Schemes

Welfare Schemes for Women

A number of welfare schemes for women have been undertaken by the Government of India. The details of such schemes under implementation by Ministry of Women and Child Development are as under:         i.          RAJIV GANDHI NATIONAL CRECHE SCHEME FOR THE CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS(RGNCS) provides day care facilities to the children in the age group 0-6 years from families with monthly income of less than 12000/-. In addition to being a safe space for the children, the crèches provide services such as supplementary nutrition, pre-school education and emergency health care, etc.       ii.          CENTRAL SOCIAL WELFARE BOARD : The main women welfare Related schemes and programmes being implemented by CSWB are as under:-   ·      Family Counselling Centres: It was introduced in 1983.  The centres provide counselling, referral and rehabilitative services to women and children who are victims of atrocities, family maladjustment and social ostracism. They also provide crisis intervention and trauma counselling in case of natural disasters.   ·      Awareness Generation Programme: This scheme aims at creating awareness amongst women and the community at large on rights, status and problems of women in particular and other social concerns.   ·      Condensed courses of education for women: This scheme caters to the needs of girls/women who could not join mainstream education system or who were drop outs from formal schools.  The scheme aims to provide educational opportunities to girls/women above the age of 15 years along with additional inputs of skill development/vocational training.  The contents of the course are need based and modified according to local requirement.     iii.          NATIONAL MISSION FOR EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (NMEW) is an initiative of the Government of India for empowering women holistically. It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme sanctioned in April 2011 and acts as an umbrella Mission with a mandate to strengthen inter-sectoral convergence and facilitate the process of coordination of all the women’s welfare and socio-economic development programmes across Ministries and Departments. NMEW is being implemented in all the 35 States and Union Territories.     iv.          WORKING WOMEN’S HOSTEL (WWH) Scheme envisages provision of safe and affordable hostel accommodation to working women, single working women, women working at places away from their home-towns and for women being trained for employment. The scheme has been revised recently.       v.          SUPPORT TO TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMME (STEP) for Women was launched as a Central Sector Scheme during 1986-87. It aims at making a significant impact on women by upgrading skills for self and wage employment. The target group includes the marginalized assetless rural Women and urban poor. This also includes wage labourers, unpaid daily workers, female headed households, migrant labourers, tribal and other dispossessed groups, with special focus on SC/ST households, women headed households and families below the poverty line.     vi.          RASHTRIYA MAHILA KOSH (RMK) with a corpus of Rs.100 crore extends micro-finance services to bring about the socio-economic upliftment of poor women. Credit is provided to the poor women beneficiaries through Intermediary MicrofinancingOrganisations (IMOs) working at grass root level such as NGOs, Women Federations, Co-operatives, not for profit companies registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act and other Voluntary/Civil society organisations etc. by following a client friendly, simple, without collateral, for livelihood and income generation activities, housing and micro-enterprises.   vii.          WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT AND LIVELIHOOD PROGRAMME IN MID-GANGETIC PLAIN (WELP) also calledPriyadarshini is being implemented with assistance of International Fund for Agricultural Development in 13 Blocks spread over 5 Districts in Uttar Pradesh i.e. Bahraich, CSM Nagar, Raebareli, Shravasti and Sultanpur and 2 Districts Madhubani and Sitamarhi in Bihar. It aims at holistic empowerment of vulnerable groups of women and adolescent girls in the project area through formation of Women’s Self Help Groups (SHGs) and promotion of improved livelihood opportunities. Over 1,00,000 households are to be covered under the project and 7,200 SHGs will be formed during the project period ending 2016-17. The beneficiaries are expected to be empowered to address their political, legal and health issues through rigorous capacity building. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development is the lead programme agency for implementation of the programme which became effective in December 2009.    viii.          INDIRA GANDHI MATRITVA SAHYOG YOJANA (IGMSY) is a Conditional Cash Transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating (P&L) women introduced in the October 2010 to contribute to better enabling environment by providing cash incentives for improved health and nutrition to pregnant and nursing mothers. It envisages providing cash to P&L women during pregnancy and lactation in response to individual fulfilling specific conditions. It addresses short term income support objectives with long term objective of behaviour and attitudinal change.  The scheme attempts to partly compensate for wage loss to P&L women both prior to and after delivery of the child. The scheme is being implemented initially on pilot basis in 52 selected districts using the platform of ICDS. 12.5 lakh P&L women are expected to be covered every year under IGMSY. The beneficiaries are paid  4000/ in three instalments per P&L women between the second trimester till the child attains the age of 6 months on fulfilling specific conditions related to maternal and child health .     ix.          SWADHAR GREH SCHEME: The Ministry of Women and Child Development had been administering Swadhar scheme since 2001 for Women in difficult circumstances. Under the Scheme, temporary accommodation, maintenance and rehabilitative services are provided to women and girls rendered homeless due to family discord, crime, violence, mental stress, social ostracism. Another scheme with similar objectives/target groups namely Short Stay Home (SSH) was being implemented by Central Social Welfare Board.  Being similar in objectives and target groups, both the schemes have been merged to Swadhar Greh scheme with revised financial parameters.       x.          UJJAWALA is a comprehensive scheme for prevention of trafficking and rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration of victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation. Funds are released to NGOs as the scheme is being implemented mainly through NGOs.

