What do we do when we have to clean our drawing room? Do we throw the shit in our bedrooms?
That is what we are going to do if the Delhi high court directive gets into effect.
“It is as if we are cleaning our drawing rooms for the guests and throwing the garbage in the bedroom,” The Lady said the other morning when we were discussing the HC directive of creating a “no-tolerance zone” for the beggars at places such as the India Gate, South Extension, Cannaught Place and Greater Kailash among others.
I completely agree with her thoughts. Can creating a so-called “no-tolerance zone” for beggars be a solution to the menace of begging? Certainly, not. Beggars will still be there; not probably at these places, but they will still be there at other places.
Problem is that the authorities are tackling the entire scenario in an arbitrary manner. We need to weed out begging, the mafia who force people into the trade. And I am not ready to hear that the authorities don’t know the whereabouts of the mafia, or even worse, don’t know if they even exist.
Begging is a social evil. A few years back, beggars were found at the religious places and tourist spots in large, but in the past couple of years, the problem has compounded. A lady with dirty clothes; carrying an even dirtier kid in lap, most probably a malnourished child whose saliva dripping mouth makes him a more pitiable object, or a physically challenged man seeking alms, are a common sight at the traffic lights these days. And the problem is not of Delhi alone, these poor fellows are omnipresent.
I don’t have the census of beggars in India, but I can’t help myself thinking that if the billion-plus population of the country donates, say Rs50 each, this problem of rehabilitation of beggars can’t be tackled. Only hurdle is that I am not sure if the money will be able to find its way to the needy hands instead of going directly into some unknown bank account in some far-off country.
It is high time we wake up to this growing problem and find a proper solution to it instead of issuing some half-hearted measures to tackle the plight of these poor fellows who are languishing at the bottom of the social ladder.
That is what we are going to do if the Delhi high court directive gets into effect.
“It is as if we are cleaning our drawing rooms for the guests and throwing the garbage in the bedroom,” The Lady said the other morning when we were discussing the HC directive of creating a “no-tolerance zone” for the beggars at places such as the India Gate, South Extension, Cannaught Place and Greater Kailash among others.
I completely agree with her thoughts. Can creating a so-called “no-tolerance zone” for beggars be a solution to the menace of begging? Certainly, not. Beggars will still be there; not probably at these places, but they will still be there at other places.
Problem is that the authorities are tackling the entire scenario in an arbitrary manner. We need to weed out begging, the mafia who force people into the trade. And I am not ready to hear that the authorities don’t know the whereabouts of the mafia, or even worse, don’t know if they even exist.
Begging is a social evil. A few years back, beggars were found at the religious places and tourist spots in large, but in the past couple of years, the problem has compounded. A lady with dirty clothes; carrying an even dirtier kid in lap, most probably a malnourished child whose saliva dripping mouth makes him a more pitiable object, or a physically challenged man seeking alms, are a common sight at the traffic lights these days. And the problem is not of Delhi alone, these poor fellows are omnipresent.
I don’t have the census of beggars in India, but I can’t help myself thinking that if the billion-plus population of the country donates, say Rs50 each, this problem of rehabilitation of beggars can’t be tackled. Only hurdle is that I am not sure if the money will be able to find its way to the needy hands instead of going directly into some unknown bank account in some far-off country.
It is high time we wake up to this growing problem and find a proper solution to it instead of issuing some half-hearted measures to tackle the plight of these poor fellows who are languishing at the bottom of the social ladder.
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