PIB FEATURES

February, 2015

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How Trains Stop

Passenger profile on IR

Indian Railways carried about 8.4 Billion passengers in the year 2012-13 which is more than the total population of the world. These passengers clocked about 1.1 trillion passenger kilometers. About 53% of these passengers are suburban and the balance are long distance passengers.

How trains come to a stop?

We always wonder how trains run and how they are stopped. It is easy to understand how a car comes to a stop when the driver applies the brake using the brake pedal. Cars use hydraulic brakes whereas most of the trains in India use pneumatic brakes or air brakes as they are commonly called. These coaches are generally marked with an A or AB with the coach number. The trains can be stopped by the driver or by the passengers by alarm chain pulling (ACP).

In the Air Brake system, compressed air is used for operating the brake system. These brakes can be the conventional types or directly mounted on the bogies of the coaches. The latest design is the Disc Brake System (DBS) found in LHB coaches and is similar to what is found in automobiles. The atmospheric air is compressed in the locomotive upto 10 kg/cm2 and supplied at a pressure of 6/5 kg/cm2 to the train. It is carried across the whole length of the train through two pipes at the bottom of the coaches. When the brakes are applied the pressure in the 5kg pipe (the brake pipe) gets depleted proportionately and this causes the air to enter the brake cylinders which push a piston. The brake blocks are connected through a linkage and the piston movement causes them to stick to the wheels and stop the train by friction. The loss in pressure is made good by the air in the 6kg/cm2 pipe called the feed pipe. In case of disc brake system the pads attached to the discs are used to stop the train.

DBS is micro processor controlled and an advanced version of Air Brake system. It is essential for high speeds of 160kmph plus. It is superior in terms of reduced braking distance, higher wheel life due to reduced frequency of wheel turning, and reduced maintenance, less braking noise and higher efficiency due to simple brake rigging. The main characteristics of DBS are 02 discs mounted on each axle as shown in picture below:

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Disc Brake System Emergency Brake Handle

When the passenger pulls the alarm chain shown above located near the seat it causes the pressure in the brake pipe to fall down giving an indication to the driver and stopping the train. A valve on the coach called the PEASD (passenger emergency alarm signal device) operates and the sound of the escaping air can be heard from thecoach. Also a light near the door glows and indicates the location of the affected coach.

What does an unscheduled stoppage of a train by ACP mean to the public?

Have you ever wondered why trains are often delayed? Analysis shows that ACP contributes to 4% of the punctuality loss cases on Indian Railways. Imagine the social costs of the time delays to about 1500 passengers in a train when one pulls the chain for a valid or often illegitimate reason. Apart from this time loss, calculations show that for an extra stoppage of a 24 coach train travelling at 110 Kmph, the locomotive consumes an additional amount of approximately 130 litres of diesel fuel. This amounts to a loss of 8500 rupees as well as the increase in avoidable atmospheric pollution. As responsible citizens we should abstain from using ACP and should sensitize others not to do the same. The penalty for unauthorized use of the alarm chain is Rs.1000 and/or imprisonment up to three months.

Apart from this we need to realize that the train requires about one kilometer to stop due to its sheer momentum. It is for this reason that in spite of the driver being vigilant there are accidents on unmanned level crossings when trespassers break the rules and expect the train to stop immediately on seeing them.

As responsible citizens and enlightened green passengers we should refrain from using the ACP unless there is a dire emergency. It may be worthwhile to contact the railway staff on the train to solve the problem at hand.

Stay at Arm’s Length from Persons Coughing or Sneezing, Avoid Gathering and Wash your Hands Frequently To Check H1N1 spread

Influenza – A (H1N1) (earlier know as swine flu) is a new influenza virus causing illness in people. First detected in Mexico in April, 2009, it has spread to many countries in the World.

