News Article

Delhi, Maharashtra and Rajasthan are taking steps to rewrite the unconstitutional law on beggary and decriminalise poverty

“We saw how people struggled for meals and to get to their homes. The deeper impact not being spoken about is the psychological trauma.” says Mohammed Tarique

As part of an exercise to decriminalise/rationalise penalties under the provisions of the Railway Act, 1989, the Ministry of Railways has proposed to decriminalise begging on trains or railway premises and compound the offence of smoking by levying spot fine and dropping all charges/action against the person involved.

Koshish was initiated in August 2006 as a response to this systemic injustice and criminalization of poverty that was happening under the Beggary Prevention Law. It wasn’t a planned strategy but an emotional response to extreme violation that one student witnessed in a custodial institution closer to the Tata Institute of Social Sciences campus.

The country has been going through an unprecedented health crisis. There is despair and desperation all around.

Setting up an independent social audit mechanism will be the first.

Help rendered during pandemic should be about empathy, not charity

It doesn’t cost a lot to rehabilitate the homeless, says the director-animator Kireet Khurana who is out with his latest film, Ek Koshish.

The Summers and the rains and the winters; all are severe.

Days are harsh. Nights are tough.

I can’t stay awake. I can’t sleep.

Heat in the tar, dampness of the ground, chill in the air don’t let me sleep or be awake…

But my biggest suffering comes from the emptiness of human souls.

I’m the most visible yet the invisible resident of your cities.

In the hope of living some day, I die every day.

I’m the homeless!

Compassion is probably the most beautiful emotion humans can ever experience. In compassion lies the answer to the biggest of challenges, and strength to tide over any obstacle.