Often, we hear middle-class Indians urging others not to give anything to beggars, because they\u2019re part of a \u201cbegging racket\u201d, implying that begging is organized crime. And yet, nobody has ever come across evidence of such a racket. Even people who have\u00a0studied the lives of beggars<\/a>\u00a0say they have heard of no such thing. So why do we choose to believe that begging rackets exist, and that what is right in front of our eyes is\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0actual desperation?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n In India\u2019s version of the Covid-19 pandemic, hunger is as much of a tragedy as the disease itself, even in a relatively well-administered city like Delhi. Among the hardest hit are migrant daily wage earners, unemployed people, and the homeless. This video, shot on April 18 in Delhi, shows people waiting for food in a two-kilometer-long queue in the scorching sun:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n State and local governments, faith groups, volunteer groups, and non-profits are trying to provide food to such people. But 26 days into India\u2019s lockdown, it is obvious that many are still falling through the cracks. Stories about\u00a0attacks<\/a>\u00a0on, and deaths of, the poor are surfacing with increasing frequency.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n For example, 29-year-old\u00a0Gangamma, a migrant construction worker<\/a>, was forced to leave Bangalore when work came to a halt. After walking 300 kilometers, she died of hunger on her way home to Raichur.\u00a0Mukesh, a house painter<\/a>\u00a0in his early thirties, in Gurgaon, near Delhi, sold his cellphone for Rs 2,500 ($33) to buy flour, sugar, rice, and a fan for his four children so that they could sleep comfortably in the rising heat \u2013 and then ended his life. His neighbors pitched in for his last rites, because his family had no money.\u00a0Sudarshan Rasal, a 49-year-old taxi driver<\/a>\u00a0in Mumbai, died of acute respiratory distress after being turned away by eight hospitals. Despite coming from a locality officially declared a Covid-19 hotspot, Rasal remained undiagnosed, because doctors cannot take a swab from a dead man.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The image below, of a starving man, was taken near the Yamuna river in North Delhi on April 15, by Sunil Kumar Aledia, whose Facebook profile identifies him as convenor of the National Forum for Homeless Housing Rights:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n There are two parallel Indias at the best of times, but the Covid-19 pandemic is making it harder and harder to avoid what we pretend not to see most of the time. One India is missing its maids and drivers, virtue-signaling about paying them through the lockdown, rediscovering the kitchen, and cheerfully taking on the challenge of trying to recreate from its limited pantry the taste of that amazing crepe they had that one time at that tiny creperie in Paris. The other India is trying desperately not to die.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Tomorrow I plan to go out to buy essentials. I don\u2019t expect to find the coffee filters or vanilla extract that I \u201cneed\u201d. But I think I\u2019ll be okay.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Uma-Asher-Pandemic-1.jpg\")
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