Pakistan is a developing country with a high rate of poverty. This poverty has forced many people to resort to begging to make a living. However, professional beggars have also started to resort to this profession leading to the creation of an economically wasteful class which is feeding off the work of others in society. Begging mafias have also developed their roots in the country.
They force people to beg and use tactics such as kidnapping and forcefully disabling people to ensure that they gain more empathy from people. The children of beggars also tend to resort to begging as they never receive education and are instrumentalized by their parents and beggar mafias in most cases to gain greater sympathy of others.
This leads to the destruction of the constructive capacities of generations as the profession of begging is passed on from parents to their children. Hence, it is the need of the hour that our government acts to curb down begging.
Therefore, this policy analysis aims to critically review the problem stream, policy stream and political stream regarding the issues and control of begging in Pakistan. To serve this purpose, data was collected through interviews and survey questionnaires.
Subsequently, various policy alternatives were proposed and evaluated using Policy Delphi rankings and certain assessment criteria such as effectiveness, cost, societal acceptance, sustainability and ease of implementation that could be effective in taking concerted action to hinder the spread of begging.
