1

2
 Table of Contents
TEAM AT IHD................................................................................................................ 5
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... 6
List of Tables, Figures & Boxes ...................................................................................... 8
Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................. 14
1.1 Background ....................................................................................................... 14
1.2 Rationale of the Study ................................................................................................. 15
1.3 Need for Rehabilitation ............................................................................................... 15
1.4 Reasons Behind Engaging in the Act of Begging ......................................................... 15
1.5 Review of Literature ................................................................................................... 18
1.6 Objectives of the Study ............................................................................................... 19
1.7 Methodology and Definitions ...................................................................................... 20
1.8 Limitations of the Study .............................................................................................. 23
1.9 Chapter Summary ...................................................................................................... 24

Chapter 2: Profile of People Engaged in Begging ....................................................... 28

2.1 Magnitude and Pattern ............................................................................................... 28
2.2 Locations/Hot Spots .................................................................................................... 30
2.3 Gender ........................................................................................................................ 32
2.4 Age Group .................................................................................................................. 33
2.5 Marital Status ............................................................................................................. 34
2.6 Level of Education ...................................................................................................... 36
2.7 Classification ............................................................................................................... 37
2.8 Migration Status ......................................................................................................... 39
2.9 Chapter Summary ...................................................................................................... 41

Chapter 3: Lives and Livelihoods ............................................................................... 44

3.1 Places of Stay .............................................................................................................. 44
3.2 Number of years in begging ........................................................................................ 45
3.3 Reasons for begging .................................................................................................... 46
3.4 Average Earnings........................................................................................................ 49
3.5 Part-Time Work ......................................................................................................... 50
3.6 Family in Begging ....................................................................................................... 52
3.7 Work History .............................................................................................................. 53
3.8 Previous Work Type ................................................................................................... 54
3.9 Chapter Summary ...................................................................................................... 55

Chapter 4: Aspirations and Assistance ........................................................................ 59

4.1 Aspiration: Desire to Leave Begging ........................................................................... 59
4.2 Preconditions for Leaving Begging.............................................................................. 61
4.3 Reasons for Not Leaving Begging ................................................................................ 62
4.4 Assistance Needed for Rehabilitation .......................................................................... 64
4.5 Employment and Skill Training Required .................................................................. 66
4.6 Chapter Summary ...................................................................................................... 70

3
Chapter 5: Role of the State........................................................................................ 73
5.1 Evolution of Policy and Regulations ............................................................................ 73
5.2 Contemporary Law and Policy ................................................................................... 75
5.3 Few Success Stories ..................................................................................................... 80

Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendations ........................................................... 87

6.1 Key Survey Findings ................................................................................................... 87
6.2 Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 92

Annexures ................................................................................................................ 109

Annexure 1:Data Tables .................................................................................................. 109
Annexure2a:Schedule A- Survey Questionnaire ............................................................... 115
Annexure2b:Schedule B- FGD Checklist ........................................................................... 119
Annexure2c:Schedule C- Key Informant Interview Checklist ............................................. 120
Annexure3:Description of Focus Group Discussions ...................................................... 122
Annexure4: Process Framework ..................................................................................... 124
Annexure5:List of Field Researchers .............................................................................. 132

4
TEAM AT IHD

Team Leader Research Team

Alakh N. Sharma Aditi Madan
Priyanka Tyagi
Co-Team Leader Vikas Dubey
Balwant Mehta
Research Support
Advisor Shweta Sharma
G.C. Manna Shubham Kumar
Swayam Singh
Danyal Owaisy

Guidance
Rashmi Singh, IAS
Spl Secretary-cum-Director
Department of Social Welfare
Government of NCT of Delhi

Facilitation and Support

Rahul Aggarwal
DANICS, Deputy Director (SD) Mahesh Sharma
Department of Social Welfare Chief Probation Officer
Government of NCT of Delhi Department of Social Welfare
Government of NCT of Delhi

Pradeep Kumar
Welfare Officer [Link]
Department of Social Welfare Director, Koshish
Government of NCT of Delhi Tata Institute of Social Sciences

5
Acknowledgements
Despite India's rapid economic growth, begging continues to remain one of the critical issues in the
country. People engaged in begging constitute the most deprived, poor and vulnerable section of the
society, who are in dire need of rehabilitation. There is a dearth of reliable estimates or data on the
number of people engaged in the act of begging in Delhi. However, to formulate an effective
rehabilitation strategy, one needs to first have realistic estimates of number of people engaged in the
act of begging, as well as understand their profiles and what are their goals and aspirations in life.

In this context, an intensive research and field work was carried out on the various dimensions and
aspects of beggary. An extensive census survey was done across the 11 districts of Delhi and data was
collected, compiled and analysed, which brought to light beggars’ preferences for skill development
and training and other needs to disengage themselves from the act of beggary. This report is the
culmination of the research and survey. Utmost care was been taken to keep the concept of respect,
dignity and inclusion central to its preparation. The study also provides empirical evidence on specific
locations where such people are concentrated, such as religious places, streets or footpaths, traffic
signals and market areas; their lives and livelihoods; aspirations and assistance as well as overall
rehabilitation policy required, based on their needs assessment.

The Institute for Human Development (IHD) is thankful to the Department of Social Welfare, NCT of
Delhi for awarding ‘Comprehensive digitized survey of persons engaged in the act of begging and
those who are at risk in Delhi’ to the Institute.

Right from the inception of the study and fieldwork to formulation of the final report, we received
guidance from Dr. Rashmi Singh (IAS), Spl Secretary-cum-Director, Department of Social Welfare
(DSW), Government of NCT of Delhi. We are also thankful to other officials, especially Mr. Rahul
Aggarwal, DANICS, Dy Director (SD), DSW, Government of NCT of Delhi, Mr. Mahesh Sharma,
PO, DSW, Government of NCT of Delhi and Mr. Pradeep Kumar, Welfare Officer, DSW,
Government of NCT of Delhi for their valuable inputs. We are grateful to Dr. Mohd. Tarique and his
team ‘TISS Koshish’ for sharing interesting insights about the issue of beggary. The valuable inputs
provided by the Key Informants contributed towards the development of a comprehensive
rehabilitation framework.

The study was led by Prof. Alakh N. Sharma, Director, IHD and Dr. Balwant Singh Mehta as Co
Team Leader. Thanks to Dr. Aditi Madan, Ms. Priyanka Tyagi and Mr. Vikas Dubey who worked
endlessly as core research team members. The research support was provided by Ms. Shweta Sharma,
Mr. Shubham Kumar, Ms. Swayam Singh and Mr. Danyal Owaisy.

Finally, this study involved tough field work and it could not have been possible without the
dedication of the field investigators. We are thankful to all the 40 investigators and supervisors for
their hard work. This study would not have been possible without the participation of the respondents.
We are grateful to them for their time and their views.

6
7
List of Tables, Figures & Boxes

Tables
Table 2.1: Important Locations where People Engaged in Begging (in %) by District
Table 2.2: Classification of People Engaged in Begging by District (in %)
Table 3.1: Reasons of Begging by Districts (%)
Table 3.2: Average Daily Earnings by Districts (%)
Table 3.3: Type of Part-Time Work by District (in %)
Table 3.4: Type of Previous Work by District (in %)
Table 4.1: Age-group wise Prerequisites for Leaving Begging
Table 4.2: Age-group wise Reasons for not Leaving Begging (in %)
Table 4.3: Assistance Required for Rehabilitations (in %)
Table 4.4 Assistance Required for Rehabilitations by Age-Group (in %)
Table 5.1 State Wise Anti-Beggary Laws in India
Table 6.1: Adults: Suggested List of Skill Development and Training Assistance for Males

Table 6.2: Adults: Suggested List of Skill Development and Training Assistance for Female

Table 6.3 Adults: Some Suggested Wage-Employment Assistance for Males

Table 6.4 Adults: Some Suggested Wage-Employment Assistance for Females
Table 6.5 Adults: Some Suggested Self-Employment Assistance for Males
Table 6.6: Adults: Some Suggested Self-Employment Assistance for Females
Table 6.7: Some Suggested Assistance for Old/Other Vulnerable
Table 6.8: Some Suggested Assistance for School going Children/Parents of Children
Table 6.9: Suggested Implementation Plan for Rehabilitation

8
Figures
Figure 1.1: Reasons for Engaging in Begging
Figure 1.2: Survey Tools
Figure 2.1: District-Wise Number of People Engaged in Begging (in number)
Figure 2.2: Location or Places of Begging (in %)
Figure 2.3: District-Wise Number of People Engaged in Begging by Gender (in %)

Figure 2.4.1: Age-GroupWise People Engaged in Begging (in %)

Figure 2.4.2: Age-Group Wise People Engaged in Begging (in %) by District
Figure 2.5.1: Marital Status of People (18+ years) Engaged in Begging (in %) by Gender

Figure 2.5.2: Marital Status of People (18+ years) Engaged in Begging (in %) across Districts

Figure 2.6.1: Level of Education of People Engaged in Begging (in %)

Figure 2.6.2: Level of Education of People Engaged in Begging (in %) by District
Figure 2.7: Classification of People Engaged in Begging (in %)
Figure 2.8: Place of Origin for People Engaged in Begging (in %)
Figure 2.9: Duration of Stay in Delhi of Migrants (in %)
Figure 3.1.1: Places of Stay of People Engaged in Begging (in %)

Figure 3.1.2: Homeless People or ‘Vagrant’ Engaged in Begging by Districts (in %)

Figure 3.2: Number of Years in Begging (in %)

Figure 3.3: Reasons for Engagement in Begging (in %)

Figure 3.4: Distribution of Average Earnings per day (in %)

Figure 3.5.1: Type of Part-Time Work (in %)

Figure 3.5.2: Engagement in Part-Time Work by District (in %)

Figure 3.6: Distribution of Family in Begging by District (in %)

Figure 3.7: Previous Work History of Respondents by District (in %)

Figure 3.8: Type of Previous Work (%)

Figure 4.1: District-wise Desire to Leave Begging (in %)

Figure 4.2: District-wise Desire to Leave Begging by Gender (in %)
Figure 4.3.1: Prerequisites for Leaving Begging (in %)
Figure 4.3.2: Prerequisites for Leaving Begging (in %) by Gender
Figure 4.4: Reasons for Not Leaving Begging (in %)

9
 Figure 4.5: Reasons for Not Leaving Begging (in %) by Gender
Figure 4.6: Assistance for Employment and Skill Training (in %) by Gender
Figure 4.7: Requirement of Education and Skill Training by Age-Group (%)
Figure 5.1: Distribution of Identification Card (in %)
Figure 6.1: Gender-wise and Age-wise People Engaged in Begging
Figure 6.2: Approaches for Rehabilitation
Figure 6.3: Components of Comprehensive Approach for Rehabilitations

Boxes
Box 2.1: Alternative Estimation Factoring Limitations
Box 2.2: Person Engaged in Begging at Jhandewalan Temple premise
Box 2.3: Reasons and Place of Origin
Box 3.1: Reasons for Engagement in Begging
Box 3.2: Work History before Begging
Box 4.1: Reasons for Not Leaving Begging
Box 4.2: Reasons for Engagement in Begging
Box 4.3: Assistance Required to Start Self-Employment (Tea Stall)
Box 4.4: Graduate Demanding Self-Employment

10
11
INTRODUCTION

12
13
 Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background
In the past few decades, the world has been urbanising rapidly. It is particularly fast in the
case of developing countries such as India – from 25.5 per cent in 1991 to 31.1 per cent in
2011. According to the Census of India, Delhi is the most urbanised (97.5 per cent) state in
the country with a 1.67 crore population, which recorded about 8 per cent change in urban
population from 1991 to 2011. This high urbanisation rate has led to mass movement of poor
people with or without families from rural or underdeveloped states to Delhi in search of
employment opportunities and better lives.

The increasing demands made by the exponential growth of city population is suggestive of
the ever-increasing requirement of food, energy, water, land for human settlements, better
civic and infrastructural facilities and amenities for standard quality of life. Though there is
rapid urbanisation, the country is also facing high rates of unemployment, under employment
and poverty in the country, large number of people are unable to meet their basic needs such
as food, clothing and shelter. This force people from weaker socio-economic sections of the
society to engage in the act of beggary for their survival.

Despite India's rapid economic growth, begging continues to be one of the critical issues in
the country. People engaged in the act of begging constitute the most deprived, poor and
vulnerable sections of the society, who are in dire need of rehabilitation. There is a dearth of
reliable estimates or data on the number of people engaged in the act of begging in Delhi.
However, to formulate an effective rehabilitation strategy, one needs to first have a realistic
estimate of number of people engaged in the act of begging. It seems that their numbers have
somewhat increased; one can see people begging on railway stations, railway tracks, bus
stations, outside religious places, traffic signals and on streets.

A comprehensive study on Street Children conducted in 2011 by the Institute for Human
Development (IHD) for the Government of NCT of Delhi found that out of 51,000 estimated
street children below 18 years of age, around 15 per cent were engaged in the act of begging.
In other words, there were around 8-10 thousand children engaged in the act of begging in
Delhi in 2011. Apart from children, many persons engaged in begging are old, or even belong
to the working-age groups.

14
1.2 Rationale of the Study
The rationale behind the study was to provide evidence on how begging as a socio-economic
phenomenon and the persons engaged in the act have so far been unsympathetically treated
both by the ‘law enacting judiciary’ and the ‘society at large’. The report signifies the
importance of effective policies and programmes in respect to the rehabilitation of such a
deprived section of the population. It also expounds on the urgency to which the subject
matter of beggary should be adhered to and how our country as a whole would benefit from
the upliftment of its so far marginalised and destitute citizens. This study also holds relevance
not only from a humanitarian point of view but also in terms of advocating policy
intervention for assuring constitutional right to life.

1.3 Need for Rehabilitation

People engaged in the act of begging are vulnerable and require prioritised aid from the state
and its people. Though various initiatives have been undertaken by the Delhi Government
and various NGOs for the rehabilitation of such people and the urban homeless, the efforts
are minuscule given the intensity of the problem. Although welfare work has also been
directed at reducing begging, including providing jobs to people engaged in the act of
begging, with varying degrees of success, however, begging continues to remain a significant
social issue. Sting operations have also revealed the existence of begging rackets in big cities,
which have adverse implications on the society.

Some of the reasons identified for increased beggary include poverty, unemployment,
unstable homes, loss of income and disruption of joint family etc. These underlying reasons
make it necessary to know the numbers of persons engaged in the act of begging and their
diversity in terms of age groups, sex, socio-economic background and place of origin etc. to
formulate a city-specific action plan for rehabilitation of such people. There is a structural
problem in the society that needs to be addressed. This study helps to understand the scale
and manifestation of the problem, which will allow one to specifically focus on rehabilitation
and policy interventions. A comprehensive rehabilitation plan is crucial to cover
identification, rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities, counselling, education, and skill
development with the support of state governments, local urban bodies and voluntary
organisations.

1.4 Reasons Behind Engaging in the Act of Begging

There are various reasons behind people getting engage in the act of begging (Fig 1.1). Some

15
of the reasons discussed in the report include poverty, unemployment, inequality,
homelessness and loss of work and income. Some also indicate adverse outcomes due to
drug/alcohol addiction, lack of seasonal work, physical or mental disability and other
vulnerable conditions, which compel many to engage in the act of beggary for survival
(Carter, 2007; Anderson, 1961). In addition, a lot of children have also been found engaged
in the act of begging due to an array of reasons, which can broadly be divided into the
following categories.
Figure 1.1: Reasons for Engaging in Begging

a) Economic Causes: Beggary is related to the economic condition in two ways. First,
beggary might be the consequence of economic instability or distress. Second, under certain
situations, beggary might be motivated by economic gain; this is particularly relevant in case
of organised or exploitative beggary. Unemployment or under-employment, destitution,
landlessness, poverty, calamity, drought or famines and various other conditions of
destitution are all variants of economic causes. Most migrant workers are engaged in informal
work, which comes without minimum wages and/or social protection. They have no access to
civic amenities, food security and public housing in the cities, because of which they are
forced to engage in beggary to sustain themselves.

b) Social Causes: Social disorder, such as cultural conflict, unplanned industrialisation,

community disorganisation, mass migration, breakdown of the joint family institution,
weakening of the traditional family structure and the emergence of individualistic
considerations, seems to have changed the situation considerably, forcing people in crisis
situations to take up beggary for survivals. Often orphans, infirm and aged, and other
socially, physically and mentally handicapped people have to engage in beggary. Children

16
who run away from homes because of abuse, hunger or in search of jobs, widows who are
neither accepted by their in-laws nor by their parents, eventually engage in the act of beggary
for survival. However, certain communities consider begging as their hereditary profession
and social custom, such as Nats, Bajigars, Sains, Jugglers, Bhats and Kanjars. They do not
attach any social stigma to the act of begging and engage in it since childhood.

c) Disasters and Pandemic: Natural calamities such as earthquakes, floods, tsunami,

hurricanes and drought result in huge loss of lives, livelihood and property and pushes the
poor and vulnerable people deeper into the poverty trap. Such disasters compel many to leave
homes, leaving everything behind and under circumstances of immediate need, they are
forced to beg to survive. Health and social crisis, such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic
adversely affect the livelihood of many people in the urban areas. As a result, unemployed
people are compelled to beg to survive and sustain themselves in urban areas or cities. For
instance, a report by Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN) in 2020 suggested that
more than 80 per cent of migrant workers have not received government ration. In such cases,
they either return to their rural homes or resort to begging in big cities for survival.

d) Religious Causes: Most religions sanction seeking and giving alms and people regard it as
an opportunity to do punya or good karma. A sort of religious sanctity is attached to alms
giving.

e) Physical/Biological Causes: Given the lack of social provisioning provided by the state
when it comes to health expenditures, people with disabilities or people who are unable to
meet their health expenditures are forced into the act of beggary. Many a times, family
members abandon people suffering from chronic illness, mentally and physically disabled or
aged, who then resort to begging, as they are unable to engage in respectful economic
activities.

f) Forced Beggary: There are people, especially children who are drugged, beaten and forced
to beg. They are sometimes maimed or burned to elicit greater sympathy and get more alms.
These vulnerable children are preyed upon by cartels. They trap these children through
traffickers and force them into begging through subjugation, which more often than not
include drug dependency or some form of violent coercion.

17
g) Illiteracy and Lack of Skills: Given quite a few of these people are engaged in the act of
begging since childhood, they do not get the opportunity to develop any other skill or even
receive basic education. Even if they want to come out of begging, they have no alternative,
as they are unskilled and illiterate with no option to fend for themselves and their families.

1.5 Review of Literature

In this section, the recent literature on beggary in India has been reviewed to build a strong
understanding around the issue. The review includes three broad themes: (i) reasons and
classification (ii) debates around the type and estimates of people engaged in begging and
(iii) suggestions.

The studies conducted across cities found some common characteristics of people who
engaged in begging. They are mainly homeless, street children, old, disabled, infirm or with
stigmatised ailments like leprosy and mental illness, migrants and illiterate (Action-Aid,
2004; DSSW, 2004; Jafri, 2005; PUCL-CSDS, 2008; Datta, 2008; IHD, 2010; Khan, 2013;
Sailaja and Rao, 2016). The study also revealed that there is a section that is unemployed or
underemployed and able bodied, but engage in either part-time or full-time begging.

A survey undertaken by the Social Development Centre of Mumbai (2004) revealed similar
results, as most people engaged in begging see it as a profitable and viable profession. Of the
5,000-odd beggar surveyed on the streets of Delhi, four turned out to be highly educated—
supplementing their monthly salaries with begging over the weekends. Six were graduates
and 796 had studied up to the secondary level. Visweswara [Link], (2016) stated that begging
cannot be written off just as an economic problem, and it is more than just a consequence of
poverty and neglect. Visweswara elaborated that the problem of begging surfaces due to a
complex tangle of socio-cultural factors, which play a key role alongside the economic
adversities. The common perception among the people engaged in begging is an
unproductive way of life; however, they were happily engaging in this means to earn a
livelihood, as it did not involve any form of manual work. It was collectively termed as the
easiest way to earn money. The study found the preferred places of begging to be religious
places, markets, residential areas, streets, bus stations and railway stations.

The second issue is the estimation of people engaged in begging across the cities. Various
studies show that there has been a phenomenal rise in the number of people engaged in

18
begging across Indian cities, as urbanisation has increased. Rafiuddin (2008) reported the
number of persons engaging in begging across India to be around 7.3 lakhs. There were
some 60 thousand people engaged in begging in Delhi and over 3 lakhs in Mumbai according
to a 2004 Action-Aid report; nearly 75 thousand in Kolkata, according to the Beggar
Research Institute; 56 thousand in Bangalore, according to police records. In 2005, the
Council of Human Welfare found that one in every 354 people was engaged in begging in
Hyderabad. However, these estimates have several limitations, as the data collected were
either a sample study or the objective of the study was different, such as enumeration of
homeless or street children.

