In a recently held survey conducted on 1,162 beggars in Jaipur by the Jaipur police commissionerate, 5 beggars were found to be post-graduates while 193 beggars had completed schooling. Among others, 39 were literate while 903 were illiterate.
The survey was conducted with the aim of making Jaipur city beggar-free, said, police officials. The survey also had a question on the professions these beggars would choose if given a chance.
A total of 160 beggars were disinterested to take up any work, while 117 were ready to do any work. Surprisingly, 27 of them showed a keen interest in contributing to the education sector. Others expressed their wish to go for labour work, catering, handwork, hotel work etc.
The survey also checked the religious backgrounds of these beggars. While 1016 beggars said they had Hindu background, 111 were Muslims, 6 among them were Sikh, four were Christians, two were Jain while 23 did not disclose their background. While there were 939 male beggars, a total of 223 women beggars were found in the city.
As per the age-wise survey, maximum beggars, 278 in number were between the age group of 31-40 years while 259 beggars were between 41-50 years of age. Surprisingly, there were 52 beggars in the age category of up to 10 years while 80 beggars were between 11 to 20 years of age.
The survey also found out the native states of these beggars. While 809 beggars were from Rajasthan, 95 were from Uttar Pradesh, 63 from MP, 45 from Bihar, 37 from West Bengal, 25 from Gujarat and 15 from Maharashtra. The least were from Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh numbering one each while there were two beggars each from Karnataka and Kerala.
The survey was conducted in the district aimed at rehabilitating the beggars. In fact, on Monday, the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly passed the Rajasthan Beggars or Rehabilitation of Poor Persons (Amendment) Bill, 2020 by voice vote.
Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Rajendra Singh Yadav presented the Bill in the House for discussion. Earlier, the House vociferously rejected the proposal to publicise the bill for seeking public opinion.