Photo Credit: Prince Roy
If you want to help Indian children, please don’t give to child beggars.
Of all of the advice I might give to individuals traveling to India – or most of the developing world – the most important one would be
Don’t give to beggars
I realize this sounds cruel and callous. It feels cruel and callous to me, even when I know it’s the best choice – especially when I’m sitting in an air-conditioned car in India, idling at a red light, and people who are clearly poor, clearly in need come to the window begging for a small handout. Just a few rupees, which, to an American or other Western traveler, is next to nothing. Change I probably wouldn’t bother to pickup off the ground if I saw it. Can you ignore such clear need without guilt creeping up on you?
I can’t. I feel guilty for my Western extravagance when I see the numerous beggars in India. Very guilty. But I still don’t give them any money. The reason is because I know – from a few simple economic principles – that giving to beggars is not a particularly noble deed. In fact, I’d say that giving to beggars in a poor, developing country – like India – is a bad act. It certainly doesn’t seem that way – and I don’t think givers give with bad intentions – but it’s still a problem. Let me explain…
Effective Giving – opportunity costs
When economists talk about any activity – related to money or not – we always discuss the opportunity cost of the action. The opportunity cost of an action is simply what you give up doing in order to do that action. If you spend ten minutes reading this post, that’s ten minutes that you can’t spend reading a book or another website. We live in a world constrained by scarcity – limited money, limited time, limited resources. And, of course, the amount of money you can give to charity is limited.
If you chose to give a rupee to a beggar, the opportunity cost of that act of charity is all the things you could have done with that rupee. The opportunity cost includes all of the other charitable giving you might have done with the coin – other individuals and organizations that might need the help that that rupee can bring.
I believe that everyone has a duty to help the less fortunate. But you should not just give – you should give effectively.
Giving effectively does not mean simply giving to the poorest beggars you happen to run into during a day of travel in a developing country. While I think the most effective use of your charity dollars is in giving to particular organizations (more on that in a bit), I understand the wish many people have to donate directly to individuals – but those individuals should not be the ones you see begging on the street.
Photo credit: Ahron de Leeuw
Giving to Individuals – rent exhaustion and incentives
When I’ve asked friends and relatives why they give to beggars, I normally hear responses discussing guilt over seeing the poor, a desire to help a person (especially a child or mother) they saw in need, or a feeling that it was a small thing they could do that would mean much more to the needy person.
But in their desire to help out others, they fail to realize they’re doing exactly the opposite by giving to beggars.
First, consider the incentives giving to children beggars creates – particularly the charity that rich travelers in developing countries can (and often do) give. Leaving aside discussions of mafia gangs and the deliberate crippling of children (as I’m not 100% sure this occurs, and have no information on how common it might or might not be), if you give a significant amount of money to a begging child (say $1), you’ve just given his parents (or the group he works for) a strong incentive to keep him begging, rather than in school or, at least, learning some sort of trade.
Second, there is a strong problem of rent exhaustion in begging. Rent exhaustion (or rent seeking) is an economic concept regarding the way individuals or organizations will struggle with each other in order to get a “free lunch” – with the cost of the struggle eating away much of the gain from the “free lunch”. The classic example of this in the study of political economy comes from lobbies, where competing industries spend significant amounts of time and money in order to influence favorable legislature. It’s worth paying $3 million dollars in lobbying costs, after all, if it means you get a $3.2 million dollar contract.
The same problem occurs in begging activities. A person who could earn a dollar & a half a day in manual labor or a set of small businesses (as much of the urban poor does – see Banerjee & Duflo’s excellent and accessible paper “The Economic Lives of the Poor” for more information) might give up his work if he can earn two dollars a day begging from rich foreigners. Moreover, vicious fights – or extensive bribes – might be required to keep a prime begging spot (just as with lobbies & legislature), further eroding any “free lunch” a beggar receives from strangers.
So what are you to do, if you want to give to an individual, but shouldn’t give to a beggar?
