[speedmiester]

I do not encourage these beggars at the traffic signal or any where else for that matter.
I also tell my friends and family members not to give them any money. We need to understand the root cause first, why there are so many beggars? Because it's easy money and there are people who give them money. Until this stops, we will have to face these problems on a day to day basis.

I do give money to a charity every year which I know will be well utilized to help the real needy persons.

[Speed Pujari]

Me and my wife once offered a maid-servant job to one healthy and fit woman beggar(aged late twenties) at 100 ft road sony world signal.

She outrightly refused with abuses.

They are certainly a menace. If they do not have any physical disability then they are certainly an overload to the society.

[PatienceWins]

I do not encourage begging in traffic lights as it is run by mafia and most of the beggars are making a mockery of compassion using tricks. It is also not safe for the beggar as well as the motorist.

At the same time, I do not agree with the some views on the thread that begging is not at all acceptable and everyone should earn their livelihood. There are genuine cases where a person is forced to beg because of his circumstances and the society is to be blamed for that. There is no support system available and they are forced to beg. If the society by large is interested in the well being of poor along with their own well being, poverty would not be there. I believe, identifying needy (through good charitable organizations or known cases) and helping them is a responsibility of every individual blessed by god with wealth and health. If people are forced to come out and beg, we as a society are responsible!!

Originally Posted by Speed Pujari

Me and my wife once offered a maid-servant job to one healthy and fit woman beggar(aged late twenties) at 100 ft road sony world signal.

It is not safe to give them access to your house without proper background checks. I hope you intended to do this.

[Speed Pujari]

Originally Posted by PatienceWins

It is not safe to give them access to your house without proper background checks. I hope you intended to do this.

Apparently we were not serious too. I just wanted to check if she is really in a need.

EDIT: I believe Bangaloreans might have read the case of that baby sitter who use to 'rent' out the babies to these beggars for 150 bucks a day when the parents were out to work. The parents of that baby were well paid software pros.The mother nearly fainted when she saw her own baby in hands of a beggar who came begging to her on a signal.

[mmxylorider]

Originally Posted by PatienceWins

There are genuine cases where a person is forced to beg because of his circumstances and the society is to be blamed for that ....

and that is where the problem lies. How do you differentiate between the 'truly needy' and the 'really greedy'?

[narayan]

Begging is AN ORGANISED trade now.

gone are the days when you come across isolated instances of BEGGING where the person probably is genuinely not able to earn a living otherwise.

as the economy grows, the entire begging trade is also growing to become an organised one.

for e.g - today, for MANY OF US, HANDING OVER EVEN Rs10 to a person as alms is not a BIG THING. this compared to the scenario during our parents' days when giving away 50ps was big.

BUT PLEASE BE AWARE that by giving this money, you are positively reinforcing the drivers of this MASSIVE TRADE.

at the end of every day, the BEGGAR MAFIA looks at WHO is getting more money

is it the LADY WITH THE INFANT, THE MAN WITHOUT A LIMB , THE HALF BLIND BOY or any such other category

IF its the man without the LIMB, dont be surprised if the BEGGAR MAFIA will work towards MAIMING people to earn more through BEGGING..

another phenomenon at traffic signals is PEOPLE SELLING all kinds of stuff like BOOKS, TOYS, BALL, CLOTH ETC

why not buy from them rather than buy from BIG RETAIL CHAINS ??? that way, you are DIRECTLY contributing to mitigating part of his HUNGER BUT AT THE SAME TIME GIVING HIM THE DIGNITY OF PURSUING A PROFESSION...think about it.

[gururaj r]

I never pay any money to any beggar. Even when I travel by train, some guy would come and clean the train with a cloth (dirty) and I would prefer to give some money to him.

I close the windows as I approach a signal and never keep it open till I cross the same. I have had euchins spitting on my front window glass as I did not pay them.

They are a menace and growing because of our apathy. Never pay them anywhere including after visit to temple also. God is not going to forgive you either you pay them or not. Be good to others always and try to help them in case of need. Buy some poor student books, fees or notebooks or sponsor some kids education. Spend some of your valuable time. One would definitely get inner peace of mind.