 

Serving up a better alternative for mother and child

India’s economic growth over the last 15 years, and the growing size of the middle class, have become a source of attraction for international investors, especially in the retail food industry. However, the gap between the rich and the poor has only widened: nearly 40 per cent of the population earns the equivalent of less than $1.25 a day. India has the world’s largest number of undernourished infants and children, approximately 61 million. It was quick to identify the problem, and introduced the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) in 1975. But it has had only limited and patchy success. Today, India has several programmes meant to overcome undernutrition. Yet, in the given situation, achieving the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of eradicating extreme hunger and poverty by 2015, remains unrealistic.

The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme was launched in 1975 with the following objectives:

1. to improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group 0-6 years;
2. to lay the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of the child;
3. to reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropout;
4. to achieve effective co-ordination of policy and implementation amongst the various departments to promote child development; and
5. to enhance the capability of the mother to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education.

 

Under the 11th Five Year Plan, the budget for this is more than Rs.44,000 crore, employing several hundred workers and serving more than 8.2 million pregnant women and 40 million children under five. Yet, undernutrition in children contributes to 22 per cent of the disease burden. Micronutrient deficiencies cost about $2.5 billion a year. The ICDS, though well-intended, suffers from discrepancies and a lack of commitment to providing quality care for the vulnerable and the needy. Its focus has been mainly on quantitative coverage, food distribution to the three- to five-year age group and pre-school education. It needs to concentrate on pregnant women and children under two.

The most critical period of a child’s development is from conception to the first two years. The nutritional needs of the pregnant mother and the young child have quantitative and qualitative aspects. Yet, the fund allocation is the least for this group. The ICDS spends Rs.4 a day for infants less than 72 months old, Rs.5 a day for pregnant mothers, and Rs.6 a day for three- to five-year olds. Failure to intervene in undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies during this critical period has left generations of children stunted. Research has established that environmental factors determine the height, weight and intellect of an individual, and not genetic or hereditary factors. 

THE U.S. PROGRAMME

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children — better known as the WIC Program — in the U.S., is a federal grant programme introduced in the same year as the ICDS. The focus is to safeguard the health of low-income group women, infants and children until the age of four. Interestingly, the maximum utilisation is by infants less than two years, and it decreases as the child gets older. Supplemental food package coupons are provided to pregnant, lactating mothers and low-income group families with children up to four. The food has to be purchased from government-authorised vendors within the local area. Apart from favourable health outcomes such as increased breast feeding, reduced infant mortality and prevention of undernutrition, this helps local farmers sell their produce and small traders to increase business.

