ABSTRACT
This chapter explains about the leprosy-affected people from a self-run leprosy colony called Bethany in coastal Andhra Pradesh, south India during 1999 and 2000. The discovery of a cure for leprosy meant it was possible for those treated for the disease to be discharged from the mission hospital where they had converted to Christianity and, in many cases, had been resident for several years. Leprosy was, and to a significant extent remains, negatively constructed as a highly stigmatised state of being. As a biomedical disease, however, leprosy is curable and, in any case, is only very mildly contagious, with most people having a natural immunity to the disease. Nevertheless, begging was not a proper form of income generation', claimed the Community Development Officer (CDO), himself a person affected by leprosy. Under the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act 1959, there are clear provisions for the segregation of leprosy-affected people arrested for begging and other categories of beggar.
