UP IN ALMS INSIDE CHENNAI’S BEGGING INDUSTRY

A 30-CR BUSINESS THAT REFUSES TO GO AWAY

With Workers, Managers And A Support System, Begging Is A Well-Oiled Trade In Chennai

Ekatha.Ann@timesgroup.com  28.06.2018

As the train pulled into Basin Bridge on Friday morning, Arunachalam’s phone buzzed: Someone on board had alerted Childline volunteers at Chennai Central station about the children. Even before he disconnected the call, his teenage son jumped out, and hollered to the others. In five minutes, six children scrambled out of the compartments holding stacks of colouring books and stickers. They knew what this meant – a meal less.

But for Arunachalam, who heads a community of 30 families engaged in begging, this was a minor hitch. “We will make up for the loss tomorrow,” he said. The group, hailing from Avadi, then split – one headed to Vepery, while the other, led by his son, went to Purasawalkam. Arunachalam is among four leaders of beggars’ groups TOI met over the course of a month to unravel their network – involving railway porters, autorickshaw drivers and police – and to dig deep into their pockets to fish out an economy with an annual turnover of more than ₹30 crore, as estimated by officials who rescue children. Women with infants and children below 12 fetch the lion’s share — 70%.

In two drives by the Chennai police last year, 107 child beggars were rescued. All of them were restored to their families. At least three resurfaced in the state’s records this year when a drive by police in April resulted in 54 children being “rescued”. “They rounded up any child sitting alone on the road. We had to let all of them go,” said Chennai Child Welfare Committee member Sheila Charles Mohan.

Reluctance by police and lack of sufficient specialised homes for rescued children have fed the beggars’ network. While a majority of them commute by buses and trains from Tiruvallur and Andhra Pradesh to beg in the city daily, a large proportion of them are migrants from Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal, who make a pit-stop before heading to Kerala to beg. While, according to the 2011 Census, Tamil Nadu has 6,814 beggars and vagrants, their number in Chennai are not known. TOI, with the help of Chennai district child protection unit and Childline, identified at least 10 locations where beggar ‘clans’, comprising 30 to 50 families, each with six to eight children, stay.

Trains are their most common mode of transport. “The prevalence is higher in suburban trains,” said S Arunmozhi, project coordinator, Childline. However, for every 10 calls its 1098 helpline receives to report on children found begging, less than two land in the net. “They get a tip-off and flee,” said a railway childline coordinator.

Natarajan is the leader of another community from Kanniamman Nagar, 12km from Avadi. Although he doesn’t accompany the beggars, he sends at least one man to escort them. “They are constantly on the move to avoid police attention,” he said. Beggars earn the most at Tidel Park, Marina Beach and Besant Nagar beaches and Koyambedu bus stand. “Each child makes around ₹300-₹400 a day. If they sell books and stickers, they earn around ₹600,” he said. The books, he admitted, are just a ruse to mislead police. “We also advise our girls to gently touch women when they ask for money. It makes a difference,” he said. At a 90-second signal, a beggar can cover at least 20 vehicles. “If the people look at us as we approach, they usually give,” said Natarajan. On an average, they make around ₹20-₹50 every time the signal turns red. And on rare occasions, ₹100.

P Manorama, director of CHES, a collaborating partner of Childline, said most of the calls on child beggars come in between 8am and 10 am, and from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. “Beggars come in a big group and split into smaller teams of three or four women with infants and children and one or two men. The minute a volunteer tries to rescue them the men mobilise the locals to create a hue,” she said. The infants are either carried by the mother or given to another woman within the community. “We don’t know if the babies are sedated, but we have found tablets in a couple of these women’s bags,” said an official in the child protection unit.

While officials maintain that trafficking of these children are minimal, a recent study by the criminology department of the University of Madras unveiled a different picture. “At least 10% of the 219 children we surveyed in Chennai said they were sold by their family and 5% said they were kidnapped. The employers come with documents showing they are their parents and they ask no further,” said V Nirmala, author of the study. “Further investigations have to be done and officials should take the issue seriously. Not just round them up and dump them in a home,” she said.





FROM THE INSIDE: Each family engaged in begging has six to eight children