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by mmxylorider

and that is where the problem lies. How do you differentiate between the 'truly needy' and the 'really greedy'?

Here is what I do. I give charity to people where I know it is not going to be misused. This way even if I see a heart wrenching begger I say to myself that I have contributed where I know it is not being misused. So I can pass this one.

Originally Posted by narayan

as the economy grows, the entire begging trade is also growing to become an organised one.

I feel this has to do something with the ever so expanding gap between the poor and the rich.

another phenomenon at traffic signals is PEOPLE SELLING all kinds of stuff like BOOKS, TOYS, BALL, CLOTH ETC

why not buy from them rather than buy from BIG RETAIL CHAINS ??? that way, you are DIRECTLY contributing to mitigating part of his HUNGER BUT AT THE SAME TIME GIVING HIM THE DIGNITY OF PURSUING A PROFESSION...think about it.

Completely agree with helping people who are helping themselves. A small extent even.

Originally Posted by gururaj r

I have had euchins spitting on my front window glass as I did not pay them.

There was a documentary on NDTV on this where they said there were 25000 eunuchs in the 70-80s. Now there are lakhs of them. They cannot reproduce. They way they harass is really sad.

[SS-Traveller]

Over 1000 views, 73 votes and 53 replies in less than 24 hours of this thread going up. Never expected such a response.

Most people appear to strongly support the view that beggars at traffic lights are a menace to motorists, and should be banned. A few are compassionate, and would not mind doling out alms to support them, and another few consider this an issue that does not concern them.

It might sound harsh when it is said that beggars should be banned, as Sam says...

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

"Beggars are a menace for us as motorists, and should be banned." pains me. It is perhaps a complete holiday from all types of human sensitivity.

...but the issue does not focus on beggars in general. It is the so-called organized begging that goes on specifically at street junctions where vehicles stop at traffic lights. The first sentence therefore reads "Beggars at traffic lights are a menace..." and not beggars per se, who are just unfortunate, and certainly have my compassion and support as much as anyone else's.

This thread is also an eye-opener for me, reading about the various, sometimes horrifying and sometimes surprising, experiences described here.

there was a couple who would leave their child in the hands of the maid and go to work. They would find the child sleepy when they returned in the evening. One day the lady came back early to find the child missing. Upon questioning the maid, they found out that the maid would lend out the child for beggars, who would drug the child and use it while begging.

a Beggar was caught begging at a traffic light in chandigarh,and on investigation it was found that,he had 2 laptops and a Iphone in his bag,and used to stay in 3\5star hotels.
and yeah he was carrying a pair of decent cloths in his bag too.

An incident happened recently at the Banaswadi Signal in Bangalore.

I was waiting for the signal to go green and a girl with a dirty rag starts wiping the bonnet. I ask her not too but she continues. ... She then comes to my window and begs. I don't even acknowledge her presence. What she does next snaps it for me, the scum bag dusts the dirty rag on my windscreen directly in-front of my view and walks away with a smirk.

Most of the children with dressing on their head and sleeping in roadside pavement are feed various concoctions of medicines such as benzodiazipines, chlorpheniramine, pedichloryl etc. Its extremely harmful if these medicines are taken over a period of time and i have children coming to hospital with withdrawal effects of these medicines.

There is a mosque near my office where i go for my daily prayers for the last 2 years.I see a woman in her late forties begging near the entrance of the mosque during prayer timings and on the roads between prayers.
I thought of keeping her in my house for house hold chores,but when i asked her indirectly she said that she cannot do house hold chores as she is old and blah-blah.
I came to know from the owner of a nearby restaurant that she earns 400-500 rs/day and deposits the small change in the restaurant 4-5 times and collects the day's total in the evening.
He also said that in the month of Ramzan and on Fridays this figure could go up to 2000/day.

Apart from beggars, one more type of menace that comes to the fore is that of hijdas or eunuchs taking to begging at traffic lights. This is a comparatively recent phenomenon, and I do not recall their presence at traffic lights even 5 years ago. This article (Hijras | Eunuchs | India | Indian Citizen - Oneindia Living) sheds some more light on the problem. Most people are frightened by hijdas, and pay up heavily even at traffic stops to avoid a confrontation (except perhaps this one ) - Awesum Reply to Hijra (( : Mst Watch | Watch Facebook Videos - Download - Share.

