This Indian city is offering Rs 1,000 reward to citizens for reporting child beggars

After a woman was discovered to have made Rs 2.5 lakh in six weeks by begging with her children in Indore, the administration has announced a reward of Rs 1,000 to people who offer information on any child being forced to beg in the city, Times of India reported.

“We are issuing a helpline for this. Anyone who calls us with information on a child beggar can share the location on WhatsApp so that the administration's team can rescue the child," collector Asheesh Singh told the publication. He added that people who provide valid information on multiple child beggars will also get felicitation certificates along with the cash reward.

"Citizens who report incidents of child begging will receive a cash reward. A WhatsApp number, 9691729017, has been designated for reporting child alms practices," read a post shared by the official handle of the Indore Collector on X.

The decision was taken after they found a woman, Indra Bai, had earned Rs 2.5 lakh in 45 days by begging and forcing five of her children to beg. The woman -- who owns a plot of land, a two-storey house in Rajasthan's Kota, a motorcycle, and a phone worth Rs 20,000 -- is a repeat offender and has recently been booked for forcing her five children to beg, the Times of India reported.

Indra's children are aged 10, 8, 7, 3, and 2. “Rather than starving, we chose to beg. It is better than stealing,” Indra Bai told volunteers of an Indore-based NGO, Sanstha Pravesh, when she and her seven-year-old daughter were being taken off the streets.