The third issue revolves around suggestions provided by the studies to reduce the prevalence
of beggary. The studies suggest that better housing facilities, care of elderly people engaged
in begging, suitable institutional care for children, and services of NGOs, social workers and
civic bodies should be made available to curb the growing menace of beggary. There is a
need to conduct awareness programmes with the objective of rehabilitation of people engaged
in begging. Additionally, they should be provided with transportation and basic needs such as
shelter and livelihood assistance. Educational initiatives, awareness drive on the adverse
effects of begging should also be carried out. The authors also suggest that NGOs, media
outlets and academic institutions should work in unison with the government to eradicate the
problem of beggary in India by providing effective rehabilitation to such people.

This brief review indicates that the profile and magnitude of people engaged in begging in
metro cities such as Delhi has been changing over the years. These studies also suggest that
there is a need for rehabilitation initiatives to eradicate the problem of beggary in cities such
as Delhi.

1.6 Objectives of the Study

In this context, in order to formulate intervention strategies towards rehabilitation and
reintegration of persons engaged in begging, it is important to have an estimate of the number
of persons engaged in begging. The estimate needs to be authentic enough so that the states
and all other stakeholders can rely upon it to develop policies and programmes. There is a
need for a comprehensive digitized survey and profiling of the target population to identify
the socio-economic-demographic profile and nature of the problem in a realistic manner.

The study provides a realistic estimate of persons engaged in begging in various districts of
19
National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. In doing so it will contribute to finding effective
solutions for devising various schemes and programmes for rehabilitation of such people and
help them become socially and economically empowered. The main objectives of the study
are:

i. To estimate the number of persons engaged in begging across different

districts/geographic locations

ii. To provide a profile of persons engaged in begging across age groups and gender

iii. To prepare a profile of persons engaged in begging in various forms such as with
or without family, disability, geographical locations, activity before begging etc.

iv. To provide a broad framework of the magnitude and nature of the implementation
plan for the rehabilitation of persons engaged in begging

1.7 Methodology and Definitions

A mix of both quantitative and qualitative methodology was adopted to collect the data of
people engaged in begging in Delhi.

Coverage and Identification: The survey was conducted in all the 11 districts and 33 sub-
divisions of NCT of Delhi. Before the start of the field survey work, the hotspot or locations
of begging were identified with the consultations of select stakeholders and field visits. In
this process, the hotspots identified were traffic signals, religious places, under bridge/fly-
over/subways, at/vicinity of bus terminals, at/vicinity of railway stations, at/vicinity of metro
stations, street footpaths, tourist spots, residential areas, markets and malls.

Survey Tools: This study collected primary as well as secondary data to meet the objectives.
In the primary survey, both quantitative and qualitative data was collected by employing
survey tools, as shown in Figure 1.2. A semi-structured questionnaire, consisting of closed
and open-ended questions was developed to collect primary or field-level information across
the 11 districts of Delhi i.e., North, North East, North West, West, South, South West, South
East, New Delhi, Central, Shahdara and East. To supplement the primary data, key informant
interviews with stakeholders and case studies were also undertaken. This was done to have an
in-depth understanding of the situation. In addition, secondary information
was collected from various published reports, web-based articles, journal articles and
government reports.

20
 Figure 1.2: Survey Tools

The semi-structured questionnaire was prepared in consultation with the Department of

Social Welfare, Government of NCT of Delhi and other stakeholders. It comprised three
broad sections and 39 questions, each section constituting of a single or multiple-choice
questions. The first section covered the ‘background information’; the second section focused
on ‘respondent profile’, and the third section captured the respondent’s opinion regarding the
‘assistance required for rehabilitation’. Additionally, the checklist for the focus group
discussions and key informants interviewed was also prepared for the survey. These tools
were finalised after pre-testing and a pilot survey was conducted with the relevant
respondents.

Data Collection: After finalising the survey tools, a full-day training of 50 field investigators
and eight supervisors, which included equal number of males and females was conducted at
the India International Centre, Delhi. In the training, the study team and other relevant
officials thoroughly discussed each aspect of the study and survey tools. Further, the field
survey in each district was conducted in the already identified hotspots. Some additional
spots were identified during the survey by field teams consisting of trained field investigators
and supervisors. The survey was conducted using CAPI-based software connected to the
server through internet.

Apart from continuous monitoring by the on-field supervisor, the senior researchers also
regularly visited the areas to facilitate the survey work. In exceptional cases, if a respondent
was not willing to reveal the detailed information, it was ensured that the investigators
included the person in the inventory even without the detailed information. The qualitative

21
information was collected through 30 focus group discussions (FGDs), which was conducted
across various groups of persons engaged in begging, and 30 case studies documented during
the field survey. In addition, five key informants interviews were conducted with various
stakeholders to know their perceptions and views on rehabilitation of the people engaged in
begging.

To avoid duplication during the enumeration an identifier question was asked. The identifier
question was ‘has someone with similar questions interviewed you previously?’

Operational Definition: According to the Bombay Prevention of Beggary Act (BPBA) 1959,
which was extended to NCT of Delhi in 1960, ‘Beggary’ means:

(i) Soliciting or receiving alms, in a public place whether or not under any pretense such as
singing, dancing, fortune-telling, performing or offering any article for sale
(ii) Entering any private premises to solicit or receive alms
(iii) Exposing or exhibiting, with the object of obtaining or extorting alms, any sore wound,
injury, deformity or diseases whether of a human being or animal
(iv) Having no visible means of subsistence and wandering about or remaining in any public
place in such condition or manner, as makes it likely that the person doing so exist for
soliciting or receiving alms
(v) Allowing one-self to be used as an exhibit to solicit or receive alms

However, the definition does not include soliciting or receiving money or food or given for a
purpose authorised by any law, or authorised in the manner prescribed by the Deputy
Commissioner or such other officials as be specified in this behalf by the Chief
Commissioner.

For this survey, anyone found engaged in begging at the time of survey, including part-timers
were considered as person engaged in begging. The classification of people engaged in
begging included child (juvenile); physically and mentally handicapped;
diseased/aged/infirm; religious mendicants; employed (part-time); temporarily unemployed;
babies in arms; able-bodied; forced; casual; professional/hereditary and destitute. In the case
of children, only those who were observed as engaging in the physical act of begging were
counted as persons engaged in begging. Babies in the arm were treated as a separate category
and not counted in persons engaged in begging. Children up to 10 years of age were counted

22
in, but detailed survey was not undertaken for them due to their inability to respond to the
detailed questions.

1.8 Limitations of the Study

During the survey, necessary steps were observed to include all the people engaged in
begging in the city. However, the study still has some limitations, which may have resulted in
some underestimation of people engaged in begging across the districts in the city. Following
are some of the limitations of the study:

• Identifying beggars has been a complex issue, as generally, any person who ‘looks’
untidy, unkempt, shabbily dressed or of unsound mental health, is presumed to be a
beggar. Further, it was extremely difficult to differentiate between homeless people,
street vendors, landless labourers who migrate to bigger cities in search of livelihood,
destitute people and other categories of people who fall into the category of persons
engaged in begging.

• The people engaged in beggary frequently shift base, due to voluntary and involuntary
reasons. Voluntary reasons for mobility include search for more lucrative begging
spots. Involuntary reasons include forceful eviction by authorities and weather
extremities, pandemic restrictions, etc. Such frequent movements posed a challenge
during the enumeration process.

• It was also very challenging to get time from persons engaged in begging to answer
the questionnaire, as it meant loss of income for them.

• The pandemic restrictions on gatherings affected the interview process, especially

around congested areas. Police personnel stopped investigators at several places from
taking interviews, given the pandemic situation and restrictions on gatherings.

• The Covid-19 pandemic induced restrictions imposed by the government, Market

Associations, RWAs, policing, restricted the movement of such people and also
forced many return to their native cities.

• Another challenge was migration, again caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, during the
survey period. A significant number of beggars had returned to their native places
due to inability to pay rents and/or did not get enough alms as also pointed out during

23
 15 out of 30 FGDs. The pandemic-led lockdown created a difficult situation for their
survival in the city.

• Children up to 10 years of age found engaged in physical act of begging were counted
in, but a detailed survey was not undertaken for them due to their inability to respond
to the questions. Many children as well as adults occasionally indulged in other
economic activities, such as rag-picking, domestic worker etc. This made it very
difficult to identify and count such individuals, if they were not engaged in begging at
the time of the survey.

• Transgender people have not been discussed in detail given the low percentage
engaged in the act of beggary in the NCT of Delhi. Another survey could be
undertaken to understand their needs in detail and to include them in the mainstream.

1.9 Chapter Summary

The introductory chapter sets off the study by providing a background on the problem of
beggary in India. In order to set the context of the study, the ‘rationale behind the study’ and
the ‘need for rehabilitation of the persons engaged in beggary’ has been discussed. This is
followed by a section that discusses the various reasons for people’s engagement in begging.
Under the ‘review of literature’, the findings of other studies on the issue of beggary has been
highlighted. The chapter then lays out the objectives, methodology and operational
definitions adopted in the study. Lastly, it discusses the limitations of the study.

24
25
 PROFILE OF PEOPLE
ENGAGED IN BEGGING

26
27
 Chapter 2: Profile of People Engaged in Begging

Beggary is an intense societal problem, especially in developing countries like India. The
greater the number of people engaged in begging, more is the strain on the working people
and the economy, because of mislaid human resources (Frederick et al., 2016). According to
the Census of India, over 4 lakh people were engaged in begging in India in 2011, which
included 2.2 lakh males and 1.9 lakh females. The highest number was found in West Bengal
(81 thousand) and lowest in Lakshadweep (2 vagrants). The National Capital of Delhi had
2,187 people engaged in beggary comprising 844 females and 1343 males (Census, 2011).
However, there are various other estimates, for example, the Delhi School of Social Work
recorded close to 60 thousand homeless in 2005, who could be termed as people engaged in
begging. Action Aid estimated close to 60 thousand people engaged in begging in 2012. Save
the Children estimated around 80 thousand street children in Delhi in 2019, out of which
about 20 thousand were engaged in activities such as rag-picking or begging. As per the
National Sample Survey Organization, Periodic Labour Force Survey estimated that around
4852 people were engaged in begging in 2018-191.

The experts argued that the census numbers are grossly underestimated as the Government of
India through household survey conducts the decennial census, while a majority of people
engaged in begging are homeless and stay on streets, outside religious places, under the
bridge and park etc. As a result, these people are left out in the household-based surveys such
as Census and National Sample Surveys (NSS). On the other hand, the estimates given by
various agencies are based on surveys conducted with different objectives such as counting
homeless and street children, which would also include people involved in some kind of
economic activities such as selling items on the street and collection of waste or garbage etc.
Thus, the available estimates on people engaged in beggary per se are either grossly
underestimated or overestimated, in the absence of a proper survey on the subject.

2.1 Magnitude and Pattern

This study surveyed people engaged in beggary across all districts of Delhi, from February
2021 to March 2021. The survey data revealed that a total of 20,719 people were found
engaged in begging in Delhi (Figure 2.1).

1 This also included data on prostitution.

28
Across the districts, the maximum number of people engaged in begging were found in East
Delhi (2,797 people) followed by Shahdara, North West Delhi, Central Delhi, South East
Delhi, West Delhi, New Delhi, South West Delhi, North East Delhi, South Delhi, with the
lowest being in North Delhi (627 people). This indicates that persons engaged in begging
were found to be less in high-income areas such as South Delhi district. This could be due to
Covid-19 pandemic induced restrictions, vigilant RWAs and better policing. The numbers
were much more in the low-income areas because of low level of implementation of
restrictions and migration from the high-income areas to low-income areas.

Figure 2.1: District-Wise Number of People Engaged in Begging (in number)

East 2797
Shahadra 2666
North West 2572
Central 2422
South East 2208
West 2016
New Delhi 1804
South West 1661
North East 1177
South 769
North 627
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000

Source: Primary Survey

However, after factoring the limitations mentioned earlier, the number of people engaged in
begging is estimated at about 27,556 persons in NCT of Delhi (Box 2.1).

29
 Box 2.1 Alternative Estimation Factoring Limitations
The study team has taken all the necessary steps and precautions to get the real
picture of the people engaged in begging in NCT Delhi. However, keeping in
view of the limitations mentioned earlier, the survey numbers are likely to be
somewhat underestimated. Hence, the number is further adjusted by taking two
scenarios into consideration, (i) some people engaged in begging might have
been left un-intentionally by the investigators in the survey, and (ii) many
preferred to go to their native places owing to Covid-19 pandemic as discovered
during FDGs and other stakeholders’ interviews citing reasons such as
restrictions, less people giving alms, social distancing, and loss of income.
Accordingly, a team with senior study members made multiple visits (3 visits)
in four select wards in four different districts where investigators found 90
people engaged in begging. After multiple visits, the study team found 12
additional people (around 13 per cent) to be engaged in begging by considering
the highest number in a day during the three days of re-visit. Further, the
information on number of people engaged in begging who returned to their
native places due to Covid has been gathered from the FGDs conducted at select
areas. They revealed that on an average 2 out of 10 or 20 per cent have returned
to their native places from the select areas. Therefore, one can say in the normal
scenario, assuming all return migrants will come back in near future the total
number of people engaged in begging estimated to be 27,556 persons.
(20,719+2693+4144) in NCT Delhi.
2.2 Locations/Hot Spots
The people engaged in beggary were found highly concentrated at four major locations: (i)
religious places (64 per cent), (ii) streets/footpaths (42 per cent), (iii) traffic signals (37 per
cent) and market areas (28 per cent). One such incident of a person engaged in begging at
Jhandewalan temple is narrated in Box 2.2.

30
 Box 2.2: Person Engaged in Begging at Jhandewalan Temple premise
Name: Dinesh Singh; Age: 65 years; Daily earnings: Rs. 100-200
Dinesh Singh, a 65-year-old man, lives on alms from temple visitors. He is literate and hails
from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, where he worked as a
driver. He lost one of his legs in an accident, which
left him unemployed. He first moved to Haridwar
where he stayed for four years and survived on alms
he received from devotees. Subsequently, he came to
Delhi and now resides in a small room outside the
Jhandewalan temple. Due to his handicap, he is
unable to get any job. He has been convicted and sent
to the Sewa Kutir a couple of times in the past for
begging within the temple premise.
“I started taking alms from temple visitors as I do not have to ask them to give me money or
food; they give it on their own will. I have a daughter who is doing her graduation in Kanpur. I
am worried about her education and her future. I have to earn for my entire family. I do not
want them to beg like I do. I am ready for any kind of rehabilitation that the government
offers. The government should provide me financial help to start a shop. I urge government
to provide me education to enable me to get a job.”

The beggars were moderately concentrated at three locations (i) residential areas (15 per cent)
(ii) under-bridge/flyover/subways (15 per cent) (iii) at/vicinity of metro station (13 per cent).
There was low concentration at five locations (i) at/vicinity of metro station (7 per cent) (ii)
at/vicinity of metro station (5 per cent) (iii) tourist spots (3 per cent) (iv) malls (2 per cent) (v)
in buses/trains (1 per cent) (Figure 2.2).

Figure 2.2: Location or Places of Begging (in %)

Religious places 64
Street/ footpath 42
Traffic signals 37
Markets 28
Residential areas 15
Under-bridge/flyovers/subways 15
At/vicinity of metro station 13
At/vicinity of bus terminals 7
At/vicinity of railway station 5
Tourist spots 3
Malls 2
In bus/train 1

Source: Primary Survey

Across the districts, the following locations/hotspots were identified in order of concentration
(Table 2.1). New Delhi: Traffic signals, religious places, and street/footpath; North Delhi:

31
Religious places and traffic signals; North West: Religious places; West: Traffic signals,
religious places, street/footpaths, at/vicinity of metro station, and market; South West:
Religious places, markets, traffic signals, residential areas, at/vicinity of metro station, and
street/footpaths; South: Traffic signals, under-bridge/flyovers/subways, and street/footpaths;
South East: Street/footpaths, market, religious places and traffic signals; Central: Religious
places, street/footpaths, traffic signals, residential areas and market. North East: Religious
places, street/footpaths, traffic signals, residential areas and market; Shahdara: Religious
places, traffic signals, street/footpaths and market areas; and East district: Religious places,
street/footpaths, and market areas.

Table 2.1: Important Locations where People Engaged in Begging (in %) by District
Locations/
North West

South West
New Delhi

South East

North East
Districts

Shahdara
Central
North

South
West

East
Traffic signals *** ** * **** ** *** ** ** ** ** *
Religious places *** **** **** **** *** * ** *** *** *** ***
Under- * * * ** * ** ** * * * *
bridge/flyovers/subways
At/vicinity of bus * * * * * * * * * * *
terminals
At/vicinity of railway * * * * * * *
station
At/vicinity of metro * * * ** ** * * * * * *
station
Street/ footpath ** * * *** ** ** *** *** ** ** **
Tourist spots * * * * * * * * *
Residential areas * * * * ** * * * ** * *
Markets * * * ** *** * ** ** ** ** **
Note: Below 25%: * (low concentration); 25%-50%:** and 50%-75%:***(moderate concentration);
above 75%: **** (high concentration)
Source: Primary Survey

2.3 Gender
In the past, studies have shown that a significant number of males were found engaged in
begging. However, the survey results reveal a different story. It found not much of a gender
difference in the people engaged in begging in NCT Delhi. Out of the total persons engaged
in begging, 54 per cent (10,987) were males, 46 per cent (9,541) were females.

However, having said that, the survey also threw up significant gender differences in some
districts. In two districts namely, North West and West districts, females were involved more

32
than males in begging, while in six districts i.e., Shahdara, East, New Delhi, Central, North
and North East districts, males outnumbered females in begging. The most significant gender
gap was found in the Shahdara district, where much more males (1,595) were involved in
begging compared to females (1,070) (Figure 2.3).

Figure 2.3: District-Wise Number of People Engaged in Begging by Gender (in %)

42 43 48 42 44 40 42
53 58 50 49

58 57 52 58 56 60 58
47 42 50 51

New North North West South South South Central North Shahadra East
Delhi West West East East

Male Female

Source: Primary Survey

2.4 Age Group

The people engaged in begging have been categorised into four groups: upto 10 years as
children; 11-17 years as adolescents; 18-59 years as adults; 60 years and above as old people.
Out of the total persons engaged in begging, about 60 per cent (12,518) were adults, followed
by 24 per cent (4,871) children/adolescents, and 16 per cent (3,330) old people. Every 4 out
of 10 people engaged in begging were either children or old, revealing a disturbing pattern
(Figure 2.4.1).

Figure 2.4.1: Age-Group Wise People Engaged in Begging (in %)

13 11 60 16

Upto 10 yrs 11-17 yrs 18-59 yrs 60+ yrs

33
 Source: Primary Survey
Across the districts, the highest number of children engaged in begging was found in South
Delhi (34 per cent) and lowest in the North East (12 per cent) district. The adults engaged in
begging were found highest in South East district (73 per cent) and lowest in both Shahdara
(47 per cent) and North East (47 per cent) districts. On the other hand, old people engaged in
begging were highest in Shahdara (24 per cent) and lowest in South East (12 per cent)
district. It is noteworthy that in some districts like Shahdara and North Delhi, there were
more children and older people involved in begging, while adults were found more in North
East and South East districts (Figure 2.4.2).

Figure 2.4.2: Age-Group Wise People Engaged in Begging (in %) by District

15 12 21 14 16 13 13 24 16 21 5

61
65 62 64 59 47 52 47
73 74 62

28 29 31 32 34
15 18 20 23 23
12
North South Central East South New West Shahadra North North South
East East Delhi West Delhi West

Children Adult Old

Source: Primary Survey

2.5 Marital Status

Out of total adults (18+ years) engaged in begging in Delhi, over half (55 per cent) were
married, one-fifth (21 per cent) were single, and one-fourth (24 per cent) were either
widowed (16 per cent) or separated (7 per cent) (Figure 2.5.1). A contrary pattern was
observed across gender, where single or separated status was common among males, while
married or widowed status was prominent among females. In particular, the vulnerability
among females seemed to be higher when compared to males, as the proportion of
widowed/separated among the former (29 per cent) was significantly higher than the latter
(19 per cent).

34
Figure 2.5.1: Marital Status of People (18+ years) Engaged in Begging (in %) by Gender

10 3 7
9 26 16

47
55
65

34
21
6
Male Female Person

Single Married Widowed Seperated

Source: Primary Survey

Across districts, the respondents having single status were highest in Shahdara (30 per cent)
and lowest in South East Delhi (12 per cent) district. While married persons engaged in
begging were found significantly more in South West (73 per cent) and South Delhi (72 per
cent) districts, and less in Shahdara (33 per cent). On the other hand, the widowed/separated
were found relatively more in Shahdara (37 per cent), West Delhi (31 per cent) and North
East (29 per cent) districts, and less in South (9 per cent) and South West (12 per cent)
districts (Figure 2.5.2). The results show that the most vulnerable people
(widowed/separated) were found more in Shahdara, North East, West and New Delhi than
other districts (Figure 2.5.2).

