So although it feels like it has been ages since I left Kolkata (when, in fact, it has been about 11 days), I have a few more things to say about it now that I've had some time to process:
Poverty is, for lack of a better term, rampant in Kolkata. It is an indisputable and undeniable fact that hits you in the face every time you step onto the street in that city. This is not something I note lightly - it weighs heavily on my heart, especially because foreigners are generally not advised to give to beggars for a few reasons. I heard from a few sources that some beggars in and around touristy areas of the city are part of "begging rings": organized begging schemes in which beggars report to - and pay - higher-ups as they earn money. Reportedly, children are recruited from surrounding slums and villages to help assist beggars and add an element of pity to the begging process. (It is commonplace for village children to migrate to cities to work long hours in nearby cities, whether voluntarily or otherwise, in India.) So, foreigners are urged even by locals not to give to beggars for a few reasons: to avoid supporting organized begging rings, to avoid encouraging begging in general, and for their personal safety.
That being said, a hungry child is still a hungry child. Turning those children away does not make you feel good that at least you're not supporting organized begging. The fact remains that a vast majority of those people on Calcutta streets would not, and do not, willingly choose to sleep there even on the coldest nights of the Indian winter. For the masses, begging is not a lucrative career option - it is the only choice left in a system that fails to provide effective ways to give people a boost when they most need it. Despite the assistance provided by India's Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which guarantees any rural worker 100 days of government wage labor, there are still 265 days left in a year. There are still urban families that live on the streets - and women that work them - that continue to remain in the vicious cycle of poverty for lack of solid options to work their way out of it.
So I am confronted again and again with the question of forsaking the individual person in need in favor of not supporting a system of organized begging. And again and again, I am left with only one thought - we need to redirect our attention on addressing systemic problems that force people into circumstances that make begging a viable option for survival. Hopefully my studies this semester will help me sort out some of these issues.
So those are my final thoughts on Calcutta... for now.
Poverty is, for lack of a better term, rampant in Kolkata. It is an indisputable and undeniable fact that hits you in the face every time you step onto the street in that city. This is not something I note lightly - it weighs heavily on my heart, especially because foreigners are generally not advised to give to beggars for a few reasons. I heard from a few sources that some beggars in and around touristy areas of the city are part of "begging rings": organized begging schemes in which beggars report to - and pay - higher-ups as they earn money. Reportedly, children are recruited from surrounding slums and villages to help assist beggars and add an element of pity to the begging process. (It is commonplace for village children to migrate to cities to work long hours in nearby cities, whether voluntarily or otherwise, in India.) So, foreigners are urged even by locals not to give to beggars for a few reasons: to avoid supporting organized begging rings, to avoid encouraging begging in general, and for their personal safety.
That being said, a hungry child is still a hungry child. Turning those children away does not make you feel good that at least you're not supporting organized begging. The fact remains that a vast majority of those people on Calcutta streets would not, and do not, willingly choose to sleep there even on the coldest nights of the Indian winter. For the masses, begging is not a lucrative career option - it is the only choice left in a system that fails to provide effective ways to give people a boost when they most need it. Despite the assistance provided by India's Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which guarantees any rural worker 100 days of government wage labor, there are still 265 days left in a year. There are still urban families that live on the streets - and women that work them - that continue to remain in the vicious cycle of poverty for lack of solid options to work their way out of it.
So I am confronted again and again with the question of forsaking the individual person in need in favor of not supporting a system of organized begging. And again and again, I am left with only one thought - we need to redirect our attention on addressing systemic problems that force people into circumstances that make begging a viable option for survival. Hopefully my studies this semester will help me sort out some of these issues.
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