Begging bowl

Is she real or fake? Is her child sleeping, or has she drugged him? Is his disability by accident, or was it inflicted upon him? Does he need the medicine, or is he making it up? Should I buy the cleaning cloth from the little kid, or should I discourage force-selling? Such are the questions that puzzle our minds when we stop at traffic lights or venture out to a market. Who are these people who tear us in conflict and make us feel guilty? They are the beggars on our streets. We worry as young children scurry across traffic to our cars while finding it hard to look into their eyes as they ask for money; or what about that woman holding a baby or the old men pleading their case and making unsolicited prayers for us. We want to help, but sometimes shy away unsure of intentions or needs.

Begging on the street is an increasingly common phenomenon in our cities; unconventional and complex with diverse participants. Street begging in Pakistan may be classified in three broad categories: those who are in real need of help, those who find begging a convenient way of earning a livelihood and finally those upon whom begging is enforced. Evidence of the first category’s presence is compelling as 29.5 % of people in Pakistan live below the poverty line. For those begging out of convenience, no published data is available, but small-scale studies and reports suggest a strong growth in this category fuelled by high unemployment. The third-most perilous category comprises organised gangs and mafias involved in kidnapping children and women, sometimes wreaking disability on them, while pocketing their alms gathered in the scorching heat.

It is pertinent to note that begging is prevalent all over the world, including the world’s richest economies. The Indian subcontinent contains one of the highest numbers of beggars. The Guardian reported India’s beggar population to be at well over 400,000 in 2015. Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, alone reported 40,000, no certain or estimated figures are available for Pakistan.

The ILO carried out a regional analysis in 2006 surveying 210 beggars in Sri Lanka, 198 in Pakistan and 200 in Bangladesh. The report, although limited in its scope, highlighted that 34% of beggars interviewed in Pakistan were forced to beg by organised mafias. The percentage for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh was much lower ranging between 6% and 11%. Such contrast signals a high incidence of professional and exploitative beggary in Pakistan calling for legislative control.

A number of countries worldwide have laws in place against the practice of begging. These include the UK, India, the Philippines, the US, Nigeria, etc. Enforcement of the law however is challenging and usually not effective. Pakistan had also passed a law in 1958 making begging a punishable act with maximum imprisonment of up to three years. Later in 2011, the Lahore High Court also passed a ruling that the government should strictly enforce laws to discourage ‘professional beggary’, set up homes for the destitute and improve charity disbursements. In its concerted effort to curb begging, law-enforcement agencies discovered 14 organised gangs in the city of Lahore alone. Such data further substantiates the findings of ILO’s study. No such effort has been reported in other provinces and no serious action has been taken to enforce the law ever since.

The main issue to be highlighted is that begging has not received its due attention from the government, NGOs or civil society leading to its unabated growth. Unlike other South Asian countries, Pakistan does not even have any data on demographics of its beggar population in the absence of which policy formulation and planning is difficult. The networks operated by mafias are organised and connected, often in cahoots with local law-enforcement making it difficult to enforce.

Begging bowls also help create a breeding ground for the darkest evils, including street crime, kidnappings, drug abuse, prostitution, organ donation, human trafficking, et al.

In order to safeguard society, it is important that effective steps are taken to abolish the criminally inhumane practice of begging. There is a need for regulations and effective enforcement so that malpractice of begging is checked. Implementation should ensure that regulations against begging are enforced and organised mafias forced to shut their operations. For genuine needs, the government may take constructive steps like some countries have including rehabilitation of street beggars, offering them jobs, food shelter and clothes funded by Zakat.

Vocational training may also be offered to enable willing workers to contribute to society rather than beg. NGOs and civil society may play their role by establishing shelter homes, food and clothing banks as done in developed countries. Some NGOs have in fact established such shelter homes, orphanages and old people’s homes, but these are too few to meet our society’s need.

There is definitely a critical need to pay attention to this fast-growing societal phenomenon. On the one hand, it is essential to restrict space for any breeding ground for criminals, drug peddlers and human traffickers and, on the other, help in the social uplift of society by providing self-respect to those begging.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2018.

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