Begging is the last option for survival for a poor person. In Bangladesh, life is rough. There are many beggars on the streets of Dhaka city. One can’t help asking why GB is not operating in the urban areas. When I asked the GB employees about this, they said 'Grameen Bank means Rural Bank in Bangla. It was established under a special permission by the government that allows GB to operate only in rural areas'. However, after getting this kind of responses at the Head Office, I started to think why not change the rule and operate in the urban areas too. this can't be that hard. The poverty in urban areas especially in slums seems more visible and takes a different shape than the poverty in rural areas. But, personally I came to this belief that the real poorest of the poor are in urban areas. They literally have nothing, if we compare them with the poor in the rural areas. There, they can at least get by through some extended family relations and small agriculture business. In urban areas, however, this is not easy for everyone. Most of the beggars are actually village people who came to city to look for better opportunities. Considering the fact that changing the rules under which GB was established can not be hard, the main reason why GB is not operating in urban areas is much different than it looks. Basically, it comes down to the success of GB. Most of the GB employees told me that GB could not give loan to poor people in urban areas because, it is hard to track them. Due to the informal economic activities, people in urban areas often do not have a permanent address. And, this worries GB. In rural areas, families and women are immobile. Everyone knows their neighbors and where they live or when they moved if they did. This is why, I believe ,GB is not willing to operate in urban areas. However, GB gives funding and technical support to the local NGOs that work in the city. But, GB does not want to risk its success that it had achieved in rural areas. During my internship at GB, I got the impression that the main driving force behind working with local NGOs was to confront the criticisms towards GB on this. GB by working local NGOs tries to show the world that hey look, we do care about the poor people in urban areas. However, this indirect contribution does not seem to cover the downside of GB’s approach.
Speaking of beggars, some figures; as of August 2010, number of beggar members was around 90 thousand. and, GB disbursed around 150 million taka. The main objective of this program is to help beggars to quit begging and help them to live a normal life by taking up some kind of economic activity. According to GB official documents. Around 19 thousands beggars have quit begging and have been making a living as door-to-door sales persons. 9 thousand of them have joined GB groups as normal borrowers. Beggars also open personal saving accounts at GB and the present balance stands at 7.86 million taka.
Basic features of the program are:
1) Typical GB rules do not apply to beggar members.
2) Loans are interest free. Repayment can be made in a very long term, which reduces weekly payment.1) Typical GB rules do not apply to beggar members.
3) Beggar members are also covered under life insurance and loan insurance programs without any costs.
4) Beggars do not have to form groups to get a loan.
5) Members are not required to give up begging. But ,they are encouraged to do so by undertaking a income generating activity.
5) Members are not required to give up begging. But ,they are encouraged to do so by undertaking a income generating activity.
The last characteristic is the most interesting characteristics of beggar program. Although GB’s intention is to stop beggars from begging, they know that micro loans can not do the job. Overall beggar program has its own drawback. During my internship, I had chance to meet with many beggars in the field. At first, I was so excited that finally GB is pushing itself to reach the poorest of the poor. I was also excited because beggars are a good example to clearly see how the loans are affecting their life. There is one important reason for this. When normal borrower, who do no fall into the poorest of the poor category, received a loan, that loan goes into the family budget and because the amount is small, it just disappears. Sometimes, the borrowers do not even remember what they did with the loan. The loan is just not separate from the family budget. It is part of it. The members most of time have difficulty talking about specifically the loan because it directly goes into the family budget and they can not differentiate that. However, in the case of beggars, the situation is different. Because these members do not really have anything in their possession, the loan is clearly visible to the researchers as well as the members. Members know where the loan goes and the researcher is also able to reach a reliable conclusion about the overall impact of the loan on beggars. During my internship, the beggar members that I talked to were using the loan for more consumption purposes than productive purposes. This is mainly understandable, as these people desperately need help. They need financial support to maintain their daily life. They need food, shelter and health services. Under these circumstances, it is hard to expect them to quit begging and use the loan for a productive purpose. On top of everything, the loans are very small, return is too small and some beggars lack skills to engage in economic activity. So, I have doubts about the numbers of success stories in the official documents of GB. However, this does not rule out the fact that there are exceptions. One of the beggars that I spoke to had joined GB 5 years ago. He was having difficulty speaking and understanding me during our conversation. His first loan was 200-300 taka and last loan was 2000 taka. Before GB, he was staying with his brother and later they got separated and he moved to his house he inherited from his father. He was married and had two kids. 12 ad 3 years old.
With the first loan he bought chickens and two goats, he used the second loan to buy 2 cows he bought the cows they were small and when I talked to him, the Eid festival, one of the biggest religious festival where people sacrifice animals, he was so excited that he would be able to sell the cows at a good price in the animal market. But, not sure he was joking or not, he was hoping to sell the cows for 60 thousands while the actual price in the market was hovering aorund15-16 thousand. He said he purchased them around for 10 thousand taka each. That means when he got the loans from GB, he had some money laying somewhere. In the local market one chicken sells for 200 taka, that means with 2000 taka he can get only 10 chickens. Not enough money to buy enough cows or goats. The loan that GB gives to beggars is too small to do a real business. Every beggars’ conditions are different but it is likely that it is very hard for them to use the loan for more productive purposes as they have different priorities on their urgent expense list.
Another beggar member was a lady. She had 6 goats and she was renting 4 of them to the neighbors. In her first time, 6 years ago, she took 1000 taka and her last loan was 2000 taka. She was paying 40 taka every week. And, her daily income was around 30-40 taka, which is less than a dollar. The member was thinking of getting another loan and she openly said that she would use the loan to restore the roof of her house.
Her house was right next to her sister’s house, the bamboo house in the photo above. Her sister’s husband was a taxi driver. This member had also some health problems and she was very old. Her job wast to keep the roads in the bazaar clean. The municipality was paying her 40 taka a day (less than a dollar). She admitted that she was still begging. But, she said she was not going door to door anymore. But, she accepted money from people on the street. This member had no kids and this was affecting her condition in a negative way. Having kids provides a kind of economic security for families in Bangladesh. This is one of the reason behind the slowly decreasing birth rate despite government's efforts. Like all other members, beggars do not have any social security. This member, all she had was a bamboo house and 4 goats. In this particular case, because the member was living alone, she was able to control her loan. He case was different as compared to other women who were married and whose husbands were working. In those cases, women in Bangladesh are likely to lose their control over their loans.
