All her life, Malla Durga (39) worked relentlessly to ensure that her children — four daughters and a son — would never have to depend on others for their sustenance. She provided education to four of them and hoped they would lead better lives. However, her years of struggle came to naught when her first daughter (22), who studied up to Class X, chose to seek alms in a desperate effort to get by.

Carrying her infant son in her arms, the daughter, Devi (name changed), loiters on the streets of Vijayawada, beseeching passers-by for help. Along with four other women from her community, Devi goes to the Kanaka Durga temple in the city, about 7 km away from her house in YSR Colony, around 6 a.m., and returns by noon .“If she carries her infant son, she may get more money. Each of them gets between ₹300 and ₹400, which is enough for us,” says Durga, looking at Devi, who keeps her eyes cast down and remains silent.

Begging is a criminal offence in the State. In 1977, Andhra Pradesh introduced the Prevention of Begging Act, which authorises the police to arrest any person begging in public places without a warrant. According to the Act, begging refers to an act where a person solicits material help using words or gestures.

But how do we differentiate between voluntary and forced begging?

While the law clearly criminalises begging, questions remain over which government agency is responsible for addressing the issue and rehabilitating those affected. The Hindu reporter contacted officials in the Social Welfare Department, who directed the reporter to speak with the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Department. Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary, said that the Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA) handles the matter. However, officials in MEPMA stated that the subject falls under the Women and Child Welfare Department.

B. Naresh Kumar, founder and president of Generation Yuvaa, a child welfare organisation in Visakhapatnam, says the focus should be on forced begging. In the shelter home run by him, there are 220 people rescued from begging at present. “Around 30% of them were pushed into it due to extreme poverty. For the others, it was simply a way of life to earn money,” he says.

Calling the Act a colonial artefact, Gutta Rohith, secretary of the Human Rights Forum (HRF), Andhra Pradesh, and an advocate at the Andhra Pradesh High Court, says the country hardly provides a decent social safety net. “However, when people are pushed to the margins to eke out a living, there are legislations criminalising them. It punishes them twice over,” Mr. Rohith says, calling for the decriminalisation of begging. He adds that the State government should consider enacting reformative legislation, taking a cue from the historic judgment of the Delhi High Court in 2018.

According to the 2011 Census, Andhra Pradesh had 30,218 beggars and vagrants, of whom 16,264 were males and 13,954 were females. The State ranked third after West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, which reported the highest and second-highest number of beggars at 81,244 and 65,835 respectively.

Within the State, Visakhapatnam has around 100 beggars, largely due to the regular drives conducted there. In Vijayawada, however, a survey conducted by the NGO Healthcare and Welfare Society in 2023 found that 1,867 people were engaged in begging. The NGO is the implementing agency for the ‘SMILE’ project in the city. Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise (SMILE) is a Central government scheme that seeks to rescue and rehabilitate beggars and is being implemented across the country.

Within the State, Visakhapatnam has around 100 beggars, largely due to the regular drives conducted by authorities there. In contrast, a 2023 survey conducted in Vijayawada by the NGO Healthcare and Welfare Society found that 1,867 people were engaged in begging. The NGO is the implementing agency for the ‘SMILE’ project in the city. Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise (SMILE) is a Central government scheme aimed at rescuing and rehabilitating beggars and is being implemented across the country.

One among the beggars in the city is Durga’s daughter. Durga belongs to the Chenchu community, one of the 12 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups of undivided Andhra Pradesh and one of the 62 nomadic tribes in the State. Her small two-room flat on the ground floor of an apartment in YSR Colony, built on the banks of the Budameru rivulet on the outskirts of the city, looks new and shining. There is a smart TV, which they bought for ₹3,000, and a sewing machine that was given to her.

The tiled flooring and lavender-coloured walls are in sharp contrast to the ageing and colourless exterior of the apartment, which was allotted to the community seven years ago by the government. “The house was redone after the 2024 floods,” says Durga. It cost them more than ₹2 lakh, which they borrowed from a bank and private lenders. She also incurred a loss of ₹50,000 after a cot and a motorcycle were damaged. In her family of seven, both Durga and her husband catch and sell fish. Depending on the catch, they earn around ₹700 per day.

Meanwhile, Devi lives with her husband and in-laws in the same apartment. Her house, too, was damaged during the floods. Her family has taken loans worth ₹4 lakh. There are 32 families in the apartment, all of them Chenchus. Here, almost every family has a woman who goes out to seek alms to support the household. “Not every day, but on days when the catch is meagre, the women step in to help,” says Durga.

Social restrictions

In her community, begging has long been a recourse for women. While men catch and sell fish or work for farmers chasing rats out of their fields, women have little freedom to take up jobs. Community elders impose a fine of ₹10,000 or more if a woman works in a company. There are punishments for stealing, lying and marrying outside the caste as well, and wrongdoers may be boycotted from the community.

The fear of social censure has forced women to turn to begging. They have three options: selling wares, washing utensils or clothes, or begging. Many also work at functions. “But to sell wares, we need an investment of at least ₹20,000,” says Durga. Her mother and mother-in-law also used to beg but stopped after they began receiving pensions two years ago.

