The number of beggars has shown a 41% decline in 10 years between 2001 and 2011 with Hindus and Muslims constituting the biggest chunk.
According to Census 2011 figures on non-workers released on Tuesday, there were 3.72 lakh beggars in the country, which is a decline from 6.30 lakh recorded in Census 2001.
One of the positives would be the decrease in number of beggars in the age group 5-14 years from 82,615 to 34,736, an impressive 58% decline.
Interestingly, 1.43 lakh beggars are above 60 years, down from 1.97 lakh in 2001. In this, 19,181 (25,776 in 2001) are above 80 years.
Though the numbers are decreasing, the challenge before the government and civil society have not nullified.
Together, Hindus and Muslims form 97% of the beggars.
Of this, Hindus constitute the highest of 2.68 lakh. The community has recorded a sharp 42.52% decline in the number of beggars from 4.67 lakh in 2001.
Similarly, the number of Muslim beggars, too, have shown a 34.85% decrease in number of beggars from 1.42 lakh to 92,760.
The proportion of Hindus who are forced to begging is 0.27% while that of Muslims is 0.53% of their population.
While Sikhs (1,657), Buddhists (1,963) and Jains (241) have shown decline, only Christians have shown a slight increase from 3,183 to 3,303.
DH had in December last year reported that 3,010 Indians, including 982 women, with graduation or above are begging on the streets. Of this, 410, including 137 women, have degrees in technical field
