Shillong, Sept 05: Mr Ashish Sharma is a man with a mission. He wants to eradicate beggary from entire nation. On the trail of his ‘Beggar-free India’ campaign , Unmukt India beginning on foot from Jammu Unmukt India 17,000km walk, he has now reached Shilong meeting Governor Wednesday and trying to meet CM sir also.
He is in the last state of northeast region of his journey. It sounds like the stuff of a story or a movie, but it is a real-life adventure. Ashish Sharma, 29, who hails from Delhi and is a mechanical engineer by profession has sacrificed his job in a multi-national company as well as family and started campaigning for ‘Beggar-free India.’
He now set a target to travel across the nation spreading the word to eradicate the country of beggary. He has planned to travel 17,000 kms across the nation and has already covered 9,281 kms.
In an interaction with media persons Ashish Sharma narrated how one evening 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, some new clothes and got him enrolled in a nearby school along a NGO But he did not stop there.
In fact, the incident changed his life. Deciding to pursue this issue, he quit his job and embarked on a journey to cover the entire country on foot to create awareness against children begging.“I got him enrolled in school and took care of his expenses. But the thought of other children trapped in a similar existence did not let me sleep. And I decided to launch a mission against child begging,” said Ashish, who reached the state capital on Tuesday evening on foot.
And finally in the year 2015, Sharma decided to quit his job to pursue his dream, eradication of child begging. But till then, he was new to the subject so he decided to do some research first. “After doing extensive research, I concluded that the condition was going from bad to worse.
There’s are seven issues chain that is required tl break , from Child trafficking – child begging – Syndicated begging – Rag picking – Child labour – genetic research – Prosecution & Crime. The government-run welfare schemes were not reaching those who actually deserved them, because of lack of awareness,” he said.
Then he decided to embark upon the country-wide foot march to create awareness among the masses. “We cannot make people aware unless we meet them personally and a countrywide tour was perhaps the best way to meet the masses,” he said.
His started his journey from Jammu on August 22, 2017 covered Jammu, Himachal pradesh , Punjab , Haryana , Rajasthan , Gujrat , Daman , Silvasa , Maharastra , Goa , Madya pradesh , Uttrakand , Up , Bihar , Sikkim , Assam , Arunachal Pradesh , Nagaland , Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and now in Meghalaya.
“Journeying on foot was not at all an easy task but my goal to make India a nation free of child begging kept me going,” he said. Initially he received a rebuke from his parents but now they are proud of him. His father Suresh Sharma, who is working in the agriculture department Semi limited firm and his mother, a home maker, had been a thorough support in his mission, he said.
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. So far, he has covered around 9,281 km in 22 states.
When it was asked if this walking would help in the eradication of beggary he replied, “No it won’t directly but this is just a first phase. As soon as I complete my journey me and my supporters will organised a huge rally in New Delhi for awareness and then we will start sending childrens in schools from village levels.”
For that he has programmed a mobile application named ‘Duayen’ in which he connected schools, hospitals, police stations, administrative officials and other government establishments. “The application is in the testing phase.
He also planned to launch the application also, the day when I will be celebrating ‘Unmukt Diwas’. The mobile applications can be of great use in identifying the lost kids and child beggars, helping them reach their homes,”.
