Next time when you come across someone begging alms, don’t just mumble something in English thinking that they will not understand you. The census data of 2011 has made an astounding revelation that 21% of the beggars in our country are educated to the level of SSC or more.
Delving deeper into the details, there are around 3.72 lakhs of literate beggars. Around 75,000 of them are 12th Pass outs and 3000 are believed to have either professional diplomas, graduation or post-graduation.
Some of those beggars were interviewed to know the reason for them to have chosen this as their livelihood. While some of them have chosen this path being not able to get any kind of employment, some others have opted it as it yielded them more income compared with their previous jobs.
Whatever may be the reason, this portrays the alarming state of the educated youth in our country. Whether it is a vocation or an avocation there is urgent need that we have to retrospect regarding the current system of education as it is not instilling the confidence to become an entrepreneur rather than looking out for a job.