Swine flu is basically a misnomer. This was originally referred to as “swine flu” because laboratory testing showed that many of the genes in this new virus were

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very similar to those found in pigs in North America. Further on, it has been found that this new virus has gene segments from the swine, avian and human flu virus genes. The scientists calls this a ‘quadruple reassortant” virus and hence this new (novel) virus is christened “influenza-A (H1N1) virus.”

Swine Flu / Pig Flu

Is an infection caused by any one of several types of swine influenza viruses that is endemic in pigs. As of 2009, the known strains include influenza C and the subtypes of influenza A known as H1N1, H1N2, H2N1, H3N1, H3N2, andH2N3.Swine influenza virus is common throughout pig populations worldwide. Transmission of the virus from pigs to humans is not common and does not always lead to human flu, often resulting only in the production of antibodies in the blood. If transmission does cause human flu, it is called zoonotic swine flu. People with regular exposure to pigs are at increased risk of swine flu infection.

History

Swine influenza was first thought to be a disease related to human flu during the 1918 flu pandemic, when pigs became ill at the same time as humans. For the following 60 years, swine influenza strains were almost exclusively H1N1. Then, between 1997 and 2002, new strains of three different subtypes and five different genotypes emerged. The H1N1 form of swine flu is one of the descendants of the strain that caused the 1918 flu pandemic. After persisting in pigs, the descendants of the 1918 virus have also circulated in humans through the 20th century, contributing to the normal seasonal epidemics of influenza. However, direct transmission from pigs to humans is rare.

Transmission

Influenza is quite common in pigs; the main route of transmission is through direct contact between infected and uninfected animals. These close contacts are particularly common during animal transport, Intensive farming. Transmission may also occur through wild animals, such as wild boar.

People who work with poultry and swine, especially those with intense exposures, are at increased risk of zoonotic infection with influenza virus endemic in these animals, and constitute a population of human hosts in which zoonosis and reassortment can co-occur. Other professions at particular risk of infection are veterinarians and meat processing workers, although the risk of infection for both of these groups is lower than that of farm worker.

Signs and symptoms

In pigs, influenza infection produces fever, lethargy, sneezing, coughing, difficulty breathing and decreased appetite Although mortality is usually low (around 1–4%), the virus can produce weight loss and poor growth, causing economic loss to farmers.

Direct transmission of a swine flu virus from pigs to humans is occasionally possible (zoonotic swine flu). In humans the symptoms of "swine flu" H1N1 virus are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general. Symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Because these symptoms are not specific to swine flu, a differential diagnosis of probable swine

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flu requires not only symptoms, but also a high likelihood of swine flu due to the person's recent history. A diagnosis of confirmed swine flu requires laboratory testing of a respiratory sample (a simple nose and throat swab).

The most common cause of death is respiratory failure. Other causes of death are pneumonia (leading to sepsis), high fever (leading to neurological problems), dehydration (from excessive vomiting and diarrhea), electrolyte imbalance and kidney failure. Fatalities are more likely in young children and the elderly.

Diagnosis

The CDC recommends real time PCR as the method of choice for diagnosing H1N1. The oral or nasal fluid collection and RNA virus preserving filter paper card is commercially available. This method allows a specific diagnosis of novel influenza (H1N1) as opposed to seasonal influenza

Spread of infection

Prevention of swine influenza has three components: prevention in swine, prevention of transmission to humans, and prevention of its spread among humans.

Methods of preventing the spread of influenza among swine include facility management, herd management, and vaccination. Facility management includes using disinfectants and ambient temperature to control viruses in the environment. They are unlikely to survive outside living cells for more than two weeks, except in cold (but above freezing) conditions, and are readily inactivated by disinfectants. The virus survives in healthy carrier pigs for up to three months, and can be recovered from them between outbreaks.

In humans

Prevention of pig-to-human transmission

The transmission from swine to humans is believed to occur mainly in swine farms, where farmers are in close contact with live pigs. Although strains of swine influenza are usually not able to infect humans, this may occasionally happen, so farmers and veterinarians are encouraged to use face masks when dealing with infected animals. The use of vaccines on swine to prevent their infection is a major method of limiting swine-to-human transmission.

