CHILD BEGGING SHOULD BE TREATED AS SYNDROME AND NOT SYMPATHY

Today I met this small friend and his sister who walked upto me when I was having a coffee at a tea stall, instead of asking for money he poked me hard with steel utensil in which he already had some coins of 1 and 2 rupees.

As a typical human being I looked at the kid with sympathy and asked “Dude are you dumb” to which he first nodded his head to convince me and when asked twice he nodded saying no. Out of curiosity I asked him so why dint you speak up and ask for money instead of beating me with the utensil, he had no answer for it. I knew it was his strategy of acting dumb to gain money :)  

As being a founder of YOUNGSUTRA, I always Empower Youth by engaging, enlightening & empowering them through various programs which helps bring them back to self-reliance. So asked him do you go the School? on which he said no ! I asked him why so he said due to “economical condition”. Going further I asked how much you earn in a day, he said around 100-150 Rupees and it is sufficient for us to eat for the day.

My sympathy for that kid was on a peak and out of concern I asked where are you guys from and where do you live? He said “we are from Indapur & live at Pune station”. I asked what about family, he said no family, only me and my sister.

As I don’t believe in spoiling the youngsters by encouraging them to beg or stay low on self-esteem, I offered him shelter & scholarship for him and his sister’s study. Upon which he said he doesn’t want to study and happy to beg.

It came as a shocker for me as I was expecting a happy and exciting reply, I asked him why don’t you want to study and why do you want to beg. He had no answer but the silence spoke a lot about the BEGGING SYNDROME which we as a society encouraging by offering them 1-2 rupee and getting off of our responsibilities.

We never think what impact that 1-2 rupee makes on that child? It encourages and motivates them not to study and get used to easy money. I felt guilty and ashamed of myself of looking at the kid, that what generation are we producing as a country or being responsible citizens.

One side we speak about empowerment of youth, skill development and child begging free India and on the other hand we encourage them by offering money than a career or working on bringing them back to self-reliance.

What scares me is India has the largest child population in the world i.e. almost 19% of the world’s child population. Millions of children exist below poverty line and are malnourished, many of them die and many of them become victims of various crimes even though constitution of India expresses concern for upbringing of children in safe, secure and healthy manner through various provisions in the constitution.

My question is where are those provisions and whom are they working for????? I guess the constitution is been written for poor kids like Siddharth Mallya who run away with Rs. 7000 crore of begging from banks and now made banks beg.... Mala mal Mallya & Bhagam bhag Banks !! 

Wish 10% of that amount would have been spent on these kids, atleast we would have uplifted millions of kids out of poverty line or begging syndrome. 

What I could understand from these kids is many children spend their childhood begging either due to poverty, under threat or due to getting used to easy money. The children involved in begging can be divided in three broad groups: boys, girls and children with mothers. The children who beg arrive from nearby rural areas in small groups in the morning and leave in the evening. They have family and peer acceptability, encouragement and inspiration for begging, which is the biggest worry I feel.

Some of them do not seem destitute but most are genuinely very poor. They are seen mostly in the market, near temples and railway station. Some of them have gone to school but left due to learning difficulties or fights with others. Most are not going to school and those who are going are unable to read.

The kid said they earn 20 to 100 rupees everyday by begging. Most give the money to mother, elderly siblings who will make food for them or the BEGGAR MAFIA. Mostly Children are not habituated to begging and can be weaned away by not offering them money. We as a society & Government must help these children by sending them to school and helping their families to cope with extreme poverty as well as criminal gangs.

We as responsible citizens should treat CHILD BEGGING as a SYNDROME and not SYMPATHY, stop offering or stop people from giving money. If you really want to do something please empower and encourage them to study through donating NGO’s who rehabilitate these kids to self-reliance or by supporting organizations who fight with government for their betterment.

If you come across any such kid who is willing to study and not beg, please get in touch with us through our website www.youngstura.com. We’ll ensure the kid is encouraged & empowered to do well in life.

Help us fight with this syndrome and bring back the kids to self-reliance by empowering them with appropriate aid.  

Be responsible, Act responsible. 

Blog written by : Tushar Kadam

www.youngsutra.com