Fang Shi Han / India
It is said that beggars are the happiest of people. They live on a day-to-day basis without worries, hopes, pride or dreams. Beggars feel no shame. They are willing to do whatever it takes to get the next bottle of alcohol, the next sweet, or the next plate of food. As a prominent indicator of social inequality, beggars cluster in urban areas, preying on well-minded travellers in addition to milking the charity of both blue and white-collar workers.
Begging in the Rural & Urban areas
Rural poverty is driven mostly by the farmers’ dependency on the monsoon cycle. Crops only grow when there is moderate rain – too much causes floods, too little causes droughts. One cannot control the weather. There is little possibility in planning ahead.
When food is scarce in the dry season, agricultural workers are forced to seek other means of income. Larger families are compelled to sell one child to feed the rest. In places where child marriage is prevalent, daughters may be married off to extract a dowry and to lessen the burden on family finances. In the worst cases, the rural poor resorts to begging.
The asking rate of each beggar increases with the level of urbanisation. The minimum rate in rural Koppal is 2 rupees while the minimum rate in urban Mumbai is 10 rupees. In Bangalore, child beggars flit from vehicle to vehicle at each junction during traffic jams. They never stop at one target for long. With such a high volume of targets, the chances of scoring a ‘hit’ are massively higher than the rural areas. These children earn at least 10 rupees per 100 vehicles, and 300 rupees per day.
Like most professions, the begging industry has a tendency to establish collective behaviour. Begging syndicates are not unknown in India and it was highly improbable that child beggars established working patterns, ‘sales strategies’ and respective territories independently.
The begging profession also works on concepts of buying and selling – it regards sympathy as a market to be exploited. Yet this human sense of ‘heart’ merely encourages the growth of the begging business, by proving that there is profit to be made. Each rupee given is a transaction for the sale of poverty.
The children get just enough to feed themselves while the leaders of the syndicates keep the rest. Furthermore, after reaching the age of physical maturity, the girls are then sold off into the flesh trade while the boys become slaves or labourers. It is difficult to find a girl or boy between 13 to 16 begging along the streets when their value lies elsewhere.
In Mumbai, each child beggar pays 50 rupees per day as a ‘protection fee’ to syndicates or corrupt policemen, just to be able to beg on the streets. One may even consider this deal as rental space for a shop front. The child beggars sell images of destitution and ‘customers’, willingly or otherwise, participate in this scheme through a constant supply of sympathy cash.
Marketing tactics include sharp jabs at your arm, hoarse voices and feisty demands of equal treatment (“if the other beggar got 10 rupees I must have 10 rupees too!”). These tactics are practised to perfection as each beggar competes to incite guilt and shame. The targets part with a small amount of cash to ease the hidden fear that the genetic lottery could have banished anyone to that precise state of impoverishment.
This temporary paralysis incites a blinding sense of fault. Furthermore, when this immediate guilt can conveniently be erased with a mere parting of spare change, the long-term systemic effects of each individual action are forgotten. The system cannot be seen, or felt until one is bombarded with heart-wrenching images from NGO posters or movies like Slumdog Millionaire.
The Systemic Effects
Organised crime targeting children, combined with the indifference of the police, result in children becoming victims of organ trade, flesh trade, child trafficking, forced begging and child labour. According to The Week (“Where are our kids?” July 19th, 2009), one child goes missing every hour in Delhi while the police avoids accountability by registering only 20% of missing cases. Most of the missing children are from poor families without financial resources to follow-up on the cases.
India’s image as a nation of poverty and endemic corruption is not new. UNICEF consistently reports that more than 230 million people in India are undernourished – the highest in the world. Malnutrition accounts for nearly 50% of child death in India and more than 70% of children under 5 are anaemic.
However, NGOs have collectively bombard the developed world with images of starving Indian children in the hope of securing funds. The Indian government accused ISKON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) of portraying India in a falsely unfavourable light internationally to obtain funding for its midday-school meal scheme. A secondary charge alleges that ISKON was misappropriating these funds to its own real estate investments.
Slum tours have also become in-vogue. Rates for touring Mumbai slums range from US$10 for 2.5 hour tour to US$135 for a 9 hour tour. Some agencies even offer a 1-night stay with a slum family at a rate of US$160. Tourists enthusiastically lap up ‘poorism’ expecting to experience about ‘real poverty’ in the ‘unseen world’. These tour agencies claim to channel the profits (after tax) to rehabilitating the slum dwellers or educating the slum children.
