Beggars descend on Mumbai to make a fortune

MUMBAI: Come festive season and hundreds of beggars from all over the country descend on this western metropolis to collect alms.
       
The beggars, mostly hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, especially camp in Mumbai during the holy month of Ramzan.
       
Abdul Mannan, a labourer from Malda district in West Bengal, who has been regularly coming here for the last seven years, is returning home after becoming richer by Rs 50,000.
      
Mannan, who works as a farm labourer in his hometown, has three grown-up daughters and now looks forward to meeting the expenses for two of his daughters' marriage planned for the year-end.
      
"I didn't have to spend a single penny, as most of the devout used to offer eatables during the 'sheri' (opening of fast early morning) and during 'Iftaar' (breaking the fast in the evening)," Mannan said.
      
During the month, he stayed with one of his villagers who has settled in the metropolis.
      
Devout Muslims, during Ramzan, make donations ('zakaat') from their earnings (to the poor and needy), Sayed Zafar, a Muslim social activist, said.
       
"Under the Muslim law, every Muslim has to pay 'zakat' of 2.5 per cent of their total earnings in a year. Possessing gold and silver beyond a certain weight is also covered under 'zakat'," Jafar said.
       
Mannan said his family or his village folks do not know that he earns by begging during the holy month.
       
However, unlike Mannan, some of the beggars are still staying back in the hope of earning more during the upcoming festivals like 'Dusshera' and Diwali, Hajira Begum, who came from Hyderabad, said.