By D N Singh

Poverty is real in India, begging is not. Is it triggered or well organized but, it is there. One of those realities we cannot look away from. Over four lakhs of our population in India are engaged in begging.

Novel Initiative At Social Renaissance

There is a novel initiative in Mumbai, by some reformist groups, those who have decided to bring a halt to the craze of begging by not dolling out any cash to the beggars. Can that stop the menace?

But, by all means it should be looked upon as a step forward at a part of social renaissance campaign.  

Only food, water and anything other than cash shall be dolled out to the beggars at different locations,  is what the volunteers have decided as a means to reduce the greed behind begging, deemed to be a lucrative profession and preferred to any other means of respectable earning.

It is an issue that requires administrative support and a very delicate handling to dissuade the people involved in this avoidable occupation.  

Leaders Everywhere Enjoy  

Interestingly yet sadly it is the leaders everywhere who enjoy the nectar of life, So is the case in the world of beggars where the people who run the rackets take the major share of the earning and rest is thrown to the beggars.  

Look what a depressing break-up before we, the positive thinkers . It is no statistical sophistry of any pride that, out of the four lakh plus (4, 51000 in 2020 ) beggars there are 2, 21,673 male and 1,91, 997 female and a shocking population of children are being pushed into the quick sand of this racket.   

It is time when humanity prepares to surge beyond the space. Also it is a truth that amid this noise of advancement and adventures, what bugs the world and country like India, is the pain of begging. A blot that may take years and years to be removed.

Shocking Reality That Is

What a shockingly unacceptable reality that, in India, over 300,000(2019) children are into begging! Not that this lot is used as tools by certain racketeers but , more often than not, the most bizarre and rudest means to arm-twist the posterity.

When at a traffic halt or anywhere in the city squares, one can always  notice women hanging babies by their sides, the little ones out of their normal sense, with the scrawny ribs and rachitic legs and drowsed, heads hanging to one side, used as a means to trigger sympathy among the commuters.

We take pleasure by dropping a coin into the hand of the carrier woman (not the real mother always) and refuse to accept that, the alms contribute to the gradual debilitation of a generation to come.

Inhuman Manipulations

Research reveal that, in order to make the kids as easy baits and their rickety bodies compassion worthy, the organs of these children, mostly abducted, are being mutilated physically or often by application of acid! And often the kids are administered with crude sedatives to stay calm and may be subconscious in a way.

In India, West Bengal tops the list of beggars with about 81,000 and a majority of that the number of female beggars outnumber the males followed by Assam and Manipur.

A survey reveals that in last one decade the population of beggars in India shot up by one lakh almost. The survey in 2015 also found that, out of 150 million beggars worldwide, a good number of beggars are better of than many middle class people. But at what and at whose cost? is a big poser that stares at all of us.

About the Author:

DN Singh is a Bhubaneswar-based senior journalist.

DISCLAIMER

This is the personal opinion of the author. The views expressed in this write up have nothing to do with the www.prameyanews.com