Srinagar city, other major towns and tourist resorts in Valley are witnessing an unprecedented surge in the problem of beggary. Though a social evil, but here in the Valley the mendicancy has been flourishing with more and more people including small children joining the ranks of beggars to swell their number to teasing levels. There is hardly any nook or corner where there can be found no stretching hands begging for anything. Although beggars were always present here but their numbers would make them insignificant to the extent that beggary was hardly noticeable. But since past several years the problem has aggravated so much so that it seems that the Valley has become practically a paradise for begging hands. In the past, if any local would take to begging, it was sheer compulsion that would make the person to opt for a practice that would remain a slur on the status of the progeny for quite some time. But now times have changed. Any person can go for it and when benevolent people like Kashmiris are around, then there is no question of mendicancy proving a failed option. People here are of different stock. If they have it, they will give away some to a seemingly needy person as alms ignoring the fact that the receiving hand may be just amassing money by feigning destitute.
Encouraged by this trait of the Kashmiris, people from other states too have come here to start business out of begging. There are many people who leave some handicapped persons at different places in the cities and towns with a bowl and collect the money in the evening. What they need spend is just to provide food to the collecting body. There are numerous boys and girls who also have been addicted to mendicancy. They have become so unabashed that they will not hesitate to insult a respected citizen even on slightest pretext of receiving few bucks than expected. People are now seen shirking and avoiding these mendicants by routing their way.
Of late, the beggars have made the tourist resorts as their favourite destinations. With number of tourists visiting Kashmir soaring with every passing day, these beggars find it more profitable to camp there that on other stations. The very presence of these at these resorts creates a lot of trouble for visitors who are here to enjoy the beauty of the place but istead face constant nagging by these elements.
A large number of the beggars here is from outside the state which compounds the problem manifold as it creates social problems as well. The hutments where these mendicants reside become hotspots of drug trafficking and abuse. And even after watching all this government seems helpless to address the problem firmly so that the menace is eradicated once for all. The administration has already failed to redress the problem of local beggars and when the unwanted guests are thronging here, it is proving a source of great inconvenience to one and all in the state. So government needs to ban the pouring in of the beggars from outside the state by banning it out-rightly. Only then can the people of the state heave a sigh of relief and the money that goes as alms can be used in a better and constructive manner to rehabilitate those who are genuinely in need of some help.
