Social
Inclusion
The
Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007–12) adopted a three pronged strategy:
1.
Social Empowerment—removing existing and persisting inequalities besides
providing easy access to basic minimum services with a top priority assigned to
education as the key factor in social development;
2.
Economic Empowerment—promoting employment- cum-income generation activities
with an ultimate objective of making them economically independent and
self-reliant; and
3.
Social Justice—striving to eliminate all types of discrimination with the
strength of legislative
support,
affirmative action, awareness generation and change in the mind-set of the
people.
Scheduled
Castes: Strategy for the Twelfth Plan
The
principal goals for the Twelfth Plan, towards empowerment of the Scheduled
Castes, will be:
1.
To ensure the security and dignity of all persons belonging to the scheduled
castes, especially women and put a complete end to all forms of
‘untouchability’ and discrimination against them.
2.
To bring members of the SCs—both men and women—at par, to the maximum possible
extent, with their non-SC/ST counterparts, in terms of all developmental
indices viz.—education, health, nutrition, housing, income generation and
employability.
3.
To empower SCs to participate in society and in nation-building, on an equal
basis with others.
4.
To effectively implement SCSP as the essential instrument for accomplishing
inclusive growth.
SCHEDULED
TRIBES
.
The Scheduled Tribes (STs), with a population of 84.33 million as per 2001
Census constituted 8.2 per cent of the country’s population. Unlike the SCs who
are dispersed throughout the country, STs have traditionally been concentrated
in about 15 per cent of the country’s geographical areas, mainly forests, hills,
undulating inaccessible areas. The fact that most of them live in isolated
groups in relatively remote areas has made it more difficult to deliver essential
services to them and has also made it much more difficult for them to benefit
from the acceleration of overall growth than is the case with SCs.
Out
of the total ST population, 2.59 million (3.07 per cent) belong to Particularly
Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) earlier referred to as Primitive Tribal Groups
(PTGs). There are 75 identified PVTGs spread across 17 States/UTs.
Social
Justice and Protection
.
Owing to their isolated existence, the tribals are not equipped to deal with
the ever changing and complex socio-economic developments engulfing them. They
are also susceptible to exploitation, atrocities and crimes, alienation from
their land, denial of their forest rights and overall exclusion either directly
or indirectly from their rightful entitlements. The PVTGs are the worst
affected lot among the tribals.
.
The Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, (PCR Act) and the Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, (POA Act) are two
important legal instruments to prevent all types of social discriminations like
untouchability, exploitation and atrocities. The National Crime Records Bureau
Report 2007 states that highly endemic crimes/atrocities are being reported in
the states like Madhya Pradesh (27.01 per cent), Rajasthan (20.01 per cent),
Andhra Pradesh (13.06 per cent), Chhattisgarh (11.01 per cent), Orissa (7.01
per cent) and Jharkhand (4.08 per cent).
.
In order to ensure early prosecution of cases under the SC/ST Prevention of
Atrocity (Act), 1989,151 exclusive special courts have been set. State
governments, such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have
also set up special police stations for registration of complaints of offences
committed against SCs/STs; .
.
A scheme for development of Particu larly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) was
launched in 1998–99 towards survival, protection and development of the PVTGs
in view of their fragile living conditions and declining trend of their
population.
There
are 75 identified PVTGs living in varied conditions and require PVTG specific
attention to their distinct problems and needs. The scheme is, therefore, flexible
in attending to diverse, living conditions of PVTGs having specific welfare and
developmental needs as relevant to their socio-cultural environment.In the
above lines, Conservation-cum-Development
(CCD)
Plan is prepared for each PVTGs. Activities undertaken include housing, land
distribution, land development, agricultural development, cattle rearing, poultry,
link roads, social security through insurance policy and so on An amount of `670.00
crore
was
allocated for the Eleventh Plan for the scheme against which the likely
expenditure to be incurred would be `614.00 crore which accounts for nearly
92 per cent utilisation. Besides supporting CCD based activities 22400 PVTG
families were covered under Janashree Bima Yojana.
.
Grants-in-Aid under Article 275(1) as 100 per cent financial assistance is
being provided to the states through the nodal Ministry of Tribal Affairs. The
objective of the scheme is promotion of welfare of the STs and upgradation of
the level of administration in tribal areas. The funds are released based on specific
projects, such as raising critical infrastructure
and
enhancing Human Development Indices of STs for bridging the gaps between STs
and the general population. The Eklavya Model Residential School scheme has
been in operation since 1997–98; it is run out of the funds under Article
275(1) for providing quality education to ST students in the tribal areas. To
improve educational infrastructure and standard of education in tribal areas,
these schools are modelled on the lines of Navodaya Vidyalayas.
PESA:
Panchayat Extension to Scheduled AreasAct (1996)
.
Article 243M of the Constitution of India states that nothing in Part IX of the
Constitution relating to Panchayat shall apply to Scheduled Areas referred to
in Clause (1) of Article 244, that is, areas included in the Fifth Schedule
that today lie in the 9 States of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat,
Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Orissa
and Rajasthan.
However,
Article 243M(4)(b) goes on to say that ‘Parliament may, by law extend the
provisions of this Part to the Scheduled Areas’ and this was done in 1996 when
Parliament enacted ‘The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled
Areas) Act, 1996’ (PESA). However, the extension of Part IX was—subject to
certain exceptions and modifications. The most significant of these relate to
definition of a Village and Gram Sabha, rules, responsibilities and powers of
the Gram Sabha, Principle of Subsidiarity and Consistency of other Laws with
PESA.
PESA
Implementation
.
PESA has been very poorly implemented across the nine States. One major
impediment in operationalisation of PESA is the absence of a proper administrative
definition of the village that is in consonance with the Act. All States,
without exception,
have
continued with their earlier revenue definitions of the village. Thereby, not
only does a village at times consist of 10–12 scattered hamlets, but several revenue
villages are clubbed together to form a Gram Panchayat. This effectively
precludes the functioning of a ‘face to face’ community as envisaged in PESA and
eliminates the likelihood of a functioning Gram Sabha, which could shoulder the
responsibilities of a unit of self governance. This calls for some remedial steps.
.
The success of PESA hinges crucially on the effective functioning of the Gram
Sabha. Today,even in tribal areas, there is no automaticity to the functioning
of the Gram Sabha and there is a large measure of exclusion of women.
To
ensure that Gram Sabhas actually meet and become a vibrant fora of
participatory democracy, as visualized under PESA, there is a need to
facilitate this process by giving energy to it. This requires a dedicated cadre of social mobilisers at
each GP level, specifically assigned with the task of mobilising the Gram Sabha
and ensuring the effective participation of the marginalised, as also spreading
greater awareness of laws such as PESA and Forest Reights Act (FRA) and key flagship
programmes of the government.