The ICDS needs to focus on empowering women and making them aware of the long-term benefits of healthy food and help beneficiaries access healthy, nutritious and palatable food of their choice. This would reduce pilferage and help achieve the objectives of the ICDS.

 

                                                                                                               

WHO admits that India has been effectively reducing its infant and maternal mortality figures, thanks largely to National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). But experts say the pace hasn't been satisfactory enough, especially when it comes to infant and maternal deaths.

One of the MDG goals is to reduce under-five mortality rate to 42 per 1,000 live births by 2015. India will reach 52 by that year missing the target by 10 percentage points.

The national level estimate of infant mortality rate is likely to be 44 against the MDG target of 27 in 2015. Some of the largest states like Madhya Pradesh (62), Odisha (61), Uttar Pradesh (61), Assam (58), Meghalaya (55), Rajasthan (55), Chhattisgarh (51), Bihar (48) and Haryana (48) still have IMR above the national estimates.

The national level measure of the proportion of one-year old (12-23 months) children immunized against measles has registered an increase from 42.2% (1992-93) to 74.1% (2009).

India is, however, expected to cover about 89% children in the age group 12-23 months for immunization against measles by 2015 — short of universal immunization of one-year olds against measles by about 11 percentage points.

India will reach maternal mortality rate (MMR) of 139 per 100,000 live births by 2015, falling short by 30 percentage points.

 

Origin of European gypsy population traced to north-western India

Scientists at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) have said that they have cracked the mystery surrounding the origin and migration of the Roma (gypsy) population.

A team of international scientists led by CCMB’s Kumarasamy Thangaraj concluded that the aboriginal scheduled tribe and scheduled caste population of north-western India, traditionally referred as Doma and also as Dalits, are the most likely ancestral population of modern European Roma.

The development assumes significance in view of the curiosity surrounding the parental lineage of the European gypsy population.

Though linguistic and genetic studies of the European Roma have been traced to Eurasia, the exact parental population group and time of dispersal remained disputed in the absence of archaeological evidence and scanty historical documentation of the Roma.

The study found that the exile time of the Roma founders from India could be approximately put at 1,405 years ago.

The conclusion was arrived at after an exhaustive study involving screening of about 10,000 males around the world, including 7,000 hailing from 205 ethnic population of India to discern a more precise ancestral source of Romani (gypsy) population.

Single founder

Dr. Thangaraj explained that all males of a family or a population evolved from a single founder make and would possess the same Y chromosome.

Based on the genetic signature that exists on the Y chromosome, every male could be assigned to a specific group (haplogroup), enabling tracing of parental lineage using these signatures.

It was shown that the European Roma possessed the Y chromosome haplogroup Hlala. The most recent common ancestor of European Roma was not identified because of the absence of similar data from their putative homeland, India.

“We have compared the worldwide phylogeographical data for Indian Hlala haplotypes with Roma and concluded that Doma are most likely ancestral populations,” he said.

George van Driem, a linguist from University of Bern, Switzerland, who was part of the team, said the finding corroborated the similarity in the terms Roma and Doma and resolved the controversy about Gangetic Plain and Punjab in favour of north-western portion from where widespread range of Doma population diffused.

Linguistic, Indological studies

Another member Gyaneshwer Chaubey said it was noteworthy that the closest as well as matching haplotypes with Roma were found only in the SC/ST populations of northwest India.

This corroborated the linguistic evidence and most recent reconstruction of the likely ethno-linguistic origins and affinities of gypsies based on linguistic and Indological studies, he said.

Section 66A of IT Act

 

 

Last week, two women were arrested for comments on Facebook following the death of politician Bal Thackeray. The arrests led to an outrage with many calling for scrapping the law.