Prevention of human-to-human transmission

Influenza spreads between humans when infected people cough or sneeze, then other people breathe in the virus or touch something with the virus on it and then touch their own face, eyes, nose or mouth. Swine flu cannot be spread by pork products,since the virus is not transmitted through food. The swine flu in humans is most contagious during the first five days of the illness, although some people, most commonly children, can remain contagious for up to ten days.

Prevention How to keep away from getting the flu? First and most important is follow

simple steps as cough etiquettes (covering mouth & nose with handkerchief or tissue paper while coughing), stay at least an arm’s length from persons coughing or sneezing, avoid gathering and wash your hands frequently. Try to stay in good general health. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids and eat nutritious food. Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze; throw the tissue in the trash after you use it. Wash hands often with

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soap and water, especially after cough or sneeze; avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth and try to avoid close contact with people having respiratory illness.

If one gets sick with influenza, one must stay at home, away from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

Treatment

If one is having any respiratory distress, one should report to a nearby hospital. If a person becomes sick with swine flu, antiviral drugs can make the illness milder and make the patient feel better faster. They may also prevent serious flu complications. For treatment, antiviral drugs work best if started soon after getting sick (within two days of symptoms). Beside antiviral, supportive care at home or in a hospital focuses on controlling fevers, relieving pain and maintaining fluid balance, as well as identifying and treating any secondary infections or other medical problems. Use of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) or zanamivir (Relenza) for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with swine influenza viruses is recommended. However, the majority of people infected with the virus make a full recovery without requiring medical attention or antiviral drugs.

Present Outbreak in India It is noted that that during the period 1 Jan 2015-10 February 2015, the total

number of H1N1 cases is 5157 and number of deaths is 407. Largely the cases are from Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Telangana whereas largely the deaths due to H1N1 are in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Telangana. Now even cases have been reported from West Bengal. The status of H1N1 influenza being monitored daily by the union M/O Health & Family Welfare.

Various health institutions treating H1N1 cases are being advised for vaccination against H1N1 influenza for the concerned health workers in the hospitals in contact with H1N1 patients. This will be in addition to the proper personal protective measures being followed at the hospitals. Guidelines are being drafted for vaccination of healthcare workers and these will be shared with the states for dissemination to all health institutions.

The Government of India has already placed an order for enhancing stock of diagnostic kits to be supplied to the lab network under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) being used for testing H1N1 influenza. To enhance the level of preparedness, additional 60,000 Oseltamivir medicines and 10,000 N-95 masks are being procured. In addition, NCDC has floated a tender for additional 10,000 diagnostic kits. In case of need, labs under ICMR have been identified across the country to provide additional testing facilities. In order to prevent panic and inconvenience to people, and to encourage only those cases requiring H1N1 testing are actually taken up for testing, it was decided that the communication strategy should create awareness among the general public regarding this aspect.

Homeopathy for Swine Flu At the instance of the Department of AYUSH, the Central Council for Research

in Homoeopathy (CCRH) had convened a meeting of a Group of Experts in Homoeopathy, who has recommended that the homoeopathic medicine Arsenicum album could be taken as prophylactic medicine against flu like illnesses. It has recommended Arsenicum album 30, one dose (4pills of size 30 by adults and 2 pills by children) daily, on empty stomach, for 3 days. The dose should be repeated after one month by following the same schedule in case flu like conditions prevails in the area.

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India Made Vaccine The testing of the Pandemic influenza H1N1 vaccines was undertaken by the

Central Drug Laboratory, Kasuali (National Control Laboratory) and declared to be of Standard quality. The H1N1 vaccine (Brand Name: VaxiFlu S) is manufactured by M/s Zydus Cadila Health Care Limited; live attenuated H1N1 vaccine (Brand Name: Nasovac) manufactured by M/s Serum Institute of India Limited, Pune; inactivated H1N1 vaccine is also manufactured by M/s Serum Institute of India. However, Vaccination is not a recommended intervention for Swine flu infected patients.

