6.68 Lakh Households In India Make Living By Begging

05 July, New Delhi

Painting a grim picture, more than 6.68 lakh household population in India depends on begging to earn their daily livelihood, according to government’s Socio Economic Caste Census.

The survey done by the rural development ministry covered 640 districts and looked into various aspects of households, their living patterns-housing, land holding, educational status, occupation and source of earnings.

The survey showed out of total 17.59 crore rural households, 0.37 per cent households make their living by begging on a daily basis.

Ragpickers who battle for their daily survival number 4.08 lakh and depend on picking the waste material for their living.

More than 51 per cent of rural households derive their income through manual casual labour.

A wide-ranging survey showed the imperative of better targetting the government welfare schemes as stated by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.