The Ministry continued its efforts towards empowering disadvantaged sections of the society, like Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes, Disabled, elderly people and victims of substance abuse. The actual expenditure incurred on all the schemes for the welfare of disadvantaged and weaker sections of the society was Rs. 1,596.92 crore during the year 2005-06, an enhancement of 35 per cent over the actual expenditure of Rs. 1,182.26 crore in 2003-04.

DEVELOPMENT OF SCHEDULED CASTES

Affirmative Action

In pursuance of the promise made under the National Common Minimum Programme on affirmative action including reservation in private sector for SC/ST youths, the Ministry held extensive interaction with top functionaries of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and PHD Chambers of Commerce. A Group of Ministers constituted for the purpose during September 2004, also held a dialogue with representatives of Trade and Industry to see how best the private sector can fulfill the aspirations of the youth belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The progress has been significant and qualitative in nature, and there is a general consensus on affirmative action for scholarships and skill development for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes youths.

Empowerment through Education

For the educational and social development of the Scheduled Castes, an expenditure of Rs. 2,104.73 crore was incurred during the last two years, which is again an increase of Rs. 435.84 crore over the first two years of the X Plan period.

            Under the Post Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Castes, 49 lakh students have been awarded scholarships worth Rs.1,020.23 crore and the expenditure under the Scheme has been raised from Rs.264.99 crore in 2003-04, to Rs.548.10 crore in 2005-06, an increase of 106 per cent over the period of two years. About 11.49 lakh SC students of those engaged in unclean occupation have been provided with Pre-Matric Scholarship worth Rs.20.68 crore. For the Construction of hostels for Scheduled Castes boys and girls studying in middle school, higher secondary school, colleges and universities; Rs.93.21 crore were released benefiting 25,811 students during the last two years.

   

Another milestone in the field of educational empowerment of SC Students has been the introduction of a new Central Sector Scheme, namely Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship (RGNF) in January 2006, for providing scholarships on the UGC pattern to the Scheduled Castes Students for pursuing M.Phil & Ph.D.  In all, 1333 SC students benefited during each year in 2005-06 and 2006-07. The Scheme is being implemented by the UGC. The fellowships are open to the disciplines of Science, Engineering and Technology, Humanity and Social Sciences and will be preferably awarded to scheduled caste students registered in M.Phil/Ph.D. Courses in Indian Universities.

The Ministry has also introduced Call Centre Training under the scheme of Coaching and Allied Assistance for SC & OBC. Two major IT institutes namely NIIT Ltd. and APPTECH  Ltd. have  been  entrusted  the  job of providing free training in English language speech, accounting, computer familiarization and personality development. The training will benefit 2880 SC students annually.

Another new scheme of TOP class education for SC students, which will benefit 1,250 students has been formulated.  So far, 120 top class institutions in the field of management, engineering, medicine including dentistry, law, information technology and other specialised streams have been identified for this scheme.

            Under the National Overseas Scholarship Scheme, Rs.2.50 crore was spent on SC students studying abroad. In addition, 20 SC students have been selected for award during the year 2005-06.

Assistance for SCP

The expenditure under the Scheme of Special Central Assistance to Special Component Plan which is meant for overall socio-economic development of Scheduled Castes increased from Rs.383.86 crore in 2003-04 to Rs.407.36 crore in 2005-06, an increase of 6.12 per cent.

            The National Commission for De-Notified Tribes, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes was re-constituted in January 2005 to examine the developmental aspects of the De-notified Tribes, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes.

            The tenure of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis has been extended upto December 2007.

EMPOWERMENT OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

National Policy for Persons with Disabilities

National Policy for Persons with Disabilities has been announced which will ensure physical rehabilitation, education, economic rehabilitation and social security for the disabled. The policy alongwith the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 will cover the prevention and early detection of disabilities and other aspects of rehabilitation such as early intervention education, employment, creating barrier free environment, vocational training, reservation of jobs in the State Sector, non-discrimination, research and manpower development. Special problems of women and children with disabilities have also been addressed in the Policy. 

Helpline

The Ministry has launched disability telephone lines in Mumbai and Delhi covering telecom circles of Maharashtra, Goa and Delhi, which is a major milestone in the process of disability rehabilitation. Information related to awareness and referral services for the benefit of persons with disabilities, parents, care givers, rehabilitation professionals and decision makers can be obtained through this helpline.

ADIP Scheme

Major improvements in the Scheme of Assistance to Disabled Persons for purchase/fitting of Aids and Appliances (ADIP) has been made by raising the income limit for eligibility of 100 per cent concession from Rs.5,000 to 6,500 per month ,and for 50 per cent concession from Rs.8,000 to 10,000 per month to extend benefit to more beneficiaries.   Further, motorised tricycles for persons with locomotor disabilities and software for persons with visual disabilities using computers have also been covered under the Scheme. Under the Scheme, grant in aid of Rs.122.19 crore has been released benefiting 5,03,030 persons with disabilities.

To promote physical, social and psychological rehabilitation of persons with disabilities, particularly personal mobility, about four lakh disabled persons were provided  assistive devices. This includes persons from North-Eastern States and Srinagar and Leh  in the State of Jammu & Kashmir where for the first time the distribution camps were held during 2005. Such interventions on the part of the Ministry are aimed at ensuring balanced regional growth.

            For distribution of aids and appliances, a disability camp was organized in Tanzania during September 2004. The President of India distributed assistive devices worth Rs. 15 lakh to orthopaedically and handicapped children. This gesture on India’s part drew wide acclaim in Tanzania.