Hence the Delhi student Shreya Singhal, who has filed a petition in court stating that the phraseology of section 66A of the IT Act, 2000 is so wide and vague and incapable of being judged on objective standards, that it is susceptible to wanton abuse and hence falls foul of Article 14, 19 (1)(a) and Article 21 of the constitution”. This provision allows cases to be registered against those who simply cause 'annoyance' to others by their Internet activities.

The plea has also sought issuance of guidelines by the apex court to "reconcile section 41 and 156 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code with Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution" and that offences under the Indian Penal Code and any other legislation if they involve the freedom of speech and expression be treated as non-cognizable offence for the purposes of Section 41 and Section 156 (1).

Section 41 of the CrPC empowers the police to arrest any person without an order from the magistrate and without a warrant in the event that the offence involved is a cognizable offence. Section 156 (1) empowers the investigation by the police into a cognizable offence without an order of a magistrate.

Thus the Centre issued new guidelines for arrests under a controversial provision of the IT Act.

The new guidelines say approval from a police officer of IGP rank in metros and DCP rank in other areas will have to be sought before registering complaints under section 66A of the Act. (Section 66A provides for a jail term of up to three years, and a case under it can be registered by a police station in-charge or an inspector-rank officer).

 

 

Apex court issues notices to states over Section 66A

 

 

of IT Act

 

Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir  asked three central ministries, the states of Maharashtra, West Bengal and Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry on Friday to respond within four weeks to a public interest petition (PIL) seeking an amendment to the controversial Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act. Kabir also asked the Maharashtra government to explain why the two girls in Palghar near Mumbai were arrested for criticizing on Facebook the shutdown in the city for Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s funeral.

The PIL against Section 66A has been filed by 21-year-old student Shreya Singhal.

Earlier in November, a businessman in Puducherry was arrested for comments made on Twitter against finance minister P. Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram. Pranesh Prakash, policy director at the Centre for Internet and Society think tank, said that while the change in the law is a step in the right direction and will eliminate a lot of frivolous complaints, more needs to be done to make the legislation specific.

April incident in which a professor of chemistry from Jadavpur University in West Bengal, Ambikesh Mahapatra, was arrested for posting a cartoon concerning chief minister Mamata Banerjee on a social networking site.

Puducherry case as well as the May arrests of two Air India Ltd employees, V. Jaganatharao and Mayank Sharma, by the Mumbai Police under the IT Act for posting content onFacebook and Orkut against a trade union leader and some politicians.

Palestine wins de facto UN recognition of sovereign state

 

 

The 193-nation UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine. The vote will upgrade its status to non-member observer state at the world body.
The UN victory for the Palestinians was a diplomatic setback for the United States and Israel, which were joined by only a handful of countries in voting against the move to upgrade the Palestinian Authority's observer status at the United Nations to "non-member state" from "entity," like the Vatican.
India was among the 138 nations in the 193-member body that voted in favour while nine countries opposed the resolution that sought upgrading the status of Palestinian Authority from 'entity' to 'non-member observer state. Forty-one countries abstained from the voting.

The vote could enable Palestine to access bodies like the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which prosecutes people for genocide, war crimes and major human rights violations. Now Palestine could use access to the ICC to complain about Israel.
In the resolution, the Assembly also voiced the hope that the Security Council will "consider favourably" the application submitted in September 2011 by Palestine for full UN membership.
The vote comes on the same day that the UN observed the annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Established in 1977, the Day marks the date in 1947 when the Assembly adopted a resolution partitioning then-mandated Palestine into two States, one Jewish and one Arab.

 

Government's Direct cash transfer scheme

 

·         Benefits under 29 welfare schemes being operated by different ministries would be transferred through Aadhaar-enabled bank accounts in 51 districts spread over 16 states from January 1 next year.

·         The scheme of cash transfer into bank accounts, would enable the government to extend benefits to the needy at the click of a button without any fear of misuse or duplication.

