Beggar free city
Though Jammu and Kashmir has identified less than two thousand individuals involved in begging, the menace is proving to be much more pestering than what the numbers suggest.
Importantly, under the Centre’s SMILE scheme near to 500 individuals have already been rehabilitated and in Srinagar district where the problem is more visible, more than 1,000 individuals have been rehabilitated in the past two years. Even under the Mission Vatsalya J&K has identified over 500 children in the UT primarily engaged in begging.
Notably, Srinagar is the capital city of the region and the region being a tourist hub it deserves more attention to make the city beggar free. Since thousands of tourists and visitors arrive in the city any presence of beggars on the roads at main market places or tourist spots can leave the tourists irritated.
This being the reason that the district administration, in coordination with the police and Social Welfare Department, has intensified efforts to make Srinagar a begging-free city under the Government of India’s SMILE (Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise) scheme.
The initiative is not merely aimed at removing beggars from public spaces, but at restoring dignity, providing rehabilitation and reconnecting vulnerable individuals with society.
According to details more than 1000 persons engaged in begging have already been rehabilitated through counselling, temporary shelter, healthcare support and livelihood assistance, while more than 1,500 others have been identified across Srinagar for further intervention.
The campaign is being carried out jointly by the administration, Srinagar Police and the Social Welfare Department through regular rescue drives, awareness campaigns and field surveys.
Though many activists have been pointing some loopholes but viewed overall the objective is humanitarian, not punitive. Many of these individuals are victims of poverty, addiction, abandonment or exploitation and they need to be rehabilitated.
Ironically, the begging issue in Kashmir, especially Srinagar, went from scattered needy individuals to an organized, aggressive presence that disrupts traffic, tourism, and daily life.
The begging menace had turned so scary that people feared to roam freely at tourist spots, market and even at religious places. These spots attracted maximum footfalls so the beggars too had made these points to target potential alms givers.
What is more concerning is that the beggar menace is more of an organised racket that targets the needy and the vulnerable sections of the society and forces them into begging. Therefore, the exploitation of children makes it a child protection crisis, not just a poverty issue. The government thus needs to adopt a more humane approach to target the issue and make it workable for those who have been exploited and forced into begging.
The government’s shift from blanket bans to rehabilitation under SMILE is the right approach. A ban alone did not work in 2018. Success now depends on several factors which include identifying and breaking the rackets that transport beggars, ensuring rehabilitated children stay in school, and getting public buy-in to report but not give alms.
What is more important is that citizens, traders and religious institutions should support the effort so that rehabilitation, rather than dependence on alms, becomes the pathway forward for the city’s most vulnerable residents.
