Regulation of begging in Mumbai: a critique of religious and secular laws and notions of power

Begging is a complex, ambivalent phenomenon. People are often divided on their views on begging creating a dichotomy of standpoints; those who emphasise with the issue and those who are critical of it. The phenomenon cannot be understoon in a binary fashion. Both the written thesis and the audio-visual component move from a stance where begging is associated with being a socio-cultural issue to one that is actually much more complex and very political in nature. In doing so, it critiques the regulation of begging in Mumbai using religious codes of practice and secular law as well as analysing notions of power. There are two components to the thesis comprising a written element and an audio-visual documentary, which can stand independent of each other but are also linked as much of the dialogue that is a part of the documentary is discussed in depth in the written thesis and vice versa. The aim of the written critique is to support and amplify the audio-visual presentation