Sir,
The menace of child begging in the City of Temples is growing day by day.We often see small children in a group of two or three coming near the window panes of our cars begging incessantly and there may be someone among us who offers money to these innocent children who apparently seem to be begging out of poverty and social deprivation but in fact are victims of abuse and exploitation .Child begging and trafficking are interrelated. Money collected by these children go into the pockets of traffickers.I really wonder why we as responsible citizens encourage begging by offering money to these children .Stop giving money and instead help these children if you can to come out of forced beggary.There is an urgent need to educate people regarding “child begging as a curse and not a cure ” and spread awareness among all sections of society so as to eradicate the menace of child begging because it is not only a crime but a social stigma as well .
These children may be forced by the mafia to commit crimes and as such are prone to become delinquents and children in conflict with law.To save them from falling prey to such anti-social elements,timely intervention by govt.agencies and suo moto cognisance by the Hon’ble Courts is need of the hour.We have to ponder where our country is heading towards because every child can prove an asset for the nation and the world if their energies are channelised in a proper direction.We are under a wrong impression of feeding the mouths of these poor children by offering money but in fact we are in a way perpetrating the crime and encouraging crime against children in its various forms including kidnapping, maiming for the purposes of begging,child sexual abuse etc.No doubt we have laws but failure of strict implementation of these laws is a setback to all the efforts carried on in this direction. Government assistance is a sin qua non to save our children from being lost in the world of crime because a nation without a secure childhood is a nation without a secure future.I conclude it by Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru’s quote who once said ” children are like buds in a garden who need to be carefully and lovingly nurtured ,as they are the future of the nation and citizens of tomorrow”.
Yours etc…
Surekha Bhat (Kaw)
Roop Nagar, Jammu.
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