World Bank Lead Economist Benedicte Leroy De La Briere on Friday said there is an urgent need for multi-sectoral collaboration and robust systems to address the intricate challenges surrounding urban begging and street homelessness. Addressing the 'Hard to Reach Population SMILE (Beggary)' seminar, she said there is a need for tailor-made solution to the issue. Because they are so complicated and they need to be so tailored to each individual, governments end up often implementing those programmes through non-governmental organisations, she noted. The cost of providing comprehensive care, including health support, identification services, skill development, and rehabilitation, is high, De La Briere added. They end up per beneficiary being quite expensive, she added at the seminar held by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in partnership with the World Bank. De La Briere said despite their visibility, people who beg remain hard to reach due to multiple systemic barrier
This move comes after the Bhopal District Collector issued an order banning begging and giving alms in the city on February 3
From January 1, 2025, handing money to beggars in Indore may lead to an FIR
Building a nationwide database and drafting a national policy for protection and rehabilitation of individuals engaged in begging are among the recommendations of an NHRC advisory issued on Friday. The advisory was issued to the Centre and state governments to develop strategies aimed at eliminating the need for begging and enhancing the quality of life for those involved in it, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said in a statement. It noted that despite a number of initiatives and welfare programmes implemented by the central and state governments, begging persisted across the country. According to the 2011 census, there were more than 4,13,000 (4.13 lakh) beggars and vagrants in India, it said. In its recommendations, the NHRC asked the authorities to draft a national policy for the protection and rehabilitation of individuals involved in begging to prepare and implement welfare schemes for them with targeted financial assistance, vocational training, poverty alleviatio
Karnataka's Kalaburagi City Corporation has launched a survey of beggars to rehabilitate them and stop the practice
Begging is considered a legitimate form of economic activity by poor people with disabilities, who are neglected by state institutions that fail to reintegrate them with the larger society
The court said the state cannot fail to do its duty to provide a decent life to its citizens and add insult to injury by arresting, detaining and imprisoning those who beg
Laws allow police to round up beggars without warrant and judges to confine them