For eliminating begging
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Mohammad Ataul Haque
A common sight on Dhaka streets these days is begging. As soon as a vehicle stops at a traffic signal, beggars start knocking for alms. They are men or women with children. The blind, the crippled as well as able bodied men, women and children start knocking the glass for alms. The number of beggars is growing to the inconvenience of the city commuters. Most of the foot paths have been taken over by the beggars and their families to the inconvenience of the pedestrians. It is said that "god fathers," who control and deploy the beggars, at different street points collect their daily booty from them. According to a report published by a daily newspaper, the god fathers, who employ the beggars, accumulate wealth and own several buildings in the city. The beggars, also reported to be quite solvent, remit out of them their handsome earnings to their families in the villages and maintain bank accounts. Some of the 'crippled' beggars are seen using mobile phones!
A social problem, begging normally used to emanate from poverty in rural areas due to lack of economic activities. The exodus of the unemployed poor from the villages to the cities led many to beg as an easy way to earn. With the increase in population, poverty is also rising in the rural areas. The government appears to have no effective programme to contain the menacing problem of poverty. Though it is not easy to eliminate begging, a constructive approach could keep it at a tolerable level.
In the sixties, the then Commissioner of Chittagong Division had taken an ambitious plan to eradicate begging from the Chittagong district. He requisitioned a large hilly area at Satkania, Chittagong, built a beggars home with the name 'Baitul Izzat' to rehabilitate several hundred beggars there. Thereafter, he prohibited begging in the Chittagong city. A large number of beggars were rounded up, sent to the home at Satkania and provided with various products to sell in the trains, buses and streets. Moreover, many able-bodied beggars were provided with jobs or loans to enable them to earn a respectable living. Agricultural products produced by them gave them a good livelihood. The project became viable and successful in a short span of time. With contributions from the affluent, the project became a success. Later, the project ran on its own. Thanks to the initiative of dynamic and honest individual. As the project was abandoned after liberation, the place is now used by BDR as its training camp.
There could be short- and long-term plans to eliminate begging from the country. A short term measure could be to establish income generating vagrant homes across the country. The non-government organisations (NGOs) could do a lot to establish such projects. The government should allow tax-free donations to such projects. The godfathers or patrons of begging must not be allowed to run their heinous business any more.
The government can take up or support the long-term programmes to eliminate begging. The most important task would be to create income generating activities in the villages to discourage the rural-urban migration. Meticulously executed long-term projects could go a long way in ending the curse of begging.
(The writer can be reached at e-mail: hoqueataul07@yahoo.com)
A common sight on Dhaka streets these days is begging. As soon as a vehicle stops at a traffic signal, beggars start knocking for alms. They are men or women with children. The blind, the crippled as well as able bodied men, women and children start knocking the glass for alms. The number of beggars is growing to the inconvenience of the city commuters. Most of the foot paths have been taken over by the beggars and their families to the inconvenience of the pedestrians. It is said that "god fathers," who control and deploy the beggars, at different street points collect their daily booty from them. According to a report published by a daily newspaper, the god fathers, who employ the beggars, accumulate wealth and own several buildings in the city. The beggars, also reported to be quite solvent, remit out of them their handsome earnings to their families in the villages and maintain bank accounts. Some of the 'crippled' beggars are seen using mobile phones!
A social problem, begging normally used to emanate from poverty in rural areas due to lack of economic activities. The exodus of the unemployed poor from the villages to the cities led many to beg as an easy way to earn. With the increase in population, poverty is also rising in the rural areas. The government appears to have no effective programme to contain the menacing problem of poverty. Though it is not easy to eliminate begging, a constructive approach could keep it at a tolerable level.
In the sixties, the then Commissioner of Chittagong Division had taken an ambitious plan to eradicate begging from the Chittagong district. He requisitioned a large hilly area at Satkania, Chittagong, built a beggars home with the name 'Baitul Izzat' to rehabilitate several hundred beggars there. Thereafter, he prohibited begging in the Chittagong city. A large number of beggars were rounded up, sent to the home at Satkania and provided with various products to sell in the trains, buses and streets. Moreover, many able-bodied beggars were provided with jobs or loans to enable them to earn a respectable living. Agricultural products produced by them gave them a good livelihood. The project became viable and successful in a short span of time. With contributions from the affluent, the project became a success. Later, the project ran on its own. Thanks to the initiative of dynamic and honest individual. As the project was abandoned after liberation, the place is now used by BDR as its training camp.
There could be short- and long-term plans to eliminate begging from the country. A short term measure could be to establish income generating vagrant homes across the country. The non-government organisations (NGOs) could do a lot to establish such projects. The government should allow tax-free donations to such projects. The godfathers or patrons of begging must not be allowed to run their heinous business any more.
The government can take up or support the long-term programmes to eliminate begging. The most important task would be to create income generating activities in the villages to discourage the rural-urban migration. Meticulously executed long-term projects could go a long way in ending the curse of begging.
(The writer can be reached at e-mail: hoqueataul07@yahoo.com)