Advisory for the Protection and Rehabilitation of Impoverished, Uneducated Children, Women, and Differently-abled Individuals Engaged in Begging
Despite a number of initiatives and welfare
programmes implemented by both the Central
T<!
information. They may be encouraged to
maintain soft copies ofthe collected data.
and State Governments, the issue of begging
persists across the country. Organized groups
often manipulate vulnerable children into
begging, not for their benefit, but to enrich the
groups' leaders. In some cases, individuals
engaged in beggary are abducted and coerced
into begging, generating substantial money for
their captors.
To ameliorate the situation, the elderly and
those with disabilities may be accommodated in
specialized care facilities. Others who are
involved in begging require access to education
and vocational training to help them find
meaningful employment. Consequently, it is
imperative to develop strategies aimed at
eliminating the need for begging and enhancing
thequalityof lifeforthose involved in it.
With the motto that 'no one should be left
behind' and to promote a paradigm shift in the
attitude of interventions from the welfare
approach to an entitlement approach, the
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC),
India issues this advisory to the government
authorities, and accordingly, makes the
following recommendations;
1.
Survey, identification. Mapping
and preparing Data Bank
1.1. A standardized survey format to be devel
oped by the Ministry of Social Justice &
Empowerment (MoSJE) for collecting
detailed information to build a national
database, which should be updated regu
larly. All the data to be collected and
1.2. In preparing the database for identification
of individuals engaged in begging, a num
ber of parameters are to be included, such
as gender, age, whetherthey have children,
whether they live with families, whether
they are orphans, whether they are in
conflict with law, whether they are into
substance abuse, whether they have
disabilities or physical health issues,
whetherthey have mental infirmities, their
place of origin, whether they reside in
slums, whether they reside at religious
places, whether they reside at traffic
signals, whether they reside at dumping
yards, whether they reside at bus stands,
whether they reside at railway stations,
whether they perform the act of beggary
inside trains, whether their family mem
bers are engaged in beggary, whetherthey
have resorted to begging in any other
place/ city, whether they were earlier
engaged in any economic activity and if so
details ofthe activity, etc.
1.3. Municipal Corporations or designated
government agencies to conduct the
survey on the above indicators to identify
beneficiaries engaged in begging. NonGovernmental Organizations (NGOs) or
voluntary groups with expertise in this area
may contribute to the survey efforts.
1.4. Upon completion of the identification
process, the State to ensure that individu
als engaged in beggary are brought to
which will be accessible to various stake
shelter homes (as mentioned under SMILE
Scheme - Support for Marginalized Individ
uals for Livelihood and Enterprise Scheme)
holders such as authorities at state/ district
located within cities or districts and are
level, nodal agencies, and shelter homes,
registered as residents.
uploaded on an online portal/ dashboard
wherein they can access the necessary