Give to individuals who busy working and aren’t expecting anything from you. I first read of this idea in Tyler Cowen’s book, Discover Your Inner Economist (highly recommended), and the economic reasoning here is completely sound. As Banerjee & Duflo’s paper makes entirely too clear, the vast majority of the poor (those living on $2 or less per day) and the extremely poor (those living on less than $1 per day) work hard, often at multiple jobs while trying to send their children to school.
By giving in this manner – to people who clearly need help, but aren’t expecting it, you aren’t requiring the poor to spend costly time begging in order to get help. No perverse incentives (make more money begging if you keep your kids out of school) have been created, and, since the working poor have not spent any time in seeking alms, there has been no cost to them in terms of rent-seeking. If you want, you can see this strategy of giving as a reward to hard-workers, but, in reality, this is the most effective strategy to give help to individuals you meet without requiring any sacrifice from them.
However – and this a big however – giving to individuals is probably not the best way you can help the poor in a developing country. Poverty in the developing world is the result of structural problems – lack of human and physical capital, poor governance, poor institutions, etc – that your marginal contribution can’t hope to overcome. I understand the desire for a human connection in giving, but I think that’s best left for volunteer work in your own local community. If you wish to help the poor the BEST you can in a developing country you’re traveling through, wait until you’re home, then write a check to the best charity you can find. Check-writing is not as heart-warming as handing money or gifts to individuals you’ve met, true – but charity work should not be about you, the giver.
These children live in the slum at Manek Chowk.
Photo Credit: Meanest Indian
Give Well – measured & proven results
It’s likely that, if you donate to non-profit organizations, you’re doing it wrong. Or, at least, not as right as you could be (remember opportunity costs!). If there’s one thing my graduate course in development economics taught me, it’s that it is damn hard to effectively help the poor. Many of the programs we believe will do good – such as the Grameen Foundation’s Village Phone program or agriculture assistance – don’t actually achieve much when economists go back and try to track the results of intervention. Good-sounding development projects just don’t necessarily result in good outcomes.
It is critically important that charities’ programs and projects are evaluated carefully so that we can send money to programs that we know are providing effective help to those in need. Luckily for those of us who don’t have time to search out the charities that are tracking outcomes and proving their programs effective, there’s an organization out there that is already doing this work: GiveWell
GiveWell examines charities – you can submit your favorite charity if they haven’t evaluated it yet – and asks them the tough questions about how they’re measuring their projects’ impacts. Very few charities pass their inspection – but for the ones that do, you can be certain that your donation dollars will have a true impact on the poor. After examining their site in-depth, I remain extraordinarily impressed by their thoroughness and their commitment to looking for the most effective charities in the world
Perhaps the greatest acclaim I can give them is that all of my future donations will be going to GiveWell’s top-rated charities, such as the Stop TB Partnership and Pratham, a large, India-based organization that runs a wide variety of programs aiming to improve education for children in India. If you’re looking to help the poor as best you can in the future – effective giving that focuses on those in need, not you, as the giver – then, please, donate to one of GiveWell’s top charities as well.
12. November 2009 at 4:23 am
Great entry and argument. I agree with you and do not give money to beggers in London either. I do, however, support people selling the Big Issue, for example. Is there anything similar in India? I know they started one in Bolivia to help the lustrabotas (shoe shine boys) make an extra wage and it is an effective strategy to help those people. I agree with you though, that poverty in developing countries is mainly a result of structural problems, and maybe giving to individuals is not the best way to fix things in the long run.
12. November 2009 at 6:21 pm
What’s the Big Issue? A daily newspaper? *puzzled*
25. November 2009 at 11:45 am
The Big Issue is a magazine sold by the homeless or those in vunerable housing conditions; they sell the magazines for a profit to make money for themselves through the organiztion.
More can be found at this link: http://www.bigissue.com/
12. November 2009 at 9:24 am
Great post and use of economic reasoning! I also do not give to beggars, mostly for the same reasons. I think, on a larger level, this problem is prevalent in the general economies of Lesser Developed Countries that the World Bank and the IMF keep giving to, only to have them become dependent on the loan money, default, and fall even deeper into debt, resulting in a cycle of chaos. That’s what “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” is all about.
I also agree with you about using GiveWell-it’s a great tool that forces both individuals and charities to constrain their activities to a business model that generates the most good for the most people.