Figure 2.5.2: Marital Status of People (18+ years) Engaged in Begging (in %) across Districts
3 6 6 3 5 1 0
15 14 13 11 8 12
17 16 15 14
18
17 14 20
22

47 72
53 54 66 73
33 45 54 69
58

30 33
23 25 23 18 19
11 16 12 15
Shahadra New Central East North North West North South South South
Delhi Delhi Delhi Delhi East Delhi West East Delhi West
Delhi Delhi Delhi Delhi

Single Married Widowed Seperated

35
 Source: Primary Survey

2.6 Level of Education

In the earlier studies, it is well documented that the majority of the people engaged in
begging have been either illiterate, or with less educational qualification or without any skills.
In the survey, it was found that 7 out of 10 people engaged in begging were illiterate, another
2 people were educated up to secondary level and at least 1 person educated above the
secondary level (Figure 2.6.1).

Figure 2.6.1: Level of Education of People Engaged in Begging (in %)

72 22 5 1

Illiterate Upto Primary Secondary Above Secondary

Source: Primary Survey

Across the district, over half of the people engaged in begging were found illiterate in each of
the district, ranging from 59 per cent in North West to 90 per cent in South Delhi. On the
other hand, secondary and above educated (high educated) were relatively more in North
West (14 per cent), North Delhi (11 per cent) and New Delhi district (10 per cent) when
compared with other districts (Figure 2.6.2).

Figure 2.6.2: Level of Education of People Engaged in Begging (in %) by District

2 2 3 16 0
3 0 1
4 1
3 2 0
5 1
4
8 9 11 9 7
14 17
23 17 19 23
30 28 32
26

91
83 79 76
72 74 72
60 60 60 61

North North New West South East North Shahadra Central South South
West Delhi East East West

Illiterate Upto Primary Secondary Above Secondary

Source: Primary Survey

36
2.7 Classification
The persons engaged in begging were classified in the following 15 categories and defined
as:
(1) Part timers: Those who are able bodied and have other means of earnings but still beg
(2) Physically disabled: Those who are physically unable to take up any work and beg
(3) Hereditary: Nats, Bajigars, Sains, Jugglers, Bhats and others consider begging as their
hereditary profession because of social customs prevalent in these communities
(4) Casual: Those for whom beggary is a temporary or casual means of survival
(5) Temporary unemployed: People who resort to beggary for survival while searching for
the next job and are currently unemployed
(6) Child/juvenile: Children older than three years of age and younger than 18, begging to
survive or supplement their parents’ income
(7) Destitute: Those who are at the verge of becoming full-time beggars due to their
circumstances, such as people deserted by their families, death of spouse, and social
marginalised people affected with serious diseases
(8) Babies in arms: Newborns or toddlers with their parents or siblings carrying them
(9) Religious mendicants: Bairagis. Kabir-panthis among Hindus, fakir and darveshes among
Muslims and nank-shahis and gianis among Sikhs belonging to religious order and receiving
alms in private as well as public places
(10) Diseased and infirm: Those suffering from chronic illnesses such as leprosy, venereal
diseases, skin diseases etc., and cannot get engaged in any other work
(11) Mentally disabled: Those who are mentally disinclined to take up any work
(12) Child: Those under the age of 18 found begging on the street
(13) Able bodied: Those adults without any bodily ailments who resort to beggary
(14) Old: Those senior citizens who have no means to sustain themselves and depend on the
alms they receive from begging
(15) Forced: Those who are forced into begging through pressure or through organised gangs

These categories have further been classified into two broad categories: (i) people engaged in
begging due to circumstances and (ii) by profession or choice like religious
mendicants/hereditary/able bodies. The ‘circumstances’ category is further divided into two
broad classifications, (a) one those needs special care, support and social security like
physically/mentally disable/infirm/child/destitute/old age/babies in arm/forced, and another

37
(b) who needs livelihood support such as temporary unemployed/part-time/casual. Around
40 per cent of the people in the survey belonged to category (a), and 41 per cent belonged to
category (b), while 19 per cent belonged to ‘people engaged in begging by profession or
choice’ (Figure 2.7).

Figure 2.7: Classification of People Engaged in Begging (in %)

Temporary unemployed 10
Part-time/casual 31
Religious mendicants 5
Hereditary 11
Able-bodied 2
Babies in arms 5
Old age 1
Destitute 6
Child 8
Physical/mental disable/infirm 19
Forced 1

Source: Primary Survey

A significant number of people engaged in begging were temporarily unemployed/part-timers
and casual. This is attributed to job and income loss of many persons due to the ongoing
Covid-19 pandemic. During the survey, in some localities like the Jama Masjid area many
respondents said that they were left with no choice and were forced to beg due to lack of
work. In particular, casual labourers reported that they only indulged in begging at times
when they were unable to get any sort of work or in special cases, such as some religious
occasions when the scope of earnings via begging is relatively more than their daily wage.

Across districts, people engaged in begging as part-timers/casual were highest in New Delhi
(46 per cent), Central (38 per cent) and East (38 per cent), while lowest in South (13 per cent)
and Shahdara (14 per cent) districts2. On the other hand, the hereditary type was relatively
more in South (45 per cent), South West (20 per cent), and North East (23 per cent). Juvenile
beggars were more in North (22 per cent) and North West (20 per cent) districts; and
temporary unemployed type were more in North (18 per cent), Shahdara (15 per cent) and
Central (13 per cent) districts (Table 2.2).

2
When adding the total across columns, might slightly differ from 100 due to rounding.

38
 Table 2.2: Classification of People Engaged in Begging by District (in %)

North West

South West
New Delhi

South East

North East

Shahdara
Central
South
North

West

East
Forced 1 3 5 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0
Physical/mental disable/infirm 21 18 15 22 18 11 18 18 21 23 17
Child 5 22 20 1 8 14 7 3 2 15 3
Destitute 1 6 4 7 3 1 17 3 12 2 6
Old age 0 2 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 7 0
Babies in arms 5 2 4 2 6 12 3 10 5 4 4
Able-bodied 1 1 1 1 0 0 6 2 4 6 1
Hereditary 7 3 3 16 20 45 9 6 23 5 15
Religious mendicants 7 4 2 6 2 1 1 5 9 8 6
Part-time/casual 46 20 35 34 32 13 31 38 20 14 38
Temporary unemployed 6 18 9 11 9 2 8 13 4 15 8
Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Source: Primary Survey

2.8 Migration Status

It was found that around 67 per cent of the total people engaged in begging migrated from
other states into Delhi. Across the district, the highest number of people engaged in begging
was in West Delhi (86 per cent) followed by North West (82 per cent), North (81 per cent),
South (70 per cent), South West (70 per cent), New Delhi (68 per cent), Central (66 per cent),
East (66 per cent), North East (65 per cent), South East (57 per cent) and lowest in Shahdara
(47 per cent).

Around 84 per cent of them migrated from four states namely Uttar Pradesh (41 per cent),
Bihar (19 per cent), Rajasthan (14 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (10 per cent) (Figure 2.8).
Other states include West Bengal (3 per cent), Haryana (2 per cent) and Maharashtra (2 per
cent). Rest migrated from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Jharkhand,
Andhra Pradesh and others.

39
 Figure 2.8: Place of Origin for People Engaged in Begging (in %)

Uttar Pradesh 41
Bihar 19
Rajasthan 14
Madhya Pradesh 10
West Bengal 3
Haryana 2
Maharashtra 2
Punjab 1
Himachal Pradesh 1
Uttarakhand 1
Karnataka 1
Jharkhand 1
Andhra Pradesh 1
Assam 1
Others 1

*Note: Other states are Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Manipur, Telangana,
Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

Source: Primary Survey

The abundance of migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan could be attributed to
factors such as the proximity of the states to Delhi along with poor socio-economic
conditions and lack of economic opportunities in the native states. Many engaged in begging
cited ‘search for a job/livelihood’ as the initial reason for their migration to Delhi. It is
unfortunate that despite travelling such long distances, they couldn’t find an opportunity in
Delhi and consequently had no choice but engage in begging for survival. This can be
supported through example of FGD conducted among migrants from the state of Uttar
Pradesh, working as semi-skilled migrant labourers. They stated that they were forced to
engage in begging due to lack of job opportunities. On the other hand, migrants from the
State of Karnataka included hereditary persons engaged in begging, especially to perform
hereditary art form of ‘Potraj’ during festivals in Delhi. One such migrants stated the reasons,
as given in Box 2.3.

40
 Box 2.3: Reasons and Place of Origin
Name: Kamla, Age: 63, Place of Stay: Footpath,
Daily Earnings: Rs. 100 to 200
Kamla Devi belongs to Jodhpur Rajasthan. Due to poverty and lack of employment she, along
with her family members and some fellow residents, migrated and settled in a temporary jhuggi
in a slum near Rajouri Garden. Initially, they worked as casual labour and did manual work.
One day, the local Pradhan with civic officials bulldozed their irregular jhuggis and they had to
move on roads. With no other alternative, they started begging. She can stitch clothes on sewing
machine. She is very eager to send her children to school. She does not have ration card or any
ID proof. A vocational training would help her to earn a living.

The migration status was explored further by asking respondents about ‘the period of stay in
Delhi’. Only one-fifth (21 per cent) of them reported that they stayed in Delhi since their
birth. On the other hand, over half (52 per cent) of the migrants had been staying in Delhi for
more than 10 years followed by 2-5 years (23 per cent), 5-10 years (15 per cent), 1-2 years (6
per cent), and less than 1 year (4 per cent) (Figure 2.9).

Figure 2.9: Duration of Stay in Delhi of Migrants (in %)

4 6
23
52

15

Less than 1 year 1-2 years 2-5years 5-10years Above 10 years

Source: Primary Survey

2.9 Chapter Summary

Chapter two presents the profile of respondents in Delhi including detailed information about
their gender, age group, marital status, education level etc. of persons engaged in begging. It
also discusses their place of origin and work history prior to engaging in begging. Majority of
them belonged from four states, i.e., Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. It
also elaborates different locations where these people generally engage in begging.

41
LIVES AND LIVELIHOODS

42
43
 Chapter 3: Lives and Livelihoods

Understanding the lives and livelihood of persons engaged in begging has been a central
objective of this study. This chapter analyses the lives and livelihoods by looking into few
aspects of people engaged in the act of begging: places of stay, number of years in begging,
reasons for begging, average earnings, part-time work, family and work history.

3.1 Places of Stay

The place of stay indirectly throws light on the livelihood conditions of the people engaged in
begging. From the point of view of relative security and economic conditions, the places of
stay of such people can be divided into two broad groups: (i) ‘vagrants’ – poor people who do
not have a home to stay or regular income, and keep moving from one place to another (ii)
others – those who have a roof above their heads, either of their own or a place of relatives or
friends, and pay some rent to stay. Over half (49 per cent) of the people engaged in begging
in Delhi were vagrants (homeless), while rest (51 per cent) resided either in slums or JJ
Colony and shelter home/ night shelters/rain-basera. The ‘vagrants’ stay on footpaths, open
spaces (like construction sites, vacant land), religious places, under bridge/flyovers/sub-ways,
parks, and market areas/outside shops (Figure 3.1.1).

Figure 3.1.1: Places of Stay of People Engaged in Begging (in %)

Slums 33
JJ colony 12
Shelter home/ night shelters/rain-basera 6
Religious places 5
Under bridge/flyovers/sub-ways 4
Park 2
Market/outside shops 2
Open space 15
Footpath 20

Note: Others include at/vicinity of railway station; outside religious places and no permanent place etc.
Source: Primary Survey

Across the districts, 86 per cent of total people engaged in begging were vagrant in South
district. On the other hand, about 50-60 per cent respondents were vagrants in New Delhi,

44
Shahdara, South East, West and South West; and 30-50 per cent were vagrants in the Central,
East, North East, North West and North Delhi (Figure 3.1.2).

Figure 3.1.2: Homeless People or ‘Vagrant’ Engaged in Begging by Districts (in %)

South 86 14
New Delhi 58 42
Shahadra 57 43
South East 54 46
West 51 49
South West 50 50
Central 49 51
East 39 61
North East 37 63
North West 33 67
North 31 69

Yes No

Source: Primary Survey

The results reveal that a large number of people involved in begging cannot afford to pay
rent, especially in the expensive areas, such as South Delhi and New Delhi, with the
exception of Shahdara. While in the comparatively affordable areas such as North East, and
East districts, majority of them resided in slums, JJ colonies and shelter home/night
shelters/rain-basera. This was also revealed during the FGD, where participants pointed out
that they stayed in makeshift jhuggis in Nangloi JJ Cluster. In these jhuggis they utilised
public services such as Sulabh and common water tap for their daily essentials; whereas
another group of participants stated that they lived in jhuggis near railway stations and
engaged in beggary, as it allowed them to also engage in part-time rag-picking along with
begging. During the FDG, one of the women stated that they were forced to live in temporary
shelters built on footpaths using tarpaulin sheets and rags, as they were evicted by authorities’
time and again.

3.2 Number of years in begging

It may be of interest to see the trends related to the number of years people are engaged in
beggary. For the purpose of analysis and to understand the trends, the study considered those
who have entered in this activity during the last 5 years as ‘new entrants’ and ‘old timers’ as
those who have been begging for over 5 years (Figure 3.2). The survey revealed that around

45
40 per cent respondents were old timers and 52 per cent were new entrants. Thus, over the
years, the problem of beggary has only escalated in the city.

Figure 3.2: Number of Years in Begging (in %)

8
40 18

16

18

Since birth Less than 1 year 1-2 years 3-5 years Above 5 years

Source: Primary Survey

3.3 Reasons for begging

The literature discusses several reasons behind why people engage in begging in the first
place. Unless compelled by circumstances, no person would like to beg, due to it humiliating
nature. Many able-bodied persons have also taken refuge in beggary. In the survey, the main
reasons behind begging are divided into two broad categories – circumstance and choice.

Majority of the people were forced into begging as a result of circumstances such as poverty
(62 per cent), unemployment (45 per cent), landlessness (18 per cent at the place of origin),
illiteracy (18 per cent), old age/disability/illness (24 per cent), widow (6 per cent),
drug/substance abuse (3 per cent) and family disintegration (3 per cent). In particular, a
substantial number of respondents during the survey stated that they were unemployed and
forced into begging due to loss of job and low earnings owing to the Covid-19 pandemic
induced lockdown. On the other hand, a number of people were also involved in begging by
choice and were content to engage in this activity due to easy money (12 per cent), being
habitual (7 per cent), hereditary (6 per cent), religious causes (3 per cent) and friends or peer
influence (3 per cent) (Figure 3.3).

46
 Figure 3.3: Reasons for Engagement in Begging (in %)

Extreme poverty 62
Unemployment 45
Landlessness (place of origin) 18
Illiterate 18
Old age 15
Easy money 12
With physical disability/challenge 9
Habitual 7
Hereditary 6
Widow 6
Friends or peer influence 3
Drug/Substance Abuse 3
Family disintegration 3
Religious causes(seek alms) 3

*Note: Multiple answers; other reasons include medical illness/disease, mental disability, parents’
death (orphan), children expelled from home, natural calamities and forced or involuntary.
Source: Primary Survey

During the FGDs, participants also revealed that they engaged in begging to sustain and feed
themselves. “Jab pet bhooka marta hai, kuchbhi karna pad jaata hai,’’ told one of the
participants. Some of them shared that they engaged in begging to pay for their children’s
education. Some of them engaged in begging due to loss of sole earning member of the family,
divorce or widowed, alcoholic husband, or aged and unable to do any other work. Another
participant stated, “isse pet nahi bharta isliye maagna bhi padta hai".

Some of the case studies also revealed the reasons behind begging. One respondent elaborated
how she had lost her job during the ongoing pandemic and was forced into begging, while
another child explained how circumstances compelled him to beg. These are described in Box
3.1.

47
 Box 3.1: Reasons for Engagement in Begging
Raj Kumari, aged 30 years stays on footpath while making an earning of Rs. 300-400.
Among the millions who were pushed into poverty due the Covid-19 induced lockdown was
Raj Kumari who worked as a saleswoman in garment shops prior to the lockdown. The
sole earning member with the responsibility of her two young sons, Raj Kumari sought
help from NGOs and the government for financial support. Her attempts to find work post
the unlock went in vain as most small and marginal business owners themselves were
struggling to survive, let alone hire help for their establishments. Since the schools have
been shut and there has been no infrastructure like daycare for working women's children,
especially those in the unorganised sector, many women chose to engage in begging, so as
to keep a close watch on their children. Given the lack of access to schemes like ICDS, Raj
Kumari too was forced to engage in the act of begging to sustain.
Raj aged 12 years and living near Adarsh Nagar metro station lost his parents to snake
bite in Bihar many years ago. He came to Delhi to earn and worked as a rag-picker. He
earned enough to survive, but not every day was the same, He engaged in begging on the
days he didn’t get enough from selling plastic and waste. He ate from nearby shops and
slept under the metro bridge or anywhere nearby. He neither had any relatives in Delhi
nor any proof or document. He wants a better life for himself.

Across the districts, the main reasons for engaging in begging as stated by the respondents
included: (i) extreme poverty in North, North West, West, South West and South districts;
(ii) unemployment in West, South East, North West and Central districts; (iii) easy money
and habitual in Shahdara, North East and Central districts; (iv) inheritance/traditional in
South West and South districts;(v) Illiteracy in West, South and South West, and (vi)
Landlessness at the place of origin in New Delhi, South, South East, and West (Table 3.1).

Table 3.1: Reasons of Begging by Districts (%)

Reasons

Shahd
North

North

South

South

South

North
Delhi

Centr
West

West
West
New

East

East

East
ara
al

Religious causes (seek alms) 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 8 5 5

Family disintegration 2 2 1 5 1 3 6 1 8 2 3
Drug/Substance Abuse 8 1 0 0 1 0 2 5 4 2 6
Friends or peer influence 3 13 8 1 1 1 1 2 3 2 3
Widow 5 6 6 3 5 4 5 6 7 8 6
Hereditary 2 3 2 1 12 0 3 9 16 10 12
Habitual 2 3 2 1 12 0 3 9 16 10 12
With physical disability/challenge 8 8 7 4 10 6 6 12 13 14 8
Easy money 6 10 8 1 5 1 6 22 20 28 13
Old age 15 20 15 11 13 4 9 19 13 23 12
Illiterate 17 18 15 30 30 32 12 17 16 17 10
Landlessness (place of origin) 43 19 6 34 20 41 40 6 1 8 7
Unemployment 37 47 50 80 42 24 50 62 20 31 33
Extreme poverty 49 82 87 86 69 70 51 57 41 65 43
Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Note: Multiple answers
Source: Primary Survey

48
3.4 Average Earnings
The average earnings per day of people engaged in begging reported was very low and
distributed as below Rs. 100 (32 per cent), Rs. 100-200 (33 per cent), Rs. 200-400 per day
(22 per cent) and only 1 per cent above 400. In addition, around 12 per cent of the
respondents reported receiving alms in kind such as food items, clothes etc. Assuming that
these people engaged in begging on a daily basis, their monthly earning could be roughly
around Rs. 3000-6000, which is far less than the stipulated minimum wage of an unskilled
worker in Delhi (Daily: Rs. 612 and Monthly: Rs. 15,908). Earning per day reflects the
vulnerable status of people involved in begging (Figure 3.4).

Figure 3.4: Distribution of Average Earnings per day (in %)

1 12
7 32

15

33

Less than Rs 100 Rs 100-200 Rs 200-300 Rs 300-400 Rs 400+ In kind

Source: Primary Survey

Across the districts, a substantial proportion of people engaged in begging reported that they
received alms in kind. This is mainly in place in North West, North, West, South West and
South districts. On the other hand, relatively more people engaged in begging received
average of Rs. 200-400 daily in South East, New Delhi and North East districts. It is
surprising that a high number of them in South and Central districts received less than Rs.
100 per day (Table 3.2).

49
 Table 3.2: Average Daily Earnings by Districts (%)

District Less Rs. 100- Rs. 200- Rs. 300- Rs. 400+ In kind No Total
than Rs. 200 300 400 answer
100
New Delhi 15 43 25 14 1 2 1 100
North 36 22 7 0 1 34 0 100
North West 33 16 6 1 0 44 0 100
West 8 36 22 6 0 28 0 100

South West 19 45 16 4 1 16 0 100

South 59 15 3 1 0 21 0 100
South East 12 34 29 20 2 2 1 100
Central 66 24 5 2 0 3 0 100
North East 6 24 37 28 5 1 0 100
Sahdara 48 38 9 3 0 2 0 100
East 39 43 11 4 1 1 0 100
Source: Primary Survey

3.5 Part-Time Work

Another interesting fact found in the survey was about part-time engagement in work of such
people. The survey found that out of the total respondents, one-fifth of them were engaged in
some kind of part-time work such as casual labourer in construction and factory (27 per cent),
rag-picking (18 per cent), domestic help (17 per cent), small trading & business activities (9
per cent, street vendors (9 per cent), rickshaw pulling (6 per cent), salaried job (5 per cent)
and others activities such as security guard, boot polish, car cleaning and helpers (Figure
3.5.1).