NGOs also sell volunteering programs like a tour package. One can ‘do good’ and have fun at the same time, ‘only’ at a low cost of US$450. However, the lack of accountability shrouds this industry with scepticism. In Bangalore alone, 750 out of 1000 registered NGOs have been ‘blacklisted’ by the government. Selling India’s poverty abroad, an up-scaled version of the beggar children, is nothing new.
The deputy director of The Ecumenical Christian Centre (ECC) also testified that from his experience in conducting forums for NGOs, many of these organisations have a vested interest in sensationalising events to acquire financial support. For instance, some Christian groups amplify news of a Christian man being beaten up in the local paper, or on the internet, to ensure a temporary stream of resources from Christians in India or overseas.
Can there be a solution?
Though begging is technically against the Constitution (the largest in the world), like most other laws in India, this rule cannot be implemented in full force. How does one penalise a beggar for begging when jail is hardly seen as a punishment? How does one enforce societal discipline with a fine when the offender has nothing to begin with?
Every do-gooder in the world wants to save the poor, help the destitute, heal the sick and fix the system. Yet every solution requires a problem. While 10 rupees may provide one meal for a child beggar, eradicating organised begging syndicates and corruption involves a deeper re-thinking of the problem. Another social worker, having worked for various NGOs for 7 years, displays almost an air of resignation.
“Corruption will always be there. We cannot fix it. What we can do is work at the grassroots level, to empower the poor one village at a time. There are many other NGOs doing good work for the people. There are also many unethical NGOs in India taking funding away from the real projects. But what is the point about talking about things you cannot do anything about? What matters are the people whom we help.”
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Interesting article but I do wish you had left out the part about “It is said that beggars are the happiest of people.” because what followed is one of the most twisted definitions of happiness I have ever read.
Well then this is truly an example of money can’t buy happiness…..Sporeans got money also not happy, slum kids/beggars got no money but still happy. How does one define happiness? It is all in the mind.
I believe in India, the parents of the daughters pay the dowry, not the other way around.
Whether beggars or not, happiness is easily acquired when one has no more attachment to material things, to having a good life of comfort and plenty, of enjoying the best foods and entertainments, of anything with regards to this life.
The more attachments and desires we have the more unhappy we will be.
Detachment is therefore the key to happiness.
Only a sick civilisation could turn begging into a profession. The article reminds me of a scene in Slumdog Millionaire where children are deliberately blinded to make them into lucrative beggers. This country is the last place I’d ever want to visit.
“Corruption will always be there. We cannot fix it. What we can do is work at the grassroots level, to empower the poor one village at a time. There are many other NGOs doing good work for the people. There are also many unethical NGOs in India taking funding away from the real projects. But what is the point about talking about things you cannot do anything about? What matters are the people whom we help.”
This bring to question of what is charity…Even here in singapore we have the likes of NKF and Ren ci …etc etc
Does the $$$ donated go to the person/persons in need or only to the pockets of the organisation?
Charity has become a reality show and product placement for huge corporation…as seen on TV.
Personally I would give direct to the person in need.
I wonder what will Jon Quah say about the eradication of begging and poverty in Singapore…
I thought dowry in India is paid to males?
@On dowry: Paying dowry to the male family was a practice that did exist a few centuries ago. However according to the people I’ve asked, including city dwellers and from the less developed areas, this practice is not set in stone. It varies according to demand and supply of the sexes. For instance, a few hundred years back, it was common to ‘pay a fee’ to members of royalty, just to ensure one’s daughter is married to a wealthy family. However now in areas where there are more boys than girls (boys are stronger and therefore more productive in farming work), it is the boys’ families that have to pay the fee to get the girl’s family to agree. We also have to keep in mind that arranged marriages are still by far the norm.
@ 1), 5): Happiness is a concept that depends very much on perspective and not just material wealth. For instance, I’ve heard many people tell me that Singaporeans have everything in terms of wealth and satisfaction, but they have nothing because there is no freedom. Almost like being a very pampered pet locked up in a cage. In India however, you can see spontaneity and happiness even in the most humble of conditions.
I wrote this article after meeting a group of 6 child beggars last month. I met 2 of them again today, in a different district. One of them (7 years old) told me quite openly that he was ‘based’ in the other district. They are quite obviously working within a begging syndicate yet the situation isn’t as pathetic as portrayed in Slumdog. We had sugar cane juice together and he was actually like any other normal 7 year old. In fact, maybe even brighter than most kids in Singapore.
