VOA标准英语 Bangladesh Wants to Boot Beggars off the Streets

（单词翻译）

The South Asian nation of Bangladesh wants to do something about the increasing number of beggars migrating into its cities from the countryside. Legislation has been approved that could send many of the country's most destitute¹ to jail for openly asking for charity. Some aid agencies are skeptical² this approach will solve the problem.
　
Bangladeshi beggars are seen on a street in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, 02 April 2009

Ragged³ beggars are a common sight on the streets of Dhaka and other cities in Bangladesh. The government wants to make their presence a rarity, if not eliminate it totally.

To that end, government officials say a new law curtailing⁴ begging in the open and on crowded streets will be strictly⁵ enforced. Violators will face up to three months in jail.

Officials say parliament on Tuesday approved a bill cracking down on beggars and it will take about a month to draft guidelines on how authorities will enforce the new law. They note that some beggars seek pity by pretending to be ill or displaying a disability. Sympathizers say most of those in such a condition on the streets really have no alternative.

The Bangladesh Finance Ministry⁶ says it wants to emulate⁷ some neighboring countries that have implemented⁸ plans to rehabilitate⁹ urban beggars by providing them with employment training programs.

The country director of the British charity Oxfam, M.B. Akther, says imprisonment¹⁰ and brief training schemes will not solve the problem.

"Every day thousands of beggars are coming to Dhaka city and other cities," Akther said. "So it is not the solution by putting them in jail for three months or a rehabilitation¹¹ center for one month, two months. It is not the solution."

Akther and other aid agency officials say the government should focus on creating jobs in rural areas to stem the internal migration¹² by the poor into the cities.

It is believed that several hundred thousand Bangladeshis live off begging. A survey several years ago in relatively¹³ prosperous Dhaka found that the average beggar there managed to collect about $1.5 a day. Approximately 40 percent of Bangladeshis get by on less than $1 per day.