.
Land Alienation and Land Acquisition:
A clear and categorical provision should be made in the Panchayati
Raj Act or the Revenue Law through a notification under Para 5(1) of the Fifth
Schedule to empower the Gram Sabha to restore the unlawfully alienated land to
its lawful owner.
.
Community Resources:
The term ‘community resources’
which is used in section 4(d) of PESA has not generally been defined. Section
129c (iii) of Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act does, however, provide a
definition that could be commended to
other
States: ‘natural resources including land, water and forest within the area of
the village’.
.
Mines and Minerals:
The mineral rules should be amended on the pattern of
Madhya Pradesh transferring all quarries with annual lease value up to `10 lakhs to the Gram Sabha and
panchayats at different levels. This dispensation should cover all minor
minerals. The consent of concerned Gram Sabha before awarding a lease should be
made mandatory as per
the
directions of the Ministry of Mines and Minerals dated 26th December 1997. The
practice of outright purchase of mineral bearing land by the mining companies
should be stopped as the Mining Act envisages only a lease in these cases.
.
Intoxicants:
A clear and categorical provision should be made in the Panchayati Raj Act or the
excise law through a notification under para 5(1) of the Fifth Schedule to empower
the Gram Sabha, on the same lines as in the Madhya Pradesh Excise Act fully
empowering the Gram Sabha in all aspects mentioned in section 4(m)(i) of PESA.
In all matters concerning intoxicants such as establishment of liquor shops,
manufacturing units and so on, the views of women members in the Gram Sabha
should be decisive, irrespective of the strength of their presence in the
relevant meeting. In addition some broader changes may also be required for
meaningful and effective implementation of PESA and protection of Adivasi
rights.
.
Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP):
There is great scope
to set up an NDDB-type institution (with deep pockets) to become a major player
in the market for NTFPs that can support collectors of minor forest produce.
Currently, in both nationalised and de/pre-nationalised
regimes, these collectors are (i) disorganised (ii) very poor (iii) retain very little of the final value of their produce (iv) are at the bottom of
value chains linked to fairly stable consumption patterns (for example
tamarind, sal seed, mahua) but (v) can climb up the value chain and retain more value with
appropriate interventions.
.
Traditional Non-Timber Forest Produce (TNTFP) policies have often been aimed at
maximizing state revenues and not the welfare of gatherers. The issue of
bargaining power is crucial. Even where Adivasi collectors of NTFPs were
organised into
Self
Help Groups (SHGs), they were unable to influence terms of trade for long.
Local traders deployed a variety of tactics (commercial and otherwise) to ensure
that SHGs were unviable as traders and gave little additional value to
collectors through aggregation and collective bargaining. In some cases, where SHGs
were persistent, traders, through unscrupulous tactics, ensured that these SHGs
lost credibility with their own members. There is a need to visualize a new and
powerful institution in the ‘social entrepreneurship’ mode to help primary
collectors climb up the value chain and retain more value through
professional
sorting, grading, processing, packaging, branding and positioning.
Such
an institution would need to be committed to protecting Adivasi interests and
must operate with great autonomy on
strict
business principles.
.
Effective Administrative Mechanism:
It is abundantly clear
that the existing administrative structures have been found inadequate in the
process of implementation of PESA. It may be time now to consider the setting
up of a permanent empowered body in each Fifth Schedule Area to oversee and monitor
compliance with PESA and FRA. The details
of
such a body, including its powers, its constituents and its precise
relationship with and accountability towards existing constitutional bodies,
would each need to be carefully worked out.
.
Institutionalised Mechanism of Conflict
Resolution:
There
is also need to facilitate creation of institutional mechanisms of conflict
resolution in India of the kind that exist across the world in countries which
have faced conflicts over use of natural resources, especially in the context
of indigenous
people.
A conflict resolution framework designed to suit our specific circumstances,
would help mitigate conflicts before they reach a point of no return.
Forest Rights Act
.
The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of
Forest Rights) Act,2006, popularly known as the Forests Rights Act (FRA), was
enacted in 2007 through the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) to correct the
‘historic injustice done to forest-dwelling communities’.
These
communities were cultivating/occupying forest land and using forest produce
since ages but had no tenurial security, as their rights of occupation and usage
were not recorded during the settlement process.
The
Act recognises and vests individual forest dwellers with forest rights to live
in and cultivate forest land that was occupied before 13 Dec 2005 and grants
community forest rights to manage, protect, regenerate the forest and to own
and dispose minor forest products from forests where they had traditional access.
.
According to the findings of a government Committee1 set up to study
implementation of the Act, most States have concentrated almost entirely on
implementing the provisions for individual forest rights (IFRs) and some States
have achieved significant progress in granting individual rights. However,
implementation of the Community Rights (CFR) aspect of the FRA has been very
poor in all states and therefore its potential to achieve livelihood security for
collection of minor forest products and changes in forest governance along with
strengthening of forest conservation, has hardly been achieved as indicated
below.
Individual
Titles
Some
states (such as Jharkhand) have lagged behind in terms of both getting a
plausible number of claims and in processing the
received claims.
Community
Rights
.
The progress of implementation of the Community Forest Rights (CFR) under FRA
is abysmally low. In all states, the CFR process has not even got off the
ground, due to lack of awareness, amongst communities, civil society organisations,
or relevant officials. The main reason is that State Governments have not
adequately publicisised the CFR provisions or even internalised their
importance themselves.
Given
the serious inadequacies in implementation of CFR at all levels, there is a need
for a second phase implementation of FRA in all states with primary focus on
CFR. Both MoTA and MoEF need to take the lack of implementation of CFR with the
seriousness it deserves.
Checking
Displacement of Tribals
Treating
compensation as a panacea of all the ills associated with tribal land alienation
should be discouraged completely.
.
The compulsory acquisition of land for public purposes and for public sector or
private sector companies displaces tribals, forcing them to give up their home,
assets, means of livelihood and vocation and to reside elsewhere and start
their like all over again.
The
disproportionately large impact of displacement of tribals is evident from the
fact that least 55 per cent of all displaced people are tribals and in States like
Gujarat the proportion is 76 per cent. It has been an important reason for
their pauperisation, often leading them to a state of shelterless and assetless
destitution
.
Today, project affected people are no longer in a mood to suffer passively.
