What is the SMILE scheme?
SMILE, Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise, is a central scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, with guidelines effective from 12 February 2022. It has two parts: one for the comprehensive rehabilitation and welfare of transgender persons, and one for people engaged in begging.
For transgender persons, SMILE covers skill development and livelihood support, composite medical health, scholarships for students from Class IX up to post graduation, transgender protection cells, and safe shelter in Garima Grehs. It is linked to the National Portal for Transgender Persons, launched on 25 November 2020, which issues the transgender certificate and identity card that SMILE benefits require.
What is a Garima Greh?
A Garima Greh, literally a home of dignity, is a shelter for transgender persons who have been abandoned or have nowhere safe to live. Residents receive food, medical care, counselling, yoga and recreation, along with skill training to help them find respectable work when they leave. Each home has a counsellor for mental health support.
The idea began with 12 pilot homes across nine states in 2020 to 2021. In August 2025, the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment told Parliament that 18 Garima Grehs were running in 15 states and union territories, sheltering 429 residents, with three new homes sanctioned for Jharkhand, Manipur and Madhya Pradesh.
The Garima Greh in Patna
Bihar has its own Garima Greh in Khagaul, on the outskirts of Patna. It is run by the community organisation Dostana Safar, led by Reshma Prasad, who in December 2023 was nominated to the Senate of Patna University a nomination reported as a first for the country.
How to apply
The first step for any SMILE benefit is a transgender certificate and identity card from the National Portal for Transgender Persons at transgender.dosje.gov.in. The application is online and needs no office visit. With the certificate, applicants can seek shelter, scholarships, skill training and health support. For mental health support at any hour, the national Tele MANAS helpline is 14416.
Why this matters to the Modi Mandir
The Kinnar community that proposed the Bhagwan Shri Narendra Modi Mandir describes it as gratitude for exactly this kind of change: legal recognition under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, followed by schemes that offer shelter, skills and dignity. Read more in the law behind the Mandir and Modi Mandir Patna: everything we know.