Reaching out to the marginalised

Rajesh Krishan

The other day, just as my mother and I were leaving home, a frail beggar in dirty clothes, with a toddler in her arms, was standing at our front gate. She was asking for alms. My mother at once reached in her purse and gave her some money.

A few minutes later, we stopped by the market to buy sweets from a renowned sweetmeat shop. As we alighted from our car, an elderly woman, sitting in the parking lot across the shop, lifted her cup and desperately shook it at my mother, prompting her to dig around in her purse for money.

About five minutes later, we stopped at a traffic light point near the Zirakpur flyover. Out of nowhere, an innocent girl, barely over three-foot tall, crossed in front of us. It was cold and rainy and she was begging. Being the religious woman that she is, my mother was so moved and overwhelmed by her plight that she swiftly opened her purse, rolled down the window and pressed a Rs 100 note into the girl’s tiny palm.

Like my mother, there are many among us who feel an obligation to do their bit to help the needy. But the increased presence of beggars across the city can also make you wonder where do you stop? Whether it’s important to draw the line between generosity and caution?

Go to any popular public place today and you are most likely to be greeted by a beggar. In fact, in parts of the city, beggars have outnumbered policemen.

For compassionate citizens, witnessing this huge surge in the number of beggars can be a frustrating, because no matter how many times one parts with money, gives them food or leads them to a shelter, their presence continues to grow with each passing day.

This puts one in a dilemma, forcing to grapple with questions such as is it right to give alms to beggars? Will I be helping them by giving them alms? This dilemma becomes complex when one is confronted by a child beggar or a disabled person.

It doesn’t help when the authorities shirk their responsibility by telling you that the only solution to the begging problem is to stop giving them alms. Some officials even go to the extent of blaming the beggars and homeless for not adhering to rehabilitation programmes. But doesn’t the very fact that they exist and are left to suffer for a square meal as cheap labour implies that we, as a society, have failed them, and that we don’t care enough?

Think how many times we’ve seen instances where a policeman closely inspects vehicles at a traffic light for traffic violations, but remains totally indifferent towards the presence of child beggars.

But it's not just the authorities that have failed. It's each one of us who walk by them every day but do nothing about them, not to mention those who employ underage children as domestic help or use them at construction sites, garbage dumps and roadside stalls, subjecting them to a traumatic experience.

It's so because our laws on beggary and child rights still remain mostly on the paper. There’s a need to make a concerted effort to implement these in letter and spirit with a focus on the rehabilitation of the marginalised. The general public also needs to be told as to how they can help in achieving this objective.