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THIS City Becomes India's First Begger Free City. Hint? It's From Madhya Pradesh!

This city has become the first beggar-free city in India, achieving this through a comprehensive rehabilitation campaign that transformed thousands of lives. A year ago, around 5,000 beggars lived on its streets, but recent efforts have successfully rehabilitated them or directed them toward better opportunities.
This City Becomes India's First Begger Free City

This City Becomes India's First Begger Free City (canva)

Indore has achieved what many cities only aspire to, becoming India’s first beggar-free city. The landmark feat, driven by a focused and humane rehabilitation campaign, has turned around thousands of lives and set a national benchmark in social reform.
According to officials, just a year ago, around 5,000 beggars, including 500 children, lived on the streets of Indore. But on Thursday, the city administration announced that every one of them had been either rehabilitated or redirected towards better opportunities, bringing an end to street begging in the city.
"Indore has become the country's first beggar-free city," district magistrate Ashish Singh told reporters. He explained that rather than penalising individuals, the administration focused on rehabilitation, helping adults find employment and enrolling children involved in begging into schools.
"The campaign we launched for the elimination of begging has itself become a model. It has been recognised by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and also a World Bank team," Singh added.
The initiative began in February 2024 under a pilot project by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, which selected 10 cities across India to tackle the problem of begging. Indore is now leading the way as a success story.
District programme officer of the Women and Child Development Department, Ramnivas Budholia, elaborated on the steps taken. “In the first phase, we ran an awareness campaign. Then the beggars were rehabilitated. We also found many beggars who used to come to Indore from Rajasthan to beg,” he said.
To reinforce the change, begging, as well as giving money to beggars or buying items from them, has been banned in the city. Officials confirmed that three FIRs have been registered so far for violating the ban.
To encourage public participation, the administration even introduced a reward of Rs 1,000 for anyone who provides information about begging activities, a strategy that has reportedly been quite effective, with many people having claimed the reward.
(With PTI inputs)
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