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| Is Beggar Mafia Operating in Jammu ? | | | S.S. Rissam | 10/12/2011 1:37:09 AM |
| A problem which Jammu has started facing these days is the problem of begging. It has spread in wide dimensions as beggars are visible in now all parts of Jammu whether its the old city of Jammu or areas like Gandhi Nagar, Shastri Nagar, Guru Nanak Nagar or Trikuta Nagar.
No area these days is free from beggars. They are mostly visible at crowded places and markets of Jammu city and even outside the mandir, masjids & guruduwara's. There presence is quite effective even outside educational institutions and what is more surprising is that they are found in abundance in the campus of the University of Jammu. It is common to find beggars near rubbish dumps, road sides and even under flyovers of Jammu city.
Every one of us see daily various kinds of beggars as out of them some are blind, lame or crippled. Child beggars also are very common in the city and these children are engaged in this profession from early childhood. There are also some people who are physically sound but they are begging as it enables them to earn their living easily. People who are physically incapable of doing any work can easily win the sympathy of others. For them only way of getting food is by begging. But the number of such beggars is not very great as compared to other kinds of beggars who though being physically capable still beg to earn their living. Another important thing about these beggars is that they all are outsiders and we hardly see any local begging on the roads of Jammu. This thing at times helps a person of criminal background as he can easily find refuge in the guise of such beggars. It is indeed very difficult to distinguish between such persons once they become part of beggars and find shelter in this profession.
In recent times, there has also been rise of organized begging in India. Is it that organized begging has also spread its tentacles in Jammu? Under this, the begging is quite often carried out by organized gangs. Each beggar does begging in a certain territory and has a gang leader, who keeps a significant share of it. These beggar gangs operate mostly in tourist areas and for them this state has a lot of potential as it is one of the biggest tourist destinations of India. Under organized begging the abduction of children is common by the beggar mafia who later make these abducted children part of their gang by forcefully making them to beg. The beggar mafia has today become a huge industry in India. Is this Industry now also generating its revenue from Jammu also? In such cases there is always found to be collusion between the lawmakers and lawbreakers and for this our state has to set up some accountability in the system to stop this menace from spreading. Most of the child victims of beggar mafia are between two and eight years of age.
After being abducted, the children are taught begging techniques in order to perform properly. Child beggars do not get to keep their earnings but rather they have to hand them over to the group controlling their area at the end of every day.
There have also been cases which have come in limelight in which adults are also kidnapped and forced into begging. Often limbs of such people are amputated or they are disfigured with acid so as to make them look really in need of help. Sometimes blood vessels in body are also stitched to block blood supply to parts of the body, bringing about gangrene in order to entice people to give money to beggars. This all is done with the help of medical professionals who charge money on every single case they work on.
How to stop beggar mafia from spreading? For it a healthy public opinion against it should also be created. We need to make awareness on this issue and people should also be made aware about this mafia's working and where our hard money goes, when we give it to a beggar. In order to tackle the rising problem of beggars in Jammu we should ensure that whenever we come across beggars we should see that if the beggar is a healthy person, we should never give any money or anything else to them. Also at times, beggars come across our cars in the areas like Gole Market, Apsara Road etc then we should just drove past them or pull up the windows of the car. When some children comes to us for begging on the street its better to give the children something to eat because if we give them money, they will hardly ever benefit from it as it may go in hands of the beggar mafia.
Is city police blind to the nuisance being created by beggars? Going by the number of beggars found in Jammu it seems they aren't bothered. Or perhaps the beggars are so strong that cops ''don't like to mess with them'' or their so called bosses. Police should install boards on almost every traffic crossing and busy markets asking residents to discourage begging as at times beggars cause inconvenience to the commuters. Police should round up beggars also as they may be some anti social elements who for escaping the hands of law and have taken this profession. Also efforts should be started for rehabilitation programmes of beggars. Police machinery should also use its intelligence inputs in order to ascertain whether beggar mafia is operative in Jammu?
As also our state is sensitive and militancy prone state, any anti social element may cause disturbance by doing any act in the guise of a beggar. Also inputs should be collected on the regular activities of these beggars in order to ensure they don't involve in anti social works. They should also be tracked and any new beggar in the area should be interrogated in order to ensure he is not some criminal and is not involved in criminal activities in some other state.
J&K government needs to think for its beggar population. With the state aspiring to achieve higher standards in every field, measures are needed to curb the begging problem in Jammu. The solution lies in a comprehensive programme for solving this beggar problem. Steps should be taken at all levels. We hope that the J&K Government takes some very serious action in this regard. It is a high time that we neglect this issue. Enquiry should be done to identify and prosecute if any beggar mafia network is operating in Jammu. NGOs should be promoted and encouraged to work for the welfare of the beggars. Financial assistance or any other required assistance should also be provided to them in order to continue their valuable work. Though the problem of begging is yet not gigantic in Jammu but may take a form of serious social evil if Government doesn't take steps for its removal. Government should try to take legal steps to curb the menace of the rising number of beggars in Jammu. All in all, the need of the hour is to make a sincere start towards this problem as once we take these steps the results will be visible by reduction in the number of beggars in Jammu. |
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