Street Children Survive On Porn, Not Food

New Delhi: In a dark and dingy room, the only thing visible is the blue flickering light from a television set as a dozen-odd boys, teens and below, watch with eyes riveted on the screen.

"Ohs" and "ahs" are heard on occasion. At first it seems they are watching a Hindi film, but a closer look reveals they are hooked on to a porn movie.

The boys are runaways or vagabonds who beg at many of Delhi's crossroads or are rag-pickers.

According to child activists and NGOs working with these children, most of them are hooked to either porn movies or video games and spend most of their earnings on them, on occasions forgetting to eat.

"I can sit for hours playing video games or watching movies. I spend 50 or more on them. So I have stopped eating from outside and survive on tea and beedis," Vishal Kushwaha, a rag picker, said. The 17-year-old rag-picker makes 150 to 200 a day.

"We watch the movies in a tea stall which has television sets and DVD players," said Kushwaha, who along with a dozen teenagers regularly watches porn in Sarai Kale Khan in south Delhi.

Showing no embarrassment while talking about his "addiction", Kushwaha said that every night he watches at least two or three porn movies.

But this is not the story of just one child.

According to Childhood Enhancement Through Training and Action (CHETNA), hundreds of children have admitted spending more money on watching pornography and playing video games.

Take 13-year-old Ankit for example. He was introduced to the world of adult films at the age of 10 by a boy who was two years his senior.

"My friend introduced me to this; now once a week I watch porn clips. For downloading the clips to our mobile phone, we have to spend around 80. For us, food is not so important," Ankit said.

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