Consequently, there has been growing protest and militancy leading to tensions,
conflict and violence. Unsatisfactory arrangements for their rehabilitation and
resettlement creates
opposition to acquisition of land and ultimately the costs involved in delayed
acquisition of land is much more than the cost that would be incurred in case
of a satisfactory compensation and rehabilitation. A well intended, liberal and
comprehensive resettlement and rehabilitation policy is therefore required not
only to protect the interests of
the displaced or adversely affected people but also in the public interest to
ensure quick acquisition and faster
access to such acquired land.
.
Experiences of displacement and rehabilitation in India have revealed a long
history of lack of rehabilitation or ill-planned, badly executed, inadequate
and inappropriate rehabilitation. Even according to Government estimates only
29 per cent of
the affected have been rehabilitated leaving almost 13.2 million people uprooted from their homes
(Roy 1994).
All that the displaced persons are left with is their labour—most often
unskilled and are therefore desperate for whatever work comes their way for survival.
In addition, displacement of tribals from their land amounts to violation of the
Fifth Schedule of the Constitution as it deprives them of the control and
ownership of natural resources and land essential for
their way of life.
Scheduled
Tribes: a strategy for the Twelfth Plan
To
this end the following must be key elements:
•
Relaxing the normative prescriptions about taking up a programme or a scheme in
the Tribal majority areas.
•
Administrative strengthening of the implementing agency so as to enable taking
up implementation of these programmes in the scheduled/tribal areas. This may
also require a clear cut personnel policy with regard to posting of officials
in those positions,
fixity of their tenure and incentivizing these officials for having rendered
their services in those areas for a prescribed period.
•
Preferring engaging people from the tribal community itself in the areas
predominantly inhabited by tribals for government efforts at spreading education,
health and extension services, nutrition, public distribution, and so on.
•
Sensitising officials detailed for serving in the tribal areas so that they
become empathetic to the sensitivities of tribal lives and their traditions.
•
Reorganising basic services such as nutritional interventions, education,
health services, public distribution system, employment generating activities
under MGNREGA with posting adequate staff with surety of tenure and assurance
of funds
to implement these programmes.
•
Emphasis on education, health and livelihood support.
•
No post in the implementing agencies in scheduled areas/areas with tribal
majority should be left vacant; every post must be filled up and wherever necessary,
additional posts should be created for effective implementation.
•
Implementation of the schemes must be monitored closely at prescribed
periodicity. Implementation should not be made to suffer on account of problems
associated with transfer of funds.
•
Better coverage in roads for tribal areas (population of 500–1000), with
population up to 100 being covered in LWE to be connected.
•
Better connectivity through railways in LWE and tribal areas.
•
Land acquisition of tribal land to be addressed as required under PESA and
displaced tribal population to be resettled and rehabilitated.
•
Tribal communities to have full right to minor forest produce.
•
Converge MGNREGA with artisanal work to provide livelihood to tribals, many of
whom are engaged in artisanal work.
•
Land and Tenancy Reform: Deal with outstanding matters of tribal ownership.
•
Increase coverage of the most vulnerable within the STs in the health sector.
Increase cadre of health workers to better serve tribals.
•
Plan within a plan of the Twelfth Plan: Suitable programmes for Central Indian
Tribal Belt, border and backward areas and those who suffered discrimination
like DNTs.
•
Better and speedy implementation of PESA and FRA Institutional Mechanism of
Conflict Resolutions.
OTHER
BACKWARD CLASSES (OBCS)
.
Other backward Classes (OBCs) comprise the castes and communities which are
found common in the lists of the Mandal Commission Report and the Lists of the
individual State Governments. The NSSO survey conducted during 2004–05 (61st
Round),
estimated that the OBC population constituted 41 per cent of the total
population.
OBCs and
the Twelfth Five Year Plan; the Qay Ahead
Educational Development
.
For ensuring educational development amongst OBCs, schemes for providing
scholarships for pursuing Pre-Matric, Post-Matric and other higher education,
supported with hostel facilities will be taken up on priority basis.
.
National Overseas Scholarship Scheme for OBCs could also be formulated similar
to those for SCs and STs so that OBC students can also go abroad for
educational and professional courses which are generally not available in the
country.
Economic Development
.
To meet the marketing needs and to facilitate providing a marketing platform
for artisans and handicraft persons belonging to OBCs, a Marketing Federation
on the lines of TRIFED may be set up.The main activities of the Federation
would include
cluster
development of the artisans engaged particularly in arts and craft, training
for upgradation of their skills, exhibition of their products to showcase their
work both in India and abroad, opening of marketing outlets to appreciate,
reward and popularize successful models which can be replicated by others and
establishing a brand name for the products to be sold
under the proposed Marketing Federation.
EMPOWERMENT
OF MINORITIES
.
The Indian Constitution is committed to the ideas of equality and protection
and assurance of rights of minorities, which cover five religious communities, viz.,
Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis). These
communities
accounted
for 18.4 per cent of the population in 2001. The largest proportion was Muslims
(13.4 per cent), followed by Christians (2.3 per cent), Sikh (1.9 per cent),
Buddhists (0.8 per cent) and Zoroastrians (0.0069 per cent). Depending on their
distribution across States, these communities may actually be a ‘majority’ in
some States, for example Muslims are in majority in the Union Territory of
Lakshadweep and in the State of Jammu and Kashmir as are Christians in Nagaland
(90 per cent),
Mizoram
(87 per cent) and Meghalaya (70.03 per cent) and Sikhs in Punjab (60 per cent).
Socio-economic
Condition of Minorities
Poverty
and Alienation
.
Muslims, who constitute the largest religious minority comprising about 13.4
per cent of the total population and about 73 per cent of the total Minority
population of the country, lag behind others in terms of economic, health and
educational indices.
According to the latest Planning Commission estimates, the poverty ratio for
Muslims was 33.9 per cent in urban areas, especially on account of states such
as Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar and West Bengal. In rural areas, the poverty
ratio for Muslims was very high in States such as Assam, Uttar Pradesh, West
Bengal and Gujarat. The literacy rate and
work participation rate amongst the Muslims is low as compared to other
minority communities.
The
majority of them are engaged in traditional and low paying professions, or are
mostly small and marginal farmers, landless agricultural labourers, small
traders, craftsmen and so on. Only a few of them are reported to have benefited
from various developmental
schemes. The other Minority communities on the whole enjoy a comparatively
better socio-economic status, although there are segments among the Christians
and Buddhists, Mazhabi Sikhs and even sections of Zoroastrians/Parsis who are disadvantaged.
.
An important concern vis-a-vis the Muslim community is the perception of
discrimination and alienation. This needs to be appropriately addressed in the
Twelfth Plan. Innovative steps are needed such as expanding facilitators in
Muslim concentration villages and towns to act as interfaces between the
community and the state institutions. Youth leadership
programmes should also be initiated to strengthen this process.
