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Following is the text of the address of the Minister for social Justice and Empowerment, Smt. Meira Kumar at the 5th Editors’ Conference on Social Sector Issues:
"Dear Friends,
First of all, let me share with you my pleasure in being with you this morning. I am glad to have an opportunity to share with you the achievements and some of the future Plans of Action of the Ministry whose name reflects the gradual shift from the welfare approach to the participatory and equality approach towards the mariginalised and weaker sections of society.
Our Government in its Common Minimum Programme, which I am sure all of you are aware of, has pledged to provide for "full equality of opportunity in education and employment for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Religious Minorities". I shall only be sharing with you a few of the steps that have been taken in this year.
One of the important steps we have taken for the upliftment of the Minorities is the setting up of a Commission to recommend measures for the welfare of religious and linguistic minorities including reservation in education and employment.
Since the growth of jobs in the government sector is limited, increasingly opportunities for employment will have to come from the private sector, which will be the growth engine of the future. In order to meet this end, a national dialogue will be initiated with all political parties, industries and other organisations to see how best the private sector can fulfil the aspiration of SC & STs youth. The Ministry is also in constant dialogue with individuals and representatives of various associations of trade and industry, academies, industrialists, social scientists etc. A Conference of leading academicians, social thinkers and jurists was held on 24th August 2004. I am happy to find that most people including leading industrialists and organisations agree that there is a shared social responsibility not as a concession to Government’s initiative, but as a means to achieving a harmonious and vibrant nation. And I have no doubts that very soon some concrete action points will emerge.
As a part of the affirmative action, this Ministry has reviewed its own schemes and has decided to ensure that all NGOs funded by this Ministry implement the policy of reservation for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Disabled persons in the recruitment of their staff. The Ministry is currently supporting around 2700 NGOs. If all of them observe the reservation policy, they give the message of social harmony and equal participation thereby helping destroy the myth that capabilities lie only with a few segments of society. They are able to demonstrate that given the opportunity and training all persons are equal in their capabilities and output. At the same time, the Ministry does not wish to stop any activity or the flow of funds. While the first instalment has been released on the existing staffing situation, they have been asked to see that they take steps to improve this position of reservation. Once again this attempt is in keeping with the UPA Government’s policy of leading by example.
My Ministry is very sensitive to the most disadvantaged amongst the disadvantaged group and that is the Safai Karamcharis. We have extended the term of the Safai Karamcharis Commission from 2004 to 2007. The Commission will monitor and evaluate the progress made for the Scheme for the Eradication of Manual Scavenging which is now with the Ministry of Urban Development.
I would like to tell you about our activities for educational empowerment. In order to enhance the literacy levels of the SCs, the Ministry has been running Pre and Post Matric Scholarship Schemes for Scheduled Castes. In the current year we will be spending Rs. 335.55 crores on the two schemes. The money goes towards subsiding not just the cost of education for children coming from disadvantaged background but also very often enables them to meet their transportation arrangements, stay at hostels, purchase of books and other equipments etc. without which they cannot attend schools or participate fully in the education process. It has been felt for long that this money should be made available to the students at the beginning of the academic year when it can be most effectively used rather than nearer the fag end of the academic year. This year my Ministry has been able to tackle the vexing problem of channeling funds effectively through the State Governments in time and has been able to release Rs. 254 crores for Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship Schemes in the first half of this year to the State Governments for further disbursement to the students.
It is not only in the matter of making funds for scholarships available in time, but funds for other activities to be undertaken by the State Governments have to be given in time. This year about 52% of the budget for Scheduled Caste Development has already been released.
Mindful of the economic and social backwardness of the Minority population, the equity contribution to the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation has been substantially enhanced so that the Corporation can scale up its lending programmes and an additional sum of Rs.50 crores has been provided in the current year.
