Commonwealth
Games
And A Beggar Free Delhi
By Loveleen Kaur
11 September,
2008
Countercurrents.org
Delhi is enthusiastically preparing for the Commonwealth Games 2010. With the rising number of world-class shopping malls, eateries, flyovers, multiplexes and of course the fast paced metro train that is the icing on the cake; Delhi government is busy boasting the modernisation and the international standard of "conspicuous consumption" in Delhi and the NCR. It sounds good on the outset and has impressed many. However there is a difficult side to the plush green surroundings and ever-rising skyscrapers that of a harsh world of scarcity, struggle and homelessness.
This side is of beggars pouncing at traffic junctions; poor often
handicap people (men, women and children) soliciting alms directly
or in the guise of street performers and small vendors at almost all
traffic junctions in the city with Connaught Place, Janpath and the
famous Hanuman Mandir being the prominent. An unkempt child who's
hygienically uncared for peeping through the window of the car, begging
for food or money is a common sight on Delhi roads. A staggering 60,000
beggars (Action Aid report- 2004) and rising is certainly a matter
of grave concern for Delhi's reputation as an International city and
no wonder the local government wants to make Delhi beggar free before
2010 by putting all beggars into jail!
As per a study, about 90% of the population (Centre for Media Studies-CMS,
Delhi) of beggars in Delhi are migrants from neighbouring states of
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. These poverty stricken people
are pushed to Delhi for want of sustenance from their native place.
More than three fourth of Delhi's beggars are driven by poverty.
Delhi government has in fact failed to fight with the problem of beggary that not only shows the in-competency but also make these developments look incomplete and even meaningless. Questions are obvious for a city that cannot feed its people how authentic these accomplishments are? How inclusive this makeover is?
The Bombay Prevention of Beggars Act, 1959 that is administered in Delhi since 1961 bans begging, vending on roads, cleaning vehicles at traffic junctions, singing in buses and displaying disability for alms. Anyone penalised under the Bombay Beggary Prevention Act is sent to a special beggar court and bailed out only after paying between Rs. 500/- and Rs. 1,000/- as fine. The increasing number of beggars on Delhi roads clearly shows that there exists no such thing in practice. The Anti-Beggar legislation aims at removing the poor from the face of the city. It is again a part of the preparation and the makeover for the big event.
To eradicate beggary the policy of dumping of beggars is not going
to solve the problem. Treating beggars as criminals is not going to
help either. They are often forced into beggary by unemployment, homelessness,
and easy earnings. There are enough instances of begging rackets that
force women and abduct children to get into this profession.
It is found that 96%of the beggars earn an average daily income between Rs 80 –100, which is more than the income of daily wage earners. At some of the busiest traffic junctions a beggar often makes Rs 450 in a day. The data is indicative of the fact that beggary has become a lucrative profession where one earns for doing nothing. A study of the Delhi University's Social Work Department conducted for the Social Welfare Department of the Delhi Government which surveyed 5,000 beggars on the streets of the Capital reveal that some educated youth have also taken up begging and begging attracts even those who are able-bodied and a good number of them physically sound.
The anti-beggar law prohibits giving alms to the beggar. The idea
is in principle to discourage beggary and to make civil society sensitive
towards beggary. The one time help has been proved to be of little
help to the beggars. The call is to sensitise people to join hands
with NGOs that are seriously working in this direction. There are
many NGOs working for street children where children get conducive
environment; they stay through the day and get a chance to kindle
their childhood.
Provisions are required to be made for their rehabilitative work.
To improve the living conditions of government –run beggar homes
that at present are worse than the worst of jails. There is an urgent
need to impart vocational skills training to the beggars according
to their requirements and level of handicap so that they can find
work in small scale enterprises and work in making of cards, candles,
repairing bicycles and bikes in the garages, work for the government
projects etc. To sustain the anti-beggary campaign there has to be
strict actions against the begging rackets that force women and children
into begging will complement the rehabilitation effort.
The government along with the civil society has to take comprehensive
steps to provide these strata the basic amenities and alternative
life support systems so that they can also be discouraged from begging
and thereby have their share in the development of the country. There
can be sensitising programmes for the police department, schools and
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs). A joint venture of the Delhi
Government and the people of the city would bring about real changes
in the society and an inclusive and authentic face-lift for the city.
The author is a Delhi based human rights activist and a life skills trainer. [email protected]