Education
.
The high rate of admission at primary levels shows the intense desire of the
minorities to seek modern education. Lower percentages at other levels show
that the community starts lagging behind from the secondary level onwards.
Scholarships should
thus target this band and be top-heavy, while continuing to support the primary
levels.
Neighbourhood
schools and schools up to middle level need to be provided in minority
concentrated blocks, large villages and urban minority concentrated settlements.
In rural areas, schools for girls up to senior secondary level should be made
mandatory to ensure that girls continue their education. There is a need for
village level centres to target the rural drop
out girls, or girls out of school, in the age group of 8–16 years. This should
be linked to schemes such as the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for the Empowerment of Adolescent
Girls. The education level attained by different religious communities also
reveals the sharp gap between the representation of Muslims in higher education
and that of other communities. Moreover, student
drop-out rates tend to peak at the senior secondary levels. Scholarships
should, thus, target this band and be top-heavy.
Health
Challenges for the Empowerment of Minorities
Institutional Challenges
.
A programme is as good or as bad as its implementation and the quality of
implementation is largely dependent on the institution implementing the
programme/scheme. The Twelfth Plan should therefore consider systemic
modifications to the
existing system, which include participation of communities in planning and
monitoring and the appointment of government ‘facilitators’ to improve access.
.
As in the case of other disadvantaged communities a three-pronged strategy is
needed, which will focus on (i) social empowerment; (ii) economic empowerment; and (iii)
social justice.
Educational Empowerment
.
Non-availability of adequate resources and poor implementation has meant that
scholarships are not provided to all eligible minority students. It is
therefore imperative to ensure that financial allocations are made so that all
eligible minority students are
ensured much needed scholarships without any denial or deprivation Rationalisation
through integrated scholarships awards will be introduced in the Twelfth Plan,
such that students do not have to drop out.
.
School drop-out rates especially among Muslim girls are very high in Class IX
and X, as they have no easy access or transport to reach distantly located
institutions. Therefore, a programme through which bicycles are provided to the
minority girl students to facilitate the continuance of their studies will be
introduced in the Twelfth Five Year Plan. Some States are already implementing
schemes to provide bicycles; the envisaged new scheme at the Central level will
be rationalised and converged appropriately with the State scheme(s).
Recommendations
for the Twelfth Five Year Plan
.
The inclusion and empowerment of different socio-religious communities should
not be viewed only as a welfare measure undertaken
as a consequence of economic growth, but as a critical development imperative.
Monitorable
Targets
.
The following monitorable targets could be adopted:
1.
The literacy rate of religious minorities should be increased as quickly as
possible to be at par with the national average, wherever applicable.
2.
The participation of religious minorities in graduate and post graduate studies
should be proportionate to their population (2011), with special focus on the
economically weaker sections.
3.
IMR, MMR, Institutional Deliveries, Child Immunisation and Vaccination of
religious minorities should be brought at par with the national average, with
special focus on the economically weaker and the socially marginalised
sections.
4.
Work participation rate of religious minorities in the organised sector should
be increased to be at par with other communities. This is specially relevant
for Muslims and other socially and economically disadvantaged groups.
5.
Representation of religious minorities in all forms of Government employment
should be increased in proportion to their population (2011).
6.
Share of total number and total amount of bank loans given to all religious
minorities, with special focus on Muslims and other economically weaker and
socially marginalised groups, should be increased to be at par with that of the
general population.
7. There should be 100 per cent financial
inclusion, including access to sources of formal credit and finance for all
eligible persons belonging to religious minorities.
Prime
Minister’s 15 Point Programme
At
present, a limited number of schemes are included in the 15 Point Programme.
The Twelfth Plan proposes inclusion of additional schemes from the Ministries
of Small and Medium Industries, Youth Affairs, Agriculture and Rural
Development (especially
MGNREGA). Further, in order to ensure adequate funds and benefits reach the
minorities, the existing guidelines of earmarking ‘15 per cent of funds
wherever possible’ should be revised to ’15 per cent and above’ in proportion
to the size of the minority population. This would facilitate coverage of all
minority concentrated areas under the Prime Minister’s Programme, which were
otherwise excluded.
Multi-sectoral
Development Programme (MSDP)
.
To ensure more focused targeting of the minorities, Blocks with minority
population concentration subject to backwardness parameters as applied for
Minority Concentrated Districts (MCDs) under MSDP will be adopted as the new area
unit in the Multi-Sectoral Development Programme. Also, the population
criterion to identify MCDs will be brought down from 25 per cent to 15 per
cent. MSDP programmes have left out huge minority areas including towns, urban
conglomerates and isolated villages/hamlets. Additionally, the programme will
adopt a projectised approach
in order to reach individual beneficiaries among the minorities and also their
localities.
Scheme
for Life, Livelihood and Leadership Development of Minority Women
.
The Scheme for Leadership Development of Minority Women that was approved in
the Eleventh Plan with a small allocation is yet to be rolled out. This pilot
scheme will be re-designed and rolled out in the Twelfth Plan. The scheme,
which involves local
NGOs in its operational plan, will also go a long way in helping NGOs and civil
society to overcome their lack of experience of working with Minorities as a
deprived socio-economic group and begin the process of constructive and
sustained engagement with these groups.
.
The Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD) Scheme of
the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium for assistance to illiterate and
semi-literate women of rural and urban areas for self-employment would need to
be extended
to marginalised minority women under the 15 Point Programme to enable
entrepreneurship development amongst women.
Implementation
of the Recommendations of Sachar Committee
.
Report of the Justice Rajender Sachar Committee in 2006 had made special
recommendations for the development of Muslims. While most of the recommendations
have been translated into action in the Eleventh Plan period, there are certain
recommendations that need to be put into action in the Twelfth Plan. These
include
(i) Disadvantaged minority students living in congested urban
areas will be put into study centres by having the same set up
as the existing school building to function after regular school hours;
(ii) More public sector bank branches will be opened in
minority concentration districts and the list of such bank branches will be
placed by the Ministry of Minority Affairs on its website and
(iii) Special programmes
for providing education along with skill and vocational training in the
minority concentrated towns will be initiated. Institutional
Changes:
1.
Strengthened Systems at the Centre and State levels
(a)
The Twelfth Plan proposes the immediate augmentation and restructuring of the Ministry
of Minority Affairs to address the current
human resource shortages that are faced by the Ministry.
