Give food, not cash, to the poor

I read Michael Stoops’ advice on beggars’ right to ask for money [“Close Encounters With Acute Poverty,” Her World, Sept. 25] with some horror. It’s very well-meaning advice for the United States but dangerous to beggars in India.

According to my colleagues in Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi and Calcutta, it’s very helpful to buy packages of protein biscuits and oranges or bananas to distribute to beggars who will inevitably approach you in train stations and in the street. Many children, especially, have no other means to survive and little or no access to education.

However, if you give a beggar money, that money more than likely goes directly to the crime group that controls the begging “industry” in cities such as Mumbai. If a child withholds even a few rupees, he or she is likely to get a beating.

So please encourage your readers to give beggars food, which they can eat on the spot and will help them survive another day, rather than money, which may lead to abuse.

ALEXIS KRASILOVSKY

Northridge