0It is therefore evident that most of the children are initiated into begging in their childhood itself. Initiation into begging at higher age is lesser. It is ALSO noteworthy that more girls were initiated into begging as infants or toddlers compared to boys, with 53.4% girls initiated into begging at LESS than 5 years of age, compared to 28.6% boys who started that early. A large majority of the respondents 534 (88.3%) belonged to nuclear families; 62 (10.2%) were from joint families and 9 were orphan. The study revealed that of the 605 child beggars interviewed only 52 (8.60%) belonged to Delhi, while a large NUMBER 553 (91.04%) were migrants from other states. Amongst the migrant population Uttar Pradesh and BIHAR form the 6.2 FAMILY type and Native place Table 4: Native Place State Number (% ) UP 225 37.19 Bihar 112 18.51 Rajasthan 62 10.25 Delhi 52 8.60 W. Bengal 41 6.78 Punjab 34 5.62 Haryana 24 3.97 MP 19 3.14 Other states 33 5.45 Don't Know 3 0.50 Total 605 100.0 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Since Birth 1-5 yrs 6-9 yrs 10-12 yrs 13-15 yrs 16-18 Don't Remember Male Female