WILL BEGGARS WILL BE BEGGARS

Census 2011 states that there are 40 million  beggars in India . Such a large number shows that India has been unsuccessful in fulfilling its role as welfare states . To spur your hand before others , just for two moment bread is like killing your soul by yourself . You must have witnessed people begging near temple , on crossroads . Being a responsible citizens your mind may question over the situation that either these people are in the situation due to their own reason or have been compelled by conspiracy . Irony is that , there is no proper central mechanism regarding this .

Recently , Delhi High Court has ruled off 25 sections of Bombay Prevention of Begging Act . These sections were there to make begging a criminal offense . Along with this High Court has made it unconstitutional to interpret  begging as criminal practice . High Court has ruled this on behalf of two PILs filed regarding the fundamental rights and basic human rights of beggars .

It is matter to be care here that there is no any Central Law regarding begging till now . 20 states and 2 union territories have made law on Bombay Preventing of Begging Act . Delhi is also one of those territory .

Begging can be simply  classified as (i) desired begging and (ii) undesired begging . Many people are there who adopt it due to laziness and weak ea-steam to work . Some of the Indian Tribes adopts it as their tradition . But larger picture is completely inverted . Actually , hunger , poverty and inequality in income are those reason , due to which a class of people are not able to get basic facilities like food , clothes and shelter . This class adopts begging as its substitutes of livelihood in compulsion .

The story of income inequality and chronic hunger in India is clearly represented in various global reports . A report published in December 2017 named World Inequality Reports , says only 10% people have 56 % of total wealth in India . On the other hand Global Hunger Index 2017 published by International Food Policy Re-search Institute palaces India at 100 in the list of 119 countries .

Many a time , some gangs are benefited by these poverty prone people . These gangs run begging in a collective manner . They do it by threatening , by giving greed and sometime by human trafficking of the poor people . Some times they do it even by making them handicapped .

By abolishing 25 sections of Bombay Prevention of Begging Act , High Court has made a meaningful effort to protect the right to life of such poor people . The main provision of this act was to criminalize begging and and giving police the power to arrest such people and deport to some registered organization . Act had included all those persons who used to beg either by singing , dancing , forecasting future or by showing wound or by telling about ills . Apart from these , even to roam  near public places in desire of begging in absence of any means of livelihood , the said law had declared it as begging .

In that law , beggar were sentenced for 3 years when arrested first time and 10 years on 2^nd time of arrest and kept in registered organizations . Along with this , dependents of the arrested people could be sent to registered organizations too .

These registered organizations had have many types of power given . For example , to punishment the beggars , to take work form them  . And if anyone would not obeyed , in such cases they could be sent to jail too . Those all provision were included for the purpose to send beggars and leprosy to a certain place for giving them essential  amenities and proper treatment . But it became a powerful weapon against those who were seen to beg due to poverty , compulsion and physical derisiveness . Administration started using it to remove them from public places . For instance , it was used on large scale to drive out beggars from New Delhi during Commonwealth Games 2010 . According to punitive provision of the act , beggars were arrested but the administration  didn't take any sufficient step for their rehabilitation .

The main problem of current law is regarding the definition of begging . For example , earning livelihood by singing , dancing and forecasting future is occupation for some community . Just because these occupation do not tally with the main stream occupation , to declare  it a criminal act is no way justifiably .