The weight of stigma

The reason for such restrictions on women in the community has its roots in the stigma associated with nomadic and denotified tribes, says G. Umamaheswara Rao, a professor, formerly with the Dalit Bahujan Resource Centre. “The fear of being falsely accused of stealing is deeply ingrained in their minds. Among people of the Yanadi and Yerukula communities too, this apprehension is common,” he says.

The restrictions imposed on women in the community have their roots in the stigma associated with nomadic and denotified tribes, says G. Umamaheswara Rao, a professor, formerly associated with the Dalit Bahujan Resource Centre. “The fear of being falsely accused of stealing is deeply ingrained in their minds. Among people of the Yanadi and Yerukula communities too, this apprehension is common,” he says.

Durga echoes the concern.

“If we work as maids in someone’s house and are accused of stealing, will anyone listen to us if we say we did not do it?” she asks. Even today, they avoid visiting other people’s houses.

The professor believes that Chenchus, traditionally forest dwellers, migrated to urban areas in search of livelihoods after being displaced by developmental projects. When they fail to find work, they sometimes end up begging. While socio-economic reasons are valid, there is also a section of beggars who take up the activity for easy money.

The professor believes that Chenchus, traditionally forest dwellers, migrated to urban areas in search of livelihoods after being displaced by developmental projects. When they fail to find work, they sometimes end up begging.

Many paths to the streets

While socio-economic reasons are valid, there is also a section of beggars who take up the activity for easy money. Begging can take many forms, says M. Anil Kumar, director of the SMILE project in Vijayawada. “For some, like denotified communities, begging is part of life—it is traditional begging. Then there is seasonal begging, where people from lower-income groups beg during jataras (festival fairs) to earn extra money. Others land on the streets because of sudden turns in their lives,” he says.

Sitting on a footpath near the Eluru Canal in Hanumanpet in Vijayawada, a frail elderly woman with drooping eyes and dishevelled hair solicits alms from passers-by. She sits on a folded saree spread on the pavement and keeps a sack, a stick and a steel bowl beside her.

“My son has passed away, and I have no one,” says the woman, Hamsa, who does not remember her age. Her sentences are interspersed with Tamil words. She says she came here 30 years ago and has been living in poverty ever since.

As she speaks, a fellow beggar interjects: “She was allotted a house in Kandrika, but she refuses to go there. And she earns ₹500 per day.” The old woman snaps back, saying it is a lie. “I get ₹10,” she says, adding that ‘PhonePe’ has affected her income. Later, she admits she does have a house, but claims her daughter-in-law harasses her there.

Another woman, Gaddi Suseela, has a similar story. After her husband died five years ago, she resorted to begging. She also sits next to Hamsa on the footpath. Earlier, she worked at a hotel and earned ₹300 per day. When asked if they would give up begging and move to an old-age home, they strongly refuse. “We have gotten used to this life,” they say.

Rehabilitation efforts

Mr. Anil Kumar points out that the government has allotted houses to some homeless people. While most have made use of them, a few have rented them out and continue to beg. “During our surveys, we found that some people living in tents here have gold ornaments and even one or two houses in their native places. It is difficult to convince such people to give up begging,” he says.

According to the guidelines of the SMILE scheme, surveys should be conducted in cities and those identified for begging should be shifted to shelter homes, where they can stay for three to six months. During this period, they receive counselling and are trained in a skill. By the end of the programme, the rescued individuals are expected to find work and accommodation.

At the lone shelter home in Vijayawada, run by the NGO with support from the municipal corporation as part of the Central government scheme, 50 people are currently undergoing counselling. Of the total beggars identified in the city during the survey, 400 were counselled and rehabilitated between November 2023 and February 2026. Half of them had been forced into begging due to family disputes, death of loved ones, pandemic and mental illness.

Chaparla Ganesh, aged over 60, from Balagudaba village in Parvathipuram Manyam district, lost his wife to COVID-19 in March 2020, at the beginning of the lockdown. Working as a mason then, he was away in Ravulapalem at the time. “By the time I managed to reach my village, she was gone,” he recalls, his eyes welling up. The couple had only one house, which was given as dowry to his son-in-law after his parents demanded it.

After losing his wife and house in a short span of time, Ganesh slipped into depression. He later visited his daughter’s house in Haridwar, where he stayed for two months. “But her in-laws did not want me there. They said she was already a burden, and now her father had come too.” Hearing this, he left the place and came to Vijayawada in search of work. When he failed to find any, he ended up begging for food. “There were days when I went without food for three days at a stretch. I spent all my money on alcohol,” he says. Later, he was rescued and brought to the shelter home. Now, he works there as the main cook.

There are two other men with similar stories who, after losing their spouses, fell into depression and ended up begging at bus and railway stations. They have now found work as helpers in eateries.

Mr. Anil Kumar believes that more people could have been rescued if there were additional shelter homes in the city. The corporation has requested the sanction of three more shelter homes from the Centre. He also points out how difficult it is to rent a house to shelter beggars. “No one comes forward to rent out their property. Rents are skyrocketing, and the Centre’s grant is not enough,” he says. Moreover, the Centre has released funds for the scheme to the NGO only once. “In Andhra Pradesh, Vijayawada was the first place where the scheme was launched in 2023. We received ₹32 lakh initially. But the Centre still owes us around ₹65 lakh,” he says, adding that the Central scheme too has several loopholes.