Latest news with #SupportforMarginalisedIndividualsforLivelihoodandEnterprise
Hans India
11-07-2025
- General
- Hans India
Centre revises SMILE scheme to provide beggars 'life of dignity'
New Delhi: The Centre has revised SMILE, its flagship rehabilitation programme for beggars, with an annual budget of Rs 37 crore, to ensure they move toward self-reliance and a life of dignity. Officials emphasised that the revised SMILE scheme marks a shift from punitive responses to a rights-based, rehabilitative approach that offers structured support to help vulnerable individuals. The updated SMILE (Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise) scheme adopts a four-pronged approach: survey and identification, outreach and mobilisation, rescue and shelter, and comprehensive resettlement to promote long-term rehabilitation and restore social dignity to the country's most marginalised groups. The scheme will be implemented in cities focusing on pilgrimages, sites of religious importance, historical landmarks and tourist areas across the country in partnership with the state administration and relevant organisations. According to the revised guidelines of the scheme, religious trusts and shrine boards will also play a significant role in implementing the scheme at pilgrimage and religious sites. The Centre has earmarked Rs 100 crore over three years for the scheme: Rs 30 crore for 2023-24, Rs 33 crore for 2024-25, and Rs 37 crore for 2025-26. The funds will be released in three instalments: 30 per cent for survey and mobilisation, 50 per cent for shelter and rehabilitation, and 20 per cent based on verified progress and reintegration status. The government aims to rehabilitate 2,500 individuals in the first year, 6,000 in the second, and 8,000 in the third. Each shelter home has been allocated an annual budget of Rs 48.7 lakh to cover operational costs, including food, staffing, counselling, skilling, and awareness campaigns. Municipal bodies and district administrations will conduct detailed surveys to profile beneficiaries based on factors such as age, gender, legal status, and health conditions. The data collected will be uploaded to a national portal under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for real-time monitoring. Once identified, individuals will be offered spot counselling and will be mobilised into shelter homes, either existing facilities under the DAY-NULM (Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Urban Livelihoods Mission) or rented shelters where required. Each shelter home, with a minimum capacity of 50 individuals, will provide food, clothing, hygiene kits, bedding, toilets, and recreational activities such as yoga.
Indian Express
10-07-2025
- General
- Indian Express
Govt revises SMILE scheme to provide ‘life of dignity' for beggars
The Centre has revised SMILE, its flagship rehabilitation programme for beggars, with an annual budget of Rs 37 crore, to ensure they move toward self-reliance and a life of dignity. Officials emphasised that the revised SMILE scheme marks a shift from punitive responses to a rights-based, rehabilitative approach that offers structured support to help vulnerable individuals. The updated SMILE (Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise) scheme adopts a four-pronged approach: survey and identification, outreach and mobilisation, rescue and shelter, and comprehensive resettlement to promote long-term rehabilitation and restore social dignity to the country's most marginalised groups. The scheme will be implemented in cities focusing on pilgrimages, sites of religious importance, historical landmarks and tourist areas across the country in partnership with the state administration and relevant organisations. According to the revised guidelines of the scheme, religious trusts and shrine boards will also play a significant role in implementing the scheme at pilgrimage and religious sites. The Centre has earmarked Rs 100 crore over three years for the scheme: Rs 30 crore for 2023-24, Rs 33 crore for 2024-25, and Rs 37 crore for 2025-26. The funds will be released in three instalments: 30 per cent for survey and mobilisation, 50 per cent for shelter and rehabilitation, and 20 per cent based on verified progress and reintegration status. The government aims to rehabilitate 2,500 individuals in the first year, 6,000 in the second, and 8,000 in the third. Each shelter home has been allocated an annual budget of Rs 48.7 lakh to cover operational costs, including food, staffing, counselling, skilling, and awareness campaigns. Municipal bodies and district administrations will conduct detailed surveys to profile beneficiaries based on factors such as age, gender, legal status, and health conditions. The data collected will be uploaded to a national portal under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for real-time monitoring. Once identified, individuals will be offered spot counselling and will be mobilised into shelter homes, either existing facilities under the DAY-NULM (Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Urban Livelihoods Mission) or rented shelters where required. Each shelter home, with a minimum capacity of 50 individuals, will provide food, clothing, hygiene kits, bedding, toilets, and recreational activities such as yoga. The maximum stay in shelter homes is capped at six months, with provisions for extension in cases involving disability or family dependency. Beyond immediate relief, the scheme prioritises education and skill development to facilitate long-term reintegration. Children will be enrolled in nearby government schools under the Samagra Shiksha scheme and offered after-school tuition and homework support. Adults will undergo vocational training for jobs such as domestic help, security personnel, and vendors in partnership with recognised training institutions and schemes like PM-DAKSH and DAY-NULM. For persons with disabilities, the elderly, or those requiring medical attention, the scheme provides access to healthcare, de-addiction centres, and old-age homes. Beneficiaries will also be linked to welfare schemes such as the PM Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), Ayushman Bharat, and public distribution services. Implementation will be overseen by urban local bodies and district administrations, which will engage experienced NGOs or agencies based on various criteria The execution of the programme will be tracked through the national portal, with mandatory updates from field-level agencies. Social audits and third-party evaluations will ensure transparency and accountability.
