Strange phenomenon in Indian street: the first gang gang-millions of beggars in the gang
I previously saw a movie with the theme of these "Indian beggars". On the streets of the city: whenever the red light comes on, beggars will quickly jump from both sides of the road to both sides of the car to ask for help from the targets they are already targeting. If the car window was closed, they would tap it a few times with their black and dirty fingers, then point to their mouths and say: "Big cake, big cake". If they were foreigners, they would "dollar" and keep repeating!
The most profound thing in Indian cities is the beggars everywhere. So how many beggars are there in India? I'm afraid no one can accurately count it. Some sociologists estimate that 800,000 people in New Delhi alone live in slums with extremely harsh conditions, and about a quarter of them have become beggars. In the western port city of Mumbai, there are millions of residents in slums. The proportion of beggars far exceeds that of New Delhi, and the proportion of beggars in other regions is even worse.
Moreover, these beggars have a large age range and complex composition, so their begging methods are also strange.
Some child beggars, who are generally disheveled, dark, thin and short, and dirty clothes, guard the streets with large crowds or at the entrances of large hotels. They follow the rich and foreigners entering and leaving the hotel, and do not stop until they get the rupees. There are also some ten-year-old "little newspaper boys" who actually beg in disguise under the guise of selling newspapers.
What impressed tourists most was the stability of Mumbai's beggars. Mumbai's famous Haji Ali mosque was built on the sea and connected to the land by a 200-meter-long tunnel. On both sides of this "sea corridor," waiting beggars are already "welcoming" believers and tourists coming and going.
There is also a special group of "beggars", who are called "ascetic monks". They live all over the world for cultivation, and occasionally find some work in temples, but most of the time they rely on begging or alms from others to make a living.
In India, there are still many beggars controlled by powerful gangs, beating and abusing young beggars, exploiting their begging income, and forcing them to beg on the streets for more than 15 hours a day. Taking advantage of other people's sympathy and even making themselves or other people's children disabled and becoming a more powerful begging tool for themselves, these gang "Beggars 'Gang Leaders" can be said to be making money day by day.
Even young beggars who have not yet entered the school, if they are smarter, can earn an "income" of hundreds of rupees every day, which is much easier than working as a coolie. Some professional beggars also bought a three-bedroom house in a relatively good community and held a decent wedding for their three children. The total money cost at least 6 million rupees!
Therefore, some sociologists believe that these beggars should not be given money and goods, because doing so is tantamount to encouraging the cruelty of the "gang leader" and allowing them to use vicious means to harm more teenagers.
One remembered once asking a middle-aged beggar, you are young and strong. Why don't you find a job and earn your own living? The beggar was calm and replied seriously, Can you tell me what your profession is? The reporter thought for a moment and told him loudly that my job is a reporter.
Unexpectedly, he laughed and said, You are also a beggar. What you beg for is just different from what we beg for. I ask for money and food, you ask for news. You said I was begging, yes. So who is not begging? We are no more dirty than politicians, no less despicable than corrupt officials, and no less despicable than those who pay bribes. You can't do what I do, or you don't want to do it, or you don't want to do it, or I don't want to do it. This is just that society has different positioning and different division of labor.
In the end, he said eloquently that begging is a right given by God to the poor. Like other jobs, there is no distinction between high and low. If you have something, just give it a few cents, and if you don't have it, just forget it. Why are you angry?
India's pathological social norm and profound religious and cultural background have also contributed to this peculiar begging phenomenon to a certain extent. For example, Hinduism advocates charity and believes that charity is a supreme virtue because it is a stipulation of the "law", and fulfilling this "law" rule is a means to achieve liberation; asking for others is not an immoral act, which is also a stipulation of the "law" and a means to achieve liberation.
Therefore, in India, begging and giving is an encouraged social behavior. People believe that this gives rich people who hope to do good deeds with someone to give out and is a bridge to heaven.
It is worth mentioning that although begging is not considered a shameful thing in Hindu culture, there is a group that has never become a beggar. This group is the Sikhs in India.
It has been observed that some non-governmental organizations have also been engaged in the work of rescuing beggars and vagrants, and have received help and support from relevant government departments. In addition, individuals and companies can also receive tax exemptions and other benefits for donations to homeless people, charities and beggars. From this perspective, the government can also be regarded as providing indirect subsidies to beggars.