·         roughly about 29 schemes are ready to start from the January 1. It is possible that one or two schemes may start a few days or a couple of weeks late. But ultimately we want to load all these schemes on the system. Out of the 42, we think about 29, give or take one or two, will be ready

·         At present, government operates about 42 schemes, of which 29 would be covered by the cash transfer scheme that is to be launched from January 1, 2013 in 51 districts. The second roll-out to cover more districts would be launched in April 2013, he said.

·         The schemes which would come under the purview of the cash transfer scheme would include those of ministry of social justice and empowerment, human resources development (HRD) minority welfare, women and child development, health and family and labour and employment.

·         With the introduction of the direct cash transfer scheme, Chidambaram said, "falsification and duplication will be practically eliminated and I believe that (it) would result in considerable savings to the exchequer.

What’s the scheme all about?

Families with Aadhar card, entitled to subsidies, pension, scholarships etc, will get money directly in their bank accounts. Direct cash transfer of subsidies would be done through Aadhaar-enabled bank accounts. Every person is expected to hold a bank account to enable such transfers. Initially, 29 welfare programmes will be covered. According to government sources, it would consider the feasibility of cash instead of food (under the Public Distribution System) and fertilizers, at a later stage.

What is Aadhaar scheme and card?

Aadhaar card is an ID card with a 12-digit unique number issued to all the citizens of India (on voluntary basis). It will carry the demographics and biometric information of the holder. Payments of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act ( MGNREGA) wages are being done using this card.

Who’s Who?

A high-power National Committee on Direct Cash Transfers was constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The members of the Committee are Prime Minister (Chairperson), the Union Ministers for Finance, Communications, Rural Development, Social Justice & Empowerment, Human Resource Development, Tribal Affairs, Minority Affairs, Health & Family Welfare, Labour & Employment, Petroleum & Natural Gas, Chemicals & Fertilizers, the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, MoSs for Food & Public Distribution and Women & Child Development, Chairman, UIDAI, the Cabinet Secretary and the Principal Secretary to the PM (Convenor).

Why is it being done?

This system is aimed at eliminating fraud, middle-men, black-marketing, and bribery in dispersing of the subsidies.

Which are the Welfare Schemes?

At this time, 29 schemes have been brought under the ambit of the cash transfer programme. These are mostly scholarship schemes from ministries like Social Justice, HRD and Minority Affairs.

In his budget speech last year, then-Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had announced that UPA2 was planning to reroute subsidies in kerosene, fertilisers and LPG as cash transfers to beneficiaries. Of these, kerosene and LPG might be rolled out before the 2014 elections. Food and fertiliser are not being touched right now.

 

Is India Ready?

The success of cash transfers depends on people having bank accounts, money going into the right account, and people having easy access to those accounts. Right now, it's not clear if India will be ready as per schedule, especially for villagers and the urban poor.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has issued only 210 million Aadhaar numbers. Banks are on an account-opening spree, but it is not clear if they will cover all in time. The question is whether the promise of cash transfers will have people flocking to banks and enrolment centres.

What are the Other Problems?

 

1. The cash transfer is certainly a welcome step because it will reduce corruption and improve political gains for the government as it can then claim that money is reaching the poor. But it has also got its limitations. Cash transfers will not be able to eliminate the problem of wrong classification of the poor.

Cash-transfer schemes will work where the beneficiaries, i.e. the poor, can be identified. The Aadhaar programme cannot identify the poor, it can only eliminate ghost names. The identification of the poor is only possible by government machinery.

 

Money coming into a person's account is one thing. That person being able to withdraw it is another. The second question is especially relevant to rural India, where bank branches and ATMs are rare. UPA 2 is betting on banking correspondents (BCs) with handheld machines enabling cash withdrawals and deposits in every panchayat. This last mile architecture is still a bone of contention.

The UIDAI had recommended a countrywide MicroATM network. In contrast, the finance ministry's model can deliver cash transfers even to those without Aadhaar numbers. However, another part of this plan also creates last mile monopolies — loosely put, one banking correspondent for every state.