(b)
All State Governments will be asked to have a separate well endowed Department
for Minorities welfare. MoUs will be signed with States so that they are able
to enjoy more flexibility and assume more responsibility and accountability. In
the minorities sector, an administrative chain of command should be developed
with an empowered officer, who may act as a facilitator between the community,
PRIs and across the various departments who will handhold the minorities in the
areas of education, area development and economic advancement.
Districts
should have a separate Minority Welfare or Facilitation Officer, who may be the
nodal officer responsible for coordination and implementation of all schemes
relating to the welfare of minorities for the District. A clear chain of
command and accountability should be designed right from the level of the nodal
officer to the level of chief secretary of
the State.
(c)
Village, block and district level Committees will be established with
representations from the local government, elected representatives and minority
communities to identify the development deficits and prioritise the
interventions in addressing the development deficits.
At
the State level, separate Committees will be formed to ensure proper monitoring
and effective implementation of schemes.
Government
functionaries involved in the implementation of schemes and the new 15 Point
Programme will be sensitised as well as apprised of the various schemes and
programmes of the government for minorities.
2.
Structure of implementation of MSDP
In
order to cut down delay and establish accountability, the plan and
implementation of MsDP schemes will be delegated to local authorities through
the states. MoMA will perform the role of overall management and monitoring of the
Programme. This will ensure direct accountability of the major stakeholders.
3.
Skill Development
4.
Access to resources for entrepreneurial activities
The
National Minority Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) will take up
skill development programmes. It will also give marketing assistance to
artisans. Economic Empowerment of Minorities will be done through infusion of capital
at the right levels
5.
Scholarship programmes of MoMA to be ‘Demand Driven’
6.
The Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF)
The
Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF) needs to be comprehensively
restructured.
,
transforming the Foundation from its current charity/welfare mode towards empowering
practices. The objective should be to
turn MAEF into an independent hub of excellence for incubating innovations,
pilots that may be up-scaled and issemination
of best practices for minority empowerment, cutting across sectors and schemes
within the broad framework of ending social exclusion, promoting integration and
citizenship rights.
7.
Sensitisation of Citizens and Functionaries at the Centre and State Levels
8.
Data Collection and Management System
9.
Monitoring of Schemes and Programmes that concern Minorities
Social
Audit needs to be built into all programmes and to make the implementation of schemes
transparent all the data of a district should be available with the District
Welfare Officer. It will also be available in the public domain for the benefit
of elected or community representatives and civil society practitioners.
The Twelfth Plan strategy for
monitoring should include:
•
Development of the National Data bank, as suggested by the Sachar Committee.
•
Tracking selected Monitorable Targets disaggregated by social religious
communities, in respect of beneficiary oriented programmes.
•
Suggest inclusion of socio-religious communities, especially minorities, as an
agenda for review in Plan discussions with States, reviews with State Chief
Ministers and State Chief Secretaries and State reviews with District Collectors
and Chairpersons/CEOs of Zila Parishads.
•
Support reporting of disaggregated indicators related to minorities by the
relevant flagship programmes in their existing programme review mechanisms such
as Annual Common Review Missions for NHRM and SSA, half yearly/annual reviews
with States and social audits such as for MGNREGA,
•
Incentivisation of States and Panchayats (through Additional Central
Assistance) where social inclusion indicators related to
minorities improve, with peer learning through sharing of best practices,
within and across States/Districts.
•
National Resource Centre/s would need to be established, with expertise on
development planning for different social religious communities—including
minorities—linked to a support network of institutions, universities and
voluntary agencies. This network may expand to State Resource Centre/s as
needed, based on implementation experience during the
Plan period.
•
Development of monitoring systems, processes and tools for assessing and
reporting on the inclusiveness of growth as mentioned above.
•
An assessment of social inclusion of different socio-religious communities,
including minorities, should be conducted as part of the Mid-Term Appraisal of
the Twelfth Plan.
OTHER VULNERABLE GROUPS
.
The social scenario in the country is changing rapidly due to industrialisation
and the increasing flow of the rural population to the already crowded cities
and towns in search of employment, leading to overcrowding, emergence of
pavement/ slum
dwellings, breakdown of joint family system, unemployment, poverty and so on In
this process of social transformation, certain categories of population, who
are unable to cope with these rapid changes, have become especially vulnerable.
These vulnerable
groups include Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) (that is, locomotor, visual,
hearing, speech and mental and so on), Older Persons, Beggars and Victims of
Substance Abuse and Alcoholism. All these categories need special attention of
the State because of their vulnerabilities and the disabilities that they
suffer from.
PERSONS
WITH DISABILITIES
An Overview
.
About 2.11 per cent of the population as per 2001 census comprises of persons
with disabilities having one or multiple disability. Though the number is
small, the need of these members of our society deserves special attention.
Disabilities present probabilistic outcomes which can affect anyone and it is
appropriate that society does whatever it can to assist this segment to play a
full part in society. There was a paradigm shift in policy towards Persons with
Disabilities since the Ninth Five Year Plan, from the earlier welfare based
approach to a rights-based approach.
The
Tenth Five Year Plan focused on effective implementation of various provisions of
legislation and National Policy for Persons with Disabilities. It advocated a
multi-sectoral and multi-collaborative approach.
The Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007–12) had
aimed at inclusive growth. It was expected to achieve inclusiveness through
significant improvements in literacy/education, health, greater employment
opportunities and sharper focus on disadvantaged groups. The Eleventh Plan emphasized
upon the rights-based approach to empower the PwDs inter alia through: (i) delineating clear cut responsibility
between the concerned Ministries/Departments;
(ii) formulating
detailed rules and guidelines by concerned Ministries/Departments;
(iii) monitoring mechanism at various levels.
A new Department, namely Department of
Disability Affairs has been set up in the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment on Twelfth May, 2012 to act as the nodal Department for the overall
policy, planning and coordination of programmes for persons with disabilities.
( DEPARTMENT OF DISABILITY AFFAIRS (NISHAKTATA KARYA VIBHAG)
Persons
with Disabilities Strategy for the Twelfth Plan
. the Twelfth Plan must adopt a twopronged strategy
incorporating—(i) service delivery and (ii)
generation of public awareness about disability rights.
In
the area of service delivery the challenges to be addressed include: making a
large number of products, public services and information services accessible
to PwDs, improving participation and completion rates of students with
disabilities at various
stages of education (elementary, secondary and tertiary), reducing
disproportionate incidence of poverty among the persons with disabilities,
enhancing condition of nutrition, health and housing at least upto a reasonable
level, identifying exclusive implementing agencies for programmes meant for persons
with disabilities in States and strengthening of
existing agencies. Another major area of challenge pertains to public awareness
about disability rights and issues and stepping up of the level of awareness among
the persons with disabilities about legislative provisions and development programmes
available to them. The problems and needs of the most vulnerable among the
persons with disabilities such as women,
homeless and those with severe/or multiple disabilities require special and
intensified focus in the
Twelfth Plan.
