• Dr Shahina Parveen

The present study is a sociological study of the Street Children, which casts light on Scenario and Status of the street children across the country and discusses the strategies contrived for the welfare of street and rehabilitation of street children in the country as well as in the state of Rajasthan. The study explores the various aspects and exposes the harsh realities of the daily life of the street children in four major cities of Rajasthan i.e. Jaipur, Ajmer, Kota and Jodhpur. Street children, regarded as complex urban realities worldwide. They eat, live, sleep, earn on streets in the age where a normal child enjoys the privileges and joys of child hood. Street children are often subject to abuse, neglect, exploitation. Due to various reasons, children end up on the streets. This study explores the hidden and isolated nature of the life of street children. Rajasthan is the largest state of India with rapid devolvement transforming in a Metro city. Rajasthan is the 5th state of India having largest child population i.e. 10,649,504 Crore (Census 2011). As per the 2011 Census; the share of the population of children (below 18 years) in Rajasthan was 43% of the total population. Rajasthan has several manifestations of violation of child rights. Irregular income, poverty, family migration, social marginalization and deprivation, low social awareness and scant attention added with feeble commitment from the State to handle these issues effectively have resulted in high incidences of child exploitation, rampant child abuse, increasing inward and outward child trafficking, migration and child sexual violence. There are districts like Jaipur, Ajmer, Kota and Bhilwara, Jodhpur where the percentage share of migrants settling in urban areas with context to the total migrants is comparatively much higher. The problem of street children is largely an urban phenomenon in Rajasthan too—mostly street children appear concentrated in Jaipur, Kota, Ajmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Bharatpur and Bikaner—the actual number of street children in Rajasthan is not very well known. The problem of street children is becoming more serious because of their increasing number day by day and violation of Child Rights by the society at large, in order to fulfill their vested interests.

Street children, Rajasthan, Abuse, exploitation

"STREET CHILDREN “TALE OF HOMELESSNESS”: SCENARIO, STATUS & STRATEGY (A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF FOUR MAJOR CITIES OF RAJASTHAN - JAIPUR, AJMER, KOTA, & JODHPUR)", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 2, page no.164-168, February-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1902527.pdf

"STREET CHILDREN “TALE OF HOMELESSNESS”: SCENARIO, STATUS & STRATEGY (A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF FOUR MAJOR CITIES OF RAJASTHAN - JAIPUR, AJMER, KOTA, & JODHPUR)", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 2, page no. pp164-168, February-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1902527.pdf