “ Society the Basics” by John Mucinosis, several publications from United Nation International Children’s Emergency Fund, and International Labor Organization, and data from Indian Government.
The term “street children” as defined by UNCIEF is any child under age 18 who sleeps or lives in street and has limited or no contact with his/her family. The ILO