Part of: GS Prelims and Mains GS-II- Government Schemes
As per the Census of 2011 data available on the website of Registrar General of India, there are 4,13,670 beggars and vagrants in the Country.
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has formulated a scheme “SMILE – Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise”.
SMILE – Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise
The SMILE Scheme includes sub-scheme – ‘Central Sector Scheme for Comprehensive Rehabilitation of persons engaged in the act of Begging’.
The focus of the scheme is on providing
Basic necessaries like food, shelter homes, medical facilities
Counselling, rehabilitation and basic documentation,
Education, skill development and economic linkages of the persons found to be engaged in begging.
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has identified ten cities namely Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur and Patna for undertaking pilot projects on Comprehensive Rehabilitation of Persons engaged in the act of Begging.
The pilot projects on Comprehensive Rehabilitation of Persons includes whole range of services including awareness generation, identification, rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities, counselling, education, skill development and sustainable settlement of persons engaged in begging.
