There are two different types of begging. In the first category, people fake injuries and pretend that they’re desperate to invoke sympathy from the public and get some money; or they disguise themselves as a religious person and offer blessings to them in the name of religion. In the second category, there are some people who have genuine problems or are orphans. They deserve money but the method adopted by them for obtaining it is wrong. Some of them are even kidnapped and made blind and are asked to beg forcibly with their legs broken, so that others may feel sorry for them and give them money or food. The money they receive from sympathizers’ is then pocketed by the kingpins who live a luxurious life (I have seen this with my own eyes, that’s why I’m writing this article. The police failed to help me either).
In the first category, the people are simply lazy and don’t deserve help or to be given any money. There are very few genuine people who become beggars. While the remaining are the ones who are either forced to beg by mafia kingpins or they have just no inclination to earn a living and find begging as the easiest way out. These people must try to find out some sort of occupation. I’m not asking them to join a BPO or something like that. Perhaps these people are not educated to work in offices, but they can benefit if they use their common sense. At least they will come out of their miseries to be back in track with life. It should provide them a new beginning.
Or perhaps, the government can provide them with some employment. They shouldn’t crowd streets and pretend to sell cheap items in order to make a quick buck. There’s no use prosecuting them. Begging cannot be completely eradicated but it can be controlled. Beating them won’t work either. We shouldn’t encourage begging, but we can’t degrade beggars either. They are also human beings like us. It will be a matter of time before beggars become an extinct race.
Beggars also come in different forms. Like I said earlier, some fake injuries and pretend that they are desperate enough to evoke sympathy from the public and get money; some pretend to be new and lost in the city, and yet others carry just a few months’ old kidnapped babies in their arms. There are also beggars who don’t accept anything less than Rs 5. But because of some bogus beggars their genuine counterparts do not get the sympathy they really deserve. NGOs should take some initiative to rehabilitate them.
Jubel D’Cruz
