New Delhi:
The blight of India's dwindling number of girls has worsened in urban India, according to a report by Save the Children, a global NGO with decades of experience.
According to the report, the child sex ratio in urban India is worse than in rural India; the number of girls born for every 1,000 boys - fell sharply in two decades from 935 in 1991 to 905 four years ago.
The NGO has aggregated data from multiple sources, analysing it with a special focus on the condition of underprivileged children in urban India.
More than half the homeless children who were interviewed said they have been sexually abused.
More than 8 million children in urban India live in slums - that's more than the combined population of five north eastern states.
The report shows that children in middle class and richer families in urban India are becoming more obese. Nearly 30% of children in private schools in Delhi are over-weight.
Among the poor, however, malnutrition is raging. One out of every three children in cities and big towns are underweight. Nearly 40% of children who live in cities and are under the age of 5 are stunted.
The Prime Minister earlier this year launched a campaign aimed at improving India's child sex ratio.
Despite being banned, selective abortion is a growing problem that results in a steady decline in the number of girls being born even as the economy has grown and other social indicators like maternal mortality have improved.