The bigger beggar menace

By Mohammed NAALIR

Beggars have posed a serious threat to Sri Lanka's tourist industry. Eventhough the Government has put up rehabilitation centres and asylums for child beggars there is no decrease in their numbers.Poverty, prostitution and similar social vices tend to encourage begging.

In addition natural catastrophes and physical disabilities pave the path for begging.

Cambodia is also one of the poorest countries faced with the beggar problem. Children are brought into cities from rural areas to work as sex slaves or sex workers or taken to other countries such as Thailand to work as beggars, domestic workers or labourers at construction sites.

Indonesia has prepared a legal framework to end the begging. The Jakarta Urban Council has banned giving money to beggars, buskers, car cleaners and street kids or purchase of goods or food from road side stalls. The City Council of Jakarta agreed to replace a 1988 regulation and hoped to make Jakarta as a more orderly City. Punishment for scheduled offenses are imprisonment from 10 to 60 years and fines ranging from 100,000 rupiah ($11) to 20 million rupiah ($2100) are imposed, sources said.Beggars are a community without any aspirations or goals in the life but depend on charity alone.

Their life pattern is so different when compared to others that they live on benches, streets, in parks, under trees and other public places to spend the day specially the nights. They are a real example for hand to mouth existence!

Most of the beggars have chosen urban areas for their existence. Their expressions differ. Observers say there are two types of begging, namely passive and aggressive.Passive begging involves soliciting that is non threatening but simply holding out one's hand or cup or plate for something.

Aggressive begging involves "Coercive soliciting" that features some degree of intimidatory action such as following a potential donor down the street and impelling actual threats.

Beggars' locations seem to be office building entrances, alms givings, ATMs, parking places, public convenience including railway stations and bus halts, major road intersections, particularly locations where there are tourists, sports venues, filling stations, fast food venues restaurants, to name a few. Beggars are mostly homeless and some of them with physical disabilities are prevented from gaining or holding permanent employment.

For some begging is more lucrative than other sources of income earning.Sometimes beggars turn to be a chronic nuisance to the public.

Their life patterns differ from time to time and they use various systematic and new methods of begging. Begging at colour lights in metropolitan areas is a new practice.

Youths have also started bagging as it has become a lucrative income earning business. Youths very often sells stickers and hand bills in the metropolitan areas.

There are some well established groups operating in main cities such as Kandy, Colombo and Galle. Some beggars take children with them to incur the sympathy of the public.Years ago Prof. Nandasena Ratnapala conducted a survey on life patterns of the beggar community in Sri Lanka.

Beggars also gather at religious places and other areas where the public throng in large numbers.The general practice of issuing birth or death certificates appears non-functional as far as beggars are concerned.