Hindustan Times
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Reasi to become J&K's second district to roll out SMILE scheme for beggers
In a significant step towards ensuring a life of dignity for marginalised individuals, Reasi is poised to become the second district in Jammu and Kashmir, after Srinagar, to implement the SMILE (Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise) scheme. Deputy Commissioner, Reasi, Nidhi Malik emphasised on swift implementation of SMILE scheme for tackling begging with compassion and opportunity Launched by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on February 12, 2022, the SMILE scheme focuses on the rehabilitation, reintegration, and empowerment of beggars, helping them transition into mainstream society through structured support. The Ministry has identified 50 districts, towns, cities, and locations. Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Temple in District Reasi is one of them. A key project approval committee meeting, chaired by Malik, was held recently to scrutinize applications from NGOs interested in implementing the scheme. Out of the three applications received, Prayas Juvenile Aid Centre Society secured the highest score based on the selection criteria established by the ministry. Their project proposal was approved following a detailed review and presentation, which outlined a comprehensive plan including a baseline survey and subsequent rehabilitation efforts. During the meeting, District Social Welfare Officer Reasi, Sachin Sharma, provided an in-depth briefing on the scheme's objectives and implementation strategy. Prayas NGO shared their vision for the Reasi district, detailing a phased approach to bring vulnerable individuals back into the social fold through education, skill-building, and livelihood opportunities.
The Hindu
26-04-2025
- The Hindu
Two years in, SMILE scheme identifies fewer that 10,000 people engaged in begging; 970 rehabilitated
Two years after the Union Social Justice Ministry started identifying, surveying, and profiling people engaged in begging under the SMILE scheme, the programme has so far identified 9,958 such individuals across 81 major cities and towns where it is being implemented. In comparison, the 2011 Census had recorded 3.72 lakh beggars across the country. As per records available with the Ministry, which runs the Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise (SMILE) scheme, of the 9,958 persons identified, 970 have been rehabilitated. Of those rehabilitated, 352 were children as of December 2024. The SMILE scheme was launched in 2022. One of its components was the sub-scheme to identify, profile, and rehabilitate individuals engaged in the act of begging with their consent. The other component of the scheme is for the empowerment of transgender persons. According to the guidelines for the sub-scheme to rid India of 'beggary', the idea was to 'make identified urban spaces, mainly religious cities, tourist places, and historical cities free from beggary'. The scheme was started across 30 cities in Phase 1, which included cities like Ayodhya, Dharamsala, Amritsar, Gir Somnath, Giridih, New Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Gaya, Lucknow, Madurai, Kochi, Jammu, Srinagar, and Jaisalmer. In Phase 2, which began in the second year of its implementation, 50 more cities were added to this list. The Socio-Economic and Caste Census of 2011, which the Social Justice Ministry continues to refer to in their 2024 Handbook on Social Welfare Statistics, estimated that over 6.62 lakh households in rural India rely on begging, or charity or alms. According to the scheme guidelines, the target of the scheme was to rehabilitate at least 8,000 people in the three years between FY 2023-24 and FY 2025-26. The strategy for this involved looping in local government agencies down to the level of the urban local bodies and municipal corporations. It would entail identifying and surveying the people engaged in the act, outreach to them, their rehabilitation, and then their comprehensive resettlement. The handbook for conducting the identification, profiling, and surveying exercise, says that local surveyors are expected to identify and survey about 25 individuals engaged in begging. The handbook asks the survey team to first photograph or video the person engaged in the act, and then 'approach the person in a friendly manner' to start collecting more information. The latest guidelines for the sub-scheme said that an allocation of ₹100 crore had been made for it, to be spent over three years – from 2023-24 to 2025-26. According to the Social Justice Ministry's Annual Report for 2024-25, as of December 31, 2024, the government had spent ₹14.71 crore on this scheme.
