VARANASI—Every day scores of beggars line the banks of the river Ganges in the city of Varanasi where pilgrims pour in from around India to cremate their loved ones, perform the rituals of life and death, or visit the ancient temples that dwell in the world’s longest continuously inhabited city. The city is the parliamentary constituency of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has been facing threats from militants. In 2018, the banned organization, Lashkar-e-Taiba’s sent a letter threatening to blow up famous religious places in the city. A year before that the city received similar threatening letters from ISIS. The city’s beggars who throng its crowded lanes to get hundreds of rupees of daily alms and a varied menu of sumptuous meals from the temples around pose a unique security threat. They sit at a high-risk place without any identity verification, but this is changing due to the “Beggars Corporation,” …