Back home, the President dedicated the mental retardation kits developed by National Institute for Mentally Handicapped, Secunderabad, to the nation at a function organized by National Institute of Rehabilitation, Training and Research, Cuttack during December 2005.

Manpower Development

Recognising that persons with multiple disabilities faced serious difficulties in their independent living and need specialized rehabilitation services, a National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities has been set up in Chennai. The Institute has started short-term courses for caregivers and parents of children with multiple disabilities.

Recognising the achievements of persons with disabilities and the individual/organisations that are working for their welfare, the Ministry has been giving National Awards in the field of disability, on the occasion of International Day for Disabled Persons i.e. on 3^rd December every year.  During last two years 109 national awards have been given away by the Hon’ble President of India.

OTHER WELFARE SCHEMES

Scholarship for OBCs

            Recognising the educational needs and economic backwardness of OBCs, affirmative action is taken to implement programmes like providing Pre & Post Matric Scholarships as well as hostels for the OBC girls and boys. The number of students who have benefited by Pre & Post Matric Scholarships are 26.16 lakh and 3.91 lakh, respectively. Under the Scheme for Hostels for OBC Boys & Girls, 13,195 students belonging to socially and educationally backward classes have benefited.

Social Defence

Policies and programmes in the area of Social Defence are aimed at protection of persons who are particularly vulnerable namely elderly persons and victims of substance abuse and alcoholism.

Welfare of the Aged

To address the concerns of the elderly population, the Ministry is in the process of bringing legislation for protection and care for the elderly. Once the Bill is passed, maintenance from the family will become a matter of right for the older persons. The proposed bill also assures protective type social security in the form of old age pensions to destitute senior citizens. Setting up of Old Age Homes in each district for geriatric care is another notable feature of the Bill.

            Recognising the significant contribution made by senior citizens, seven distinguished senior citizens were felicitated with ‘Vayoshreshtha Samman’ awards for their exemplary contribution in different walks of life on the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons i.e. October 1, 2005.

Rehabilitation of Substance Abuse Victims

Prevention of alcoholism and substance abuse is a part of the Ministry’s Drug demand reduction programme. To extend the outreach of existing programme, 68 new treatment/rehabilitation centers were opened in the uncovered areas in order to bring into fold those drug addicts who are not in treatment due to non-availability of services. For providing an opportunity for wide viable and confidential means of sharing information by recovering addicts as well as for interacting with Rehabilitation specialists and counsellers, a National Network for Recovered Addicts was launched on the occasion of International Day for against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking i.e. on June 26,2005. Recognising that substance abusers are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, 200 NGOs working in the field of drug demand reduction and funded by the Ministry were provided with one HIV/AIDS worker in each de-addiction center with the funding support of National Aids Control Organization.

Schemes for Economic Empowerment

With a view to give an impetus to the special needs of the weaker and vulnerable sections of the society, the Apex Finance Corporations of the Ministry provided Concessional Credit Loans to 3,90,709 beneficiaries belonging to Scheduled Castes (94,804), Safai Karamcharis (46,675), Other Backward Classes (1,45,294), Minorities (95,890) and Disabled (8,046) for establishment of income generating viable projects. On  the occasion of International women’s Day on  March 8, 2005 for the first time a function was organized in which 25 successful women entrepreneurs belonging to Scheduled Castes, Safai Karamcharis, Other Bakcward Classes, Minorities and Persons with Disabilities were honoured. They were advanced loans by the Apex Corporations of the Ministry. This was a step towards affirmative action to facilitate their rehabilitation and integration in society, since they are even more vulnerable amongst the weaker section.

Minorities and Child Welfare

Prior to the transfer of subjects related to Minorities and Child welfare to the newly created Ministries of Minority Affairs and the upgradation of the Department of Women & Child Development to a Ministry and the consequent re-allocation of business, the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment made several achievements in the field of minorities and child welfare.

            The Government increased the authorized share of National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation from Rs. 500 crore to Rs.650 crore, and the Corporation was given an equity support of Rs. 73.65 crore during 2004-05, which is the highest in the last ten years.

The two Bills, namely, Constitution (103^rd Amendment) Bill, 2004,and National Commission for Minorities (Repeal) Bill, 2004 were introduced in the Lok Sabha during December 2004 for granting Constitutional status to the National Commission for Minorities.

Further, a National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities was constituted to determine the criteria in identification of socially and economically backward sections among religious and linguistic minorities. The subject of inclusion of Dalit Christians in the list of Scheduled Castes was also brought under the purview of the Commission.

            A sum of Rs.29.99 crore was released to Maulana Azad Education Foundation for their augmentation of the Corpus Fund from 70.01 crore to 100 crore to promote education among the educationally weaker sections in general and Backward minorities in particular. For the first time, the Maulana Azad Literacy Award was given to three educational institutions viz. Marwar Education Society, Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Farook College, Calicut (Kerala) and Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society, Pune (Maharashtra) for the commendable work in the field of minority education.

            The guidelines for inter-Country Adoption of children was revised in view of the recent development like signing and ratification of Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption.

            The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2005 was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Justice & Empowerment. The Standing Committee after examination of the Bill laid its report in the Parliament on 12.12.2005.      

            A Childline a toll free telephone service available to all children in distress was extended to ten other cities including those affected by Tsunami i.e. Nagalattinam, Cuddalore, Kanchipuram, Kanyakumari, Kollam, Port Blair and Karaikal during the year 2005 making it available in 67 cities across the country.

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