A survey of beggars in Sri Lanka is to be commenced by the Department of Social Services this month (September).

State Minister of Women and Child Affairs Geetha Kumarasinghe said that since it has been reported that children and women are mostly being used in begging, steps will be taken to curb this situation. Accordingly, she also stated that in this regard, she will hold a preliminary discussion with the relevant institutions including the Police, the Local Authorities, and the National Child Protection Authority.

Attention was drawn to this when the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Women, Children’s Affairs and Social Empowerment met in the Parliament recently chaired by Minister Kumarasinghe and the State Minister of Social Empowerment Anupa Pasqual.

It was discussed that the use of children and women for begging has become a business as it is common to hire children for begging, while some children are given drugs and used for begging, and women pretending to be pregnant. Although there are legal provisions in this regard, attention was also paid to the issues of proper implementation at the practical level.

The State Ministers directed the officials to take steps to obtain the relevant data in connection with the said survey.