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When beggars become choosers
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Though the population of beggars seems to have come down over the years, a recent survey by the NSS unit of the Madras School of Social Work found that begging is actually a profession that can fetch a tidy income.
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"IS IT difficult to beg for a livelihood?" asked a curious woman as she dropped coins into the man's bowl."
"Yes, ma'am," came the reply.
"Thank God! You are not blind."
"You are right, ma'am", sighed the beggar. "When I was blind, people used to drop useless things into my bowl."
Today, with rapid urbanisation and the consequent population explosion, begging has metamorphosed into a profitable occupation.
A census survey recently conducted by the NSS unit of the Madras School of Social Work (MSSW) estimated the average daily earnings of beggars in the city to be Rs. 3.25 lakhs. What's more, some beggars were even found lending money at a high rate of interest to petty shop owners. Under the survey, conducted by the MSSW in co-operation with 1,000 NSS volunteers from various higher secondary schools, the city was divided into 150 units covering all roads, and railway and bus stations.
It was found that there are 2,517 beggars in the city and their daily collection varies between Rs. 50 and Rs. 200. In some cases, the earnings are as high as Rs. 500. The volunteers also discovered to their surprise that there are beggars who travel by auto rickshaws to the various places they choose to operate from and return at the end of the day in a similar manner.
" The problem of the beggar is the problem of the giver," says K.N. George, director MSSW, who headed the survey. "When a beggar can earn Rs. 100 to Rs. 200 a day, why should he look for a job at all? He will continue to be a parasite, thriving on society's largesse, until the giver realises that to a beggar, begging is just another profession."
And like all other professions, begging is also competitive and involves considerable work and planning. Beggars have to be "on the job" for 10-12 hours as a routine, come rain or shine, and on difficult terrain. Quite often, they are given short shrift and unsympathetically driven away. They need to learn marketing strategies, to be able to position themselves cleverly, use their `assets' such as handicaps or children to arouse sympathy, and, at the same time, guard their territories against encroachments and competition. (Incidentally, there are beggars who have come together and are guided by criminal gangs. They are forced to share their earnings with the heads of these groups.) But the most daunting task is the act of begging itself. The beggars need to swallow their self-esteem before starting to beg. Once they cross this psychological hurdle, it becomes a convenient vocation.
According to George, several methods are adopted to solicit alms — pleading, exhibiting wounds, displaying pictures of various Gods, singing, dancing and even self-mortification.
The idea is to work on the psychology of the giver. For instance, the woman with a child in her arms, invariably begs money for a major surgery that her child has to undergo. This is usually when the parents of a seriously ill child turn to private sponsors or humanitarian organisations for help. "But the fear of incurring the displeasure of the Almighty has become so much part our psyche that we do not dare refuse to give alms, no matter how undeserving the person is," he says.
Predictably, the places most frequented by beggars are religious institutions, pavements, residential areas, railway stations, hotels, cinemas, hospitals, marriage halls and traffic signals.
Though the beggar population in the city appears to have come down drastically from over 7,000 since the first survey in 1953, also conducted by the MSSW, George is of the view that many must have migrated to the neighbouring states in search of better prospects. But what really irritates him is the lack of interest shown by the powers that be in rehabilitating them.
"This is despite the fact that there are umpteen number of organisations in the city dedicated to their welfare. And since beggars are not entitled to vote, politicians are not interested in rehabilitating them," he points out.
Maybe the public too will miss them if they are not there on the streets.
An ancient practice
BEGGING WAS not considered to be a disgrace in ancient days. Lawgiver Manu states that the food obtained by begging is equivalent to observing a fast. He even laid down rules as to who should beg, whom to beg from and whom to give. Giving alms and feeding guests were duties enjoined on every (Grahastha) householder. Tamil poet Tiruvalluvar compares the householder to the anchor of a boat in a storm-tossed river.
For the Brahmins giving alms was one of the five great duties (Pancha Maha Yagnas), which they had to perform. Anyone who failed to give alms to the student, the traveller, the ascetic, and the needy was considered to have failed in the discharge of his duties to family and God.
The Sastras also state that the beggar who comes to the door of a householder, is God in disguise and to refuse alms to him is a sin.
But then, begging in those days was not a profitable vocation. Neither was it resorted to indiscriminately. It was restricted to the student, the ascetic and the group or community to which the beggar belonged.
(Source: Report on the beggar survey in Madras city, 1956, published by the MSSW)
SANGEETH KURIAN
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