JP/6/SIDAT.

(From The Jakarta Post)

from THE JAKARTA POST -- FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2007 -- PAGE 4 In a country of myriad social and economic mixes, this is one more

Some say it pays to be a beggar in India, estimated to be a-Rs 2 billion (approx US$50 million) business, only in the commercial hub of Mumbai

Begging is estimated to be a-Rs1.5 billion industry in the capital New Delhi, employing 50,000 people

Most beggars originate from the over 200 million Indians who continue to live under impoverished conditions, surviving on less than a dollar a day. Benefits of growth have trickled down with more than 200 million crossing the poverty line in the past two decades, but there is a huge mass yet untouched

Innumerable visitors to India carry back images of beggars knocking desperately on their car windows or pestering them at tourist locations

Though there is a very dark side to begging in India, of exploitation of children and forced amputations, the organized aspects of the beggary business has also come to the fore

Some have been more …