Chandigarh, July 19 -- Toughening its stance to eradicate child begging from the state, the Punjab government has rescued 41 children in just two days through raids at 18 locations acrossdistricts under its "Project Jeevanjot-2". Anyone exploiting children for begging in the state will face the full force of the law, announced social security, women and child development minister Baljit Kaur. "The campaign integrates provisions from the Punjab Prevention of Beggary Act, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, guidelines of the Supreme Court and high court, and the standard operating procedures issued by the Punjab State Child Protection Commission," she told reporters on Friday. An FIR has been registered in Bathinda where 20 children were rescued from villages suspected of being exploited for begging. In a first for any state in the country, Kaur said, if a child was found begging with an adult, a DNA test will be conducted to establish whether the accompanying adults were the child's biological parents. Until the results are made available, the child will remain in a child care institution under government protection. "If DNA reports confirm that the adults are not the biological parents, stringent legal action will be initiated, including charges under anti-trafficking and child protection laws," said Kaur. "If they are not, then from where do they bring children and make them beg? With DNA testing, those who are involved in child trafficking will be caught," she said. In another firm move, parents repeatedly found forcing children to beg will be declared "unfit guardians". Such children will then be placed in adoption pipelines, ensuring their future was protected, said the minister. The anti-begging campaign was started in September 2024, with dedicated rescue teams formed at district-level committees to identify and rescuechildren found begging across the state. Kaur said in the last nine months, through 753 rescue operations (raids) across the state, 367 children were successfully rescued. "Of these, 350 children were reunited with their families, while 17 children whose parents could not be identified were placed in child care homes. A total of 183 children wereadmitted to schools and 13children under the age of six were enrolled in Anganwadi centres for early childhood care," she said....