Indian Economy, 5th edition (110 page)

New initiatives are being taken like ‘one-stop crisis centres’ for providing shelter, police assistance, legal, medical and counselling services with public hospitals as focal point. A scheme for providing restorative justice through financial assistance and support services to victims of rape will be implemented in the
Twelfth Plan
as per the directives of the Supreme Court of India.

Nirbhaya Fund

The
Union Budget 2013-14
announced setting up of a
Nirbhaya Fund
with a GoI contribution of Rs. 1,000 crores for
empowerment, safety
and
security
of women and girl children.

Welfare and Development of SCs, STs, OBCs and Other Weaker Sections

As part of the strategy to achieve inclusive development, the government is committed to the economic and social empowerment and educational upliftment of socially disadvantaged groups and marginalised sections of society.
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Accordingly, such programmes are implemented through states, government’s apex corporations and NGOs. The PPP approach is also being explored for effective delivery of services with more accountability and transparency.

Scheduled Castes (SCs)

A number of schemes to encourage SC students to continue their studies from school to higher education level as well as for the economic advancement of needy SC families are under implementation. The Post-Matric scheme has been revised with effect from July 1, 2010 so as to:

(i)
Raise the parental annual income ceiling for eligibility from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh,

(ii)
Rationalise the grouping of courses, and

(iii)
Upwardly revise maintenance and other allowances by 60 per cent.

Under the Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship Scheme which aims at providing financial assistance to SC students pursuing M. Phil and PhD courses, the number of scholarships. The specified subjects under National Overseas Scholarships have been revised for the selection year 2010-11 and new subjects, namely medicine, pure sciences, engineering, agricultural sciences, and management have been specified for providing financial assistance to students pursuing master’s-level courses and PhD/post-doctoral courses abroad.

The Scheme of Top Class Education for SCs provides financial assistance for quality education to SC students up to degree/post-degree level. SC students who secure admission in notified institutions are awarded scholarships. Twenty-four new institutions have been added to the notified list of premier institutions under the scheme with effect from the current financial year. The total number of specified institutions has thus increased to 205. Under the revised Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojna,’ a centrally sponsored scheme for hostels for SC boys and girls, assistance for the construction of girls hostels has been raised from 50 per cent to 100 per cent.

Special Central Assistance to the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan is a major scheme for economic advancement of SCs. The main thrust is on economic development of the SC population in order to bring them above the poverty line through self-employment or training. The amount of subsidy admissible under the scheme is 50 per cent of the project cost, subject to a maximum of Rs. 10,000 per beneficiary.

Scheduled Tribes (STs)

The Special Central Assistance (SCA) to the Tribal Sub- Plan (TSP), is a 100 per cent grant extended to states as additional funding to their TSPs for family-oriented income-generating schemes, creation of incidental infrastructure, extending financial assistance to SHGs, community-based activities, and development of forest villages. Human Development funds are provided to states with the objective of promoting the welfare of STs and improving administration of scheduled areas in conjunction with other schemes/programmes. The Scheme for Post-Matric Scholarship with 100 per cent financial assistance to ST students whose family income is less than or equal to Rs. 2 lakh per annum for pursuing post-matric-level education including professional, graduate, and postgraduate courses in recognized institutions, the Scheme for Top Class Education for STs providing financial assistance for quality education to 625 ST students per annum to pursue studies at degree and post-degree levels in any of the 183 identified institutes, the National Overseas Scholarship Scheme with financial assistance to 15 eligible ST students for pursuing higher studies abroad in specified fields and the Scheme for Strengthening of Education among ST Girls in low literacy districts are some other schemes for the development of STs. Some measures for economic impowerment of STs include extension of financial support through the National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC) in the form of loans and micro-credit at concessional rates of interest for income-generating activities and in market development of tribal products and their retail marketing through its sales outlets by the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED).

Other Backward Classes (OBCs)

The government provides central assistance to state governments/ UT administrations for educational development of OBCs. Under the revised Scheme of Post-Matric Scholarship for OBCs, it is proposed to provide scholarship to 17.25 lakh OBC students. in order to provide hostel facilities to OBC students studying in middle and secondary schools, colleges, and universities to enable them to pursue higher studies.

Minorities

Five communities-Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Parsis-notified by the government as minority communities constitute 18.42 per cent of total population as per the 2001 Census. The Eleventh Five Year Plan, a three pronged strategy including:

(i)
Educational empowerment,

(ii)
Area development, and

(iii)
Economic empowerment of minority communities was adopted.

Educational empowerment was sought through three scholarship schemes, namely, Pre-matric, Post-matric, and Merit-cum-means based, with more than 1 crore scholarships. These schemes were supplemented by the activities of the Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF). Economic empowerment is sought to be achieved through infusion of credit under priority-sector lending (PSL) by banks and through credit provided by the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC). Efforts are also being made to improve the management of Wakf properties and a scheme for computerisation of Wakf Board records is a significant step in this direction. The Wakf Amendment Bill 2010 has also been introduced in Parliament to improve and streamline the functioning of Wakf Boards in India.