.
There is need for modernisation and expansion of production units of ALIMCO to
enhance the quantum of production to match/meet the demand for improved
products
.The
Twelfth Five Year Plan will look into the three key aspects:
(i) Recognition; of the extent to which
the development, competence and emerging personal autonomy of Persons with
Disabilities are enhanced through the realisation of the various agreed
National and International Conventions and Programmes;
(ii) Empowerment; in
term of denoting the rights of persons with disabilities to respect their
capacities and by transfer of various legal rights;
(iii) Protection acknowledging that Persons with Disabilities
have ‘un-evolved’ capacities as a consequence of their disabilities and thereby
have rights to protection; on the part of parents, community and the State from
abuse and from participation in activities likely to cause them harm. In all
three cases, there are obligations on States to respect, protect and promote
the right of the Persons with Disabilities.
.
Municipalities and Panchayats need to be specially enabled and empowered to
perform their assigned role for the empowerment of Persons with Disabilities,
increased sensitisation and awareness level of different stakeholders and the
community; re-designing products, processes, public places and services so as
to make them accessible to persons with
disabilities; improved delivery and monitoring mechanism; the development of an
integrated management system for the coordination of disability planning,
implementation and monitoring in the various line functions at all spheres of
government;
and
establishing of National, State and subsequent District structures that will
continuously update and link strategy and policy developments with operational planning
initiatives involving all role-players (District Project Officers [DPOs],
government, the private
sector).
.
To accomplish the above task, the Twelfth Plan needs to adopt the strategy of:
(i) Involvement of Persons with Disabilities in evolving
strategies of the government and involving organisations of persons
with disabilities and their representatives in the decision-making processes
and
(ii) Inclusion of
Persons with Disabilities in the strategies and activities of all government
programmes as would be relevant.
.
Education plays a pivotal role in socioeconomic empowerment of Persons with
Disabilities.
Emphasis
in the Twelfth Plan will be on educational development through: (i) Pre-Matric Scholarships for students
with disabilities; (ii) Post-Matric Scholarships for students with disabilities; (iii) free coaching for
students with disabilities; ETC
.
There is a need to give special focus on the requirement of persons with
disabilities especially for Cerebral Palsy, Autism and Mental Retardation. For
this purpose, the National Trust for the welfare of persons with Autism,
cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities should emphasise
on prevention, early detection, treatment and rehabilitation
of
the target groups in its programmes.
.
To make sports more accessible to Persons with Disabilities and to encourage
their participation in the sports, there is a need for a Centre for Disability
Sports.
.
universal coverage of disability friendly infrastructure and facilities in
Universities, Hostels and other such institutions.
.
In the Twelfth Plan efforts also need to be directed to provide needed support
and assistance for
(i) Rehabilitation Centres for treating mentally ill persons;
(ii) Model multi-disability independent living centres;
(iii) setting up of State
Spinal Injury Centres;
(iv) provisioning accessibility in State Government
institutions;
(v) making State Governments’ websites
accessible;
(vi) preparation of
comprehensive database and online State depository of resources on
disabilities;
(vii) establishment of State Missions and District Coordinators;
(viii) awareness
generation and publicity;
(ix) training of
care-givers: In-service training and sensitisation of State Governments, local
bodies and other service providers; (x) Establishment of National Institute of Mental Health
Rehabilitation;
(xi) Estab lish ment of
State Disability Resource Centres;
(xii) Establishment of
Micro-enterprises Incubation Centres for persons with disabilities;
(xiii) grant of Association
for Rehabilitation Under National Trust Initiative of Marketing (ARUNIM) for
supporting its marketing activities and (xiv) Research on disability related technology, products
and
issues.
There
is need for greater support to National Handicapped Finance Development
Corporation for providing subsidies on loan for education/self-employment and
grant for skill development training and so on.
.
The existing laws on disability such as would need to be reviewed and if
necessary amended or replaced in order to harmonise them with the provision of
United Nations Conference on Rehabilitation of Persons with
Disabilities(UNCRPD).
.
The existing machinery in Central and State Governments for implementing
disability related programmes is generally weak both in terms of numbers and
professional capability.
.
All Schemes and Programmes under the envisaged Mission(s) needs to be
implemented in close partnership with Panchayats, Municipalities, other Urban
Local Bodies, NGOs and the community and with active involvement of persons
with disabilities.
.
The State Mission will function in close coordination with the State Government
and the State Directorate. The State Government and the Directorate will
continue to have the overall administrative, regulatory and policy making role
in the State. On the other hand, State Mission for Empowerment of Persons with
Disabilities (SMEPwD) will be responsible
for
integrating and well coordinated implementation of various programmes and
schemes for persons with disabilities.
SENIOR
CITIZENS
.
General improvement in the health care facilities over the years has resulted
in increase in life expectancy and continuing increase in proportion of population
of senior citizens. The number of senior citizens of 80 years and above has
been increasing. As a result the old Age Dependency Ratio has been steadily
rising during the past three decades viz. 12.0 in 1981, 12.2 in 1991 and 13.1
in 2001. The needs of the older (80+) persons are different from those senior
citizens in the age group of 60 years and above. Increasing attention will have
to be given to this category of senior citizens. This will be addressed
in
the new policy for Senior Citizens which is under preparation.
Strategy
for Twelfth Plan
.
The major focus in the Twelfth Plan will be the consolidation, expansion and
strengthening of the various programmes into comprehensive coordinated systems
to fulfill the aspirations of these vulnerable sections of the society. The
Twelfth Plan
approach
and strategy sector-wise is briefly given in the subsequent paragraphs.
.
As a general rule, the elderly do not want to be separated from their homes and
familiar surroundings and prefer to live in their own homes. But due to the
widening generation gap, most elders feel lonely and need the company of peers
and elders association,
for active participation in life enriching activities. For such elders, day
care/enrichment centre provides a meeting place to fulfill their physical, emotional
and social needs and for spending their day in a meaningful way. Therefore,
efforts need to be made to ensure that day care/enrichment centres for the
elders receive focused attention under the scheme
of Integrated Programme for Older Persons (IPOP). The scheme of IPOP needs to
be revised to make it more effective so that all facilities can be provided to
the elders, for example day care/enrichment centres and so on.
.
A new National Policy on Senior Citizens will be formulated and implemented
during the XII Plan period focusing on the following areas:
1.
