A delegation of street children has urged West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan to issue birth certificates to them and to conduct a survey assessing their numbers.
The charter of demands that included fulfillment of fundamental rights like shelter, food, drinking water and access to formal education, was presented recently to the Governor by a delegation of street children accompanied by international NGO Save the Children and its partner organisations.
Emphasising the need to have an authentic data on street children, Jatin Mondar, state programme manager of Save the Children, said it is imperative to understand the number of of street children for proper assessment of their entitlements.
"Until and unless we have this data any amount of planning and scheme may prove inadequate. Therefore the first necessary step is to conduct a survey to collect information of their numbers," he said.
There is need for their inclusion in the official data and simplification of the process of birth registration as they are crucial to access shelter, food, protection of life and education, child rights activists said.
It is believed that India has the largest number of street children in the world and within the country Kolkata is their second largest home. The charter of demand said in the absence of registration in official data and possession of birth certificate, children from schedule castes, schedule tribes and other backward communities are automatically deprived from availing benefits and entitlements.
The street kids also want strict implementation of the Right to Education Act which ensures free and compulsory education for all children up to 14 years.