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A10 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 15 november 2017
Indian city rounds up beggars ahead of visit by Ivanka Trump

By OMER FAROOQ
Associated Press
HYDERABAD, India (AP) —
Authorities in the southern
Indian city of Hyderabad
are rounding up beggars
ahead of a visit by Ivanka
Trump for an international
conference.
Over the past week, more
than 200 beggars have
been transported to sep-
arate male and female
shelter homes located on
the grounds of two city
prisons. Authorities have
been strictly enforcing a
begging ban on the city’s
streets and in other public
places.
The crackdown seems to
be having the desired ef-
fect, with most of Hyder-
abad’s thousands of beg-
gars vanishing from sight.
Trump is a senior adviser
to her father, President
Donald Trump. Later this
month, she is scheduled to
be a featured speaker at
the Global Entrepreneur- In this Monday, Nov. 13, 2017 photo, an Indian man seeks alms at a street in Hyderabad, India. Associated Press
ship Summit in Hyderabad,
which will also be attend- events are taking place in punished by as much as shelters on the grounds of jointly hosted by the U.S.
ed by Indian Prime Minister the city — the entrepre- 10 years in prison, although the Chanchalguda and and India.
Narendra Modi. neurship summit and the the law is rarely enforced. Charalapally jails where Singh said that next month,
Officials say the drive World Telugu Conference “We will complete the the beggars are being tak- after Ivanka Trump has
against begging was in December. clearing of beggars from en estimates the city has left, police will start offer-
launched because two Begging is a criminal of- the city roads by the end 13,000 beggars. ing cash rewards to people
upcoming international fense in India and can be of the month,” said V.K. About half of them are who inform them of a beg-
Singh, a top police officer. begging because they are gar’s location. Police have
The beggars have been living in poverty while the set up a control room to re-
rounded up from traf- other half want money for ceive the information.
fic junctions, bus stations alcohol and drugs, said This isn’t the first time the
and railway stations and Gattu Giri, an official with poor and homeless have
transported by van to the the Amma Nanna Ananda been pushed out of sight
shelters, where they often Ashram organization. as India hosts international
find themselves separated The entrepreneurship sum- visitors. Ahead of the 2010
from their family members. mit is an annual event that Commonwealth Games in
They are being offered this year will focus on sup- New Delhi, slums were de-
clean clothes, a shower porting female entrepre- molished and thousands
and a bed. But they’re also neurs. Running from Nov. of beggars pushed to the
being fingerprinted before 28-30, the summit is being edge of the city.q
they’re allowed to leave
and told they could face
jail time if they are found
begging again.
More than 20 percent of
India’s 1.3 billion people
live on less than 2 dollars a
day. For many, begging is
survival.
Beggars tend to crowd
around cars at traffic sig-
nals, knocking on windows
and asking for food and
money.
They include children as
young as 5, who weave
through dangerous traffic
and often perform small
acrobatic acts.
A rights group that runs the
two Hyderabad homeless