12. November 2009 at 6:21 pm
I have “Confessions of an Economic Hitman”, but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet – do you recommend it?
Also, is “Lesser Developed Countries” the newest term for ‘em? I’ll admit I’m with the Economist in being a bit cynical about all the name changes in referring to poorer countries. Their definition entry on Developing Countries starts with “A euphemism for the world’s poor countries, also known, often optimistically, as emerging economies.”
12. November 2009 at 11:10 am
You really bring very valid points. One thing I want to point out comes from an address by Monsignor Ivan Illich to the Conference on InterAmerican Student Projects (CIASP) in Cuernavaca, Mexico, on April 20, 1968 (http://www.swaraj.org/illich_hell.htm). [This piece was sent to me by the author of another intercultural blog - http://americanepali.wordpress.com/ a while ago] While his address was specific to American volunteers (especially faith based ones) to Mexico but there is one useful point that he brings. Sometimes the best help we can give to help a developing country transition to a developed one is by just spending money and helping the economy move along.
I agree that this sounds passive and not entirely effective in the short term but if you really want to help the chaiwala in the corner, help him by giving him more business through yourself and your friends. I am not saying that the other means you have outlined here are not good ones. By all means, feel free to give to individuals directly or to charities but just know that the passive act of spending money while traveling through impoverished country does help.
12. November 2009 at 9:20 pm
Yes, spending money while traveling in a country never hurts its economy, and shouldn’t be discounted.
Another point to think about is whether your behavior (both during & after a trip) will encourage others to visit the country and spend money there. Returning to the beggar issue – my father traveled once to India on business and absolutely hated the begging situation there – he felt really hassled and uncomfortable. I don’t think he’d willing go back to India, even though I’m married to an Indian; I’m not sure if he’d even travel to India to visit me if Aditya & I moved there. So encouraging beggars by giving them money will have a marginal negative effect on the possibility of people with my father’s preferences from visiting.
12. November 2009 at 12:06 pm
What do you think about giving to hijRay?
12. November 2009 at 9:35 pm
As a general rule, I never give to any particular individual – beggar, hijras, children, or anyone else. I might make an exception to that rule if I ran across an entrepreneur who really impressed me with their ability AND needed a capital investment to expand their business (this could be a business as simple as a woman who purchases plain saris, hand-sews embellishments, then resells them). Generally, though, I believe that good charity groups know how to make my charity dollars work for good far better than I do, so I give to them.
For hijras specifically, my understanding of their situation (which is not very) is that many of the points discussed above regarding beggars would also apply to them – rent-seeking, incentives, etc. Personally, I do not think that addressing the hijras’ situation in India is the most important charity issue to be focused on. That sounds harsh, but the fact of the matter is that there are a lot of problems in developing countries such as India, and a limited number of resources to address them. I’d rather see a structural focus on increasing agriculture technology, literacy, child education & nutrition, health, etc than on focusing on helping out either specific hijras or increasing awareness/acceptance in India towards hijras. Of course, a particular individual with a special set of skills or knowledge might best apply his or her skills to volunteering for projects to help the hijras, in which case I think it’s great if they can help. And others might consider it a key issue that needs to be addressed immediately; I know that I don’t know too much about hijras, so I potentially could be argued around to that position.
Why do you ask?
13. November 2009 at 12:46 am
Just curious. I don’t give to professional beggars but I have always had a soft spot for hijRay and do give to them. I think their social situation forces them to earn money in the ways that they do, including begging…they are more limited in their capacity to earn in other ways because of the stigma of being effeminate males. I just wanted to see if you knew more about the issue.
14. November 2009 at 11:49 am
The situation is similar in China. The beggars in Kunming where I used to live would target a particular area that was known for having a lot of foreigners. They’d actually get quite aggressive and even mean when you’d refuse them. There absolutely is organized begging here, although I am not sure about disfigurement. I’ve seen plenty of child beggars blatantly under the thumb of someone who was not a parent. Giving to those kids doesn’t mean the kids are any better off, it just means the adults who control them are. Kidnapping is a big, and growing problem in China too. A couple months ago I told off a woman — young, healthy looking, dressed cleanly — who was forcing a child about my son’s age to beg off foreigners, making him chase them into the street and far out of her sight, and threatened to have the police check the kid’s identity. No way is a 2 year old begging of his own free will, and very very unlikely that was his mother forcing him into such a dangerous situation at such a young age. Even the poorest Chinese mothers that I know would sell themselves before they forced their toddler sons to beg for them.
