It is no longer an undisclosed secret that our great country has now acquired a total of 413,670 beggars and vagrants. In the huge population of about 1.25 billion people, this number might not hold any weight. Even then, this number could be lessened if our pot-bellied politicians deliberate on the beggars’ problems. When they beat their broad chests speaking about the common people’s problems, they appear to forget the poor beggars who possess a similar diplomatic knack in extracting coins from everyone.
It is really shocking and surprising that these beggars have not received any financial help under the facilities being provided for Shining India. Their skills are unmatchable and they are quite professional people. West Bengal has topped the list with 81244 beggars and vagrants, including 33086 men and 48158 women.
Meanwhile, Lakshadweep has just two unique ‘official’ beggars. It is definitely a matter of distinction for us.
Out of over 4.13 lakh beggars, there are 1.91 lakh women beggars and 2.21 lakh men beggars. This gender disparity is woefully dangerous for the country.
The most miserable pictures are painted by Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which stand on the second and the third highest positions in the list with 65000 and 29000 beggars respectively. This situation is annoying because several political parties claim to be standing for the social justice in these two states. If SP and BSP leaders should pledge to remove begging in UP, there would be no reason to discuss this. The same point can be raised about Lalu Yadav’s political party in Bihar.