The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security will launch a campaign urging the public to refrain from giving money to beggars after a nationwide survey indicated a rise in beggar numbers.
Minister Varawut Silpa-archa has set the campaign launch for Friday at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre in Pathumwan district.
Related sectors, including the Bangkok Metropolitan Administrative (BMA), the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB), the Immigration Bureau, the Mirror Foundation, and networks working to alleviate the beggar problem, are expected to participate in the event.
The participants will also hand out campaign pamphlets -- written in Thai, English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Cambodian -- to people at Pathumwan Intersection and along Rama I and Phaya Thai roads, said Mr Varawut.
The campaign is to raise awareness of the growing beggar problem and advocate regulatory and legal measures to control the number of beggars while aiming to change the mindset of people who give money to them.
People tend to take pity on beggars who suffer or pretend to suffer from disabilities. They also see the act of compassion as a way of making merit.
The sentiment perpetuates the problem, and many beggars often end up being trafficked or are hired to engage in illegal activities.
Mr Varawut said the ministry's campaign found 506 beggars on the streets nationwide in the fiscal year ending next month, a 20% increase from last year.
Of those, 331, or 65%, were Thai nationals. The ministry also discovered that 24% were repeat beggars.
The majority of beggars were found in Bangkok and key tourist provinces such as Chon Buri, Chiang Mai, Phuket, and Lop Buri.
In the meantime, nine provinces were beggar-free: Chai Nat, Sing Buri, Satun, Nakhon Phanom, Lampang, Phetchaburi, Nan and Phangnga, said Mr Varawut.
He added beggars numbered 7,635 from October 2014 to July this year; 65% of them were Thai, and the rest were foreign nationals.
Mr Varawut said the majority of beggars worked in major cities and tourist towns, especially in Bangkok, Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani, Chon Buri, Nakhon Ratchasima and Chiang Mai.