Begging Through Generations

by M Shamsur Rabb Khan

Aug 5, 2006

A newspaper reports that Chopra Basti, a village in tucked away near the Baisi-Amour Road under Baisi block in Purnia district of Bihar, is a village where the whole population consists of only beggars. There are, in fact, about 100 beggars and their families making it a unique village in the country.

Beggary in India has a long history. For instance, in ancient India (even now) it is considered dharma to give alms to a beggar and many sadhus also beg strictly for food as their traditional way of life limits any income. Even Shiva, is believed to have run his household by begging among rishis and sadhus. Buddha used to beg for alms as mendicant, who happened to experience change by seeing beggar , and not only did he become friendly with him, but he accepted the beggar as a disciple in the holy Sangha later on.

Then emerged the professional beggars: in some areas they are called “bhat”, while world knows a beggar by names like “panhandler”, “vagarant”, “untouchable” as a great number of them are found to be inflicted with leprosy and other contagious diseases. Some are even beggars for generations like the beggars of Chopra Basti and continue their family tradition of panhandling. Many beggars in the subcontinent even have sizable wealth which they accumulate by "employing" other smaller and newer beggars. They can claim to have territories and then may engage in verbal and physical abuse of encroaching beggars. And this gave rise to the need of doctors, who could help cripple humans, including children to take the trade forward. A senior orthopaedic surgeon at district hospitals in the Ghaziabad and Noida cities of Uttar Pradesh, is one such doctor. For a price he will cut off a person’s arm or leg.

However, with time, the whole gamut of beggary has seen a momentous evolution. Now you are greeted by “Allah ke naam pe de oo, maula ke naam pe de do, babu kuch to dedo …” Beseeching voices as you enter Jama Masjid Delhi premises. At many places of worship, beggars are nuisance for visitors. In the Sherlock Holmes story, "The Man with the Twisted Lip," first published in the December 1891 issue of The Strand Magazine, Holmes encounters a man who gives up his career as a journalist to become a beggar because he can make more money that way. He says:

“I painted my face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no less than 26s.”

According to census of India, there were 750307 beggars and vagrants in India in 1981, which declined to 542875 in 1991, though it further increased to 627688 in 2001. Out of the total, about 2/3 beggars were in rural areas while 1/3 in urban area.

The Hindu last month reported that “beggary is the outcome of abject poverty and not choice.” An Action Aid International study on beggary in India shows that 99 percent of men and 97 percent of women got into beggary due to poverty. The study found that different laws to prevent beggary were implemented strictly in Delhi and Tamil Nadu, but implementation was lax in other States like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh due to lack of necessary systems and infrastructure. There were no anti-beggary laws in Rajasthan.

All State laws go with a basic premise that beggary is an outcome of choice and not compulsion. "However, considering the low-income level, immigrant status, age factor, disability, disease and lowest social status, one can conclude that choice could not be the reason behind beggary. It is a survival mechanism," the study points out.

In reply to a question (STARRED QUESTION NO 439) on August 25, 2005 by Dr. R. Senthil in the Parliament regarding `Census on Beggars`, Minister of Social Justice & Employment, Mrs. Meira Kumar replied, “No reliable estimate about the number of beggars in the country is available with Government of India.” On the preventive measures, she said that beggary, including begging by children is sought to be prevented through enactment of legislation by the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations. So, laws related to begging are a State subject and not a Central one. Thus, there is no Central Act ‘regulating’ beggary. Since 1961, the city of Delhi has been administered by the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959, which makes begging in public places a crime and a punishable offence.

A study by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS), in 2002 a Delhi-based research group, pegs a beggar's average earnings at about Rs. 50 a day on the basis of the statements of over 60 percent of the beggars interviewed.

Last month, stating in the Assembly House, Minister of State for Social Justice, government of Maharshtra, Dharmaraobaba Atram informed that beggars in Mumbai earn Rs 180 crore a year. Vilas Awchat, an MLA, who raised the issue through a short discussion, said that the number of beggars in Mumbai, which was 20,000 in 1963, rose to three lakh in 2004.

According to this law, begging, vending on roads, cleaning vehicles at traffic junctions, singing in buses and displaying disability for alms are all unlawful. If penalised under this law, one is sent to a special beggar court and bailed out only after paying Rs 500 – 1000.

Begging, as a phenomenon, has become a perilous social problem in the urban communities, especially in the Muslim month of Ramadhan or any other festival time.

In Bhikshatane, an essay on beggary in Kannada by K L Kamat, published in "Mallige" monthly, the author states observes:

“The intellectuals for long have been intrigued by mankind's attraction to living by panhandling. Why do able bodied, working people take up begging? Why do Bengali refugees return to starving Bengal after assisted relocation? Why have we failed to settle vagabond tribes like the Bhils and Mogalayas?”

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