Your sympathy could be doing more damage than good to a child

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Before giving money to a child who is begging with a sad face and a ‘no food to eat’ dialogue, think twice. It is possible that the child may not be a beggar, but has been forced to beg and is constantly being monitored by their ‘mentor’ from a distance.

There was a time when beggars were helpless and their only option was to beg.

Even while begging, their eyes used to be filled with shame and their tone of voice was utterly soft and low. Earlier, they used to beg and ask for the needed money only.

But nowadays, everything has changed and begging has become a business. It is a multi-million rupee industry that’s controlled by human trafficking cartels. Some beggars also rent babies from their mothers each day, to give their begging more credibility. They carry the babies who are narcotised and hang limply in their arms, and claim they have no money to feed them.

Recently, on the direction of the Karnataka High Court, a survey was conducted by Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, which shows that as many as 720 children are engaged in begging or hawking across Bengaluru in over 400 hotspots. According to the survey, 52 children are engaged in begging as a ‘profession’, of which 27 minors appeared to be forced into the mafia groups.

Every day people see dozens of children begging at traffic lights or outside temples. Many of the commuters respond to them by yelling at them to go away. Some of them fork out a few rupees to allay our conscience and make these children go away.

But rarely do people think about what is forcing these children to beg. Where have they come from and where do they go? What happens to the money we give them?

Poverty, deprivation and homelessness are likely to have driven these children to begging for food and money. Many of the children seen begging across public places are victims of their circumstances. Children are sometimes stolen from their parents and homes and sold into the trafficking trade. Some land up in brothels and others are sent out on the streets. Such children are expected to earn more as they evoke more sympathy from people. If they don’t bring in enough income for the kingpin, the child is further maimed.

During 2016, Karnataka State Police Department launched an initiative known as ‘Operation Smile,’ under which a team of police personnel will concentrate on tracing missing children who are forced into begging.

“The operation was by no means easy,” a police official said. “During the initial days of operation, 164 children were rescued who were pushed into the begging racket by the mafia. On the other hand, 25 of the children rescued were newborns. In the group of rescued children, only 15 percent were locals. In fact, most newborns rescued were found to be narcotised,” the official explained.

For this operation, the government had approved 5.5 lakh rupees. The biggest challenge was to arrest those who control the beggar network and confirm that they were not forcing new people to beg on the streets of Bengaluru, police added.

At last, the cops also took into custody around 90 adults who were using children and newborns for begging.

Government action is necessary to break this nexus between the mafia and the police. But people too can act to make begging less profitable to the kingpins. Instead of giving beggar children money, which goes to their handlers, we could give them food and medicines, shelter and a safe environment. Rather than chase beggar children away, we should provide them with sustained institutional support.