Who’s to say that grubby little boy, begging along the road, is destitute, miserable and more unhappy than overworked primary school children in Singapore?
Also, the term ‘sick civilisation’ comes across as mildly racist. Perhaps there be an article about begging syndicates in China as well?
Shihan #9 – thanks for the clarification about dowry. After making my post, I asked myself if things have changed or if the cultural context was different in our experiences (the Indian sub-continent is full of very diverse cultures and far from monolithic).
On a separate note, the kids really are “working”. I’ve not spoken with them as Shihan has, but I was aware that as a tourist in Mumbai I should either give them money discretely (to avoid getting mobbed) or not at all. Unlike a number of genuine beggars in the US, they do not need food from us (if we want to help a beggar in the US, we take them to an eatery for a meal), these kids apparently have a daily quota of takings they need to report in.
My most bizarre experience was when my friends and I got mobbed by kids in Mumbai (and I think Delhi too) asking for pens. Are these genuine beggars or is there a pen syndicate *gasp*? We quipped to our Indian friend that had we known ahead of time, we’d have brought over boxes full of pens for these kids …
Shi Han,
good piece and full of factual data but I beg to differ on comment #9, which you described poster #5 comments as “mildly” racist. I do not know if you were trying to be overtly polite, but lets call a spade a spade. Thanks.
Nothing new as India gov. refuse to take good care of their people. Instead spend so much on arms. There is nothing NGO can do except the India leaders take step to repair the damage.
Yang #12 – From the CIA Factbook:
India:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html
Military spending = 2.5% of GDP (US$1,237 billion official exchange) = US$30.9b
Singapore:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sn.html
Military spending = 4.9% of GDP (US$ 154.5 billion official exchange) = US$7.57b
So, you want to claim the Indians spend too much on arms instead of their people? A country with almost 300 times more people than Singapore spends 4 times more on arms than we. If they are bad, then what are we? And they have a relatively hostile Pakistan to their north, we have … oh … Dr. M.
As long as u have the pariah mentality in india…NOTHING will ever change!
I see that you are refering to yourself
Very interesting piece, Shihan. I have been to India several times and, besides the begging on the streets which you have described, I have also spotted excessive child labour everywhere. They work for pittance and work long hours from around the age of 7.
I spoke to a gold jewellery salesman who was barely 15 at Chennai once and asked him how he came to work at the shop. He said his family had some contacts and he came to the shop to work at age 7. The shop provides him all meals and he gets to sleep in the shop at night. All his waking hours are spent at the shop. He learns from older salesmen and also runs errands like buying them tea and coffee etc. Once a year, this boy gets to go back and visit his family.
No wonder things in India are cheap.
Dear Shi Han,
I am sorry for my English in advance,But Thanks for focus on matter,which is not seriously taken by our Indian politicians or Social organizations,getting huge funds to stop all this in their project,you have write things very nicely,Because no body willing to look into entire problems of families,which are really suffering from economic crises here at their places,I am working with a Ngo ,but our organization can’t go beyond the limits.
We are trying to get peoples out from Bagging with a ambitious project “SAMBHAV”
its mean “be equal to all”
I hope in next visit may be Indian beggars will less by 0.0001 % but sure.
Thanks & Regards,
Amardeep Singh
shrawil@live.in
MonikerSaidia: Can you say that child labour is inherently wrong though? THere are families in the slums where both parents earn barely enough to feed themselves, not to mention their children. Both begging and child labour are illegal but the child needs to eat, so it would be wrong for anyone to criticise a child if he is driven to beg, or work to get some dinner. The gold jewellery salesman seems relatively you mentioned seems to get by pretty well, despite his having to work since he was young. Should we use our benchmarks to judge the economic conditions of India? Imagine if he didn’t work, because outsiders think child labour is against human rights. Would he have any other recourse?
Amardeep Singh: Your english is fine. :-) Good luck with your project.
hi:
I am a Phd scholar and I am interested to work on the begging behaviour in children . As been mentioned how they become shameless in asking for food and other stuff and why not people like us are able to do the same . But I am not getting a point from where to start and what more I can study in thier behaviour. Till where I find hardly there is any research work done. But I want to understand the causes and establish them emperically ,so solutions could be made with help of them. Specially chilrens future could be changed positively if a attitude change comes in them. So if I could get some help in this regard I would be obliged.
