Rehabilitating And Reintegrating Homeless People To The Society

It is estimated that there are around 5,00,000 beggars in India. Though a lot of effort and relief was provided by the government to eradicate begging but still a lot must be done. Myself Naveen Kumar, Founder of Atchayam trust along with our group of volunteers were actively working on destitute people development and focuses to reintegrate them to the society for the past 5 years. We believe begging can be eradicated from society through improving the socio-economic condition of these beggars and establishing their human dignity.

From 2014 till now, We have given counseling to 2695 beggars across 8 districts in Tamilnadu and have successfully rehabilitated 320 persons.

Beggars Rehabilitated Count
Orphanage or Elderly Homes	208
Provided Job	29
United with Family	40
Mentally retard home	18
Treatment in Hospitals	25
Total	320

FACTS BEHIND BEGGING - A STUDY BY OUR TEAM :

1.  Majority reasons - Our team has encountered 2700 + beggars at Namakkal, Erode, Salem, Tiruvannamalai, and Trichy districts and most of the beggars, they revealed that the main reason is that they were not taken care by their children.

2. Addiction to Alcohols -  General age group of the beggars is between 50 to 70 who are addicted to drinks and tobacco. The worst case is that they beg money to drink alcohol but not to satisfy their basic needs like medicine or dress.

3. Pity Hand Beggars - The next age group is around 5-15 and this age group beggars are termed as pity hand beggars by our trust. This age group suffers the problem of lack of care by parents and most of them in this age group are orphans. They lack education and proper health. They don’t even eat a square meal a day.

4. All-Time Beggars - The next group is the most important group. They call themselves as all-time beggars. They begging in the name of god or other spiritual belief. Such people cannot be convinced easily, they usually migrate to various places. They don’t stick to one place, so it is difficult to give counseling to them.

5. Physically challenged & begging for survival - And another set of beggars does not belong to any other category given above. They comprise of physically and mentally disabled. They beg to survive. They are not given proper support. Hence, they start begging to satisfy their own basic needs. If proper support and counseling are given, they can easily be changed, and we can make them work in several areas.

6. Mafia Groups - And the most crucial set of beggars are brought up through the mafia group. An underground group which compels the orphans to beg and collect the money and they use it for their own purpose.
 
We have initiated this fundraising campaign for the rehabilitation of 25 beggars in the areas of erode, Namakkal and Trichy districts for the next 6 months. Rehabilitation will include rebuilding their lifestyle, finding their family details and joining with them, providing jobs, providing proper medical treatment, regular counseling & vocational training to enable these people to start their livelihood again.

Total budget: 3 Lakhs

• Cost of rehabilitating a beggar - 12000 rupees (Food for volunteers, Cleansing them, Transportation, Medical expenses, New Clothes)
• Cost of rehabilitating 25 beggars - 25 * 12000 - 3 Lakhs

Note : People can avail 80 G tax exemption for the donations
For more details about us :
Visit: www.atchayamtrust.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/atchayamtrust