The original question may be expanded: Do we, as motorists, deserve to be harassed by beggars (whether eunuch or not) at traffic lights? And what should be done about it? Should the government and the police invoke Rule 22(a) of Rules of the Road Regulations, 1989 (framed under section 118 of the central Motor Vehicles Act - 1988), and enforce it strictly? Or should we continue to dole out alms as a way of life, at every street junction in every major city in this country, and wash away our sins / earn brownie points with God?

Let's continue to hear your opinions and experiences about beggars at traffic lights, and hope the powers-that-be take note of this.

[vivekiny2k]

it's the "I am the king, and I pray to god and wash my sins" syndrome at work. Even Tatas steal billions in subsided lands and then feel like god by creating charities.

All of us like to do that at our own small scale. We love to first cheat and suck blood out of others, and then feel like god by giving alms. Some genuinely afraid of almighty.

As long as we give, there will be someone to take it, and make business out of it.

[PatienceWins]

Originally Posted by mmxylorider

and that is where the problem lies. How do you differentiate between the 'truly needy' and the 'really greedy'?

I would recommend to donate to organizations/ individuals you know very well. For example, my aunt is a social worker and she knows people who really needs support.

I donate only small amounts (max 10% of my donations) to people whom i do not know if my intuition says that it is genuine. A category where I do not think much is old people. I know that there is a risk involved here, but I do not want to lose my peace of mind.

[AvonA7]

IMO, Beggars are more organized as we ordinary citizen might think them to be!

There are some genuine poor/disabled people who are found on streets begging just to manage somehow a day`s food, but most of them are well organised in begging and earn enough at least not to sleep hungry!

I am sure, many of you may disagree, but this is a huge chain of income/business(if I may say so..) for a certain category of individual who use these kinds of so called beggars to earn money for them which is then shared in obvious quarters..!

Personally I do not want to share if I donate some 5-10/- to any beggar, at least what I can say is I do believe that 7 out of 10 beggars that we see on streets are forced to be beggars.

Less said about the institution, about effort put in for the less privileged section of our society the better!

And "hijdas" ... ???

In a country where still caste/religion/region plays an important role in many regions/section of our society, the "hijdas" are the least cared/noticed of the lot.

I do not support necessarily, what they do we as ordinary citizens notice most of the times, as in collecting money from shops etc., but one can imagine what kind of life they live, that a major section of our country's population still loose their sleep on caste/religion and "H****s" being sexually disabled - the kind of treatment/ignorance they get from the majority of the population !

*This thread started with "beggars" as the primary topic and then took turn to other less privileged sections of the society.
If that is the case, then may be the thread starter can include another topic of Old Age homes too - where senior citizens live ( or forced to live ) in spite of most of them led a decent/educated life but still victim of unforeseen circumstances ( or not being materialistic themselves! ) and spending the later stages of life in so called old age "homes" !

[download2live]

NEVER EVER GAVE A DIME.
Because I know it is not going to change anything. I will see him/her/? at the same place begging.

My wife hates me for this attitude. But I am know its a help. If we all stop giving alms then begging will disappear. They will be then forced to take a more honourable profession.

OT: This is just one of the many problems of social inequities India is facing today. The real reason is a lack of "Social Revolution". We had "Green Revolution", we had "Economic Revolution", what about "Social Revolution"? That's what India needs now. We have the firepower of money, but we lack the sense to handle it. A radical change in attitude towards life is what is needed.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by AvonA7

*This thread started with "beggars" as the primary topic and then took turn to other less privileged sections of the society. If that is the case, then may be the thread starter can include another topic of Old Age homes too...

The thread started with, and has continued with, the rampant practice of seeking alms from motorists at traffic signals, by humans of whatever gender and chromosome combination, sometimes through acute harassment and intimidation. Please do not go off-topic and raise controversies that do not belong to this thread.

[richie4u]

Well with respect to this topic, my view is simple: everyone on earth has a skill or an ability to do something in life, begging is just a form of ignorance to his ability.

Well here's a video of what I think:

Ignorance