SHILLONG: A child begging on the street of the national capital moved 29-year-old Ashish Sharma so much that he embarked on a mission to make India a “beggar-free” country.
Sharma, who is walking across India, reached Shillong on Wednesday and met Governor Tathagata Roy.
The young mechanical engineer started his journey on foot from Jammu on August 22, 2017, and has set a target to travel 17,000 km spreading the message of eradicating beggary. Sharma has already covered 9,281 km for his campaign Unmukt India.
In an interaction with media persons, Sharma, who quit his job in a multi-national company before starting the campaign, narrated how one evening while returning home from work he saw a “thin and lean child with a bleeding hand begging”.
Moved by the pathetic sight, he took the child home, gave him first aid, new clothes and got him enrolled in a nearby school. But he did not stop there. In fact, the incident changed his life.
“I got him enrolled in school and took care of his expenses. But the thought of other children trapped in penury did not let me sleep. And I decided to launch a mission against child begging,” said Sharma.
And finally in 2015, Sharma decided to quit his job to pursue his dream of a beggar-free India. But he was new to the subject so he decided to do some research.
“After doing extensive research, I concluded that the condition was going from bad to worse. The government-run welfare schemes were not reaching those who actually deserved them because of lack of awareness,” he said. His journey is also aimed at creating awareness on these issues.
Sharma has covered Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Daman, Silvassa, Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.
He said he travelled around 30 to 40 km a day and met thousands of people to make them aware of the welfare schemes that could change an individual’s life.
When asked if walking would help in the eradication of beggary he replied, “No it won’t directly but this is just the first phase. As soon as I complete my journey, I and my supporters will organise a huge rally in New Delhi for awareness and then we will start sending children to schools from village levels.”