Life of beggars

In ancient times the Hindu Society begging for mendicants and their students . The students were allowed to beg for their teacher. But they were never called beggars. They were received with highest respect and it remained tradition from age’s ago. The common house people felt lucky to receive them . But later these mendicants got greedy and degenerated and wanted to make out of begging.

Now in India begging is a fashion , a compulsion, a privilege and a recreation. The number of beggars is very much larger in our country than other countries. Our heads hang down in shame when we read description of our country India given by the foreigners in a hateful manner. To westerners, India is a land of the mendicants and snake-charmers. Beggars are found in villages and town roads, crossings and footpaths. But their favourite hunts are bathing ghats, temples, religious or festivals fairs, railway stations , everywhere trains and bus stands all over places we can find them more. They are mostly children beggars who are mostly handled by some notorious gangs to earn money for them making them blind, crippled or diseased totally. They loiter around here and there by begging near colleges, institutions, bazaars like fancy bazaar etc. When you are waiting for a bus at the Bus stand or walking down a road with your friend, they appear from somewhere and start endless wooly of entreaties and blessings. They follow you close at your heels and keep pestering you till you give them some coins out of a sense of sheer disgust and helplessness. And if you don’t give them coins then they curses you badly.

There are various types of beggars in India. The religious ; beggars cluster round pilgrim centres and attract public attention by their wonderful feats. There are crippled and disabled beggars who remain lying on road-sides or at railway or river bridges arousing sympathy of the passers by making all kinds of pitiful gesture; There are beggars who are quite slout and able-bodied . Begging for them is not a necessity but a profession. They are unwilling to earn their bread by hard work. They often operate in gangs and their leaders hold a bank balance that would be credit to an important business magnate. They are disguised as physically disabled or handicapped. They use as tools are young women’s who give birth to young babies who are taken for begging and all young children who are being handicapped or paralyzed for only begging purpose. This people become crime oriented people and mostly crimes, and the children also become criminal because of poverty and poorness. Unemployment, Illiteracy, ignorance and never ending population are other causes of begging.

Now as a citizen of India I can say that government should put some law and rules and regulation against such begging and the crime of begging small children in the streets. The government should establish work-houses where able-bodied beggars should be kept and compelled to work. Begging is a very bad thing and it against human rights and very inhuman to look at this condition of people around us begging for food which makes me cry to think. Government should make law to stop crime begging and all starved beggars fully from our country. But before doing so the government should make arrangements to rehabilitate them and to give work and shelter for them , and treatments for those who are ill. The common man should also support them give some help to them and love and care through helping hands. And people can open N.G.O for to help them in order to make our country India proud.

Richa Barua
Cotton College ,Mass Comm Deptt.
Guwahati