New Delhi, April 28 (IANS) The national capital's streets are home to over 50,000 children, almost one percent of Delhi's total child population, says a new study by an NGO.

 
 According to the study by NGO Save the Children, 50,923 children are living on Delhi's streets, mostly from street families, with a majority being boys. Only 20.5 percent of them were girls.
 
 "One out of every three children (34 percent) was on the street due to poverty and hunger. Around 30 percent were on the street in search of jobs; they had either come by themselves (17.7 percent) or were sent by their parents (12.6 percent)," the report said.
 
 "Of these, 9 percent were on the street after running away from home, or they had been kidnapped, orphaned, or because of incidents such as riots, accidents and natural calamities, or because they had inadvertently lost contact with their parents while travelling," it said.
 
 Almost 81 percent of the girls and 88 percent of the boys were working, their average monthly income being around Rs.2,240. However, half of their income (around 49 percent) was given either to their parents, guardian, supervisors, who were some kind of gang leaders, or  police.
 
 According to the study, social class is a key determinant in leaving a child on the streets to work or live because one out of three street children was a Dalit (36 percent), 17 percent were tribals, and 38 percent belonged to Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
 
 Out of a sample study on 1,009 randomly selected children, more than 130 children reported having witnessed other children being abused on the street.
 
 "Verbal abuse was experienced and observed by almost all the children. In the case of physical abuse, more than 50 percent of the boys had been beaten up as had 31.4 percent of the girls. Boys were abused mostly by parents,guardians, police, and relatives or friends while the girls (nearly 63 percent) were mainly abused by relatives or friends,” it said.
 
 Among those who have migrated to Delhi, highest number was from Bihar (21.2 percent), followed by Uttar Pradesh (15.3 percent), Rajasthan (6.8 percent), Jharkhand (4.1 percent) and Madhya Pradesh (3.9 percent).
 
 Most of the children either had their family in Delhi (nearly 70 percent), and among those who had left their families, 88.5 percent were in touch with them. 
 
 However, only few of them wanted to return to their place of origin.
 
 "Only a few children said that they would prefer to go back to their place of origin (some other state), most migrant children preferred to continue living in Delhi," the report added.