At one point a local news station back in KM did a report on how much a beggar could actually earn in a month, and it was well above what a blue collar worker would make, which is sad on several levels. People doing manual labor or working in the service industry here are very underpaid, and I don’t really want to support the idea that doing practically nothing is more profitable than doing backbreaking work for 12 hours a day 7 days a week.
Anyhow, good post. The issue of begging is complicated and you can definitely feel pretty bad about not giving, but there are very good reasons to give to other charitable causes rather than to beggars.
14. November 2009 at 10:39 pm
My husband is from India and when we travel there we automatically draw the beggars in since I am white. I sometimes will keep my head down at intersections or wrap a dupatta around my head in order to try and “hide”. My husband had told me right from the beginning to not give to beggars. He lived in a metro city and said most of the people begging are coming in from the country side. Many have homes, land, food but they choose to come to the cities since it is more lucrative and easier. He thinks it is best to have them go back to the village and ensure they have access to education, learning about crop rotation, new farming techniques or training them to be skilled workers (tailoring, etc).
The one time we did give some money to a girl she DEMANDED more money from us and my husband then told her she could have what he offered or nothing. She was brazen still wanted more. She picked the wrong guy cause my husband said “fine” and didn’t give her anything. She was trying to soak the fact he was with a foreigner.
14. November 2009 at 10:56 pm
Another reason not to give money to beggars is because they often have connections to organized crime. Underworld agents often dress up as beggars to collect funds at religious events and other areas where they know lots of people will be visiting. Locals to the area especially hate it when visitors donate to these guys cause the money goes on to fund crime in their neighborhood. I’m not sure if this is the case elsewhere, but I encountered this frequently in Northwest Punjab/Himachal Pardesh as well as Jammu.
15. November 2009 at 2:34 pm
Your economic arguments are dead on and I agree with Sarah’s husband. Begging in the cities is often organized. Beggars “rent” the best spots, fights ensue over territory and so on. They often make more than they could in a job. I have often suspected that the dirty rags they wear are part of their “uniform”. Many beggars seem to treat begging as just another job and many of them are criminals using begging as an excuse to look for opportunities for petty theft.
The biggest victims are the children who are almost always controlled by an adult who takes whatever they get. I doubt a 7-year old would know how to beg without being taught to do so.
I once tried giving a beggar, who said he was hungry, food I had just bought and he told me he wanted money, not food. I couldn’t help but laugh at his audacity.
15. November 2009 at 9:58 pm
In India, for the last 30 years there has been a mid-day meal scheme in free public schools
This scheme is done fairly well in the cities and not so well in the
villages
This actually works fairly well in South India, especially cities like
Bangalore
The aim of this is to entice poor children to attend free public school
as well as feed them
So legitimate poor families send their kids to school so that they will be fed at least one solid meal a day
So no legitimate poor parent will send his child for begging when they can get a free meal at a free public school every day
So the only child beggars are run by mafias who kidnap and mutilate children
16. November 2009 at 3:29 am
It’s unfortunate that you targeted Grameen Foundation as one of the “charities” to not give money to. Grameen is not a charity — it is a bank. I have traveled to Grameen locations — both in Dhaka and in other parts of Bangladesh — and the foundation WORKS. It is not a charity case – but it is without a doubt working to help people grow from the ground up. And it has helped the most destitute of our world.
I am anti-economics academics postulating about poverty from their first-world ivy towers anyway…so I recommend that you read books on combating poverty not written by economists or World Bank officials — but people on the ground fighting against poverty.
