Nepal, May 1 -- Do you remember the film Slumdog Millionaire?

While the story centres around a teenager from the slums of Mumbai taking part in a game show to win a fortune, it is a part of his backstory that hits the hardest. As a child, the protagonist, Jamal Malik, played by Dev Patel, and his brother are forced to survive on the streets after their mother is killed during the Bombay riots. The brothers, along with another child, are found by Maman-a gangster who trains and disables children to become more "effective" beggars. The money the children collect rarely belongs to them. The reality Jamal faced under Maman's control is not fiction for hundreds of thousands of children across this subcontinent. It is their daily existence. A ...