After the State Government provided some relaxations to resume various operations in the city, several beggars including children can be seen to be active in the city again. Most of these children do not wear masks and roam around in the city which also makes them more vulnerable to Covid-19 virus amid the current pandemic.

Child beggars are not an uncommon sight in Dehradun and some other parts of the state. Despite a few measures taken in recent years, limited progress has been made towards effectively resolving this issue.

Talking about the persistence of the beggary in the city, the director of Dehradun women welfare directorate, Yogendra Yadav, who is also secretary of Uttarakhand child protection committee, said that no law, police force or the Government can change this practice until somebody hits the root cause of this problem and it can happen only if the stable earning people of a region come forward to help the needy.

According to him, interaction and contribution of such people with the downtrodden and poor families of deprived children is important. Rather than using force and power to threaten child beggars, one should focus on strengthening the structure of their families, said Yadav.

He said that most of the child beggars in Dehradun belong to the families who do not have proper means to live or afford two square meals a day. Due to this the children are used to supplement the earnings of the family. Moreover, he also stated that most of these children also tend to get involved in drugs and other criminal activities in the future, so it becomes more important to give these children direction and education. This can happen if the well to do section of the society comes forward to give their time and contribute to the lives of these people.

According to Yadav, there are sufficient stable earners in the city and even if only a few thousand people come forward to help these families, it can easily eradicate the issues of child beggary and juvenile crimes from Dehradun to a great extent.

 Giving an example of how a person can help an unprivileged child or a family, Yadav said that if a person can bear the one-time expenses of a child for a Government school in a year that includes books, school uniforms and other stationery items which will be around Rs 2000 besides some other trivial monthly expenses which would be around Rs 500, it is possible to educate the child and support the child's family. Besides providing financial help, it is also important for that person to take some responsibility of the child regarding his or her studies and spend some quality time to interact and connect, added Yadav.

Furthermore, he also added that one can also adopt a destitute family to improve their condition and provide them with the support they need during the current crisis.

To provide a platform to those who want to help, Yadav said that women welfare directorate can assist such people to connect with the underprivileged families and children.

 He said that people can help the destitute through the directorate or can directly meet them to enquire and learn more about their requirements.