Muhammad Yunus’s book on poverty http://www.amazon.com/Banker-Poor-Micro-Lending-Against-Poverty/dp/1586481983/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258360071&sr=8-3
as well as Irene Khan (another Bangladeshi)’s latest: http://www.amazon.com/Unheard-Truth-Poverty-Human-Rights/dp/0393337006/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258360106&sr=8-1
16. November 2009 at 10:26 am
Neelu, I’m not criticizing the Grameen Foundation as a whole, just pointing out that one of their programs – one that developmental economists and the aid community as a whole had high hopes about – appears upon evaluation to NOT help villagers. That’s an important thing to know – and I hope Grameen is no longer sending funds towards a program which doesn’t help the poor.
The main point of this post is to encourage people to give effectively – which means giving not to the programs which are postulated to do well, but to the ones where people have gone in, on the ground, and checked to make sure they’re effectively helping the poor. Having studied development economics from a “first-world ivy tower”, I must say that the majority of the micro-economists working in development are all about getting on the ground and running experiments to find out what’s working & what’s not. Unfortunately, the aid community and these economists rarely talk to each other, which means that the findings aren’t being implemented to most effectively help the developing world.
And I own & have read Yunus’s book.
22. November 2009 at 11:09 am
Great Post!
I don’t think most people realize what is happening when they give to beggars.. they see one poor individual and they don’t realize what is going on behind the scenes, or what giving to a beggar with perpetuate.
In addition to what you have mentioned above… there are other concerns regarding the welfare of children– some small children or babies can be ‘rented’ out to adult beggar women to make people more willing to give to them… I have seen many times women holding ‘sleeping babies’ (who sometimes look drugged to me, not that I can prove that) and empty bottles and begging… now I just don’t know how many poor women in India would choose to BOTTLE-fed their infant. I think it is part of their ‘dressing up’ for begging. Additionally, In Jaipur women would beg with babies and first they would get this fake doctors notes showing the baby is ill and needs medicine. So it is really awful for these small babies to be out on the street corners all day breathing in fumes as a prop for beggars, whether or not it is their parent or sibling.
Another case I saw was in Delhi– this children stick their hand into (god knows what awful and toxic) chemical that makes their hand look like it has been horribly burnt. The first time I saw this, I thought the child had actually been burnt, it looked so horrifying. I even called the Childline (1098, this number exists in most cities in India as emergency helplines for children, if you see a child in India who you think needs help you can always call them). Later I realized that is was a ruse, but I still hope that Childline found that child… who knows what those chemicals can do to your skin and your health.
You also mentioned that begging is a business… it is also very hard for me to ignore the children when they beg, but then I keep in mind that the often has a ‘boss’ they have to give most of their money too (or to rent their spot) so they don’t really get the money anyways…
Sometimes I do buy or give food to children who beg… though I am not sure if I should be doing this or not. Probably not, as it still encourages the children to go out onto the streets to get food.
I do give regularly to charity as well, I currently sponsor 3 children in India (which is ‘individual giving, sort of, but mediated through Children International) and I have done volunteer work working with former street children as well as poor children in Bihar, but it is so hard for me when I see a child that looks very hungry and poor.
Someone made a comment about the “midday meal program” in schools.. this is true, but you should also keep in mind that the program is not running properly everywhere– the government schools themselves are not running properly everywhere– let alone the meal program in the schools! It does work in many places and helps keep kids in school longer… there is one organization I know that partners with the midday meal program, it has developed technology to help cook and serve hot and nutritious meals for children in school all over the country.. it is called Akshaya Patra.. and I think that if you see a beggar and are feeling really upset at their plight, this is a great organization to give to, because it feeds children good food AND encourages them to go and stay in school.
Another non-profit that I have worked with that helps make schools and encourages children to go and stay in school is Barakat. They work in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Also worked with Sister Jessy (from Kerala) in Bihar through her tiny organization the Massihi Gyanjyoti Ashram (she is Catholic, but her organization is not religious based) that gets informal education to thousands of children in Bihar, and also has programs to help families get cows, chickens, plant fruit trees, etc. She is really an amazing one-woman show– I stayed with her for 2.5 months and taught English to a group of girls… Bihar is one of the poorest and most dangerous states, so not very many organizations like hers are working there.
