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COMMONWEALTH GAMES 2010 News
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Delhi to Jail Beggars for 2010 Commonwealth Games
June 24, 2007
Sighting the Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi, Indian Police is
launching a controversial plan to eradicate beggars from the streets
of Delhi.
Different kinds of beggars
dressed in dreadful condition have always been a common sight at
traffic signals of Delhi. Women with their naked babies, old men
with outstretched arms often peep through the car windows seeking
some kind of attention for a few pennies.
Such ugly sites have dismantled the image of Delhi because these
beggars are not the genuine ones who really need some help out of
their helplessness. This has taken a form of a big industry of beggars
where these people are forced to beg and bring back some specified
amount of money every evening.
Such poverty stricken image of Delhi is not at all what the authorities
are comfortable with and moreover, with the Commonwealth Games slated
to be held in Delhi in the year 2010, such image of Delhi needs
to be wiped out as soon as possible.
The government has decided to detain such beggars in detention centers
but the outcome of this initiative is something that the government
itself is aware of. However, this very step needs to be taken because
of the serious social and civic problems arising in the city.
People of Delhi should also take this scenario as an initiative
towards eradicating such act of beggars that demotivates them from
taking up hard work for their livelihood.
Begging and giving alms are very much associated with the India
culture. But the Common Wealth Games in 2010 has forced the Delhi
government to take such step of eradicating beggars from the city
and giving a good image to the city. All because these beggars ware
seen a black spot in Delhi’s image of a developed and world
class city.
Developmental activities are taking place in Delhi with new hotels
coming up in the capital. New look roads, new flyovers, highways,
games village, new stadiums, metro rail service are some of the
initiatives the government has taken towards gearing up the city
for Common Wealth Games 2010.
Among other beautification steps, the government is cleaning the
roads of Delhi with stray animals being shifted to proper places.
The mischievous monkeys are being caught from the ridge and Lutyen’s
area of Delhi and put in cages.
Coming back to eradicating beggars from the city, this is certainly
not the solution to stop such practice. In contrary, this is only
going to clean the city and make it look more beautiful but the
problems need to be adhered at the grass root level by curbing poverty
and providing them avenues to make their lives better.
Begging is already illegal in Delhi and the law says that the person
found begging will be sent to beggar’s court and then enslaved
in one of the beggars’ home in the city.
The law itself is under used as of now because the reports say
that the beggars’ homes have space for 3600 inmates but only
1400 are held in them. If such plan gets underway then the government
will have build more such place where these beggars are rehabilitated.
According to a survey, about 58,570 beggars – one third being
children – were counted in Delhi’s 134 wards and 5003
of them were questioned in detail.
Around half of the questioned beggars, mostly adults, said that
they earned between 50 – 100 Rupees per day. Three percent
said that they earned somewhere between 100 and 500 Rupees per day.
Most of the beggars came from unprivileged states like Bihar and
up and took up the profession of begging because they did not find
any work.
But what about the beggars? What they feel about the whole episode?
With the news reaching the ears of these beggars about their very
eradication from the streets of Delhi, they start to wonder because
this is the only way they can earn living after being in the business
for so long. Moreover, in India, people have been giving pennies
to beggars outside temples and mosques just because it is seen as
something related to good fortune or good deed.
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