Over 4 lakh beggars in India, most in West Bengal: Govt

New Delhi, Aug 13: West Bengal has over 81,000 beggars, highest in the country, while Lakshadweep merely has two vagrants, the government on Thursday said.

There are 4,13,670 beggars -- 2.2 lakh males and 1.91 lakh females -- in the country, Minister of State for Social Justice Vijay Sampla said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

West Bengal with 81,244 beggars topped the list followed by 65,835 in Uttar Pradesh, 30,218 in Andhra Pradesh, 29,723 in Bihar and 28,695 in Madhya Pradesh. Incidentally, in Assam, Manipur, and West Bengal female beggars outnumbered their male counterparts.

However, the Union Territories recorded the least number of beggars. The archipelago of Lakshadweep has only two beggars as per the government record, followed by Dadra Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and the Andaman and Nicobar islands with 19, 22 and 56 vagrants respectively.

Of all the UTs, Delhi recorded the largest number of vagrants -- 2,187 followed by Chandigarh with 121. Among the northeastern states Assam topped the list with 22,116 beggars while Mizoram with 53 was ranked lowest.

Around 22 states/UTs have adopted or brought in legislation against begging, the minister said.

PTI