``This scourge is an onslaught on our sensibilities and negates our claim to being a civilised society,'' NHRC chairman Justice M N Venkatachaliah said after releasing a study on `Child Prostitution in India' here.

Describing child prostitution as the worst kind of exploitation and degradation and ``the worst violation of human rights'', he said Indians had no right to call themselves civilised till they took up cudgels on behalf of children to end the menace.

According to estimates, there are nearly 2,70,000 to four lakh children below 14 years in commercial prostitution in the country.The chairman said the issue did not merely warrant action by government authorities and police but was the responsibility of the entire civil society.

``There is no use blaming the government. If peoplethink they can remain untouched by this scourge, it is a great delusion since it can happen to anybody's child,'' he said. He also criticised legitimising and rationalising certain practices, like the Devdasi system.

Stressing that prevention was the best remedy, he called for spreading awareness about the menace and educating people about its existence and the need to eradicate it.

Justice Venkatachaliah said the NHRC had identified some pockets in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu as the main areas from where girls were smuggled out for the flesh trade.

``We are now on the lookout for non-governmental organisations which can help us in stopping this practice,'' he said.

Joseph Gathia of the `Centre of Concern for Child Labour', who has authored the study, claimed that prostitution, with a Rs 3.7 billion annual turnover, was one of the single largest industries in the country.

``What we need is the political will to eradicate it and this must be the agenda for the 21st century,'' he said.

Accordingto him, 30 per cent of all children forced into prostitution during the last decade were below 12 years of age.

The study identifies 78 districts as `child prostitution prone areas' which must be considered high risk zones for the girl child, he said. ``Some areas in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Bihar are recruiting grounds for children for the flesh trade,'' he said.