Pushkaram is an Indian festival that takes place once every 12 years along one of 12 spiritually important rivers. This year it was the Godavari River’s turn. Kamalakara Rao took a look at an odd challenge the government faced:

• Because the festival takes place so rarely, it is expected to draw thousands of beggars.
• To avoid this the local state government announced that those seeking alms would be paid ₹5,000 (US$ 77) as compensation for lost wages if they agreed to stay away from the event.
• The biggest problem was, of course, verification, as relatively well-off people claimed to be beggars in order to get compensation.
• Still the idea has worked in the past. In 2000 those seeking alms were given similar financial incentives if they agreed to move ahead of President Clinton’s visit.

Read more here.

Source: The Times of India