Child beggars surrounded our group and repeatedly recited a Buddhist prayer, although they might not have understood the meaning. Like in Thailand and many other countries, many child beggars in India are forced to beg under the orders of criminal gangs. According to UN sources, there are up to 150 million street children in the world today. In 1994, Unicef estimated that there were 11 million street children in India. Indian authorities estimated 314,700 street children in cities like Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Kanpur, Bangalore and Hyderabad and around 100,000 street children in Delhi.

Source: Bangkok Post April 16, 2017 20:37 UTC