Socio-Economic Issues Of Beggary: A Study Of Beggars In Coimbatore City

Abstract

Beggars are an inescapable part of our society and one has to deal with this reality. Begging is a global phenomenon and not found in our society alone but rather it is found everywhere, in both developed and developing countries. A large proportion of beggars are the people who are unable to get on with life in a normal passion because of poverty, disability or other reasons. They can find no way out but to live on alms of others at the expanse of their dignity. The study throws lights on the socio-economic conditions of beggars; to find out the causes and factors that lead to their begging life; to identify the problems faced by the beggars while they beg and to give remedial measures for improving their socio-economic condition. Data was collected from 51 beggars by adopting purposive sampling method during May to June 2015 and techniques like Chi-square test; Garrett’s rating scale; Likert’s summated scale and Factor analysis were used. The study revealed that the main cause for begging was illiteracy, no source of food and illness and also they faced problems like harassment from municipal officers and police, fellow beggars, sexual abuse and health hazards. The study concludes that as they are also humans who have the right to live with dignity and respect, help them to get job in productive works according to their potentialities and skill rather than giving them kind and cash to get rid of them.