Ministry of Social Justice's Economic Inclusion Initiatives Boost Entrepreneurship and Rehabilitation for Underprivileged Communities

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, through its Economic Inclusion Division, is providing entrepreneurship, livelihood creation, and rehabilitation support for underprivileged communities. This initiative focuses on the Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes (VCF-SC), the Venture Capital Fund for Backward Classes, and the rehabilitation of persons engaged in begging under the 'SMILE' scheme.

Ms. Pratima Gupta, Deputy Director General of the Economic Inclusion Division, shared that the total corpus of the Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes is 750 crore rupees. This fund provides financial assistance ranging from 10 lakh rupees to 15 crore rupees at an interest rate of 4 percent. By May 2026, assistance amounting to 613.02 crore rupees has been sanctioned for 145 companies, of which 437.74 crore rupees have been distributed to 123 companies.

In a similar vein, the Ministry launched the 'Ambedkar Social Innovation and Incubation Mission' on September 30, 2020. The objective of this mission is to provide support of up to 30 lakh rupees for the innovative ideas of young researchers and students from Scheduled Castes. Under this mission, 29.11 crore rupees have been sanctioned for 114 companies, and 13.27 crore rupees have been distributed to 91 companies.

The Venture Capital Fund for Backward Classes was launched in October 2019. Operating with a corpus of 200 crore rupees, this fund provides assistance ranging from 20 lakh rupees to 15 crore rupees at an interest rate of 6 percent. Under this fund, 142.88 crore rupees have been approved for 31 companies, with 70.23 crore rupees distributed to 19 companies.

According to Ms. Pratima Gupta, these two funds have supported 329 entrepreneurs from Scheduled Castes and 35 from Backward Classes, creating approximately 4,500 direct and indirect employment opportunities. These investments have resulted in the creation of permanent productive assets worth nearly 800 crore rupees.

On the rehabilitation front, work is being carried out under the 'SMILE' scheme for the identification, rescue, shelter, healthcare, education, and skill development of persons engaged in begging. Since the launch of this initiative on October 23, 2023, the Central Government has released 46.16 crore rupees up to the financial year 2025-26, with 27.17 crore rupees released in the financial year 2025-26 alone.