Figure 3.5.1: Type of Part-Time Work (in %)

Casual laborer(construction, factory etc) 27

Rag-picking 18
Domestic help 17
Street vending/hawkers 9
Small business/petty trade 9
Others 7
Rickshaw pulling 6
Salaried 5
Watchmen/chawkidar/guard 1
Driver 1

Note: Others include boot polish, car cleaning and helpers.

Source: Primary Survey

50
In some districts such as West, East, North West, Central, and South West (20 per cent and
above) relatively more people were engaged in part-time work in addition to begging (Figure
3.5a). On the other hand, very few were engaged in part-time work in South, North East and
Shahdara districts (less than 10 per cent) (Figure 3.5.2).

Figure 3.5.2: Engagement in Part-Time Work by District (in %)

West 30 70
East 26 74
North West 25 75
Central 20 80
South West 20 80
New Delhi 18 82
South East 16 84
North 13 87
Shahadra 9 91
North East 7 93
South 4 96
Yes No

Source: Primary Survey

Across the districts, the respondents stated that they were mainly engaged in part-time work
as either casual labourer in construction and factory work or self-employed in small and petty
trade. The most common part-time work seemed to be ‘rag-picking’ in Central Delhi and East
Delhi, and ‘domestic help’ in North West Delhi and West Delhi (Table 3.3). Participants
from around 7 FGDs stated that apart from begging, they occasionally engaged in selling
things like mirror glass, mosquito nets, sculptures or in pulling thela/ox-cart in Azaad mandi
and are engaged as domestic helper, rag-pickers, loading and unloading the trucks, selling
toys and balloons at red light and polishing shoes.

51
 Table 3.3: Type of Part-Time Work by District (in %)

North West

South West

South East

North East

Shahdara
Central
North

South
Delhi

West
New

East
Street vending/hawkers 11 3 6 15 2 41 7 6 25 14 8

Small business/petty trade 11 7 4 11 30 7 11 2 6 0 6

Salaried 8 4 6 7 0 0 12 0 4 0 3
Casual laborer (construction, factory etc.) 32 58 43 24 28 15 19 19 17 33 21
Rag-picking 20 6 3 11 14 7 26 41 12 14 23
Domestic help 1 14 27 28 4 15 19 12 12 24 15
Driver 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 1
Watchmen/chowkidar/guard 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 2 0
Rickshaw pulling 11 4 3 2 1 0 3 7 7 5 15
Others 0 3 7 0 22 15 2 10 16 4 8
Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Source: Primary Survey

3.6 Family in Begging

Out of the total people engaged in begging, one-fourth of them reported that their family
members were also involved in begging in some other locations in Delhi. Across the districts,
the highest percentage of family members involved in begging were in South East (47 per
cent), followed by North East, North Delhi, West, Central, East Delhi, South West districts
(24 per cent to 34 per cent), and lowest in New Delhi, Shahdara, North West, and South
districts (6 per cent to 13 per cent) (Figure 3.6).

Figure 3.6: Distribution of Family in Begging by District (in %)

South East 47 53
North East 34 66
North 30 70
West 29 71
Central 29 71
East 28 72
South West 24 76
New Delhi 13 87
Sahadra 10 90
North West 8 92
South 6 94
Yes No

52
 Source: Primary Survey

3.7 Work History

As mentioned earlier, one of the objectives of the survey was to investigate the reasons that
drive people into begging. In this context, work or life history of such people engaged in
begging was investigated to understand how and what conditions forced them to engage in
begging. Around 44 per cent of the respondents revealed that they were engaged in some
kind of economic activity or work prior to their involvement in begging, while as high as 56
per cent stated that neither have they ever been employed, nor have they attempted to seek
employment. Two persons engaged in begging elaborated how they were involved in some
economic activity earlier and now forced into begging due to the current circumstances, as
described in Box 3.2.

BoxBox3.2:3.2: Workfor
Reasons History before Begging
Engagement in Begging
Chote Lal Yogi, 40 years old worked as a driver. But an accident rendered him incapable to drive.
Prasad,56
He years old
tried working as ais bus
in his mid-fifties
conductor as and spends his but,
an alternative entire
dueday
to on the footpath.
unforeseeable Originally from
circumstances, he
Rajasthan
had to quithe spent
that most He
as well. of his
has life
spentin all
Chhattisgarh.
his savings He
on migrated
his medical to treatment
Delhi in search
and is of
nowemployment
burdened
and
with used
loans to
andwork at He
debts. NirmanVihar
belongs to metro
the Natstation. During
community from Rajasthan who work as religious
lockdown, he was laid off from the job. In the absence
mendicants. Thus, he became a religious mendicant to earn of any
a living.
social security benefits and/or a source of earning, he was
forced to beg for food, and live on the mercy of people.
Mr. Prasad worked as a cleaner for a contractor before
Diwali last year. Since then, he has no work. He is facing a
major financial crisis as he is unable to fend for himself and
his family.

District-wise, West Delhi at 79 per cent had the highest number of respondents involved in
some form of economic activity in the past, but are now engaged in begging. This was
followed by Central Delhi, South East Delhi, North Delhi, South West Delhi, North West
Delhi, Shahdara, North East, New Delhi, South Delhi, with lowest in East Delhi (25 per cent)
(Figure 3.7)

53
 Figure 3.7: Previous Work History of Respondents by District (in %)

West 79 21
Central 60 40
South East 58 42
North 51 49
South West 49 51
North West 38 62
Shahadra 33 67
North East 33 67
New Delhi 32 68
South 25 75
East 25 75

Yes No

Source: Primary Survey

3.8 Previous Work Type

Further, a question was asked to the respondents related to the type of economic activities
they were involved in, prior to their engagement in begging. More than one-third revealed
that they worked as casual labourers in construction sites, trade/business, and factory work.
This was followed by a percentage that were self-employed as street vendors, small petty
businesses, rickshaw pulling (24 per cent); 17 per cent were involved in salaried jobs as
guards, security persons, temporary work in hotel/factories and drivers; rag-picking (14 per
cent) and others activities such as car cleaning and domestic helpers. The impact of the
Covid-19 pandemic would be one of the reasons behind a substantial number of people losing
their salaried jobs and taking up begging for survival (Figure 3.8).

In the FGDs, mostly, everyone accepted that there has been a drop in their daily income since
the pandemic. Some of them stated that Covid pandemic had pushed them towards begging;
otherwise, they were engaged in earning their living as wage earners. Since the onset of
Covid-19, they started sitting outside religious places to get some fruits, sweets and prasad.
Discussions also revealed that some domestic helpers had entirely lost their jobs while others
could go to lesser number of houses than pre-Covid times, losing out on their earnings.

54
 Figure 3.8: Type of Previous Work (%)

6 10
14
14

17
38

Street vendors Self-employment Salaried job Casual labourer Ragpicking Others

Source: Primary Survey

Across the districts, the casual labour activity was the most common work in which people
engaged prior to begging, followed by self-employment including street vending, and salaried
jobs. Some exceptions, however, were observed in South Delhi, Central Delhi, West Delhi
and East Delhi, where a large number of them were also engaged in rag-picking work (Table
3.4).

Table 3.4: Type of Previous Work by District (in %)

District Street Self- Salaried Casual Rag- Others Total

Vendors employment job Laborer picking
New Delhi 12 24 24 24 13 1 100
North 5 9 28 46 5 9 100
North West 6 8 28 48 3 6 100
West 16 11 23 29 21 0 100
South West 2 16 8 51 11 13 100
South 10 18 6 39 19 8 100
South East 5 33 13 34 14 2 100
Central 11 5 14 33 21 15 100
North East 15 15 12 38 5 13 100
Shahdara 19 10 15 42 11 3 100
East 8 10 15 48 17 2 100
Note: Others include car cleaning, domestic helpers
Source: Primary Survey

3.9 Chapter Summary

Chapter three provides information regarding the lives and livelihood of persons engaged in
begging by tabulating the respondents’ answers about their place of stay, number of years in

55
begging, reasons for engaging in begging, average earnings per day, part-time work
engagement, family as well as their work history.

56
ASPIRATIONS AND
ASSISTANCE

57
58
 Chapter 4: Aspirations and Assistance

This chapter highlights the two key aspects about people engaged in begging: their future
aspirations to leave begging, and the assistance they need from the government to meet this
aspiration.

4.1 Aspiration: Desire to Leave Begging

There is a general perception that many choose to beg either out of interest or as the easiest
way to earn money (Sharell, 2010). However, unlike the perceived notion, poverty is one of
the most important factors that pushes people to begging (Khan, 2014). Many people are
forced to engage in begging, due to prevalence of other factors like illiteracy, by inheritance
of caste, being handicapped/aged/widowed, having diseases, death of sole bread earner etc.

It is interesting to note that majority of the respondents would like to leave begging in Delhi.
The pre-condition stated by them is provision of adequate assistance for their livelihood and
shelter. Out of the total respondents, 80 per cent would like to leave begging if the
government or any other organisation provide opportunities for alternative livelihood to them.
Also, interesting to note that, in this context, slightly more females (83 per cent) than males
(78 per cent) were willing to leave begging.

There are differences across the districts, 9 out of 10 people engaged in begging in West and
South; 8 out of 10 people engaged in begging in Central, South West, South East, Shahdara
and North West districts; 7 out of 10 people engaged in begging in North and East districts; 6
out of 10 people engaged in begging in New Delhi and North East districts were willing to
leave begging (Figure 4.1).

59
 Figure 4.1: District-wise Desire to Leave Begging (in %)

West 95 5
South 94 6
Central 88 12
South East 88 13
South West 87 13
North West 85 15
Sahadra 84 16
North 74 26
East 72 28
New Delhi 65 35
North East 63 37

Yes No

Source: Primary Survey

More females wanted to leave begging across most of the districts except in East, North West
and South West districts. In these three districts, either both or more males desired the same.
In particular, the gender difference was relatively high in North East (Male: 56 per cent;
Female: 74 per cent); and New Delhi (Male: 62 per cent; Female: 73 per cent) compared to
other districts (Figure 4.2). The reasons behind higher number of females wanting to leave
begging would be exposure to vulnerable situations like violence, sexual abuse and stigma.

Figure 4.2: District-wise Desire to Leave Begging by Gender (in %)

97 94 97
91
88 89
90 85 85 86 90 88 87
81
77
74 73 72 72 72

62
56

North New East North Shahadra North South South Central South West
East Delhi Delhi West East West

Male Female

Source: Primary Survey

60
4.2 Preconditions for Leaving Begging
The respondents mentioned support for employment (34 per cent) followed by dignified life
(21 per cent), financial help (19 per cent) to start business/trade, pension or monetary support
for disability/old age/ill-health (13 per cent), education/skill training (8 per cent), shelter (4
per cent) to leave begging. Additionally, some of them such as religious mendicants,
hereditary (2 per cent) did not want to leave begging (Figure 4.3.1).

Figure 4.3.1: Preconditions for Leaving Begging (in %)

34 21 19 13 8 4 2

Employment Dignified life

Financial help Support to old/disable/ill-health
Education/skill-training Shelter
Others

Source: Primary Survey

The survey results revealed that males were ready to disengage from begging relatively more
than females if they received financial assistance to start a business and relevant
education/skills training, while more females were likely to leave begging compared to males
if they were provided with some form of employment assistance. On the other hand, both
males and females equally wanted to lead a dignified life (Figure 4.3.2).

Figure 4.3.2: Preconditions for Leaving Begging (in %) by Gender

Female 32 21 12 9 20 4 1

Male 35 16 14 7 21 4 2

Employment Financial help Support to old/disable/ill-health

Education/skill-training Dignified life Shelter
Others

Source: Primary Survey

61
Further, the age-group wise distribution shows that children/adolescents (up to 18 years)
required assistance for education/skill training (61 per cent), youth (18-29 years) and adults
(30-59 years) for employment (45 per cent) and financial help (20 per cent) to start a
business, and pension or monetary help (63 per cent) for old aged or disabled people (Table
4.1).

Table 4.1: Age-Group wise Prerequisites for Leaving Begging

Up to 11-17 Up to 18-29 30-59 18-59 60+ Total
10 yrs yrs 18 yrs yrs yrs yrs yrs
Employment 2 7 7 46 44 45 5 34

Financial help 21 14 14 16 21 20 16 19

Support to old/disable/ill- 0 1 1 2 4 3 63 13
health
Education/skill-training 68 60 61 4 1 2 0 8

Dignified life 9 14 14 24 23 23 13 21

Shelter 0 3 3 5 4 5 2 4

Others 0 1 1 2 2 2 0 2

Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Source: Primary Survey

4.3 Reasons for Not Leaving Begging

Among those who did not want to leave begging, about half of them stated contentment
(hereditary, religious mendicants, habitual and easy money) with their present situation (47
per cent) followed by age/disability/ill health (27 per cent), financial problem (15 per cent),
lack of trust on government (3 per cent) and other reasons such as lack of shelter, food and
documents (8 per cent).

Figure 4.4: Reasons for Not Leaving Begging (in %)

47 27 15 8 3

Content with current situation Disability/Old age/Ill health support

Finance Assistance Others
Lack of trust on government

Source: Primary Survey

62
This indicates that people who want to continue begging were either vulnerable (poor,
disable/old age/ill health) or were content with their current situation (Figure 4.4). One
respondent’s reasons for not leaving begging is illustrated in Box 4.1.

Box 4.1: Reasons for Not Leaving Begging

Brahman Sharma aged 55 years staying in Jhuggis near Nirman Vihar

came to Delhi from Shimla to get some medical treatment few years
back. He has a graduate degree. His wife died years ago, and his
children consider him a burden. His family disrespects him but people
outside are kind. They give food and money.
“I am happy in this dust because I have my respect. I do not need
anything from the government.”

The survey throws some gender difference in this context. As per the survey, relatively more
males did not want to leave begging due to their contentment with the current condition. On
the other hand, the females did not desire to leave begging because of financial problem,
disability/old age/ill health, and lack of trust on government (Figure 4.5).

Figure 4.5: Reasons for Not Leaving Begging (in %) by Gender

Female 18 30 41 4 6

Male 13 27 52 3 6

Finance Problem Disability/Old age/Ill health support

Content with current situation Lack of trust on government
Others

Source: Primary Survey

Across age groups, the adolescents/adults did not want to leave begging as begging helped in
resolving their financial issues. The elderly wanted to continue begging due to reasons such
as disability/old age/ill health (Table 4.2).

Table 4.2: Age-Group wise Reasons for not Leaving Begging (in %)
63
 Up 11- Up 18- 30- 18- 60+ Total
to 10 17 to 18 29 59 59 yrs
yrs yrs years yrs yrs yrs
Finance Problem 14 44 42 15 14 14 10 15
Disability/Old age/Ill health 0 1 1 8 13 12 62 27
support
Content with current condition 57 45 46 60 59 59 24 47
Lack of trust on government 14 4 5 6 3 4 3 3
Others 14 5 6 13 11 12 2 8
Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Source: Primary Survey

4.4 Assistance Needed for Rehabilitation

The people engaged in begging required a range of assistance for their rehabilitation, which
are divided into following three broad groups based on their priority (Table 4.3).

Table 4.3: Assistance Required for Rehabilitations (in %)

Ranking Assistance
High priority Home/shelter (45%), food (43%), financial
help (43%), employment (42%)
Medium priority Education/skill training (21%), health care
facilities (18%)
Low priority Clothes/bedding (9%), identity
proof/documents etc. (3%)
Note: Multiple answers
Source: Primary Survey
Across gender, the type of assistance required such as financial help, job/employment and
food-related support was slightly more in demand by males, while females desired a little
more assistance for shelter, financial help, education/skill training and health/medical care
services. For instance, FGDs conducted with transgender people who engaged in begging
pointed out the need to get assistance for working in a respectable job of any kind. They also
requested for provision of pension for the elderly of their community, as they suffered due to
unavailability of work because of their age. This is elaborated in Box 4.2.

64
 Box 4.2: Reasons for Engagement in Begging

Juhi aged 21 years, a migrant transgender from Kolkata

shifted to Delhi 9 years ago. She said “People treat us like
outcastes. There are no jobs for us in the market. Even the
police mistreat us – beating, spurning, using vulgar language
and curse us. Our social identity is unacceptable in the
society. When we go to shopping malls, people ask us to leave
and say things like, ‘this place is not for you!”
Such circumstances compelled them to beg as they were left
with no other option to fend for their basic needs of food,
shelter and clothing.
“I request the government to provide jobs for transgender people. We need protection
from abuse and exploitation, which we face on a daily basis.”

The priorities differed across the age-groups as given in Table 4.4,

• Children/adolescent required assistance mostly in term of education/skill training (60
per cent), food (49 per cent), home/shelter (39 per cent) and financial help (33 per
cent)
• Adults need assistance primarily for job/employment (52 per cent), home/shelter (45
per cent), financial help (42 per cent) and food (39 per cent)
• Elderly people prefer assistance for food (55 per cent), financial help (51 per cent),
and home/shelter (49 per cent) and health/medical care services (18 per cent).

Table 4.4 Assistance Required for Rehabilitations by Age-Group (in %)

11-17 yrs 18-29 yrs 30-59 yrs 18-59 yrs 60+ yrs Total
Home/shelter homes 39 48 45 45 49 45
Food 49 38 39 39 55 43
Financial help 33 38 44 42 51 43
Jobs/employment 18 58 49 52 20 42
Education/skill training 60 25 17 19 4 21
Health/medical care services 3 11 19 17 34 18
Clothes/bedding 7 7 9 8 13 9
Protection from abuse and exploitation 4 4 2 2 1 2
Others* 11 5 4 4 4 5
Total 100 100 100 100 100 100
No 2115 3353 9060 12413 3309 17932

Note: Multiple Answers

Source: Primary Survey

65
4.5 Employment and Skill Training Required
Those respondents who preferred employment and skill training assistance was further asked
about the type of employment they wanted. Majority required assistance for wage
employment (68 per cent), followed by education/skill training (27 per cent) and self-
employment (5 per cent). The wage employment includes regular employment (49 per cent)
and casual work (19 per cent). Female respondents were slightly more interested in education
or skill training, while males showed greater interest in self-employment and wage
employment (Figure 4.6).

Figure 4.6: Assistance for Employment and Skill Training (in %) by Gender

5 7 2

68 66
70

27 23 32

All Male Female

Education/Training Wage Employment Self-Employment

Source: Primary Survey

For instance, the FGDs conducted with male groups reflected their interest in becoming street
vendors to sell small items like tea, vegetables etc.; whereas few of them also showed interest
in working at dhabas. On the other hand, the FGDs conducted with women groups showed
that most of them were willing to undertake any kind of work. Some of their work interests
included stitching, domestic labour, farming, etc. Few of them also requested seed money to
start small business, such as juice shop, street vending, sewing and embroidery work etc. One
male respondent engaged in begging elaborated that he wanted to start a tea stall and needed
financial assistance for the same. This is illustrated in Box 4.3.

66
 Box 4.3: Assistance Required to Start Self-Employment (Tea Stall)

Anand Singh Rana, 42 years old was born in Delhi and holds a
post graduate degree. He has been involved in begging since his
parents’ demise 3 years back. He worked as a supervisor in a
Courier Company. After his parents’ demise he could not handle
himself mentally and emotionally and was excluded from his
family. He now lives on the footpath and is dependent on others
for food and money. He lost all his degrees and documents at the
Palam Railway Station.
“I wish to leave begging. I want to work again. I request
government to provide me financial assistance so that I can at least put up a tea stall.
This could be a ray of hope for me. I will be very grateful.”

The broad age-group wise distribution show various kind of assistance required to move out
of begging:
• Children/adolescents (801 persons): Three-fourth (75 per cent) of children/adolescents
demanded assistance for education and skill training and one-fourth (24 per cent) for
wage employment (Figure 4.7). Likewise, even FGDs conducted with children under
the age group of 18 years showed their interest in receiving education and skill
training to get government jobs, get into Indian forces and run their own business.
• Youth/adults (6023 persons): Three-fourth (74 per cent) of the adults demanded
assistance for wage employment and one-fifth (21 per cent) for self-employment.
• Old-aged (519 persons): Over three-fourth (78 per cent) of elderly demanded wage
employment, around 13 per cent asked for trainings and one-tenth for self-
employment (10 per cent). However, the number of elderlies who asked for
employment and skill training are significantly less compared to adults. Among the
elderly people, mostly those in their 60s asked for employment or training.

Figure 4.7: Requirement of Education and Skill Training by Age-Group (%)

67
 1 5 5 5 10
24

67 76 74
77
75
28 19 21 13
11-17 yrs 18-29 yrs 30-59 yrs 18-59 yrs 60+ yrs

Education/Training Wage Employment Self-Employment

Source: Primary Survey

Type of Skill Training and Employment

Further, the respondents who were interested in skill training and employment were asked
about their preferences in receiving skill training and employment opportunities. The detailed
preferences have been discussed below under three broad heads: skill training, wage
employment and self-employment by gender.