There are many organizations for people if they would like to sponsor a child’s education in India. Other organizations, like I-India (which I volunteered at in Jaipur) helps find street children and encourages them to come off the street and live in their home. There, they can track down their family, if appropriate, they can live there, go to school and/or get vocational training.
Another thing to keep in mind when seeing street children is that there are programs like I-India and many child shelters to help them, but some choose to stay on the streets and beg– many of them do drugs, you might see children or adults on the street take a container of white-out (correction fluid) pour it in a rag and sniff the fumes– this is a cheap way to get high (and kill brain cells) for people on the streets. Many children on the streets will only stay there as long as it is feasible, then they will seek out something else– the sooner you get a child to go to an organization that will help them, the higher the chance they will stay there, go to school, not do drugs etc.
Anyways, I have just kind of spilled out a lot of various thoughts… Hope it is helpful. I guess while GoriGirl spoke more on the economic reasons while giving to a charity organization is better than giving directly to beggars, I (though I agree with her economic analysis) tend to reason it out more simply on what gets perpetuated when you give to begging– and it is not good– encouraging young children and babies to be in the roadway (possible rented out– there was a recent story where a nanny had been regularly drugging a baby and renting it out for begging while her upper middle class parents were at work! Not normal, but crazy to think about), encouraging children to stay out of school for food and money, and encouraging people to find new and creative ways to ‘dupe’ people into feeling sympathetic– chemicals on hands, fake medical notes, etc.
I just wish more tourists around the world realized this… this should be something discussed for anyone traveling!
23. June 2010 at 5:32 am
Hi,
Giving a penny or not giving a penny to a child won’t make any difference to that child or to us. It is just a fleeting moment in our lives.
We indians have hearts that knows to weep but do nothing else more. I was feeling so bad looking at women begging on the streets with sleeping children today. I was googling and came across this post.
What can we do! Sadly not much in our country.
Anton
18. August 2010 at 8:16 am
not true
you surely can.
just help 2 people.
and dont listen to all rubbish about ” you will make them lazy and they wont want to work ” ok so what if they dont work.
dont they have enough pain already.
how about your $20 a month can actually make that person buy one FISH some RICE .. may b some lolly for the baby..
there you go …
her 30 bad days in a month can be 10 bad days because you bought her a ” coffee & cake ” = ( $20 )
thats call CHILDS PLAY or LETS PLAY GOD
mind you she will still beg for extra money….haha
but a bit happy begger,…..just kidding
one step at a time. she might not beg.
22. November 2009 at 11:37 am
http://acheloisunplugged.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/creating-the-third-sex/
I liked this post…gives some info and links to more info on hijRay.
23. November 2009 at 11:49 am
Lucky Fatima, interesting link.
My book club read “She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders” written by a professor at a university in Maine who never felt comfortable in her original gender and made the switch, and the issues she went through professionally and in her family. It was recommended by one of our book club members whose sister also changed genders. The professor came to our town to give a talk, but unfortunately I missed it. She’s pretty interesting though. If you see the book around, I’d recommend checking it out.
25. November 2009 at 3:44 pm
Hi Gori Girl,
Great post! I will definitely be checking that website you recommend.
My husband has mentioned all those things-beggars connected to the underworld, deliberate mutilation, professional beggars, kids able to get meals at some public schools, etc. He also has said that many temples give free meals to devotees, at least in South India.
Our plan is to give money to his elementary and high school to be used for scholarships. We shall see…
30. November 2009 at 4:45 am
indian politics very bad
7. December 2009 at 12:33 am
Hi. I chanced upon you blog while searching Google to check to see whether there was an Indian version of PostSecret or not. From there I clicked on a link to Live Mocha, which seemed really nice and so I read more of your blog – and this post is what is making me write back.
I am Indian and I live in India. Needless to say I face beggars on the street often and my heart cringes every time I do not give anything to them – but I never have as I do believe in what you say in this post – there are better ways to help. So kudos for this piece.
All the very best to you and Aditya. And have a gala time when you visit my country.
28. December 2009 at 2:18 pm
I’m glad you enjoyed stopping by, First Rain.
We certainly plan to have a wonderful trip.
