Street Children, Hotel Boys and Children of Pavement Dwellers and Construction Workers in Bombay – How They Meet Their Daily Needs

Summary

This article is published in the journal Environment and Urbanization and is free to read online.

This paper presents the results of research on how street children, hotel boys and the children of pavement dwellers and construction workers meet their daily needs – for instance, where they wash, defecate, sleep and who helps them when they are ill. Section two describes the circumstances which lead to children being in such circumstances and the inadequacies of public provision in meeting their needs. Section three describes the organizatons responsible for undertaking the survey and the unconventional means by which contacts were made with the children. It also describes how involving children in the survey became a means of establishing better contact between the children and government agencies and voluntary organizations seeking more effective public responses to their needs and problems. Section four presents the findings of the research.