Skill Training
The survey results show that most people engaged in begging demanded that enrolment in
education and training should be undertaken based on the candidate’s capability. They also
suggested type of skill trainings they preferred for rehabilitation as elaborated in the
subsequent paragraphs. It can be argued that the desire for skill training of skills were along
the lines of gender-based segmentation of labour market. The preference of training amongst
females was more inclined towards jobs that are defined as ‘feminine’ in the labour market.
Jobs of electrician, driver, car mechanic were only preferred by males while jobs in beauty
parlour, dance and music training and stitching were given top priority by females.

• Key skill trainings suggested by the male in order of preference are: packaging, car
mechanic, stitching/tailoring, art and craft, computer training, broom making;
electrician, cook/chef, polish and painting, driving training, cobbler, paper binding;
musical instruments/singing; toy making; embroidery training; bamboo products;
candle making; bag making and barber.

• Key skill trainings suggested by the females in order of preference are:

68
 stitching/tailoring; packaging; cook/ chef; beauty parlor; vocational training; toy
making, broom making; computer training; embroidery training/work; art; nail art and
painting; paper binding; dance training; musical instruments/singing training; bamboo
products making; candle making; bag making and paper binding.

Type of Wage Employment

Majority of males and females who preferred wage employment opined that a regular salaried
job was necessary to sustain in the city. In case of males, while they stated their preference
regarding wage employment jobs, the list was longer compared to females. This revealed the
gendered labour market as well as the restricting thought process regarding jobs that women
can do. Jobs like cobbler, driver, field related jobs, insurance agent was missing from the list
of female preferences.
• Some wage employment suggested by the male in order of preference are: any regular
salaried job, any casual wage work, driver, construction worker, security guard, sales
jobs, domestic helper, housekeeping job, catering job, cobbler job, catering job,
helper/assistance job, art teacher job, field work related job, cleaner job, data entry
job, gardener job and insurance agent.
• Some wage employment suggested by the female respondents in order of preferences
include: any regular salaried job, domestic helper, housekeeping job, any casual wage
work, sales job, construction worker, gardener, art teacher, data entry job and
helper/assistance job

Type of Self-Employment
Majority of males and females were interested in running a small shop of any nature and
other self-employment activities such as printing, carpenter, plumbing, and handicraft etc.
The details are discussed below.

• Some key self-employment work suggested by the male respondents in order of

preference include: any petty shop/ business; e-rickshaw; carpenter work; car
decoration work; plumbing work; artificial jewellery/gems business work; shoemaker;
photography; printing; blacksmith work; manufacturing; pan shop and tea stall. One
of the respondents with graduate degree in Arts and Crafts demanded employment
during the survey. This is elaborated in Box 4.4.
• Some key self-employment work suggested by the female respondents in order of
69
 preference include: any petty shop/ business, manufacturing, e-rickshaw, handicrafts
and car decoration work.

Box 4.4: Graduate Demanding Self-Employment

Yusuf was born in Mumbai and graduated

in arts and craft. His family did not accept
his inter-religion marriage, due to which
he shifted to Delhi. He earned by
sketching at Lal Qila and India Gate to
make his both ends meet. However, his life
took a downturn as he lost his two boys to
drugs and his daughter eloped. He is
paralysed and is unable to move now. His only source of income is sketching. But due to
the pandemic, he lost his customers and is forced into beggary.

“Please help me connect to the customers or provide alternate livelihood option.”

4.6 Chapter Summary

The chapter talks about the two key aspects about people engaged in begging: their future
aspirations to leave begging, and the assistance they need from the government to meet this
aspiration. The assistance is of immense importance as it will help provide employment and
required skill training, as also reported by the persons engaged in begging themselves.
Interestingly, this chapter also lists reasons that some of the respondents revealed for not
wanting to leave begging.

70
ROLE OF THE STATE

71
72
 Chapter 5: Role of the State

This chapter discusses the issue of beggary in the context of India and provides a review
of past acts and contemporary laws, to build an in-depth understanding of the issue. It
covers topics such as evolution of the policies and regulations, historical-legal framework,
contemporary law and policies, support provided by different schemes under the State and
few examples of successful initiatives undertaken by different state governments such as
Bihar and Rajasthan.

5.1 Evolution of Policy and Regulations

It is important to know the history of the first colonial anti-vagrancy statute and the
Bombay Act, because for many states, they serve as the base for the anti-beggary law.

European Vagrancy Act, 1869

The very first anti-begging laws in the country were established to specifically deal with
‘European vagrants’ defined as “a person of European extraction… found asking for alms
or wandering about without any employment or visible means of subsistence.” This was a
result of a sudden influx of the European labouring class into India with the transfer of
power to the British Crown for construction work. It was stated in Section 23 of the Act
that any person of European ancestry, if seen asking for alms, even though being in
possession of enough means to sustain himself/herself, or trying to acquire the same in an
insolent/threatening manner, even after being warned via the law not to do so, would be
subject to punishment, regardless of his/her European British nationality. Such an
individual can be tried, convicted before a Magistrate, and imprisoned. The sentence not
exceeding one month for first time offenders, two for second time offenders and three for
those who have been caught begging more than two times would be awarded to them

Bombay City Police Act, 1902

The Bombay government in 1902 promulgated the Bombay City Police Act, which carried
provisions to monitor the movement of the city’s beggars. A beggar found asking for alms
on a road, footway, building, tent, race-course, circus, theatre, eating house, coffee-house,
etc., was liable to a maximum term of one month of prison with an added fine of Rs 50.
But even after such an expansive definition of the “street”, the 1902 Act proved
73
insufficient from the point of view of administration, as it did not allocate adequate power
to the police and the magistracy.

Bombay Beggar’s Act, 1945

This was followed by the ‘Bombay Beggars Act’ of 1945, which was subsequently
replaced with ‘The Bombay Prevention of Begging Act’, 1959. This provided for the
establishment of the ‘certified institutions’ to confine beggars. The aim was to reform the
attitude of a person involved in begging, transforming it for the better, so that an
individual can have a better, and more dignified existence. The idea was to impart some
skills on the respective individual to make him/her stand on their own feet and earn a
livelihood for themselves, henceforth not needing to depend on others for their survival.
However, a major limitation of this act was in its penalizing nature and its definition
clause. The success of this legislation was also negatively impacted by the lack of
provision for the aftercare of reformed individuals who were previously engaged in
begging.

Beggary Act in Delhi

The Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959, was extended to the NCT of Delhi in
1960, implying that any person found begging could be detained. Following were the
provisions of the Act:
• Where a person who is brought before the court under the last proceeding section
is not proved to have previously been detained in a Certified Institution under the
provisions of this Act, the court shall make a summary inquiry, in the prescribed
manner, as regards the allegation that he was found begging.
• If the inquiry referred to in sub-section (1) cannot be completed forthwith, the
court may adjourn it from time-to-time and order the person to be remanded to
such place and custody as may be convenient.
• If on making the inquiry reference to sub-section (1), the court is not satisfied that
the person was found begging, it shall order that such person be released forthwith.
• If on making the inquiry referred to in sub-section (1), the court is satisfied that
such person was found begging, it shall record a finding that the person is a beggar.

74
It is the government’s responsibility to provide social security for everyone and ensure that
all citizens have access to basic facilities. The presence of such people shows the failure of
the state to provide them with necessities of life. Criminalising such people is denying
them of their fundamental right. Realising this, the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act,
1959, was decriminalised by the Government of Delhi in 2018. The court observed that
the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act provisions that treat begging as an offence,
couldn’t withstand constitutional scrutiny.

The Delhi High Court delivered a landmark judgement to declare as unconstitutional those
provisions in the Act that either treated begging as an offence committed by the beggar or
dealt with ancillary issues, such as powers of officers to deal with the said offence, the
nature of enquiry to be conducted therein, punishments and penalties to be awarded for the
offence, the institutions to which such offenders could be committed and procedures
following the awarding of sentence for committing the said offence. The remaining
provisions of the Act, which do not directly or indirectly criminalise begging, or relate to
the offence of begging were retained by the high court, including Section 11 which deals
with a penalty of employing or causing to beg.

The Department of Social Welfare under the Delhi government has undertaken several
initiatives, including setting up eleven certified custodial/residential institutions in Delhi
with a total capacity of housing 2,180 inmates to provide institutional care to people
engaged in begging; provisions include basic necessities to the inmates residing at
‘beggars’ homes such as boarding and food, lodging, medical care, recreation etc. It has
also provided a 20-bed drug rehabilitation centre at Lampur, Delhi. To keep a watch on
repeated offenders, biometric machines have also been installed. Vocational trainings are
being organised for such people to help them seek employment after they are released
from these institutions. They are being trained in making candles, tailoring, drawing and
arts. The training workshops for physically handicapped people i.e., affected by Leprosy is
being run by the department for making candles, mopping cloth (pocha), weaving etc. in
the premises of home at Tahirpur.

5.2 Contemporary Law and Policy

There is no central law prohibiting begging in the country, however, around 22 states
(Table 5.1) have come up with their own anti-begging regulations. The Bombay
75
Prevention of Begging Act, 1959, criminalises the act of begging and any person found
involved in begging can be arrested without a warrant. The Act prescribes a penalty of
detention between three and 10 years (National Herald, 2020). The centre has shown no
interest in abolishing the law, which has caused harassment to the destitute and homeless.
The centre has left it to the states to decide and deal with the persons engaged in begging
on the street (National Herald, 2020).

Table 5.1 State-Wise Anti-Beggary Laws in India

Source: [Link]

Anti-begging laws in different states of India

State laws on begging differ fundamentally in their approach. Several states and Union
Territories have either enacted their own anti-beggary legislation or adopted legislations
enacted by other States/UTs (Feb 2019, PIB, Delhi) such as The Madras City Police Act
(1888), The Bombay City Police Act (1861), Calcutta Suburban Police Act (1866), Leper
Act (1898), The Punjab Municipal Act (1911), The Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act

76
(1916), The C. P. and Berar Municipalities Act (1922), Bengal Vagrancy Act (1943), etc.
The commonality among all these acts is that they approached beggary prevention through
the avenue of either enforcing punishment or providing ailments to those involved in
begging (Soni, 2021). However, beggars largely need to be seen as vulnerable members of
the society requiring prioritized aid from the state and its people, and not be criminalised
by law.

Issues with Beggary Laws

Beggary laws continue to be unfair in places, although there’s hardly any evidence of any
criminal activity or abuse on part of those involved in begging. Such laws only deceptively
criminalises an already vulnerable section of the society. In such cases, the poor and the
vulnerable is not only facing the consequences of the State’s inability to provide a decent
life to its citizens, but is also facing detention, imprisonment and paying penalty, just for
trying to meet their ends for bare survival. The law does nothing but add to their miseries.

There are anomalies in the legal definition of the term ‘begging’. Further, the anti-beggary
laws have been subject to criticism, as they make the persons engaged in begging invisible
rather than targeting its prevention and paying attention to rehabilitation. The legislation
has been rightly condemned as violating the fundamental right to speech and expression
and right to life with dignity of the poor. Begging and homelessness are indicators of
chronic poverty, and as such poverty is not a matter of individual fault. Beggary is a
manifestation of the fact that the person has fallen through the socially created net and the
inability of the government to ensure basic facilities and social security for everyone.
Therefore, criminalising poverty violates basic human dignity.

Awareness of Sewa Kutir and CWC

According to the data provided by the Social Welfare Department, there was a consistent
decline in the number of persons arrested for begging and those convicted between 2014
and 2017. The number of persons arrested declined from 4,203 persons in 2014 to 612 in
2017, of which 64 were convicted as beggars and sent to beggar homes or Sewa Kutir.
There are 11 institutions for beggars in various parts of Delhi that looked after the beggars

77
who are arrested and sent to these homes. In these homes, boarding, lodging, medical and
food is provided to inmates3.

But post decriminalisation of the Act of begging, the police cannot arrest anyone for
begging anymore. This is also confirmed from the survey findings, which show that only
244 adults (1.2 per cent; 165 males and 79 females) were engaged in begging in NCT of
Delhi reported being convicted and sent to ‘Sewa Kutir’ in the past. Around 65 per cent
stated that they were arrested once, followed by one-fourth (24 per cent) being arrested
twice, one-fifth (19 per cent) arrested thrice, and 6 per cent arrested three times in the past.

Some of the experiences discussed through the FGDs reflect a mixed response from those
who had been to Sewa Kutir. One of them while sharing his experience at the kutir, five-
years back, stated, “are bhaiya wanha nahi jana kabhi. Khana milta tha, kabhi nahi mitla,
aur sone keliye bhi jhagda karna padta tha” (he never wanted to go there again as
sometimes he did not get food while other times, he had to even fight to find a place to
sleep). In contrast to this, another respondent shared that he was treated very well at the
Kutir and was given clothes as well as food during his time there.

Identification
Identification is crucial, so that government can provide entitlements and other welfare
services to such people. Lack of documents is one of the key issues faced by the people
engaged in begging in the country. Since, they don’t have the necessary documents, such
as voter identification cards, they are unable to vote or claim themselves as citizens. And
because the political parties do not see them as a potential vote bank, politicians or
governments do not pay heed to this section of the society. However, one of the
interesting facts found in the survey is about the identification documents (IDs) available
with people engaged in begging. Out of 10 people surveyed, 8 had some form of
identification documents, such as Aadhar card, educational certificate, ration card, birth
certificate, voter card, bank account and others. A detailed investigation shows that most
of them had Aadhar Card and other IDs registered in their native place of stay. Therefore,

3
[Link]

78
they were unable to avail the benefits of the state/central government welfare schemes in
absence of any local IDs in Delhi.

Figure 5.1: Distribution of Identification Card (in %)

63 29 4 212

Aadhar card No proof Voter ID Ration card Educational certificate Others

Source: Primary Survey

Awareness about government schemes

On being asked whether they are availing the benefits of various government schemes,
majority of them stated that they were not even aware about government schemes being
offered. However, participants from three of the FGDs conducted at (FGD 2, 23, 24)
stated that they were aware about schemes. Participants of FGD 2 had availed some
government programmes run by the Karnataka government, but none being run by the
government of NCT of Delhi. In FGD 23/24, most of the participants were aware of the
schemes, but were not getting any substantial benefit as they kept moving from one place
to another, which made them ineligible for availing the benefits. Another group discussion
(FGD 16/22) with elderly ladies reflected their awareness about various governments
welfare schemes. One of them complained, “koi sarkari aadmi garib ki nahi sunta…mai
kai bar ration dafter gai lekin mera paisa bhi le liya aur card bhi nahi bnaya”, (no
government official listens to the poor. Even after several visits and paying money, she
could not get a ration card).

During the lockdown, nine of the FGDs (FGD 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 25, 26, 27) shared that they
received help in form of free ration from the government. However, they complained that
they received it only for a few days. Participants from FGD10 complained that they had
ration cards, but no ration was delivered to them. Most of them stated that NGOs and
local people helped them with dry ration and cooked food during the lockdown.
Participants from 2 FGDs (FGD 7, FGD 9) even mentioned that during pre-Covid, people
from NGOs came to teach them for about 10-15 days a month.

79
5.3 Few Success Stories
According to the 2011 Census, the population of beggars and vagrants in India stood at
about 4.13 lakh. During 1992-98, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had
implemented a scheme to provide financial aid to set up work centres at the existing
beggar homes for beggary eradication. However, the scheme was discontinued in 1998-99
due to moderate demand received from the states.

Initiatives by the State of Odisha

The Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) Department,
Government of Odisha, recognises that persons engaged in begging are a valuable human
resource for the society and seeks to create an environment that provides them equal
opportunities, protection of their rights and full participation in society. Keeping this in
mind, it launched the “SAHAYA” scheme for the protection, care and rehabilitation of
such people. The scheme primarily aims to make available the whole range of services
necessary for rehabilitation and integrate such people in the mainstream of society while
actualising their potential, especially covering leprosy affected, aged and differentially
abled with the following objectives:
1. To create an enabling environment to ensure equal opportunities, equity, social justice
& empowerment of persons engaged in begging.
2. To encourage voluntary action and participation of all stakeholders for ensuring
effective implementation of the scheme.
3. To expand outreach activities for rehabilitation of persons engaged in begging and
create facilities for providing appropriate rehabilitation services.
4. To promote individual and group initiatives by persons engaged in begging for
employment, self-employment and other socio-educational services.
5. To facilitate the care of children of persons engaged in begging including leprosy
affected persons and encourage mainstreaming of their daughters.
6. To strengthen the existing implementation machinery and create facilities for coverage
of all uncovered areas of the state for ensuring complete coverage of persons engaged in
begging.

Initiatives by the State of Rajasthan

80
A campaign for making the state “beggar-free” was initiated by Rajasthan Skill and
Livelihoods Development Corporation (RSLDC) and Sopan Institute of Science,
Technology and Management. A survey with combined efforts of RSLDC and Rajasthan
Police was undertaken, and ‘Kaushal Vardhan Kendra’ was opened. This initiative was
part of the Chief Minister's BHOR scheme – Bhikshu Orientation and Rehabilitation for
poor and homeless people. Under this, 43 such persons hailing from different states
including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, presently living in Jaipur are being
provided with shelter and life skill training in a batch of 20 for three and a half months.
As majority of them were aged around 23 they were being trained as electricians,
guards, cooks, and beauticians. Their placement has also been guaranteed by the
Akshay Patra Foundation, which is an NGO.

Trainings are being provided by keeping in mind the differences in their physical,
mental and health abilities, as compared to other members of the society. The trainings
were customised as per their needs after conducting a needs assessment study and
talking to them individually. Besides yoga, which is mandatory, many of them are also
engaged in other physical activities like football and Frisbee. They are being paid Rs.
215 per day, which they can save and utilise for their future business plans. The
government has also planned to get them Aadhar cards and functional bank accounts.
All these initiatives are being undertaken to bring them to the mainstream and help
them lead a dignified life.

Initiatives by the State of Bihar

Mukhyamantri Bhikshavriti Nivaran Yojana (MBNY) publicly known as PAHCHAN is a
Bihar state government scheme, which is worthy of praise, as instead of detaining it
provides open homes and community outreach for destitute persons. It aims at protecting
and promoting the rights of the people who are into beggary and contribute towards their
socio-economic and cultural empowerment and overall development. The Government of
Bihar has also established the State Society for Ultra Poor and Social Welfare
(SAKSHAM) within the Department of Social Welfare to work on the issues of people
involved in beggary.

81
Under the scheme, rehabilitation centres have been set up, with facilities for treatment,
family reintegration and vocational training. The state government has launched a
rehabilitation scheme, for providing care, protection as well as socio-economic and
cultural empowerment. It has set up rehabilitation centres in 14 districts for providing
vocational training in industrial tailoring, housekeeping and gatekeeping, to encourage
entrepreneurship and help them financially.

People who are into beggary have been identified through a baseline survey and their
database has been created and maintained in the state district office. Around 4,219 identity
cards have been issued to the surveyed persons to help them avail the benefits of MBNY
and other government welfare schemes.
Some of the key objectives of the scheme are listed below:
1) To protect and promote the rights of persons engaged in begging by ensuring their
care, protection, development, socio-economic and cultural empowerment through
enabling policies and programmes.
2) To provide a life of dignity to the persons engaged in begging by offering them a
shot at becoming entrepreneurs or publicity managers for government programmes.
There are two rehabilitation homes and 10 short stay cum classification centres (Seven
Sewa Kutir for males and six Shanti Kutir for females) being run across seven districts
(Patna, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Purnia, Nalanda, Gaya & Rohtas) of Bihar to address the
target group of people, old, sick, disabled, drug addict and abused people, children, people
with mental illness and families in beggary. Basic services being provided at such homes
include food, lodging, clothing, recreation, counselling, referral, legal and medical care.
Some of the initiatives being undertaken include:
- At present 620 beneficiaries have been accommodated in 12 homes (Sewak Cuter
and Shanti Cuter) and 3,229 have been registered in two rehabilitation homes and 12 short
stay cum classification centre (Sewak Cuter and Shanti Cuter). Total 1,982 beggars have
been rehabilitated through different modes such as repatriated/linked with family, linked
with employment/livelihood, linked with Kaushal Cuter/ training programmes, staffs at
home and released on the will of the beneficiary.
- Vocational training is being provided to such people for a duration of three months
under which they are provided with residential shelter and are given training on
handicrafts, housekeeping, hospitality, automobile, multi-skilled technician, logistics, and
82
retail salesman with the help of a professional agency called Don BOSCO Tech Society.
Currently, one residential Kaushal Cuter/vocational training for youth is running in Patna.
Till date, 357 such youth have registered for the training out of which 240 have been
placed post-training. At present, 45 beneficiaries are getting trained as rest of them
dropped out.
- Distribution of warm clothes and blankets during the winter season, which include
3,850 blankets and 1,570 innerwear and warm clothes distributed during FY 2015-16 and
2,510 blankets and 2,510 innerwear during FY 2016-17.
- Community Based Saving Groups (CBSG) are being promoted among such people
to provide a common platform to unite them for common causes and to help relieve their
distress and resolve problems. These groups also aim to generate new ideas to overcome
their difficulties and most importantly, develop saving habits and create awareness on
issues such as health, drinking water, self-employment, children’s education, government.
welfare programmes etc. After a certain period, SHGs/CBSGs would be linked with banks
from where they would be able to mobilise additional credit for income-generating
activities. Competent NGOs will be engaged to promote such SHGs/CBSGs in the
specified areas.
- Producer Groups have been formed to create livelihood opportunities for people
into beggary for employment and income generation activities through technical and
financial support.
- Health-cum-disability certification camps are being organised to provide free
medical checkups, medicine distribution and referral for critical care etc.