31. January 2010 at 9:14 am
Am glad that the message is being sent out. I am planning to setup a website to combat begging and give away car-stickers that clearly give the message out. “No-to-begging.com” or something like that. Here’s my blog post about it earlier: http://fryol.net/?p=47
1. February 2010 at 9:04 pm
Great post! The first time I went to Delhi, the picture on your blog is exactly what I saw leaving the airport. (BTW…that is a freaky pic). I was not prepared for that, nor was I prepared for the NON-reaction from my husband and his friend. As they stared straight, I am thinking WTH and what do you do when they keep tapping on your window, their tummy, their mouth…over and over? In a short period of time, I too trained myself to not look at them so they would just go away–especially the area around Hanuman mandir in Delhi. I also soon realized it was much better to give the money to a charity that would best appropriate the funds. Although, I do remember when I was at the airport, there was a lady working the washroom. I had so much change left, I just handed her a big handfuls before I boarded the plane. I felt pretty good about that, and she was very happy.
17. February 2010 at 2:50 am
http://DontPayBeggars.com – please spread the message. Thanks!
6. March 2010 at 8:36 am
Hello friend !
First time I have found such a simple but in-depth strategy of ‘giving’. I am working with a small NGO and running schools for around 300 poor children under national Child Labour Project in Faridabad, Haryana besides some other works in Delhi. I am trying to start a movement to ‘Stop Child Begging’ in Faridabad. Your insight helped me well to put some more points to it. Thank you and invite you to be frinds in facebook (act_ngo@yahoo.co.uk)
Wish you a nice time
13. May 2010 at 3:02 am
This is an article about charity from: http://www.belurmath.org.
Speaking of the indiscriminate charity of India as compared with the legal charity of other nations, he said, the outcome of their system of relief was that the vagabond of India was contented to receive readily what he was given readily and lived a peaceful and contented life: while the vagabond in the West, unwilling to go to the poor-house — for man loves liberty more than food — turned a robber, the enemy of society, and necessitated the organisation of a system of magistracy, police, jails, and other establishments. Poverty there must be, so long as the disease known as civilisation existed: and hence the need for relief. So that they had to choose between the indiscriminate charity of India, which, in the case of Sannyâsins at any rate, even if they were not sincere men, at least forced them to learn some little of their scriptures before they were able to obtain food; and the discriminate charity of Western nations which necessitated a costly system of poor-law relief, and in the end succeeded only in changing mendicants into criminals.
18. August 2010 at 8:04 am
” begger ” ! not a nice title for anyone.
no one just beg for fun or mayb he/she is lazy..
its not that simple.
you and me and the whole world together will not know how all these people that beg come to be this .
i regularly pay 5 handicapped people ( 1000tk per person per month )
they come and collect the money from my sister back home.
mind you im an accounting student and with very tight financial situation.
however i donot expect them to give up begging. my help to them is a gift of love as i know for sure they lost SELF RESPECT and wont gain it in this lifetime.
because in my socity a poor dont sit with rich face to face ..
WHY ?? its odd…
she is poor, dity , with germs , yuk….bla bla
however i did study economics in my accounting class and economics is not for beggers …
long live beggers ..
1. September 2010 at 5:40 am
1200 million population, now half of the population are using mobile phones, Its easy for the Government to run food banks in each village, the base kitchen food bank, if they sell food for very very minimal price, poor people buy from there.the still cheap porridge government can supply thus the beggars easily gather in that places.There the process of identity cards should maintain and thus once the identity cards are there with a person, people in need for workers, will hire from there, or else employment for food shall provide by the government there itself .Thus the Government shall gather the beggars of each town village in one place, there social workers assessors, psychological counselors if they assess their where about and emotional separation from their family,thus there are chances, thousands of beggars can be reached home. I am always sitting with beggars,interacting them with compassion and slowly deriving from them that why they left the home, then helping them for a shaving, giving them good used dress and helping them to join back to their family.With shy, they may not be willing to go back, if we give psychological counseling many will go back to families.We should start some communication with their family and with out the knowledge of the neighbors we should reach this person back home.Thus we can reach many beggars back to their families.This is needed in India