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SOCIETY
Beggars
in Indore trained to earn a decent living
Indore
(Madhya Pradesh): A state-funded institution in
Indore has trained over 3500 beggars to give up begging
and earn a decent living. The institution named Bhikshu
Pravesh Kendra has a capacity to house and train 50
persons. The institution has been training people
in gardening, handloom weaving, leather toy-making,
screen printing and cycle repair. "The motive of our
organisation is to bring in people here, who have
been caught begging, though they are perfectly capable
of earning a decent livelihood. We have them stand
before the Judge, who then hands them over to this
institution for a period of six months. We use those
six months to turn around the lives of these men.
We train them to master a means of livelihood and
return to society with dignity and strength," said
Bharat Gaur, the Superintendent of the Institute.
Working on the premise that lives have to be altered
for the better, men are also given the option to work
in the pantry and learn cooking, if that interests
them. "I learnt weaving cloth after being brought
here. Before I mastered this, I had other skills that
I did not use, like manning the plough. I knew nothing
else and was wasting my life roaming about like a
mad man. I got reformed and found my bearings after
coming to this place," said Mangal Das. There are
examples like Sharad Yadav, a graduate in Arts who
had taken to begging, unable to find a job. He earned
Rupees 25 to 30 until his uncle admitted him to the
institution. Dev Krishna, an Engineering graduate
has been in and out of the institution a number of
times since he lost his job at a printing press in
1983. But, now he promises he would give up seeking
alms on the streets. There are instances of poverty
stricken parents involving their children in begging
rackets. The beggars on the street are exposed to
many other evils like sexual exploitation, drug abuse
and disease. Begging is banned and is a punishable
offence under the law.
-Mar
15, 2007
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