5.4 Chapter Summary

The chapter throws light on the role of the state concerning the issue of beggary in the
context of India and provides a review of past acts and contemporary laws to build an in-
depth understanding of the issue. It covers topics such as the evolution of policy and
regulations, historical-legal framework, contemporary law and policies, support provided
by different schemes under the State, and few successful examples of initiatives
undertaken by different state governments such as Bihar and Rajasthan.

83
84
 CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS

85
86
 Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendations

Despite India's rapid economic growth as a developing nation, begging continues to

remain one of the critical issues in India. Beggary has been defined as ‘soliciting or
receiving money, clothes or other things in a public place or by entering private premises,
usually by people who have no visible means of subsistence and remain or wander in any
public space’. Such people constitute the most deprived, poor and vulnerable section of the
society and are, generally, in dire need of rehabilitation.

6.1 Key Survey Findings

Respondent Profile

Around, 20,719 people were found to be engaged in begging across 11 districts of Delhi.
Out of the total, 53 per cent (10,987) were males, 46 per cent (9,541) were females, and
the remaining 1 per cent (191) were transgenders. They were highest in East Delhi (2797),
Shahdara (2666), North West Delhi (2572); closely followed by Central Delhi (2422),
South East Delhi (2208), West Delhi (2016), New Delhi (1804); and least in South West
Delhi (1661), North East Delhi (1177), South Delhi (769) and North Delhi (627).

The study also provides empirical evidence regarding the following facts on people
engaged in begging.

• They were found highly concentrated at religious places, streets or footpaths,

traffic signals and market areas.
• About 60 per cent (12,518) were adults (18-59 years), followed by 24 per cent
(4871) children/adolescents (0-17 years) and 16 per cent (3330) old (60+ years)
people.
• Over half (55 per cent) of the adults (18+ years) were married and one-fifth (21 per
cent) were single and one-fourth (24 per cent) were either widowed (16 per cent)
or separated (7 per cent)
• Majority of them were illiterate (70 per cent), followed by up to primary level (22
per cent) and secondary and above level of education (8 per cent).
• They were mainly engaged in the act of begging as (i) part-timer (20 per cent), (ii)
87
 physically disabled (13 per cent), (iii) hereditary (11 per cent), (iv) casual (11 per
cent), (v) temporary unemployed (11 per cent) and (vi) child/ juvenile (8 per cent),
(vii) destitute (6 per cent), (viii) babies in arms (5 per cent) and (ix) religious
mendicants (5 per cent).
• Around 67 per cent were migrants mainly from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan
and Madhya Pradesh.

Figure 6.1: Gender-wise and Age-wise People Engaged in Begging

Source: Primary Survey

Lives and Livelihoods

• Over half (55 per cent) of them were homeless or shelter-less, while the rest (45
per cent) resided either in slums or Jhuggi Jhopdi (JJ) Colony.
• More than half (52 per cent) were ‘new entrants’, around 40 per cent were ‘old
timers’, and 8 per cent were engaged in begging since birth.
• They were forced into begging largely due to poverty, unemployment, illiteracy,
old age/disability/illness. In addition, some able-bodied people were involved in
begging because of easy money.
• Several have lost their jobs or livelihood due to Covid-19 and forced into begging,
in particular women involved in domestic work, temporary workers in hotel,
drivers and security guards etc.
• Majority earned less than Rs. 200 per day (65 per cent), 23 per cent earned in the
range of Rs. 200-500, and 12 per cent received alms in kind.
• One-fifth of them were engaged in some part-time work such as casual labourer in
88
 construction and factory, rag-picking, domestic help, petty business activities,
street vendors, rickshaw pulling and some low paid temporary salaried job.
• One-fourth of the respondents reported that their family members were also
involved in begging in some other locations in Delhi.
• Around 44 per cent of them revealed that they were engaged in some economic
activities such as casual labour activities, self-employment in street vending, small
petty business, rickshaw pulling, rag-picking and salaried jobs before their
engagement in begging.
• Based on FGDs, largely, everyone accepted that there has been a drop in their daily
income because of the ongoing pandemic. Some of them stated that the pandemic
had pushed them towards begging; otherwise, they were engaged in working and
earning their living as wage earner. Since the onset of Covid-19, being temporarily
employed, they started sitting outside religious places to get some fruits, sweets
and prasad. Discussions also revealed that some domestic helpers had entirely lost
their jobs while others could go to lesser number of houses than pre-Covid times,
losing out on their earnings.
• They are also faced with several challenges such as lack of drinking water, toilet
facility, shelter, lack of food, bathing space, medical help, education for children
and harassment by police, shop keepers, passerby, drug peddlers and municipal
authorities etc.

Aspirations and Assistance

• Majority of them (80 per cent) preferred to leave begging if some form of
alternative livelihood opportunities could be made available to them.
• They were ready to leave begging if they could find support for employment (34
per cent), dignified life (22 per cent), financial help (19 per cent) to start
business/trade, pension or monetary support for disability/old age/ill-health (13 per
cent), education/skill training (8 per cent), shelter (4 per cent) and dignified life.
• Children/adolescents required assistance for education/skill training, youth and
adults for employment, and financial help to start a business, and pension or
monetary help for old aged or disabled people.
• Around one-fifth of them did not want to leave begging due to easy money,
hereditary profession, religious mendicants, old age/disability/ill health and
89
 financial problem.
• They required a range of assistance for their rehabilitation such as (i) high priority:
home/shelter, food, financial help, employment; (ii) medium priority:
education/training and health care facilities; and (iii) low priority: clothes/bedding
and identity proof/documents etc.
• The priorities differed across the age-groups, for example assistance in
education/skill training and food was high priority for children/adolescent;
job/employment and shelter was high priority for the youth; job/employment,
shelter and financial help was high priority for adults; and food, financial help and
shelter was high priority for old, aged people.
• Majority required wage employment (66 per cent) either regular or casual work,
followed by education/skill training (32 per cent) or self-employment (2 per cent).
• Key skill trainings suggested by the male respondents in order of preference
include packaging; car mechanic; stitching/tailoring; art; computer training; broom
making; electrician; cook/ chef; polish and painting; driving training; cobbler;
paper binding; musical instruments/singing training; vocational training; toy
making; embroidery training; bamboo products; candle making; bag making and
barber.
• Key skill trainings suggested by the female respondents in order of preference
include: stitching/tailoring; packaging; cook/ chef; beauty parlor; vocational
training; toy-making and broom-making; computer training; embroidery
training/work; art; nail art and painting; paper binding; dance training; musical
instruments/singing; bamboo product making; candle making; bag making and
paper binding.
• Some wage employment suggested by the male respondents in order of preference
include: any regular salaried job, any casual wage work, driver, construction
worker, security guard, sales jobs, domestic helper, housekeeping job, catering job,
cobbler job, catering job, helper/assistance job, art teacher job, field work related
job, cleaner job, data entry job, gardener job and insurance agent.
• Some important wage employment suggested by the female respondents in order of
preference include: any regular salaried job, domestic helper, housekeeping job,
any casual wage work, sales job, construction worker, gardener, art teacher, data
entry job and helper/assistance job
90
 • Some key self-employment work suggested by the male respondents in order of
preference include: any petty shop/ business, e-rickshaw, carpenter work, car
decoration work, plumber, artificial jewelry/gems business, shoemaker,
photography, printing, blacksmith work, manufacturing, pan shop and tea stall.
• Some key self-employment work suggested by the female respondents in order of
preference include: any petty shop/ business, manufacturing, e-rickshaw,
handicrafts and car decoration work.

Role of the State

• The Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959 was extended to the NCT of Delhi
in 1960.
• Under this law, officials of the Social Welfare Department can conduct raids to
arrest 'persons engaged in begging' then try them in special courts called ‘beggar
courts’. If convicted, they are send to certified institutions called ‘beggar homes’
also known as ‘Sewa Kutir’ for a period ranging from one to 10 years for
detention, training and employment.
• The BPBA was decriminalised by the Delhi High Court in 2018. The court
observed that BPBA provisions that treat begging as an offence, cannot withstand
constitutional scrutiny. After, this the police cannot arrest anyone for begging.
• This also reflected from the survey, as only 249 adults (1.2 per cent) including 165
males, 79 females, and five transgenders engaged in begging reported that they
were convicted and sent to ‘Sewa Kutir’.
• Eight out of 10 people surveyed had some form of identification documents such
as Aadhar card, educational certificate, ration card, birth certificate, voter
identification card, bank account and others. However, majority of them had IDs
registered in their native places.
• Some successful attempts have been made for the rehabilitation of children by the
states such as Bihar, Rajasthan and Odisha. They have introduced state-level
programmes for rehabilitation of poor, destitute and homeless people, such as
community outreach campaigns, introduced rehabilitation schemes, implemented
life skill and vocational trainings followed by job placement, engaged in
recreational activities, opened shelter homes, social welfare societies, issued ID
proofs, helped in opening up bank accounts etc.
91
6.2 Recommendations
In view of the above findings, this study makes some important recommendations that
would help in the formulation of effective strategies and implementation plan for the
rehabilitation of people engaged in begging in NCT Delhi.

6.2.1 Approach
Following the survey, it is crucial to have a comprehensive approach based on the needs
assessment of people engaged in begging to address the problem of beggary. The
rehabilitation approach should be a culmination of three components: (i) skill development
and employment assistance approach, (ii) awareness and sensitisation approach and (iii)
preventive approach (Figure 6.2). These recommendations cover various inputs received
from stakeholders engaged in implementing welfare measures for the betterment of such
people (Government, NGOs, CSOs, researchers and academicians). While planning for an
intervention, underlying factors and the kind of social assistance needed should be
considered to ensure effectiveness and long-term success of the rehabilitation policy.

Figure 6.2: Approaches for Rehabilitation

Skill Development
and Employment
Assistance

Awareness and Preventive

Sensitisation Approach

For the formulation of a better implementation plan, the people engaged in begging can be
divided into various groups such as those who beg due to their circumstances; those who
are forced into begging; those for whom begging is a vocation or are content with their

92
condition (able bodies); vulnerable people such as single women, children, old, disabled,
those with ill-health and other vulnerable groups. The component of suggestive
comprehensive rehabilitation approach is given in Figure 6.3 and discussed in detail in the
following sub-sections.

Figure 6.3: Components of Comprehensive Approaches for Rehabilitation

• Skill developmet training

Skill • Support for wage and self-employment
Development • Residential training centres
& Employment • Emotional and psychological support
Assistance • Stipend and placement, Identity proof
Approach • Simplified procedures and schemes
• Follow ups

• Assistance to the poorest

• Support to vulnerable (disabled/old
Preventive aged/diseased/widow/children/drug-abused)
Approach
• Support to school going children
• Support to shelterless

• Sensitize and adopt whole of society approach

• Institutionalize religious donations
• Counselling parents and other children
Awareness & • Establish outreach and mobilization unit
Sensitisation • Convergence and synergy among various stakeholders
Approach • Use of IEC materials and campaigns
• Lessons from other successful initiatives
• Trust building, Monitoring and moral support

Skill Development and Employment Assistance Approach

Relevant Skill Development Trainings for Wage and Self-Employment

• Proper skill development training should be undertaken to help them start either
wage or self-employed income-generating activities on their own. Skill
development should be imparted according to their needs, physical capabilities and
mental skills for their long-term sustenance. Soft skills such as computer literacy,
language and workplace interpersonal skills relevant for the sector/trade should be
made an integral part of the skills training process. Apart from skilling them,
efforts should be put to identify their existing skills and upgrade them through the
93
 training or providing refresher trainings. Some suggested list of skill trainings for
males and females are given in Table 6.1 and Table 6.2.
Table 6.1: Adults: Suggested List of Skill Development and Training
Assistance for Males (in order of preference)

Source: Primary Survey

Table 6.2: Adults: Suggested List of Skill Development and Training Assistance for
Females (in order of preference)

Source: Primary Survey

94
• It has been argued that one key drawback of vocational skill trainings provided for
rehabilitation is loose market linkage. Petty things such as candle making are
taught, which is insufficient to earn enough money except on special occasions.
Such trainings are neither job oriented nor market oriented. The consequence of
such trainings is that they are left with no option but to again fall prey to beggary
for survival. Subsequently, the entire reformation/rehabilitation process collapses.
Hence, the vocational skill training should be provided keeping in mind the
person’s interest, market demand, employability and earnings potential in the
market and also per their level of education. Some such examples are provided in
Table 6.3-6.6. Apart from employable skills, they should also be taught life and
behavioural skills, as most of them are uneducated and have struggled all their
lives to just survive.

Table 6.3: Adults: Some Suggested Wage-Employment Assistance for Males

(in order of preference)

Source: Primary Survey

95
Table 6.4: Adults: Some Suggested Wage-Employment Assistance for Females
(in order of preference)

Source: Primary Survey

Table 6.5: Adults: Some Suggested Self-Employment Assistance for Males

(in order of preference)

Source: Primary Survey

96
 Table 6.6: Adults: Some Suggested Self-Employment Assistance for Females
(in order of preference)

Source: Primary Survey

Stipend and placement

• Monetary benefits or stipends should be provided for stimulating participation in

skill development trainings, and post-training placement should be provided with
institutions/companies offering competitive salaries to reduce dropout rates. Post-
placement, relocation assistance could be provided to those who need to shift
base.

Residential training centres

• Residential training centres should be set up to overcome the challenge of

hesitancy and financial constraint (wage loss) of travelling long distances to
undertake training.

Financial Assistance and Start-up Kit

• For self-employment or entrepreneurship activities, after receiving the training,

financial assistance and a start-up kit to kick-start any business activity is needed.
For this purpose, potential people engaged in begging should be identified along
97
 with the trade they are interested in. They should be provided initial financial
support in the form of seed money for procuring a start-up kit and initial
investment for purchasing raw materials for entrepreneurship. They can be trained
and linked with Self Help Groups (SHG) to initiate income-generating activities.

Emotional and psychological support

• They also need emotional and psychological support during their rehabilitation
process. For this purpose, rehabilitation centres should be set up with multiple
service facilities including stay, medical support, counselling, personality
development and soft skills development, etc., to transform them into productive
and dignified human resources. In addition, some monthly honorarium should also
be provided to them for their daily needs.
• Professional counselling should be provided to make sure they don’t slip back into
begging.

Identity proof

• The field survey evidence posits that most of the people engaged in begging have
been excluded from various flagship schemes, as they lacked Delhi-based address
and identity proofs, such as ration card. A new enrolment scheme should be
introduced to cater to the need of these extremely marginalised individuals. They
should be issued a smart multipurpose card through which they can be given
priority for fellowships, employment, PDS, health services, different types of
equipment, credit facilities and skill development initiatives under various flagship
schemes.
• They should be covered under ‘One Nation, One Ration card’ and similarly a
single card should be introduced across various social protection schemes, as
multiplicity of cards creates a barrier in availing benefits from different state and
centre sponsored schemes. Universalisation of the pension scheme should also be
looked into.

98
Simplified procedures and schemes

• The overall procedural details and documentation process needs to be simplified

keeping in mind the illiterate and homeless people who are without any
identification card like Aadhar card, ration card, income certificate, address proof
and/or bank account.
• To help people with such documentation, assist people with accessing schemes,
and monitor the scheme, government should make use of SHGs, NGOs, CSOs and
other citizen groups.
• Schemes should also be made available offline, as many of the destitute and
homeless may not have access to internet and digital literacy to apply for the
scheme online.
• There is a need to connect them with pension schemes and social protection
schemes, so that they can avail the benefits of the scheme.

Follow ups

• The trained people placed with different employers should be sensitised of their
history and asked to respect such employees. Follow-up/mentoring sessions for up
to one year should be in place where both employer and employee can be
provided with an intermediary person who can be contacted in case of an issue or
concern.

Preventive Approach

The preventive approach is meant for restraining people from engaging in begging or
alms-seeking activities. The foremost preventive action would be eradication of mass
poverty.

Assistance to the Poorest

• The poor households very often engage their children in begging to manage their
livelihood. To hold back this vicious cycle, such parents should be compensated
financially for sending their children to school. The adult member can be issued
special identity card through which they can avail some work from flagship
99
 schemes like urban livelihood scheme. These people should also be given free
ration facility under the Public Distribution System (PDS) and shelter through
Prime Minister Awas Yojana.

Support to Vulnerable (Disable/Old-Aged/Diseased)

• The vulnerable people who are at risk or engaged in begging due to their physical
or mental disability, old-age, ill-health, and widow/separated etc., require special
care and attention such as safe shelter, food, clothing, and health or medical
services as given in Table 6.7. They should be sent to shelter homes or old-age
homes with necessary facilities and be provided financial assistance through the
existing welfare schemes such as Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme
(IGNOAPS) and Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS)
etc.

Table 6.7: Some Suggested Assistance for Old/Other Vulnerable

Source: Primary Survey

Support to School Going Children

• Education should be provided to all children. Children engaged in begging should
be provided scholarship and hostel facilities, so that they can get adequate
education. There is provision of scholarship/hostel facilities for children from low-

100
 income families, both at pre- and post-matriculation or post-secondary stages in
government and private schools and others as given in Table 6.8. In this direction,
ICDS services and such other schemes can be linked to regular schools, so that
children can move out of beggary and lead a better life.

Table 6.8: Some Suggested Assistance for School going Children

/Parents of Children

Source: Primary Survey

Support to Shelterless

• Since around 55 per cent of the people engaged in begging are shelterless and
vulnerable, they need to be accommodated in specially constructed shelter homes
in areas with availability of adequate livelihood opportunities and access to basic
facilities water, toilets, etc. so that they can lead a dignified life. Shelter homes
should largely focus on three key aspects: cleanliness, safety and special needs of
women, children and differently abled people.

Awareness, Sensitisation and Counselling Approach

At present, there is lack of adequate community action and counselling to help eradicate
beggary from our society.

Sensitise and adopt a pan society approach

• There is a need to change the orientation of the society at the way they perceive
such people. This can be done by adopting a pan society orientation change
101
 attitude.
• It is observed that only government agencies and some civil society organisations
are bothered about the eradication of beggary from society. Other members of our
society as stakeholders are least concerned with this complex social problem.
Involvement of community, NGOs and even corporate sector is very much
necessary to eradicate beggary. Sensitisation of the beggars about the schemes and
programmes available for them can also be undertaken through active involvement
of the community.
• Authorities need to be more supportive in terms of allowing them to sell from their
small outlets, street vending or continue with alternate source of livelihood being
pursued by them.

Institutionalise religious donations

• Religious donations given by people should be institutionalised to those

organisations that are already working for the betterment of people engaged in
begging.

Counselling parents and other children

• Counselling services are required for children as well as parents who are engaged
in begging. This can help parents overcome social taboos and realise that they, as
parents, are not alone. Additionally, existing forums and institutions such as the
Anganwadi Centres, Self-Help Groups, Schools and Civil Society Organisations
should be oriented on these issues and should be engaged in providing information
to parents, children and to the society at large. Financial assistance should also be
provided to the parents of children engaged in begging to support them in
successfully bringing up their children against existing societal intolerance, stigma,
discrimination and violence.

Establish outreach and mobilisation unit

• An outreach and mobilisation unit should be established to regularly monitor and

identify people engaged in begging and to provide intensive counselling. The unit
should ensure access to necessities to all those engaged in begging and also help
them link with different existing welfare schemes and programmes of the

102
 government. This mobilisation unit could also ensure participation of NGOs, and
corporate sector (CSR fund) in the process of rehabilitation of the people engaged
in begging.
Convergence and synergy among various stakeholders

• The issue concerning beggary is a cross cutting problem for many line departments
and several officers and staff of Department of Social Welfare and other
departments who are involved in providing different welfare services to the people
engaged in begging. Many of the departments and employees face difficulty in
properly implementing the relevant schemes due to lack of adequate basic
knowledge and information of problems and issues concerning beggary.
Stakeholders (NGOs, corporate, and media, ward members) and government
departments (social welfare, health, education, Municipal Corporation and police
etc.) should be sensitised for the convergence and successful implementation of the
relevant schemes. Convergence of all the departments such as DUSIB, WCD,
Labour Welfare Department and others working for the welfare of the deprived
sections of the society is needed for the betterment of persons engaged in begging.
• This will help in convergence and synergy among various development schemes
for beggary such as shelter, food, identification, old/disable/widow pension,
vocational trainings, enrolment in schools and scholarship to children etc.

Use of IEC materials and campaigns

• For sensitisation, various activities and materials such as IEC materials
(print/electronic), organisation of fairs, publication of newsletter, TV/print
media/social media publicity, poster/banners, cultural shows/street play and other
awareness activities can be organised. These awareness programmes will help in
engaging with such people with respect and provide them the dignity that they
deserve as human beings.
• The community can also be educated on various facets of beggary through
sensitisation programmes and campaigns on TV, radio and other social media
platforms.

