After 60 years, state hikes wages in beggars' homes from 16 paisa/day to Rs 40/day
The decision was approved by the state cabinet on Tuesday.
Maharashtra currently operates 14 beggars' homes, collectively housing 4,127 individuals. These homes are meant to provide shelter and vocational training for people categorized as beggars under the law.
India's anti-begging laws, including the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959, are rooted in outdated colonial-era legislation that criminalised poverty and vagrancy. Initially enacted for the state of Maharashtra, the Act has since been adopted by several other states across the country.
Under the current law, any person found in a public place without visible means of subsistence, or soliciting alms through activities such as singing, dancing, fortune-telling, or street performance, can be labelled a beggar. The Act grants broad discretionary powers to the police, who may detain individuals they suspect of begging.
Those apprehended are produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in Kurla, which exclusively handles such cases. Following a summary inquiry, the court may either release the individual or commit them to a beggars' home for a period ranging from one to three years.
The law mandates that these institutions offer instruction in agricultural, industrial, or other vocational skills. Many inmates during their stint in the beggars' home are made to work in either agriculture fields or workshops associated with the homes. Until now, this labour was compensated at just Rs 5 per month a sum unchanged since 1964.
The revised rate of Rs 40 per day will cost the state an estimated Rs 50 lakh annually.
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