Coming to Persons with Disabilities, the Census Report has given a figure of 2.19 crores. The NSSO data indicates that 45% of the children with disabilities are in regular schools and about 25% of the disabled are employed. We are working with the Ministry of Education through its Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan to see that no child is denied the opportunity of getting education up to the age of 14. While the emphasis is on inclusive education to see that disabled children also study in regular schools, this Ministry has been running 399 special schools for them. But, it is my constant endeavour to see that these schools do not end up as parallel schools and fail in preparing the disabled children for mainstreaming into regular education. The social integration of all must start as early as possible if we are to bring them at par socially and economically. As regards employment, a new initiative has been taken. The Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped locted in Mumbai has developed a website called jobsfordeaf.com where persons willing to employ the hearing impaired and those seeking jobs can connect.
My Ministry has been particularly conscious in making disabled persons mobile through the distribution of aids and appliances with an enhanced thrust in those areas where such facilities, for variety of reasons, have had insufficient attention in the past. On 10-13 October, 2004, a national exhibition on aids and appliances and a disability empowerment camp was organised at Patna with the full cooperation and participation of the Government of Bihar. Though the exhibition camp we have been able to give aids and appliances to 4980 persons and registered 4500 persons for future help. Disability Certificates were also issued after an on the spot health check up. We have similarly earmarked North Eastern States as another area of special attention. Six disability camps have already been held in North Eastern States this year. Ten more camps are scheduled for shifted to the months of December to March. These camps are not merely distribution camps but they are also used as occasions for assessment as to the need of various aids and appliances, training in their usage, but also raising preventive awareness.
This Ministry has been able to extend help in holding such camps outside the country also. On September 13, this year a team of experts had visited Dar-E-Salaam at Tanzania on the occasion of the visit of the H.E. President of India to Tanzania bearing gifts of various aids and appliances for orthopedic and visually handicapped persons mainly students and held a camp to distribute talking software to the persons with visual impairment. These gifts were very much appreciated by the people there.
This Ministry is also taking initiative to set up partnership with foreign countries such as Tanzania in the field of manpower development and manufacturing of aid and appliances.
On the International Day of the Older Persons i.e on 1st October, 2004 we celebrated the occasion as a day of productive living through a Walk for the Health in which around 2500 elderly persons participated. On this day we honoured eleven senior citizens with ‘Chirayu Samman".
For prevention of drug abuse in our society, my Ministry implements drug demand reduction programme by community based interventions through 361 NGOs spread across the country. We have ensured that the standard delivery of services to the addicts are of a high order so that minimal cases of relapse occurs. The community based strategy has so far proved to be quite effective. My Ministry is also aware of high risk behaviours of drug abusers particularly injecting drug abusers which make them more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. In order to counter this threat we are giving special emphasis towards creating awareness about HIV/AIDS and the preventive aspects in the ongoing drug prevention programme. A strategy has been worked out in collaboration with National AIDS Control Organisation wherein about 100 NGOs have deployed one additional HIV/AIDS field worker exclusively for the cause of creating awareness about HIV/AIDS prevention. Their contribution has been appreciated by the International organisations like UNODC.
We are also aware of the problem of children without family care and support. The Ministry has so far established Child Help Line in 56 cities to help the children in distress and need of help and protection. We are setting up helpline in 10 more cities, namely, Kanpur, Kota, Gorakhpur, Mathura, Meerut, Elearu, Raichur, Rourkela, Sitamari, Murshidabad within this year. We are also poised to start a Missing Children Website on a pilot basis at Kolkata with the help of UNICEF and we have plans to expand to a country wide coverage in phases. Our efforts are to reunite children with their families with the help of Child Service Centres. My Ministry also recognises the social problems faced by the Street Children and is making sincere efforts under the Integrated Scheme for Street Children with an objective to rehabilitate them by providing shelter, health care and educational facilities.
I hope I have been able to convey some of the major issues which my Ministry is dealing with. Social equity is a complex issue which requires not just action but an indepth understanding of the inter-dependence of departmental efforts, social attitudes and beliefs as well as economic dynamics. I am sure I will have your support in helping my Ministry in its effort towards a harmonious and participatory society."
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