Wednesday, September 2, 2009

A beggar free Delhi

The world is not a right place to live in for those who don't have money. For long, its laws have been dictated by those who have money, by those who have power. Whether its a country, or a corporation or just a man, if you have power, you can make the world work on your terms. You can make your own laws. You can give your own judgements.

In the wake of the commonwealth games, it has been decided to make Delhi beggar free. Apparently, these beggars are a nuisance for the city. They don't give the right picture of the capital of this great nation. Hence, to make things right, they would be removed from the city. An adult caught begging would be sent to a jail. The children would be sent to juvenile homes. Consideration would however be shown to those who are caught for the first time for begging.

The people from the lowest economic strata and those who don't have any economy have always been dispensable. Most of these people are the migrants from the rural areas who are forced to come to the cities because of the fewer opportunities for earnings back home. This situation has aroused because of the continuous neglect of these rural areas by one government after the other. The major chunk of our resources are poured into the cities. And hence it is but natural for people to migrate there.

But the government has shown the intent that they are not keen on entertaining these people if they can't find themselves a source of living. It would have really called for some mammoth efforts to eradicate poverty from the city. Hence the government took a shortcut. They have instead start eradicating the poor.

It just leaves me wondering at the selfishness and hypocrisy of the affluent class. We want a clean city, a green city, a beggar less city for ourselves. We want the cheap labours at our home and industries. But we don't want the slums where they live. Its as if the mere reason for the existence of the poor in this country is to subsidize the life of the rich. We don't want their problems. We only want their services.

I just wish that the government reconsiders its decision. I agree that it is important to portray a nice picture of our country to the rest of the world. But do we want it at the expense of life of 1 lakh people. Think.

2 comments:

Vatsheel said...

Recently I read an article in which it was written that even climatic problems are of more concerns to poor. Rich will raise sea walls, switch on AC, drink filtered water etc. while poor lose their shanty in cyclones, have their fields destroyed by flood etc. Why can't we decentralize? If we provide employment opportunities in villages we wont have this rural-urban migration. In fact a major chunk of a laborer's earning is lost in paying fares to go from one end of country to another.

Ankit said...

I also think that it would be the right thing to do. To create opportunities in the villages. That will not only solve the problems that our cities are facing but also bring abt wholesome development of our rural areas where majority of our population resides.