India Has Over 4 Lakh Beggars; West Bengal Tops With 81,000, Lakshadweep Has Merely Two

Even as Telangana government tried hard to hide the when Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President Donald Trump, was scheduled to visit Hyderabad in November last year, false reality will remain false.

According to government data, West Bengal has the highest number of beggars and vagrants in India. The country in total has over four lakh beggars, with the highest 81,000 beggars in West Bengal, while Lakshadweep merely has two vagrants.

At least 4,13,670 beggars reside in India, which consists of 2,21,673 males and 1,91,997 females.

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Among the UT's New Delhi and Chandigarh have the largest numbers of beggars. In the national capital there are 2,187 beggars and whereas Chabndigarh homes 121.

Union Minister for Social Justice Thawar Chand Gehlot, in a written reply to Lok Sabha quoted a 2011 census and mentioned that Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh stood at second and third positions, with 65,835 and 30,218 beggars respectively.

The union territories have the least number of beggars. According to the government report, there are only two beggars in Lakshadweep, while Dadra Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and the Andaman and Nicobar islands have 19, 22 and 56 vagrants respectively.

Begging is a criminal offence in India and can be punished by as much as 10 years in prison, although the law is rarely enforced.

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More than 20% of India¡¯s 1.3 billion people live on less than 2 dollars a day. For many, begging is survival.

Beggars tend to crowd around cars at traffic signals, knocking on windows and asking for food and money. They include children as young as 5, who weave through dangerous traffic and often perform small acrobatic acts.

In January 2018, Telangana enacted a new plan to reward anyone who spots a beggar in the city and informs officials with Rs 500. The initiative was taken to make Telangana ¡°beggar-free¡±.