At home, beggars can now be choosers

NEW DELHI: Neetu, a 12-year-old girl, lives in a shack under the IIT flyover on Outer Ring Road near Munirka. In the mornings, she stands by the roadside and as soon as the traffic light turns red, she is tapping at the car windows, her palms spread out in the universal gesture of begging. She might not like the indignity of such a life, but she - and many other kids like her - have no choice.The circumstances of their life keep them fending for themselves on the streets.
Neetu doesn't like begging, but says that because everyone in her family begs, she has to contribute her mite too. But life on the streets is full of insecurities. Aslam, 12, is luckier. He says he use to beg at the traffic stops, but ceased doing so after he started going to school a few years ago. There is hope now that Neetu and over 80 others will follow Aslam's example -- voluntary organisations Society for Promotion of Youth and Masses (SPYM) and Plan International are conducting a programme to wean children away from begging.
The children, 67 of whom are in the 3-10 age group, are part of the government's project to make the public spaces around IIT flyover and RK Puram Sector 3 free of child beggars. Under the Dreams on Streets project, the Delhi Government, Delhi Police, New Delhi district administration and the two voluntary organisations provide a day-care centre for diurnal activities and three night shelters for children who lack a home.
When TOI visited the cluster of shelters at Saraswati Park in RK Puram, it found some children playing on colourful swings outside, while others sat inside glued to a television set watching a film. They came forward enthusiastically to narrate stories about their experiences in the rehabilitation programme. It turned out that many of them lived in temporary dwellings under the IIT flyover, while some others had come to the shelters from roadside jhuggis in the vicinity.
Around 20 of the children are enrolled either in a municipal school or in a government school, with most of these enrolments having taken place in the past three months. Aslam is one of the students. "I come to the shelter to paint and to play games," says the boy. "I like the place, so I also encourage others to study," he adds. His parents value his empowerment and no longer push him to beg.
Contacted by outreach workers on the lookout for child beggars or those in potential danger of turning into beggars, the children come to the shelter by 9 am. The day starts with a prayer and a quick breakfast of fruit. After two informal classes providing basic literacy, the boys and girls are divided into groups for creative sessions in painting. It is more relaxed after lunch, when the youngsters are allowed to watch TV for an hour and play games later. When the children visit their families in the evening, they are urged to return for dinner and to stay the night at the shelters. Many of them do.
Nitesh Kumar from SPYM says that the objective of the project is to prod the children into a better life away from begging. "This is a pilot programme, and we will hopefully learn a lot on the way," he says. "At this stage it is critical to support the children and win the trust of their parents for allowing the youngsters to attend school."
The social activists know that unless the parents are won over, it will not be possible to stop them from sending their kids out on the streets with outstretched palms. So along with the children, the outreach workers work with the parents too, trying to convince them to think about their children's future.
The promise of three meals for the children is something that some parents can't fight against. However, Kumar says the incentive for the parents of child beggars should not be the food, but the freedom from the dangers that the youngsters face on the roads.