#19…i suggest u join them….live and beg !
shweta:
Hi,
please ignore the m*ron at number 20.
I’m not an expert on childhood psychology, so I’m afraid I can’t be of much help.
However you could start your research on the influence of parents on early childhood development. Maybe even the effect of the family as a norm-establishing institution.
A friend of mine has worked as a teacher in the slums before, you can contact him at: manju.hemapura@gmail.com
Good luck.
Shihan,
quite agree with you. Lots of m***ns around
number 21…..an imbecile like you should take stock of your own agenda before throwing rocks…armchair idiots like u is not going to change india for a million year…just ask your compatriot…another imbecile…number 22
#23
hahaha….so u admit that you are a moron….and in my mind a racist too.
Hi all
I think first of all what we have to think about is , Begging is a crime in India. So never encourage beggers, and more over there are many rescue homes for them set up by our government(but the condition there is too bad but it can be made good by the involvement of people and media). There are many begging mafias working in our country so dont encourage beggers and if we find beggers in the street with the help of police and social servents we should take them to the rescue homes. If they are getting what the need fundamentally from these rescue homes we can generate them as our valuable citizens like a normal child.
If any one interested in working for this good reason can contact me directly through my email: jobinjahafar@gmail.com
Production of Space.
Most of the communities in India (such as Bengali), are succumbed in ‘Culture of Poverty’(a theory introduced by an American anthropologist Oscar Lewis), irrespective of class or economic strata, lives in pavement or apartment. Nobody is at all ashamed of the deep-rooted corruption, decaying general quality of life, worst Politico-administrative system, weak mother language, continuous absorption of common space (mental as well as physical, both). We are becoming fathers & mothers only by self-procreation, mindlessly & blindfold. Simply depriving their(the children) fundamental rights of a decent, caring society, fearless & dignified living. Do not ever look for any other positive alternative behaviour (values) to perform human way of parenthood, i.e. deliberately co-parenting of those children those are born out of ignorance, real poverty. All of us are being driven only by the very animal instinct. If the Bengali people ever be able to bring that genuine freedom (from vicious cycle of ‘poverty’) in their own life/attitude, involve themselves in ‘Production of Space’(Henri Lefebvre), at least initiate a movement by heart, decent & dedicated Politics will definitely come up. – Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay, 16/4, Girish Banerjee Lane, Howrah-711101, India.
u may experience these kind of unexpected things in india like begging and many more. and i’am pretty sure it will remain this way for ever because its already institutionalized.thats why they call incredible india .
There various reasons for prevalence of Begging in India, foremost of which is tendency among Hindus to offer Alms to improve their PARLOK. Begging has become a profession and people beg because people are ready to offer alms. Only shameless people opt for begging. You know there are more than 40 crore people below poverty line earning less than Rs27 or Rs.32 a day depending upon whether they live in urban or rural area (source planning commission). But all have not resorted to begging. Now we as a citizen of this country must not just ignore this problem. We are creating a big family of future beggars by encouraging beggars. We must do something such as:
1. Discourage people to offers Alms. Instead people should be encouraged to donate to honest NGO’s devoted to the cause of upliftment of beggars.
2. Motivate children not to opt for beggary.
3. Encourage and support young children for poor families to study and learn vocational courses so that they turn into responsible children and beggars.
4. Devote their surplus time for the development of such children
Sewa, Sehyog Prerana Pramod Sultania (09811322534)
Delhi
There various reasons for prevalence of Begging in India, foremost of which is tendency among Hindus to offer Alms to improve their PARLOK. Begging has become a profession and people beg because people are ready to offer alms. Only shameless people opt for begging. You know there are more than 40 crore people below poverty line earning less than Rs27 or Rs.32 a day depending upon whether they live in urban or rural area (source planning commission). But all have not resorted to begging. Now we as a citizen of this country must not just ignore this problem. We are creating a big family of future beggars by encouraging beggars. We must do something such as:
1. Discourage people to offers Alms. Instead people should be encouraged to donate to honest NGO’s devoted to the cause of upliftment of beggars.
2. Motivate children not to opt for beggary.
3. Encourage and support young children from poor families to study and learn vocational courses so that they turn into responsible children and beggars.
4. Devote their surplus time for the development of such children
Sewa, Sehyog Prerana Pramod Sultania (09811322534)
Delhi