Delhi to banish beggars

This was the headlines in Times of India yesterday. You can read the article here:

Delhi has beggars at every red light. Many of them are migrants from adjoining states. Most often you see women with children. You also see lots and lots of children. They are great gymnasts (if I can use the word) and entertain the passerbys with their antics. None of the children go to school.

So Delhi Government has woken up to the problem of these people now that the commonwealth games are upon us. Does this mean that the government wouldn't have given a damn if the games were not scheduled? And what does the government plan to do? Oh, send the children to juvenile homes and the adults to jail. What a fantastic solution! Of course, once the games are over, the government can forget about the problem.

There are couple of NGOs working with beggar children in Chennai. What they have realized, what has often been articulated, and what was also portrayed in Slumdog Millionair, is that there is a cartel involved in this business. The begging is a business. The children are kidnapped and made to beg. The adults-those you see with grotesque limbs-are also held at ransom by this cartel. The cartel itself comprises of goondas. Police knows this as do the politicians. If any outsider tries to interfere in this matter, their life is at threat.

What we require is a way to break the nexus. It is not the beggars who belong in the jail. It is the cartel leaders- the men who hold children and adults alike at ransom and dehumanize them- who should be shut up in prison. Forever if possible.