• Social and behavioural communication campaign should be adopted not just for
people engaged in begging but also for those working with them. Sensitisation
103
 towards persons engaged in begging is a must to ensure life with dignity and
discrimination free environment.

Building trust

• In order to overcome the trust deficit, there is a need to handhold people engaged
in begging through NGOs, CSOs and through development of linkages with
existing bodies and schemes.

Lessons from other Successful Initiatives

• The successful initiatives of ‘Koshish’, and welfare schemes implemented by
several state governments such as Bihar, Rajasthan and Odisha should be taken
into consideration while planning for implementation of the rehabilitation scheme.

Monitoring and moral support

• There is a need for regular monitoring, counselling and moral support post-
rehabilitation to sustain the new role. Such people who have spent years on the
street find it very difficult to live in confined spaces. These people do not respond
to rehabilitation, because they are used to a life without any rules of conduct or
societal norms.
• During the rehabilitation programme, they may not respond favourably and may
feel uncomfortable in constrained spaces and following rules of conduct. They
require consistent support and monitoring to retain the new role. Thus, the
responsibility of the rehabilitation centre should not be limited to only training and
employment, but also include monitoring and moral support for some extended
time period to sustain them in their new roles.

6.2.2 Implementation
Following are the key steps that need to be followed for a successful implementation of
the rehabilitation schemes, as per the suggested framework. A timeline of one year is
proposed after the survey and identification of such people.

104
 Table 6.9: Suggested Implementation Plan for Rehabilitation
Step Activities Time
(quarter)
Survey and Identification
1.1 Survey and identification 1st
1.2 Identification of agencies for imparting skill training, and provide Quarter
support to get gainful employment
Mobilisation and Enrolment
2.1 Mobilising, sensitisation and trust building 1st
2.2 Engagement/enrolment of people who are willing to come out of Quarter
beggary into skill development or enhancement of skills and other
support programmes as per their requirement
Engagement, Training and Support
3.1 Engagement of line departments, NGOs, CSOs and other agencies in 2nd and
the process of rehabilitation of ‘persons engaged in begging’ 3rd
3.2 Providing a unique digital identification card to the identified people Quarter
willing to leave begging to help them to access various welfare
schemes
3.3 Facilitate enrolment of all children engaged in begging in schools,
scholarships, hostel facilities and skill training of destitute youth
3.4 Help place ‘elderly engaged in begging’ in old-age homes, women in
Swadhar or short stay homes and disabled in homes built under
ongoing government-schemes
3.5 Enrol all such people in various ongoing social security programmes of
the government
Post-Training Support
4.1 Provide support in establishing enterprises, placement support for 4th
employment, and engage in self-employment activities by providing Quarter
support kits and formation of groups and agency
4.2 Developing daily living and activity skills by restoring their
psychological strength, confidence and self-esteem through regular
counselling
4.3 Provide opportunities for redressal of grievances, settlement of issues Next 1
concerning mentorship and justice year
4.4 Follow-up or mentoring for at least one-year, following the placement
to help and retain the person in their new role
4.5 Demonstration of success stories plays an important role, and awards
should be given on special occasions, such as Independence Day and
Republic Day, to those who have successfully achieve self-
transformation
4.6 Use of IEC material (print and electronic) to generate awareness and
sensitisation along with social- behavioural communication campaigns

105
Chapter Summary

The final chapter constitutes suggested recommendations for achieving the objective of
rehabilitation of persons engaged in begging for long-term sustainability. The conclusion
section highlights the key findings of each chapter. The recommendations section makes
use of the survey’s findings and provides a three-tier approach to solving the issue of
beggary using a pan society approach: (i) rehabilitation approach, (ii) sensitisation
approach and (iii) preventive approach. Thereafter, the features of each of the three
approaches are discussed in detail, hence, providing a comprehensive implementation plan
for the rehabilitation of persons engaged in begging as per their gender, age and
educational qualifications.

106
References

1. A., Trivedi, M., National, I., & Rights, H. (n.d.). A Little Kindness Pulls Street Child
To the Darker World of Begging. 5(6), pp.71–88.
2. Adedibu, A. A., & Jelili, M. O. (2011), “Package for Controlling Street Begging
and Rehabilitating Beggars and the Physically Challenged in Nigeria: Paper for
Policy Consideration”, Global Journal of Human Social Science, 11(1), pp.16–24.
3. Anderson, N (1961). The Hobo: The Sociology of The Homeless Man. Phoenix
Books, The Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
4. Carter T (2007) Panhandling in Winnipeg: Legislation Vs Support Services. A
study for the Public Interest Law Centre, University of Winnipeg, 1-3.
5. Frederick, M. A. J., Joseph, S. T., Srivastava, H., Frederick, A., Joseph, D., &
Srivastava, H. (2016).=, “Begging in India: Barricading the sustainable financial
development”, Social Sciences, 3(03), 2016.
6. Hosmani, S. P. (2013). Development Research Issn: 2230-9926. Development
Research Issn: 2230-9926, 696 m, 2012–2014.
7. Kaushik, A. (2014), “Rights of children: A case study of child beggars at public
places in India”, Journal of Social Welfare and Human Rights, 2(1), pp.1-16.
8. Khan, Jabir & Menka, & Shamshad. (2014), “Socio-economic causes of begging,”
International Research Journal of Human Resources and Social Sciences, 1.
pp.37-52.
9. Lee, B.A. and Farrell, C.R. (2003), “Buddy, can you spare a dime? homelessness,
panhandling, and the public”, Urban Affairs Review 38, pp.299-324.
10. Lynch, P. 2005. Understanding and responding to begging (Australia),
Melbourne: University Law Review.
11. Malik, S., & Roy, S. (2012), “A Study on Begging: A Social Stigma—An Indian
Perspective”, Journal of Human Values, 18(2), pp.187-199
12. Review, A. T. (n.d.). United Nations Office of the High Commissioner. Draft
Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights: the rights of the
poor. January 2009, 1–36.
13. Saini, M., Khan, J., & Hussain, N. (2011), “Socio-economic and structural
analysis of beggars in Aligarh City”, Journal of Social Science, Dec MPJSS, 14(2),
107
 pp.84-96.
14. Soni, B. (2021). Beggary Laws in India: A Constitutional Analysis Basis of
Beggary Laws. 1–23.
15. Visweswara, K. Profile and Problems of the Beggars in Visakhapatnam City of
Andhra Pradesh: An Empirical Evidence.

108
 Annexures
Annexure 1:Data Tables
Annexure Table 1: People Engaged in Begging by Locality

Sl. No. Locality No % Sl. No. Locality No %

1 Narela 6 0.0 37 Kasturba Nagar 94 0.5
2 Sultanpur Majra 34 0.2 38 Malviya Nagar 188 0.9
3 NangloiJat 105 0.5 39 R.K Puram 200 1.0
4 Mangolpuri 467 2.3 40 Mehrauli 190 0.9
5 Rohini 852 4.1 41 Chhattarpur 102 0.5
6 Shalimar Bagh 423 2.0 42 Deoli 82 0.4
7 Shakur Basti 109 0.5 43 Ambedkar Nagar 112 0.5
8 Trinagar 66 0.3 44 Sangam Vihar 119 0.6
9 Wazirpur 76 0.4 45 Badli 191 0.9
10 Model Town 346 1.7 46 Greater Kailash 134 0.6
11 Sadar Bazar 293 1.4 47 Kalkaji 268 1.3
12 Burari 282 1.4 48 Tughlakabad 336 1.6
13 Chandni Chowk 809 3.9 49 Badarpur 93 0.4
14 Matiya Mahal 230 1.1 50 Okhla 606 2.9
15 Balimaran 166 0.8 51 Trilokpuri 544 2.6
16 Karol Bagh 518 2.5 52 Kondli 394 1.9
17 Patel Nagar 149 0.7 53 Patparganj 395 1.9
18 Moti Nagar 295 1.4 54 Laxmi Nagar 471 2.3
19 Madipur 275 1.3 55 Vishwas Nagar 756 3.6
20 Rajouri Garden 520 2.5 56 Rithala 173 0.8
21 Hari Nagar 255 1.2 57 Krishna Nagar 374 1.8
22 Tilak Nagar 174 0.8 58 Gandhi Nagar 162 0.8
23 Timarpur 311 1.5 59 Shahdara 867 4.2
24 Janakpuri 88 0.4 60 Seemapuri 517 2.5
25 Vikaspuri 205 1.0 61 Rohtas Nagar 529 2.6
26 Uttam Nagar 146 0.7 62 Seelampur 459 2.2
27 Dwarka 299 1.4 63 Ghonda 307 1.5
28 Matiala 387 1.9 64 Babarpur 202 1.0
29 Najafgarh 265 1.3 65 Gokalpur 226 1.1
30 Bijwasan 202 1.0 66 Mustafabad 142 0.7
31 Palam 154 0.7 67 Bawana 154 0.7
32 Delhi Cantonement 22 0.1 68 Karawal Nagar 295 1.4
33 Rajinder Nagar 244 1.2 69 Mundka 217 1.0
34 Adarsh Nagar 90 0.4 70 Kirari 6 0.0
35 New Delhi 1036 5.0 71 Total 20719 100.0
36 Jangpura 915 4.4 - - - -

109
 Annexure Table 2: Gender Distribution of People Engaged in Begging by District

District Male Female Transgender Total

New Delhi 1026 737 41 1804
North 354 262 11 627
North West 1195 1368 9 2572
West 848 1156 12 2016
South West 805 820 36 1661
South 392 376 1 769
South East 1135 1064 9 2208
Central 1367 1010 45 2422
North East 656 520 1 1177
Shahadra 1595 1070 1 2666
East 1614 1158 25 2797
Total 10987 9541 191 20719

Annexure Table 3: Age-Wise Distribution of People Engaged in Begging by District

District Upto 10 11-14 15-17 upto 18 18-29 30-44 45-59 18-59 60+ yrs Total
yrs yrs yrs yrs yrs yrs yrs yrs
New Delhi 229 121 64 414 370 348 430 1148 242 1804
North 86 92 25 203 76 118 100 294 130 627
North West 347 371 92 810 363 516 460 1339 423 2572
West 427 59 75 561 273 417 494 1184 271 2016
South West 169 133 72 374 293 458 277 1028 259 1661
South 147 57 61 265 182 190 97 469 35 769
South East 167 89 68 324 557 673 396 1626 258 2208
Central 317 46 63 426 446 526 525 1497 499 2422
North East 99 27 17 143 216 392 246 854 180 1177
Shahadra 415 210 159 784 222 451 576 1249 633 2666
East 306 173 88 567 378 806 646 1830 400 2797
Total 2709 1378 784 4871 3376 4895 4247 12518 3330 20719

110
 Annexure Table 4: Distribution of Educational Level of People Engaged in Begging by District
(10+ yrs old only)*
District Illiterate Upto Primary Upto Secondary Above Secondary Others Total
New Delhi 948 475 123 25 0 1571
North 329 155 49 12 7 552
North West 1348 593 249 57 28 2275
West 964 506 92 12 4 1578
South West 1223 213 37 7 6 1486
South 565 55 1 1 4 626
South East 1438 462 72 15 21 2008
Central 1663 347 54 29 12 2105
North East 731 173 66 21 8 999
Shahadra 1702 422 110 5 7 2246
East 1793 562 108 15 8 2486
Total 12704 3963 961 199 105 17932
*Note: Some 10+ years of people did not respond in the detailed interview

Annexure Table 5: Detail Distribution of Type of Beggars by District (10+ yrs old only)

Type New North North West South South South Central North Shahadra East Total
Delhi West West East East
Hereditary 110 19 76 252 293 281 175 126 232 113 385 2062
Child (Juvenile) 71 120 465 17 117 86 146 58 15 335 75 1505
With physical disability 184 67 264 241 214 55 200 309 160 358 229 2281
With mentally disability 64 14 28 25 28 14 33 36 20 101 75 438
Diseased/infirm 79 18 42 79 27 1 125 36 33 66 125 631
Religious mendicants 111 20 42 88 30 9 28 110 86 184 161 869
Casual 396 33 165 63 161 54 279 344 113 60 230 1898
Temporarily unemployed 87 102 213 174 128 13 159 266 38 328 203 1711
Babies in arms 82 11 85 27 84 72 59 212 50 97 100 879
Forced 23 17 117 1 17 3 3 29 9 9 1 229
Able-bodied 15 7 18 21 2 3 116 49 36 138 25 430
Destitute 17 33 96 114 48 6 345 65 121 40 152 1037
Part-time 331 71 590 475 293 28 328 442 72 234 719 3583
Old age (Unable to work) 0 12 24 0 27 0 1 11 4 154 1 234
Others 1 8 50 1 17 1 11 12 10 29 5 145
Total 1571 552 2275 1578 1486 626 2008 2105 999 2246 2486 17932

111
 Annexure Table 6: Place of Begging by District (10+ yrs old only)

Place New North North West South South South Central North Shahadra East Total
Delhi West West East East
Traffic signals 795 140 358 1291 702 429 785 539 353 674 563 6629
Religious places 941 492 2059 1307 963 113 809 1547 638 1312 1349 11530
Under- 343 23 53 723 51 169 516 206 134 199 218 2635
bridge/flyovers/subways
At/vicinity of bus terminals 120 9 21 289 210 7 248 155 14 181 78 1332
At/vicinity of railway station 147 13 6 311 57 2 257 92 3 82 2 972
At/vicinity of metro station 238 26 48 550 365 95 276 137 59 319 169 2282
Street/ footpath 392 42 210 1068 667 283 1168 1048 412 1087 1173 7550
Tourist spots 64 1 6 165 29 12 55 214 15 16 50 627
Residential areas 59 14 121 245 439 88 179 331 317 356 534 2683
Markets 304 38 220 387 916 61 537 723 467 696 683 5032
Malls 49 4 27 112 17 10 31 21 17 24 58 370
In bus/train 5 2 11 47 5 0 32 6 12 5 4 129
Total 1571 552 2275 1578 1486 626 2008 2105 999 2246 2486 17932

Annexure Table 7: Place of Stay for People Engaged in Begging by District (10+ yrs old only)
Place of stay New North North West South South South Central North Shahadra East Total
Delhi West West East East
Open space 64 20 61 255 129 87 104 289 26 327 259 1621
Footpath 488 75 212 460 348 345 526 546 115 263 281 3659
Park 39 2 7 48 0 1 115 24 1 50 41 328
JJ colony 126 163 644 210 127 2 116 27 87 105 554 2161
Slums 372 216 820 390 610 29 595 863 502 730 825 5952
Shelter home/ night shelters/rain-basera 161 2 51 179 3 59 208 175 45 122 144 1149
Market/outside shops 26 6 18 7 4 4 49 51 8 89 14 276
Religious places 119 9 36 13 58 12 38 75 75 291 137 863
Under bridge/flyovers/sub-ways 109 1 32 8 90 83 183 24 39 95 138 802
At/vicinity of bus terminals 2 1 0 0 3 0 31 0 0 40 1 78
At/vicinity of railway station 53 1 1 2 44 1 15 14 0 16 0 147
At/vicinity of metro station 5 4 0 1 3 1 15 5 1 57 14 106
Others* 7 52 393 5 67 2 13 12 100 61 78 790
Total 1571 552 2275 1578 1486 626 2008 2105 999 2246 2486 17932
*Tourist places and moving from one place to other

112
 Annexure Table 8: Average Daily Income of People Engaged in Begging by District (10+ yrs old only)
District Less Rs 100- Rs 200- Rs 300- Rs 500+ In kind No Total
than Rs 200 300 400 response
100
New Delhi 231 678 385 218 19 28 12 1571
North 197 122 36 2 7 188 0 552
North West 745 362 128 22 11 1005 2 2275
West 123 569 351 95 6 434 0 1578
South West 281 671 233 55 13 233 0 1486
South 371 97 16 5 2 132 3 626
South East 237 679 592 392 39 46 23 2008
Central 1383 515 107 43 3 54 0 2105
North East 57 236 374 277 46 9 0 999
Shahadra 1072 849 196 67 7 51 4 2246
East 980 1065 272 103 33 32 1 2486
All 5677 5843 2690 1279 186 2212 45 17932

Annexure Table 9: Reasons for Engagement in Begging by District (10+ yrs old only)
Reasons New North North West South South South Central North Shahadra East Total
Delhi West West East East
Forced or involuntary 2 3 27 2 3 0 4 5 11 7 1 65
Natural calamities 9 3 7 48 0 0 20 4 11 71 5 178
Children expelled from 7 5 9 24 11 2 29 63 5 39 14 208
home
Parents death(orphan) 41 1 10 18 6 4 38 28 8 61 21 236
With mental disability 46 8 27 10 29 4 22 28 18 94 66 352
Medical illness/disease 14 16 29 26 31 3 56 50 33 79 96 433
Religious causes(seek 30 7 16 10 19 7 19 72 82 104 117 483
alms)
Family disintegration 37 9 34 78 16 16 115 26 79 44 63 517
Drug/Substance Abuse 122 3 11 6 22 0 39 96 38 35 147 519
Friends or peer influence 40 73 190 14 18 7 29 48 28 38 66 551
Voluntary 12 10 64 3 181 1 96 71 55 63 92 648
Widow 75 35 130 51 74 28 102 122 70 189 143 1019
Inheritance/tradition 49 7 25 179 364 115 70 111 113 44 56 1133
Habitual 24 19 45 23 172 3 66 198 164 215 299 1228
With physical 128 43 164 61 155 37 125 250 133 308 188 1592
disability/challenge
Easy money 91 55 190 12 73 8 120 453 202 630 318 2152
Old age 229 108 342 168 198 28 188 394 130 520 308 2613
Illiterate 268 97 343 469 439 202 232 360 163 389 248 3210
Landlessness 678 105 128 543 295 258 796 134 12 176 169 3294
Unemployment 581 262 1134 1257 621 153 1005 1315 195 689 818 8030
Extreme poverty 764 450 1984 1353 1028 438 1018 1208 410 1462 1067 11182
Others 4 18 52 4 9 0 10 13 13 8 5 136
Total 1571 552 2275 1578 1486 626 2008 2105 999 2246 2486 17932

113
 Annexure Table 10: Desire to Leave Begging by District (10+ yrs old only)
District Male Female Transgender Total
Yes No Total Yes No Total Yes No Total Yes No Total
New Delhi 504 398 902 398 232 630 3 36 39 905 666 1571
North 228 89 317 172 52 224 9 2 11 409 143 552
North West 887 164 1051 1021 194 1215 7 2 9 1915 360 2275
West 637 47 684 847 36 883 1 10 11 1485 93 1578
South West 636 94 730 615 105 720 27 9 36 1278 208 1486
South 284 30 314 300 11 311 1 0 1 585 41 626
South East 855 176 1031 842 126 968 3 6 9 1700 308 2008
Central 1038 161 1199 750 111 861 31 14 45 1819 286 2105
North East 289 289 578 271 149 420 1 0 1 561 438 999
Shahadra 1098 264 1362 793 90 883 1 0 1 1892 354 2246
East 1026 411 1437 723 301 1024 9 16 25 1758 728 2486
Total 7482 2123 9605 6732 1407 8139 93 95 188 14307 3625 17932

Annexure Table 11: Identification Documents with People Engaged in Begging by District (10+ yrs old only)
District Aadhar Educational Ration Birth Voter ID Bank Others No Total
card certificate card certificate account proof
New Delhi 794 5 27 3 11 12 4 715 1571
North 382 4 4 1 6 2 32 121 552
North West 1703 9 10 5 11 6 195 336 2275
West 1034 29 159 11 121 8 14 202 1578
South West 1135 0 0 0 6 1 6 338 1486
South 358 0 1 0 25 1 1 240 626
South East 1247 4 12 3 250 0 14 478 2008
Central 1357 5 25 2 47 1 16 652 2105
North East 682 7 12 0 59 0 4 235 999
Shahadra 894 38 3 10 80 9 38 1174 2246
East 1626 5 18 0 37 4 22 774 2486
Total 11212 106 271 35 653 44 346 5265 17932

