Economics of Begging in Bangalore
Lately, I have been observing the beggars at all the traffic junctions in Bangalore when I’m stuck for a long time in traffic. I’ve noticed a very important pattern.
At any big traffic junction, the traffic at the signal has to wait anywhere from 120 to 180 seconds these days. A beggar can cover atleast 30 vehicles in this time and atleast 1 in 5, give the beggars some money. This money these days is anywhere from Rs 1 to Rs 5. I’ve even seen a guy give out Rs 100 to a beggar.
So at a 3 min traffic light junction, a beggar can make anywhere from Rs 5 to Rs 20. Even if we assume the lower limit, in an hour a beggar makes Rs 5 * 60/3 = Rs 100. If he/she works for 8 hours a day like most of us, he/she will make Rs 800/day.. and that’s about Rs 24,000 / month.
Now Rs 24,000 / month is lot more money than what most fresh software engineers get paid these days. The beggars don’t even have to worry about tax on the money they make.
Who says the money in Bangalore does not trickle down to the poor 🙂
I was gonna say, “how the hell is the guy gonna cover one vehicle every 180/30 == 6 seconds? i mean, to do the handshake, get the cash, and then split … i mean, just walking from one car to another is a coupla seconds at minimum … ” and then i remembered we’re discussing bangalore traffic here.
i imagine it should be trivially difficult to do it =)
and i must say i really love how you’ve *everywhere* assumed the higher numbers and then finally made your argumentation sound really convincing with a “Even if we assume the lower limit” clause thrown in for good measure. :))
you know.. these used to be days when people would bug you till you paid.. but these days.. they just go .. knock on the door .. take money..and go.. if they realise the guy is not interested in giving.. they move on.
I personally see them make Rs 5 – 10 almost everytime I’m at the silk board junction. So that’s what the assumptions where based on.
Ofcourse I agree on the second part.. there could be bad weather days, holidays etc… but then again..there are people who drop a lot of money to these beggars too.
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Those are some interesting stats. Throw in the following for good measure:
* More than one family member is at it at a given time, Big plus if children are there(they tend to attract much more pity->alms)
* They hardly even ask 2 wheelers now, they go straight for cars(preferably the new and fancy ones). My uncle who owns a Huandai Accent actually keeps a stack of coins at hands reach just so that he does not need to search for them. I am certian a huge percent of the ppl do that.
* They do much more business during peak hours(times when prof are going/returning from office) which coincides with the maximum wait time at traffic junctions thanks to the increased flow in traffic
Sounds like a nice Freakonomics kindof study to me… provided we can get good quality and amount of data 😛
Wow! So changing profession again? 😉
I’ve been doing this crap too long if I just read your subject as “Economics of Blogging in Bangalore”
That’s exactly what I read it as…
mentioned in the book
See the “the sorcerers apprentice” for an insight in to the hidden side of india including begging, god men, con men etc.
http://www.amazon.com/Sorcerers-Apprentice-Tahir-Shah/dp/1559706260
The babies the women carry may be rented for the day from a “baby dealer”.
Also for the prime locations you may have to a pay a “rent” to the local thugs to beg. So not all the cash is kept by the beggar, some acccounting insights would be nice.
You’ve got Brad reading your journal
There are beggars who own properties like apartments etc.I am sure beggers on MG Road make close to 2000 bucks every day 😉
I guess airport road beggers are richer. they dont have to work 8 hrs a day..just hit the block during peak hours 😛
so..the beggars are the new nouveau riche and we car-drivers are the new beggars…
I was just thinking vaguely along these lines but you put it all together so well Kallu. I am sure they have a whole economic system, including pay-off to the cops and dividing up spoils…
Do YOU give money to beggars? I don’t want to, but at the back of my mind is a lingering doubt that maybe THIS particular man or woman is really in need…and God has been good to me…so I do give a coin or two sometimes..
ROTFL
not to forget beggars in dollars colony. I am sure they earn alms in dollars!
yes yes…. I remember someone begging money for replacing their stolen camera and accessories……. 😛
Well the math didnt seem reasonable to me as the probability of 1/5 is very rare. Also dont forget that a lot of these beggers have “unions” and a lot of the “handicapped” beggers are run by mobs (Read more about it from cnn-ibn’s report here
and a blog here
I personally feel, that the real beggers are only found near temples and corner shacks. The ones on the streets are fakes
The traffic cop is found at every signal and probably makes an interesting study too. Of course they too have unions and pay-off systems.
BTW, I am with Ravi’s comments, you oversimplify it and make it sound like easy money. There are bad days, peak and off peak hours, and whatever else.
Personally I prefer working with the person I am giving money too, rather than impulsively “dropping money”.
Just yesterday someone said even beggars have mobiles!
And that chap who gave the Rs 100/- must have been in a really good mood;-) I am in such moods sometimes, but luckily no beggars in Mangalore.
>…but luckily no beggars in Mangalore.
At the traffic lights I mean.
Begging for 8hrs a day is no joke.
It’s a lot harder than writing mind numbing code at Infosys.
>>Do YOU give money to beggars?
I too am in a dilemma about this most of the times..to give, i feel, is to encourage them to stick to this..not to give will be too harsh of me..
Made it to Vijay Times main page
Woo hoo, this post made it to Vijay Times main page with due credit (URL) given. If you have not seen already check Dec 26th Vijay Times. Available online at http://vijaytimesepaper.com/svww_index1.php
Conan Doyle called it first
a story called “the man with the twisted lip”.
An anecdote
Reminds me of an incident I was involved in. Was riding on my bike near the domlur flyover a few months ago. Had to stop to attend a call. The time was around 11 in the night.
A beggar(and his family) tried to beg their way into an autorickshaw to take them to some place near RT nagar, when the autowala refused to settle for anything lessthan 1.5times the meter amount (which is the norm), the beggar bargained and settled for 10 bucks over the meter amount!!!
-Aravind.
i was taken aback for a second on reading your prev post. to think that you had been doing all this travelling in a maruti! oh and dude you clear 6 feet so that must be cramped eh?
well i hope you enjoy the leg room in this one! 🙂
bon voyage!
did u realise
u were quoted in an eng news paper… I dont remember which one but but got a soft copy. Send it over?
sandeep
mindfocuz.blogspot.com
Funny
and I always told my parents that I want to get married only to someone from my profession..now I think I might just change my profession..man, this profession will come under the tax exempted :-))
rich bugger
The need of the hour is a suggestion as someone put in effort for the begger analysis, already.Now, to avoid or minimise the beggers on the street of the city or a town, the govt notifications to the NGOs need to be amended as to that it is their responsibility to curb, else they will have to be taxed.We can assist them for the implementation as a public supporter ..may be we can have an exclusive forum for this to suggest…one now,may be put a board where the beggers are more prominent in their presence that “call this NGO..mobile XXXXXXXXX”.I am sure atleast the well educated beggers, including the people who have been planning to change their profession after reading the article would not be there but to work hard and lead a life
Ravi NS
Re: rich bugger
Rs 5 * 60/3 = Rs 100.
^^ this calculation is invalid. You are assuming that over the 1 hour period, there are 20 sessions (of 3 mins each) of red lights. Even if we accept that the 3 minute assumption is correct, you have forgotten that the lights actually go green and yellow too (or whatever colour they go in your country), so there are far fewer than 20 sessions of begging (during stop signal) per hour.
I should say
I agreed with you
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