Mainstreaming of all the senior citizens, especially the older women and bring
their concerns into the national development debate.
2.
Promote the concept of ‘Ageing in Place’ or ageing in own home.
4.
It should recognise that care of senior citizens has to remain vested in the
family which would partner the community, government and the private sector.
Institutional care should be the last resort.
5.
Schemes should be formulated for providing housing, income-security, homecare
services, old age pension, access to healthcare, insurance schemes and other
programmes and services to facilitate and sustain the concept of dignity in old
age. The thrust of the policy would be preventive rather than curative.
6.
Keeping in view the rising longevity of our population, there is a need to
focus on all aspects of care for the Oldest Old (80+ years) namely, social,
financial, health care and the need for shelter.
7.
Since India is a signatory to the Madrid Plan of Action and Barrier Free
Framework, the Policy will aim to work towards an inclusive, barrierfree and
age-friendly society.
8.
Recognise that senior citizens are a valuable resource for the country and
create an environment that provides them with equal opportunities, protects
their rights and enables their full participation in society.
9.
Long term savings instruments and credit activities will be promoted to reach
both rural and urban areas.
10.
Employment in income generating activities after superannuation will be
encouraged.
11.
Organisations that provide counselling, career guidance and training services
will be supported and assisted.
12.
The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 will be
implemented effectively and Tribunals will be set up so that elderly parents,
unable to maintain themselves, are not abandoned and neglected.
13.
States will set up homes with assisted living facilities for abandoned senior
citizens in every district of the country and will set apart adequate budgetary
support for this purpose.
.
NISD needs to be strengthened to take the lead in training the requisite human
resources for caring of the senior citizens of the country, during the Twelfth
Plan period.
.
The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 was
enacted to ensure need based maintenance for parents and senior citizens and
their welfare. So far, 25 States and all Union Territories have notified the Act.
However,
it
has been noticed that State Government functionaries are not fully aware of the
consequential steps/ actions required to be taken. Therefore, Ministry of SJ&E
would prepare a suitable Action Plan in the Twelfth Plan to ensure effective
implementation of the Act by creating awareness among public about the various
provisions of the Act through aggressive media campaign as well as involving
Panchayati Raj Institutions/Municipalities/local bodies in the campaign to
reach out to rural areas as well. Workshops may be organised with State
Governments, NGOs, Senior Citizens Associations, and so on to ensure
that
the various provisions of the Act are clearly understood and effectively
implemented in letter and spirit.
.
In sum, with a view to ensure the well-being of senior citizens especially
indigent senior citizens, by strengthening their legitimate place in society
and extending support for financial and food security, health care, shelter,
equitable share in development, protection against abuse and exploitation and
other needs, efforts need to be made in the Twelfth Five Year
Plan for:
(i) setting up a National Commission for
Senior Citizens to look into their grievances on priority for redressal and
ensure that services and facilities meant for them are being provided;
(ii) establishment of
Old Age Homes for Indigent Senior Citizens with integrated multi-facility
centre of varying capacity (25, 60 and 120) in 640 districts of the country,
through State Government;
(iii) setting up of a
Helpline and District level help lines for older persons;
(iv) setting up of
Bureau for Socio- Economic Empowerment of Senior Citizens at district level;
(v) creation of National Trust for the Aged;
(vi) issue of ‘Smart’
Identity Cards for senior citizens;
(vii) health insurance for senior citizens.
NOMADIC,
SEMI-NOMADIC AND DENOTIFIED TRIBES (DNTs)
.
The Nomadic, Semi Nomadic and De-notified Tribes cover the 200 communities that
were identified by the colonial Government as ‘Criminal Tribes’ under a
notorious legislation called ‘Criminal Tribes Act (CTA) 1871.2 CTA 1871 was
annulled after Independence and communities identified under CTA, 1871 have
been referred to thereafter as the De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes
(DNTs, SNTs and NTs). There is no authentic data on DNTs and no Census
enumeration was conducted for them, though they are found in almost all the
States and belong mostly to the OBC category in some large States. They are
also spread across the SC and ST categories in other States. Some communities are
not covered by any of the three SC, ST and OBC categories. Even those covered
under the three categories are often not able to avail the benefits because of
either not having caste certificates, or because the quotas are exhausted by
the non-nomadic/nonde-notified
communities in the reserved categories. A number of States have not prepared
lists of the De-notified or Nomadic communities and the status of such people
is unknown.
.
The quick and most effective way of extending developmental support for DNTs
would be to provide special and relevant support and facilities for these
communities within the existing facilities for ST, SC and OBC categories as
applicable. Access to
scholarships and hostel facilities, need to be givenpriority. The existing
schemes for scholarships and hostel facilities need to be revised to extend
their coverage to nomadic, semi-nomadic and DNTs.
For
economic empowerment and development of DNTs capacity building programmes for
skill development and marketing, loans for economic empowerment need to be
given priority. Specific strategies and mechanisms will also be put in place to
ensure flow of funds for the welfare and development of nomadic, semi-nomadic
and Denotified Tribes (DNTs).
For social empowerment of DNTs an enabling
environment needs to be created so that they are able to utilise the
reservation benefits in education and employment. DNTs do not have permanent
residential locations due to various social, political and cultural reasons; as
a result, they are unable to avail the benefits of the various schemes of the
Government.
Therefore,
an effective rehabilitative approach, supported with an equally effective plan
for the socioeconomic development
of the DNTs needs to be adopted and implemented especially by establishing habitations/villages
for them. This would be given emphasis during the Twelfth Plan period.
.
The existing legislations need to be reviewed to ensure the dignity and the
livelihood of DNTs.
.
A nation-wide survey of DNT settlements needs to be conducted urgently. This
could form the basis, inter alia, for introducing a suitable shelter programme for
homeless DNTs. Free or subsidized housing may be provided to eligible DNT
households in
a phased manner—by adopting special measures like a ‘Rajasthan’s Gadaria Lohar
Community Housing Scheme’. Given the high incidence of homelessness among DNTs,
a proportion of the current outlay for Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) should be earmarked
for DNTs. Within DNTs, the nomadic communities need to be assisted financially
to construct dwelling units by receiving priority under the on-going housing
programmes of the Central Government. Therefore, it is suggested to create a Cluster
Development Fund for assisting the DNTs for the construction of houses, for
providing land to them and for creating infrastructure, and so on so that
proper clusters can be developed for them.
.
The skill development initiatives of the States and Central Government need to
give priority to cover the unemployed youth among the DNTs with a view to
provide them employable skills. A suitable Action Plan for the rehabilitation
of the nomadic,semi-nomadic
and DNTs as well as to meet the infrastructure needs including basic amenities
of their areas needs to be prepared. The requirement of funds for the purpose
will be met out of the proposed Cluster Development Fund. The Finance and Development
Corporations under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will be
tasked to address the skill development of the DNTs.