Persons with Disabilities

A number of schemes are being implemented for the empowerment and rehabilitation of
persons with disabilities
. These schemes aim to promote physical, psychological, social, educational, and economic rehabilitation and development of persons with disabilities to enhance their quality of life and enable them to lead their lives with dignity. There are seven autonomous national institutes working in different fields of disabilities. These institutes are engaged in human resource development in the field of disability, providing rehabilitation services to persons with disabilities and undertaking research and development in their respective areas of specialisations. Besides, in order to facilitate the creation of infrastructure and capacity building at the district level for awareness generation, rehabilitation, and training and guiding rehabilitation professionals, the central government with active support from state governments is providing comprehensive services to persons with disabilities through setting up of District Disability Rehabilitation Centers in all the unserved districts of the country. The scheme for setting up of DDRCs was initiated in Ninth Five Year Plan and is continuing in Eleventh Five Year Plan. Hundred new DDRCs were targeted to be set up during the last two years (2010-11 and 2011-12) of the Eleventh Five Year Plan.

Social Defence

Under the social defence sector, schemes/programmes are implemented for senior citizens and for victims of substance (drug) abuse.
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Programmes for
senior citizens
aim at the welfare and maintenance especially of indigent senior citizens. For
victims
of substance abuse, drug demand reduction is achieved through awareness campaigns and treatment of addicts and their detoxification so that they may join the mainstream. Under the Integrated Programme for Older Persons (IPOP), grants-in-aid are given to NGOs for running old age homes (OAH), day care centres (DCCs), and mobile medical units (MMUs). The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007 was enacted in order to ensure need-based maintenance for parents and welfare measures for senior citizens. States/ UTs are required to implement the Act by notifying the same in the official gazette. The Act has been notified by 23 states and all the UTs so far. Besides, grants-in-aid are provided to NGOs for running integrated rehabilitation centers for addicts, regional resource and training centers, and other projects. For effective implementation of social defence programmes, personnel engaged in delivery of services in this area are being trained under various programmes being organised by the National Institute of Social Defence (NISD).

There are also different financial institutions to further the cause of upliftment of the weaker sections of society. The National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSCFDC), National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC), National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC), and National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC) provide credit facilities to their target groups at concessional rates of interest for various income-generating activities.

Comments of the Economic Survey 2012-13

The latest
Economic Survey 2012-13
has given its views on the Challenges & Prospects of Human Development in India in the following way –

•
The global recession of 2008 and the recent global slowdown have
squeezed
the fiscal space for most countries and consequently the purse for social sector spending. However, India’s social sector spending has seen a continuous increase even during these crisis-ridden years. India needs to balance the dual imperatives of growth and inclusion. This can happen only if growth leads to higher and better jobs. While the government’s flagship programme, the MGNREGA, is intended to fill this
‘job deficit’
in the interregnum, India has to focus on
longer-term inclusive growth strategies
.

•
The $ 1 trillion Infrastructure opportunity is one such example. Even in the interregnum, schemes like the MGNREGA should move towards more production – and growth generating activities. The draft Twelfth Five Year Plan has emphasized faster, more inclusive, and sustainable growth. A special effort is needed in two areas of human development in India - health and education. These will help translate our
demographic advantage
into a real dividend
(see chapter 21).
There is also need to address ‘delivery-related’ issues in a
mission mode
to ensure optimum utilization of funds and to convert
outlays into outcomes
. For this, ‘good governance’ is critical.

•
Coming to expenditure management, in the last few years, public expenditure on social rogrammes has increased dramatically from Rs. 9.10 lakh crore in the
Tenth Plan
period to Rs. 22.69 lakh crore during the
Eleventh Plan
period with a step up of over
149
per cent. In the Eleventh Plan period, nearly Rs. 7 lakh crore has been spent on the
15 major flagship programmes
– this sharp increase is ‘unprecedented’.

•
A number of legislative steps have also been taken to secure the
rights of people
, like the Right to Information Act, the MGNREGA, the Forest Rights Act, and the RTE. Thus the funds are in place, rights constitutionally guaranteed, and many achievements recorded, but there are also pressing issues like
leakages
and funds not reaching the targeted beneficiaries. While the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system with the help of the UID can help in plugging many of these leakages, there is enough scope for expenditure reduction even in social-sector programmes through
convergence
(integration and combining).

•
Economic Survey 2011-12
had pointed out that there are many schemes like the AABY, JBY, and RSBY with significant overlap and catering to the same or similar categories of the population, with Shiksha Sahyoga Yojana (SSY) as a add-on benefit under the former two schemes. A welcome development this year is the merger of the JBY with the AABY. There are many other such areas where convergence can take place. For example the JSY, Janani Shishu Surksha Karyakram (JSSK), and Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) have many overlapping features and the same beneficiaries. This calls for a
careful exercise in identifying overlapping schemes and weeding out or converging them.

•
A
threshold level
could also be fixed for the schemes as a critical minimum investment or outlay is needed for any programme to be successful. The Committee
on ‘Restructuring of Centrally Sponsored Schemes’
has suggested that new centrally sponsored schemes should have a minimum Plan expenditure of Rs. 10,000 crore over the Five Year Plan and should be included under
flagship schemes
.

•
Another area needing attention is
decentralisation
. While Plan programmes are designed with a “bottom-up approach” and are
Panchayat-and PRI-centric
, they are actually imsdplemented in a
top-down manner
and do not effectively articulate the needs and aspirations of the local people, especially the most vulnerable. With the 73rd Constitutional Amendment, several functions were transferred to PRIs and since 2004 there has also been massive transfer of funds to PRIs, especially after the enactment of the MGNREGA.