Indore Declared India's First Beggar-Free City | 14 May 2025

Source: ET 

Indore, Madhya Pradesh, has been declared India’s first beggar-free city under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment’s Bhiksha Vriti Mukta Bharat (begging-free India) initiative. 

• The achievement, also recognised by the World Bank, follows sustained rehabilitation efforts under the “Comprehensive Rehabilitation of Persons Engaged in the Act of Begging", a sub-scheme of SMILE scheme. 

Begging

• About: Begging involves soliciting alms through various acts like singing, selling items, or displaying deformities.  
• Status: Census 2011 reports 4.13 lakh beggars in India, with the highest numbers in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh. SECC 2011 estimates 6.62 lakh rural households depend on begging.  
• Constitutional Basis: Vagrancy (includes beggary) is in the Concurrent List (Entry 15, List III), where both Centre and states can legislate. 
• No Central Law: India lacks a uniform central law on begging, and Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959, acts as a main law which criminalizes begging and defines beggars broadly. 

SMILE Scheme: Rehabilitation of Persons Engaged in Begging 

• About: Launched in 2022, the SMILE scheme includes 2 sub-schemes: Rehabilitation of Persons Engaged in Begging and Empowerment of Transgender Persons.  
  • The beggary sub-scheme focuses on identifying, profiling, and rehabilitating individuals engaged in begging, with their consent, in urban areas like religious, historical, and tourist cities.  
  • The goal is to rehabilitate at least 8,000 individuals from FY 2023–24 to FY 2025–26. 
• Rehabilitation Strategy: It involves coordination with local bodies for identification, outreach, and resettlement, with empathetic engagement and profiling through photo/video documentation. 
  • District administrations, NGOs, SHGs, and Temple Trusts provide services like counselling, education, and reintegration support.