It is a UN declared human right that every child has the right to play

• The population of India is over 1 billion, 1/3 live below the poverty line
  

  (Last Census of India 2001, and Government of India Planning Commission Poverty Report accessed through Wikipedia, 2009) 

• 2/3 of children in India are victims of physical abuse and 1 in 2 children are sexually abused
  

  (Indian Government Ministry of Women and Children Report on Child Abuse 2007)

• Only 6% of people in India under 35 years have access to organised sport and games
  

  (Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport Draft Sports Policy 2007)

Millions of children across India live in some of the most alarming conditions in the world. The pressures of survival are so intense that children have taken adult responsibilities of fending for themselves and their families. These children have suddenly grown up at such a disturbing pace that somewhere they have lost the essence of childhood.

Today India is the largest democracy in the world with an annual economic growth rate over the last few years of around 8% (2008), but as the second most populous country in the world over 25% of its population lives below the poverty line, meaning that India is home to a third of the world’s poor people.

With a diverse population of 1.2 billion people, India is one of the fastest developing nations, yet ranks only 128th on the Human Development Index. India’s problems of poverty, education, discrimination, and ethnic and religious conflict dwarf those faced by the rest of the world.

With all this in mind, Magic Bus believes it needs to take a long-term perspective on child development, adopt a rights based approach and affect a fundamental shift in the mindset of the next generation in order to build a strong and aware society.