114
Annexure2a:Schedule A- Survey Questionnaire

Section 1: Background Information

1.1 Serial Number
1.2 Investigator ID/Name
1.3 District
1.4 Sub Division
1.5 Name of legislative
assembly
1.6 Code of legislative
assembly
1.7 Ward
1.8 Area/Locality
1.9 Time of Survey Morning Afternoon Evening
Section 2:Respondent’s Profile
2.1 Name of Respondent
2.2 Age(in complete years)
2.3. Gender Male 1
Female 2
Transgender 3
2.4 Level of Education Illiterate 1
Upto Primary 2
Upto Secondary 3
Above Secondary 4
Others (specify)_____________________________ 5
2.5 Marital Status Single 1
Married 2
Widow/Widower 3
Separated 4
2.6 If migrant, name of the
state from where you
migrated?
2.7 Started being engaged in Since birth 1
begging since (no of Less than 1 year 2
years) 1-2 years 3
3-5 years 4
Above 5 years 5
2.7 a Since how many years Less than 1 year 1
you’ve been living in 1-2 years 2
Delhi 2-3 years 3
3-4 years 4
4-5 years 5
5-10 years 6
Above 10 years 7
Since Birth 8
2.8 Type of ‘Persons Hereditary 1
engaged in Begging’ Child (Juvenile) 2
(multiple answer) With physical disability 3
With mental disability 4
Diseased/infirm 5
Religious mendicant’s 6
115
 Part-time 7
Casual 8
Temporarily unemployed 9
Babies in Arms 10
Forced 11
Able-bodied(find being engaged in beggary easy and 12
don’t opt for any other job -fit but pretend to be unfit)
Destitute prone to being engaged in beggary 13
Others (specify)_____________________________ 14
2.9 If children, with whom Children with family (parents/relatives) 1
they stay Alone 2
Friends 3
Others 4
(specify)_____________________________________
Not Applicable 5
2.10 Daily Income Less than Rs 100 1
Rs 100-200 2
Rs 200-300 3
Rs 300-400 4
Rs 500+ 5
In kind (mention approx. value) 6
2.11 What Identification Aadhar card 1
proof do you have? Educational certificate 2
Ration card 3
Birth certificate 4
Voter ID 5
Bank account 6
No proof 7
Others 8
(specify)_____________________________________
2.12 Where do you stay? Open space 1
Footpath 2
Park 3
JJ colony 4
Slums 5
Shelter home/ night shelters/rain-basera 6
Market/outside shops 7
Religious places 8
Under bridge/flyovers/sub-ways 9
At/vicinity of bus terminals 10
At/vicinity of railway station 11
At/vicinity of metro station 12
Others (Specify) 13
2.12 a If staying in JJ colony/ Own 1
slums, type of house you
reside in Rented 2
2.13 Reasons for engaging in Extreme poverty 1
begging (Multiple Unemployment 2
answers upto 3 rank in Landlessness 3
order of importance ) Inheritance/tradition 4
Illiterate 5
116
 Parents death(orphan) 6
Family disintegration 7
Old age 8
Widow 9
Children expelled from home 10
Friends or peer pressure 11
Religious causes(seek alms) 12
With physical disability/challenge 13
With mental disability 14
Medical illness/disease 15
Natural calamities 16
Forced or involuntary 17
Voluntary 18
Habitual 19
Easy money 20
Drug/Substance Abuse 21
Others (specify)____________________ ________ 22
2.14 Place/location of Traffic signals 1
engaging in Religious places 2
begging(multiple Under-bridge/flyovers/subways 3
answer) At/vicinity of bus terminals 4
At/vicinity of railway station 5
At/vicinity of metro station 6
Street/ footpath 7
Tourist spots 8
Residential areas 9
Markets 10
Malls 11
In bus/train 12
Others (specify)__________________ _________ 13
2.15 Besides engaging in Street vending/hawkers 1
begging, do you do Small business/petty trade 2
anything else?Link with Salaried 3
2.8 Casual laborer(construction, factory etc.) 4
Rag-picking 5
Domestic help 6
Driver 7
Education/student 8
Watchmen/chowkidar/guard 9
Rickshaw puller 10
Others (specify)______________________ ______ 11
2.16 Is family into engaged in Yes 1
begging? No 2
2.16aIf yes, did they resort to Yes 1
being engaged in No 2
begging in any other
place/city?
2.17 Were you involved in any Yes 1
economic activity before No 2
engaging in begging?

2.17aIf yes, what type of activity Street Vendors 1

117
 Self-employment (trade, small business etc.) 2
Salaried job 3
Casual laborer(construction, factory etc) 4
Rag-picking 5
Others (specify)___________________ ___________ 6
Section 3:Need for Rehabilitation
3.1 Do you want to leave being Yes 1
engaged in begging? No 2
3.1a If yes/no, state reasons
3.2 Type of help needed for Home/shelter homes 1
rehabilitation (Multiple Jobs/employment 2
answers upto 3 rank in Skill training for adults 3
order of importance ) Food 4
Clothes/bedding 5
Education/schooling for children 6
Health/medical care services 7
Financial help 8
Protection from abuse and exploitation 9
Stipend/scholarship for education/training with hostel 10
facility
Identity proof/document 11
Counselling 12
Others (specify)_____________________________ 13
3.3 If you need job/employment or
skill training please
elaborate
3.4 Have you been arrested and Yes 1
sent to sewa-kutir? No 2
(applicable for adults) Not Applicable 3
3.4a Number of times you have Once 1
been arrested? Twice 2
Thrice 3
More than 3 times 4
3.4b If yes, for what reason/s
3.5 Have you been helped by Yes 1
CWC/Childline No 2
(applicable for children) Not Applicable 3
3.6 If yes, in what way did CWC
help?
Note: 1. To cross-check or avoid duplication please ask the respondent before beginning theinterview:
whether you have been interviewed previously by someone with similar questions, if yes, leave
such cases.
2. For small children, his/her detail information will be collected from his/her elder
associates.

118
Annexure2b:Schedule B- FGD Checklist

1. Focus Group Discussions

Focus groups discussion will be conducted with three set of ‘persons engaged in
begging’: adults, youths and children. Each FGD will consist of at least five members.
During the FGDs, small gifts, such as food and drinks, will be offered to compensate them
for the valuable time provided during [Link] each district, 5-6 FDGs will be
conducted among the identified groups of ‘persons engaged in begging’. These groups will
be identified during individual interviews and also with the help of various other
stakeholders.

Process and key Questions: The IHD team will introduce the purpose of the study to the
‘persons engaged in begging’ after seeking their consent and approval to participate in the
FGD, and subsequently note down the details such as name, age, gender, type of ‘persons
engaged in begging’ etc. Further, the IHD team will facilitate the discussion and record
the [Link] are some key questions to be flagged by IHD team for the
discussion.
• Why do youengage in begging, reasons?
• Place of engaging in begging, reasons?Daily routine?
• Earnings from engaging in begging and other alternative sources of livelihood?
• Behaviour by people/authorities? What are the challenges faced while engaging in
begging (harassment by people; police, and or any other officials; mafia control or
gang member or others )
• What are the life and livelihood difficulties faced on everyday basis? (life and
livelihood challenges such as shelter; food; water; toilet)
• What are the health issues faced and how do they cope with it?
• Do you have habit of consumption of alcohols/drugs/tobacco or any other
toxicants? (what percentage of their income they spend on it)
• Do you know/aware about any government schemes or received any benefited
from government or NGOs? If yes, type?
• If you stayed in any shelter home made by government, how was your experience?
(night shelter or other facilities)
• How did corona-virus impact your life and livelihood?
• What do you want your children to become on growing up and how can it be made
possible (For married only)?
• What else do you do/prefer to do if given a chance? (Alternate career, give at least
three-four options)
• De-addiction and alms related linkage
• Have you been convicted and sent to sewa-kutir?

119
 Annexure2c:Schedule C- Key Informant Interview Checklist
Sh. Shahzeb 1. What is the aim of SULM? How does it provide alternate livelihood options for
Yamin such people?
State Mission 2. Are any training and capacity building measures undertaken for providing them
Manager, State
employability and knowledge skills
Urban
Livelihood 3. What is the role played by SULM for betterment of persons engaged in begging
Mission(SULM) in NCT of Delhi- in normal routine and during pandemic?
4. What is the observation of SULM in the context of persons engaged in begging
in NCT of Delhi- types, reasons for beggary etc?
5. How is SULM working towards rehabilitation of such people? (any recent
initiatives undertaken)
6. How do we prohibit such people from engaging in beggary?
7. What are the challenges you have faced in coordinating and in implementing
initiatives for betterment of persons engaged in begging?

Sh. Bipin Rai 1. What is the role of DUSIB in providing shelter support to persons engaged in
Member, Delhi begging?
Urban Shelter 2. What is the role played by DUSIB for betterment of persons engaged in begging
Improvement
in NCT of Delhi- in normal routine and during pandemic?
Board (DUSIB)
3. Does the DUSIB take suomoto steps to bring people engaged in begging to the
shelters?
4. Currently are there any such people staying in DUSIB shelters? If yes in what
areas, if no reasons for the same.
What are the challenges you have faced in coordinating and in implementing
initiatives for betterment of women and children engaged in begging?
Dr. A. Madhavi 1. What is the role played by DSW for betterment of disabled persons engaged in
Dy. begging in NCT of Delhi- in normal routine and during pandemic?
Director(Disab.) 2. What is the observation of DSW in the context of disabled persons engaged in
, Department of
begging in NCT of Delhi- types, reasons for beggary etc?
Social Welfare,
GNCTD 3. How is DSW working towards rehabilitation of disabled people engaged in
beggary? (any recent initiatives undertaken)
What are the challenges you have faced in coordinating and in implementing
initiatives for betterment of persons engaged in begging?
MohdTarique, 1. What is the state of 'beggary' in India?
Assistant 2. What is your view about 'persons engaged in begging'? (Alms perception)
Professor, TISS, 3. What in your view is the reason or contributing factor for engaging in such act?
Founding
4. What challenges do such people face in their daily routine?
Director,
Koshish, 5. How can people, especially children be protected from engaging in begging and
TISSKoshish consequent drug abuse?
6. What is the role played by different stakeholders and organisations (sewa
kutir/CWC) in enhancing the quality of life of persons engaged in begging?
7. How can different sections of society be engaged towards betterment of person
engaged in begging and their rehabilitation?
8. Do you think pandemic aggravated their already miserable conditions?
9. How do you think we can help rehabilitate them?
10. What are the challenges you have faced in coordinating and in implementing

120
 initiatives for betterment of persons engaged in begging?

Indu Prakash 11. What is the state of 'beggary' in India?

Singh, 12. What is your view about 'persons engaged in begging'? (Alms perception)
Facilitator, 13. What in your view is the reason or contributing factor for engaging in such act?
Social Activist,
14. What challenges do such people face in their daily routine?
City makers
mission 15. How can people, especially children be protected from engaging in begging and
international consequent drug abuse?
16. What is the role played by different stakeholders and organisations (sewa
kutir/CWC) in enhancing the quality of life of persons engaged in begging?
17. How can different sections of society be engaged towards betterment of person
engaged in begging and their rehabilitation?
18. Do you think pandemic aggravated their already miserable conditions?
19. How do you think we can help rehabilitate them?
What are the challenges you have faced in coordinating and in implementing
initiatives for betterment of persons engaged in begging?

121
Annexure3:Description of Focus Group Discussions

FGD No. FGD Theme Description

FGD 2 Migrants Migrants and hereditary persons engaged in begging from Karnataka
FGD 7 Migrants Migrated from Mathura, UP and living in in temporary shelter (Jhuggi)
FGD 16 Migrants Migrant labourers who used to work in Azadpur mandi, but now due to lack of work
forced to beg.
FGD 22 Migrants Group of skilled and semi-skilled migrant labourers who were forced to engage in
beggary due to lack of regular work opportunities.
FGD 8 Migrants Migrants from Karnataka, who perform hereditary art form ‘Potraj’ during festivals in
(Hereditary) Delhi.
FGD 5 Mixed Group Participants of this group were native of Maharashtra, the men of the group did odd
jobs but they were mostly dependant on alms they received at Kalkaji Mandir.
FGD 9 Mixed Group The women of this group were living in temporary shelters (jhuggis) built on footpath.
They were forced to move their shelter by authorities and had lived in such jhuggis in
different locations. They only engaged in beggary on Tuesday and Saturday.
FGD 4 Mixed The primary job of the men of the community was providing ox led thelas in anaj
Group mandi. Women did odd jobs and provide support in taking care of ox. Two of the
(Female) participants were employed as housemaids before COVID.
FGD 6 Mixed Majority of the participants were migrants and lived in jhuggis or were homeless. One
Group lady was a senior citizen and is unable to work, others couldn’tt find work and are
(Female) engaged in beggary to survive.
FGD 10 Mixed Women of this group were all widows. They lived on footpath near Subhash Nagar
Group metro station. They chose not to live in Rainbasera as they worries for the safety of
(Female) their young daughters.
FGD 19 Mixed The participants of this group were housemaids and were now forced to engage in
Group beggary to make ends meet.
(Female)
FGD 29 Mixed The participants of this group used to engage in beggary on part time basis. They used
Group to work as housemaids before lockdown.
(Female)
FGD 3 Mixed Group of migrants out of the 6 participants 4 were senior citizens. They used to do
Group (Male) small jobs before being forced to engage in beggary for survival.
FGD 24 Mixed This group of participants lived on streets near the Vinayak temple. They have
Group highlighted destitution and abandonment from family as the reason to engage in
(Homeless) beggary.
FGD 25 Mixed The participants lived in temporary shelter (Jhuggis) near railway station. They engage
Group in beggary on part-time basis. They do rag-picking when not begging.
(Homeless)
FGD 26 Mixed The participants of this group belonged to banjara and Fakeer Caste. They moved
Group around in search of jobs and engage in beggary to sustain themselves.
(Hereditary)
FGD 20 Mixed Majority of the participants were daily wage earners and engage in beggary to sustain
Group themselves due to lack of work. Two participants were senior citizens and are unable
(Covid to work.
Affected)

122
FGD 21 Women The participants were women who use to work as housemaids but due to lack of work
Group are engaging in beggary.
(Covid
Affected)
FGD 13 Transgender The participants were transgenders engaging begging for living

FGD 14 Transgender The participants were transgenders engaging begging for living

FGD 15 Homeless The participants were homeless and engaged in begging to make their ends meet

FGD 17 Part-time The participants were engaged in part time work of selling things at traffic signals,
working as labourer, domestic worker etc.
FGD 11 Old The participants were adults above age group of 60+
Age (Female)
FGD 12 Temporarily This group of participants were temporarily unemployed and were constantly looking
Unemployed for some kind of work for survival besides engaging in begging
FGD 27 Disability The participants were affected by some form of disability

FGD 28 Disability The participants were affected by some form of disability

FGD 1 Adolescent This group of participants were adolescents boys engaging in begging for survival
Children
(Boys)
FGD 30 Adolescent This group of participants were a mix groups of adolescents including both boys and
Children girls

123
Annexure4: Process Framework

Kick off meeting

We at IHD are delighted to share our partnership with the Department of Social
Welfare, Delhi Government in undertaking a 'Comprehensive Digitized Survey of
persons engaged in Begging in Delhi'. A pre-survey discussion was held between the
team at IHD and with Ms. Rashmi Singh, Director (SW), Department of Social Welfare,
Govt. of NCT of Delhi and other officials of the department and TISS-KOSHISH team.
The proposed survey will help in providing a realistic estimate of beggars across
various districts of NCT Delhi, which will facilitate in the formulation of policies and
implementation plan of schemes or programme for the rehabilitation of beggars in
the state.

19th January 2021: Pilot Survey

Pilot survey was undertaken on 19thJan by a group of 8 field investigators at
locations such as Akshardham, Kalkaji mandir and Nizammudin. On the basis of pilot
survey, taking their feedback, the questionnaire was revised incorporating
observations and challenges faced during the pilot survey. Some of the identified
changes include adding location option to capture single person engaged in begging
in different spots, additional code option of "own home'', "children expelled from
home" and "in bus/train" etc.

21st January 2021: Training of Investigators at India International Centre

Daylong training session was organised by Institute for Human Development, Delhi
for study titled “Comprehensive Digitised Survey of Persons engaged in Begging in
Delhi” on the 21st Jan 2021 at India International Centre, Delhi. The opening
remarks were presented by Professor Alakh N. Sharma, Director, Institute for Human
Development, followed by brief introduction about the study project by Dr. Balwant
Mehta and detailed discussion by IHD team. Team from TISSKoshish, namely, Mr.
Tarique, Mr. Prem, Mr. Asif and Bhavna shared their perspectives and experience of
being in the field.

124
This session was followed by a detailed discussion on the questionnaire survey
jointly coordinated by Dr. Balwant Mehta, Dr. Aditi Madan, and Ms. Priyanka with
support from TISSKoshish team especially in addressing field level queries of the
participants. Although question and answer session was kept at the end of each
session, the nature of the entire programme was interactive and the conversation
was two way throughout. Another interactive round planned included role play by
experienced field investigator of the institute i.e. Mr. Subodh Kumar playing the role
of the respondent with participants getting the opportunity to familiarise themselves
with different type of answers and field challenges that they could face while
conducting field work. This was followed by a short and precise presentation of
research ethics to be followed while going to the field by Dr. Aditi Madan. The
concluding session conducted by Mr. Vikas Dubey and Dr. Aditi Madan, consisted of
dividing the participants in teams, in accordance with previously decided field areas
(in the manner of how they’ll be sent out on the field) aiming at providing the
participants with hands on training of CAPI and use of CSpro software for conducting
the digitized survey. Following the training, the questionnaire was further refined

125
incorporating suggested changes of the participants and TISSKoshish team such as
few more options were added in questions, some questions were replaced from
single choice questions to ranking questions etc.

5th February 2021: Online Training Session- Virtual Meeting of Field Team
Institute for Human Development organised a virtual meet over Google platform on
5th February with individual teams assigned for each district of Delhi to share
detailed field plan with the investigators, answer their field level issues emerging
from preliminary survey/ identification of hotspots in the field and to plan out the
survey in detail. The aim of the virtual meeting was to orient each team about their
respective districts and methods of collecting data in their allotted area, research
ethics, coordination with team as well as to appoint supervisor based on the
discussion and their experience. Virtual meet was divided into 4 slots between 11am
to 4pm to discuss methodology of data collection and identification of hotspots in
each district in detail. Ms. Priyanka, Dr. Aditi and Mr. Vikas along with support from
RAs facilitated the meeting.

126
8th February 2021: Document collection by Supervisors
Supervisors of each district visited IHD on 8th Feb from 11 am to 2 pm to collect IDs,
approval letters and SoPs for their entire team and were again briefed on ethics and
important points to keep in mind while conducting research and their queries were
resolved especially relating to hotspot identification and use of software. Whatsapp
groups of each team were formed by the coordinator Ms. Shweta or supervision and
quality assurance of data being collected. Following this, the survey commenced
from the second half of the day on 8th February with a team of over 30 well qualified
field research investigators working in the field.

10th February 2021: Queries/Challenges faced in field- Virtual Meeting

Another round of virtual meeting was organised on 10th Feb to resolve emerging
queries of all field investigators after they had already been in the field collecting
data for the digitized survey.

16th February 2021: Review Meeting held at IHD

Another round of in person meeting was organised on 16th Feb to resolve take an
update on data being collected by each team in the field. Field team was reoriented
on the use of software and minor details to keep in mind while entering the data on
their mobiles. To keep them motivated and encourage them to keep doing the work
with vigor, some of the videos and photos clicked by the field team were shown
through a presentation.

127
20th February 2021: Field visit by Social Welfare Department Officials
Dr. Rashmi Singh, Director, Social Welfare Department along with the team of the
department visited the field site of Hanuman Mandir (CP) at 12:30 PM on 20th Feb to
observe the fieldwork and provide her valuable inputs. Professor Alakh N. Sharma,
Director, Institute for Human Development was also present at the field site. Team
from TISSKoshish joined as well to share their experience and inputs for FGDs being
conducted at the site.

3rd March 2021: Virtual Meeting this Supervisors

Weekly virtual meeting was held of Supervisors of all the districts with the core team
at IHD who addressed challenges being faced in the field and guided the investigators
on ways of documenting relevant case studies in the field. Guidance was also
provided on do’s and don’ts of making short videos. The meeting was led by Dr.
Balwant Mehta, Ms. Priyanka, Dr. Aditi Madan and coordinated by Ms. Shweta.

128
11th March 2021: Virtual Meeting with Supervisors

Weekly virtual meeting was held with supervisors of all the districts with the core
team at IHD to plan the last leg of census and to guide them on ways of identifying
groups for FGDs.

129
13th March 2021: Virtual Meeting with Supervisors

This meeting was held between supervisors of North, West and Central district for
reshuffling of team members from the completed districts to the remaining ones.

130
23rd March 2021: Meeting with Supervisor and field team of Southern districts
of Delhi at IHD

The meeting was held with team conducting field survey in South district, South east
and South west district to plan FGDs and to ensure coverage of respective wards on
each district.

131
Annexure5:List of Field Researchers

Aditya Kumar Singh Neha Yadav

Amar Mohan Kumar Nishu Raj
Amit Kumar Venkteshwar Nivedita
Anand Ranjan Pooja Laxmi
Anisha Yadav Preeti
Ashish Kumar Prem Ranjan
Balwant Rao Gautam Priya Yadav
Bharti Pushkar Kumar
Chaman Kumar Rahul
Gagandeep Rama Shankar Thakur
Harsh Raj Rohit Pathak
Harshita Sandeep Kumar
Imaran Savita
Kanchan Kumari Shahwaj
Kanwal Ratan ShraddhanjaliTigga
Kartik Singh Sunny Kumar
Komal Priya Singh Surjeet Shukla
Nancy Swati
Navnish Pandey Swati Gautam
Neha Ghoshal Tanuvika

132