Indore: A beggar-free city in India?
However unreal it may sound, the truth is that Indore has achieved the laurel of being India’s first beggar-free city.
A real positive news at a time when the country is in the midst of a serious conflict with Pakistan, which has been targeting a number of cities in the north and north-west to retaliate against India’s successful Operation Sindoor on multiple terror camps.
More so since Indore has been India’s cleanest city for several years.
Officials claimed that around 5,000 beggars, including 500 children, lived on the streets of Indore a year ago. On Thursday, however, the city administration announced that every one of them had been either rehabilitated or redirected towards better opportunities, bringing an end to street begging in the city.
“Indore has become the country’s first beggar-free city,” district magistrate Ashish Singh told reporters.
He explained that instead of penalising them, the administration focused on rehabilitation, helping adults find employment and enrolling children into schools.
“The campaign we launched for the elimination of begging has itself become a model. It has been recognised by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and also a World Bank team,” Singh added.
The mission began in February 2024, under a pilot project by the Union Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, which selected 10 cities across the country to tackle the problem of begging.
Elaborating on the steps taken, district programme officer of Women & Child Development Department Ramnivas Budholia said: “In the first phase, we ran an awareness campaign. Then the beggars were rehabilitated. We also found many beggars who used to come to Indore from Rajasthan to beg.”
Begging, as well as giving money to beggars or buying items from them, has been strictly banned in Indore. Violations were punished, with three FIRs having been registered against persons caught breaching the ban.
The administration also introduced a reward of Rs 1,000 for anyone who provides information about begging activities. The strategy has been quite effective, as many have claimed the reward.