Budget as a Tool to Scale Up Economic Potentials The annual presentation of the Union Budget mapping out in exhaustive details the

income and expenditure of the Central Government for the fiscal year beginning on April 1 and how it proposes to spend and the ways and means to find the funds for spending will all be revealed on February 28, the last day of this month. This is a practice India inherited from colonial era though the earlier one of the Finance Minister presenting the budget sharply at five in the evening had been dispensed with. Instead, it is now presented sharply at 11 in the morning, doing away with other businesses of the House including the question hour to exclusively devote the proceedings for the budget and its presentation in the Lok Sabha. This year the Union Finance Minister Mr.Arun Jaitley will present his first full budget for the fiscal year 2015-16 on a Saturday, even as the maiden one he laid in Parliament in July last was only for eight month period. Much is expected of the full-fledged budget of the NDA government to take forward a raft of initiatives it had announced on the economic front ever since it was voted to power overwhelmingly in the May 2014 elections for a five year term under the leadership of Mr. Narendra Modi who subsequently became the Prime Minister of the country.

It would not be out of place to demystify the book-balancing exercise billed as budget in governance parlance. Under Article 112 of the Constitution, a statement of estimated receipts and expenditure, commonly called the Budget Statement ought to be placed in Parliament every financial year that runs from April 1 to March 31. Along with the budget statement that includes the the estimates of expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India that are required to be voted by the lower House (Lok Sabha) are presented in the form of Demands for Grants of the various departments and ministries of the Government. Each demand normally contains the total provisions for a required service i.e., provisions on account of revenue expenditure, capital expenditure, grants to States and Union Territories, and also loans and advances pertaining to that service. Estimates expenditure included in the Demands for grants are for gross amounts.

Estimates of revenue receipts embedded in the annual financial statement are further elaborated and analyzed in the Revenue Budget document. Revenue receipts of the Centre comprise net tax revenue and non-tax revenue. Tax revenue includes corporation tax, taxes on income other than corporation tax and other taxes that constitute the direct taxes. In the indirect taxes are included customs (import) duty, union excise duties, services tax and other taxes. Non-tax revenue includes interest receipts, dividend of public sector undertakings, other non-tax revenue and receipts of Union Territories. Capital receipts cover recoveries of loans and advances, debt receipts encompassing market loans, short-term borrowings, external assistance (net), securities issued against Small Savings, State Provident Fund and other receipts, while

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non-debt receipts include recoveries of loans and advances, disinvestment receipts and auction(sale) revenues of spectrum.

The budget document also contains two separate volumes on expenditure with the first one dealing with the revenue and capital disbursements and Plan outlay for each head. The second volume gives a perspective on the objectives underlying the expenditure proposed in the Demands for Grants with a concise note on the various items of expenditure on major programmes set out in the Demands coupled with the reasons for variation between the budget estimates and revised estimates for the previous year and the budget estimates for the current year.

Besides the revenue and expenditure compendium to lend clarity to the budget proposals, there is also the Finance Bill. This is presented in fulfillment of the requirement of Article 110(1)(a) of the Constitution, setting out the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of taxes proposed in the budget. It is tagged to a sleek booklet called a Memorandum explaining the provisions included in it. The booklet serves a quite useful purpose to read the fine prints of the budgetary numbers and also a bird’s eye view of the taxation proposals contained in the Finance Bill, with the provisions and their implications decoded for clarity and understanding. In essence, all these attachments to the set of Budget document constitute the bedrock of the budget papers for experts and economists to lay bare the hidden and open meaning and message of the important fiscal document the government of the day presents every year. Separately but along with the main documents, the Finance Ministry also makes available highlights of the budget, spelling out the salient features, the milestones crossed and the new milestones to be set in the real sectors of the economy, new initiatives announced in the budget and allocation of funds to what are described as the linchpin legs of the economy such as agriculture, industry, financial sectors and defense, besides a brief summary of tax proposals.