.
An Integrated Infrastructure Development Programme also needs to be especially
designed to provide basic amenities such as roads, schools, electricity, drinking
water, community centres, and so on in the existing settlements of the DNTs.
SUBSTANCE (DRUG) ABUSE AND ALCOHOLISM
.
The problem of incidence of alcoholism and substance abuse is assuming alarming
magnitude and poses potential threat to the society. Besides ill effects on
physical and health, drug addiction is emerging as a major social problem with
increasing incidence of crime among drug/alcohol addicts. Drug addiction causes
immense financial and psychological problems for
the addict and his/her family. This takes the issue out of the domain of
individual behaviour and locates it at the centre of the community, whether it
is the family or the larger society.
Therefore,
there is an urgent need for effective counter measures through an approach
which is comprehensive and also takes up
programmes in convergence mode. Further, various Central Ministries viz.,
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,
Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Panchayati
Raj, Ministry
of Finance and Ministry of Women and Child Development are attending to
different aspect relating to these vulnerable groups. A better coordination and
convergence in this regard is called for.All existing schematic and
non-schematic interventions made by the Ministries need to be integrated under
a Mission Mode programme.
.
There is a need to make an accurate assessment of the extent, pattern and
trends of substances abuse in the country and identify vulnerable groups and
areas. Preventive measures need to be taken to reduce both supply and demand
and Universal access
to preventive treatment and rehabilitation of alcoholism and drug abuse.
.
Accordingly the Ministry of SJ&E has been supporting Integrated
Rehabilitation Centre for Addicts (IRCAs) under the Scheme of Assistance for the
Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drugs) Abuse and for Social Defence
Services run by voluntary organisations.
.
India is signatory to three United Nations Conventions, namely:
(i) Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961;
(ii) Convention on
Psychotropic Substances, 1971; and
(iii) Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances,1988.
BEGGARS
.
There is no firm and authentic information regarding number of beggars in the
country. According to the un-published data of Census 2001, there were 7.03
lakh beggars and vagrants out of which 6.31 lakh were in non-worker category.
Some States viz.
West Bengal, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Andhra
Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have much higher
population of beggars in proportion to their total population as compared to
other States/UTs.
.
The States are responsible for taking the necessary preventive and
rehabilitative steps. Neither is there any specific Central Act on prevention
of begging and rehabilitation of beggars, nor is there a clear policy on how
the problem is to be tackled. There are, however, general legislations having provisions
for prevention of beggary.
These
include: Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of
Children) Act 2000 and Indian Railway Act 1989.
.
The States are responsible for taking the necessary preventive and
rehabilitative steps. There is neither any Central Act on prevention of beggary
and rehabilitation of beggars, nor a National Policy on beggary. There is
therefore, an urgent need to formulate a National Policy so that there is
uniformity of approach in dealing with the problem of beggary.
Various
studies and surveys have brought out that the prime reason for soliciting alms
has been poverty.Significant proportions of such persons suffer from various
types of disabilities, including mental illness and so on. A number of such
persons are also addicted to various substances and require immediate medical/psychiatric
attention. In order to be able to
provide help and support to such persons, there is a need for adoption of a
more humane approach.
20
States and 2 UTs have enacted their own antibeggary laws or adopted laws
enacted by other States. Even these States/UTs which have adopted anti-beggary
legislation do not implement them uniformly. Further, the provisions of these
legislations differ
from one state to another. Therefore, there is a need to bring out a Model
Legislation on Beggary at the Central level which can be suitably adapted by States/UTs.
.
At present, there are no central schemes directly related to beggary. However,
there are programmes for welfare and development of older persons, physically
challenged and drug abuse covering the issues/problems of beggary. Therefore,
it would be desirable to address the problem in a holistic manner at the
National Level.
.
Direct intervention through a new programme/ scheme like the Integrated
Programme for Rehabilitation of Beggars can be made. The Programme may include
items like Night Sheltercum- Work Production Centre; Multiple Skill
Training;Mobile Health Care; Counselling; Awareness Generation; and
Sensitisation programmes. Training of Human Resources, Research and
Documentation, and so on will be given special attention in the Twelfth Five
Year Plan. In addition, convergence of
existing programmes for the Vulnerable Groups implemented by the Ministries of
Social Justice and Empowerment, Rural Development, Urban Development and
Poverty Alleviation, Women and Child Development will also need to be looked
into.
Vision for the Twelfth Five Year
Plan
The
vision for the Twelfth plan consists of a series of bold and creative measures
that build upon, but also go beyond the achievements
of the Eleventh plan.
INCREASE
ALLOCATION: Increase the scale of key
interventions by greater financial outlays across the board to include MsDP
and also bringing a larger number of schemes within the scope of the 15 PP, by
making educational scholarships demand-driven
and by initiating key pilot programmes to develop best practices for the
future.
DIRECTLY
TARGET MINORITIES: Re-vamp the design,
expand the scope and strengthen implementation structures of key
initiatives like the MsDP and 15 PP such that minority settlements and people
are directly targeted; such direct targeting should
be made a condition for approval of all block and district level plans.
INSTITUTIONALISE
ROBUST MONITORING: Create internal
accountability and impact-based monitoring systems that go
beyond purely physical and financial monitoring, and also involve CSOs and
peoples’ groups in conducting time-bound social
audits of schemes and create democratic dialogues between minority groups and
state institutions at the grassroots level.
All data of a district will be available with the district welfare officer
(facilitator) and available in the public domain.
DEVELOP
TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP: Build transformative
leadership, through training and capacity building schemes,
among minority communities on a large scale, especially among minority women
and youth, so that they can themselves
create accountability at the local level to help the State provide better
neighborhoods, jobs, education, health, housing,
hygiene, skills and incomes.
FOCUS
ON SKILL BUILDING FOR EMPLOYABILITY:
Develop skills to generate employability among minority youth in
all MsDP blocks and towns through direct linkages with the National Skill
Development Mission.
INITIATE
PILOT SCHEMES FOR MINORITIES: Recognising that we
need to constantly learn and innovate to respond to
the changing needs of minorities in the context of the changing landscape of
the country, the Twelfth plan should institutionalise
a ‘hub of innovation’, through restructuring the Maulana Azad Education
Foundation, wherein a range of experiments
in educational and livelihood initiatives (including artisans) among minorities
can be undertaken. Civil society engagement
with Muslims should be revived urgently through grants-in-aid mechanisms.
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