In a bid to lend more transparency to governance and macro-economic management, the Finance Ministry had departed from past practices by showcasing in recent years the real status of implementation of announcements made in the previous year budget speech by the Finance Minister as also a document dealing with Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2004 related reports. Though the previous government did make a pause in the implementation of the important Act following the fiscal stimulus India had to administer in the wake of 2008 global financial crisis, the government continued to make available three important reports subsumed under this Act that deal with macro-economic framework statement, medium-term fiscal policy statement and fiscal policy strategy statement. However, it needs to be noted that the previous Government in 2012 adopted revised roadmap for fiscal consolidation following the amendment to the FRBM Act 2012. In the revised roadmap, fiscal consolidation is designed with prudent mix of reduction in total expenditure as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and improvement in gross tax revenue as a percentage of GDP, the latest Mid-Year Review of the Economy laid in Parliament in December last said.

The Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley who promised to keep the fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent of GDP in 2014-15 when he presented his maiden budget in July last, will not find the task too tough to succeed. A few fortuitous factors like a steep drop in global crude prices and a benign recovery in major markets like the United States and the United Kingdom this fiscal meant that the growth impulses in the

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economy would gain the requisite momentum to ensure that the economic revival predicted for the last quarter of the current fiscal did take place. The RBI too came out with a surprising 25 basis point cut in interest rate in mid-January 2015 to help industry and trade overcome their working expenses woes. The government‘s import cost of crude would come down by a massive 50 to 60 billion dollars which would help cut its exorbitant fuel subsidies substantially. Already, the government has decontrolled the prices of petrol and diesel so that as the global price of crude oil plunges, the pump price of these fuels would also go down to make customers spend their saved money on other consumption expenditure. The government had also wisely jacked up excise duty on fuel to mop up more than Rs 20,000 crore this fiscal. This coupled with rationalization of food subsidies by limiting procurement of cereals and other expenditure containment measures put in recent months meant that the next budget will have ample headroom to manage and kick-start development programmes particularly the ones like “Make in India” for driving manufacturing, infrastructure spend and other employment-generation productive activities across the economy. The country can afford to lower import taxes on production inputs and intermediates that are indispensable to rev up manufacturing growth, leveraging duly the savings through the steep fall in the prices of global crude prices. The time for using budget instrument to respond to the underlying potential growth impulses in the domestic economy is seldom ripe than in the present time of low crude prices, lower inflation and the lowest current account deficit. All eyes are naturally on the General Budget to be unveiled on February 28, 2015 in Parliament as to how far it will translate the congenial circumstances into helping push the economy into higher trajectory of growth, economists contend with gusto.

Transforming India’s Development By Way Of Structured Change through Cooperative, Competitive Federalism

India has changed dramatically over the past 65 years in terms of demography with the population increasing to 121 crores. With increasing levels of development, literacy and communication, the aspirations of the people have soared, necessitating changes and innovations in governance systems. Even the economy has undergone a paradigm shift with Agriculture’s share showing dramatic drop, from more than 50% to less than 15% of GDP and the private sector emerging as a vibrant and dynamic force with a global scale and reach. Even the central government’s Twelfth Five Year Plan size of Rs 43 lakh crore, is huge compared to the First Five Year Plan size of Rs 2,400 crore. Moreover in the last few decades, States have evolved from being mere followers of the Centre, to being the actual drivers of national development. Hence the nation’s progress lies in the progress of States.

This changing reality and growing mismatch has been recognized for years now; with experts, including many from within the erstwhile Planning Commission, recommending appropriate changes letting go of old practices and beliefs whose relevance had been lost, and adopting new ones based on the past experiences of India as well as other nations. Even the former Prime Minister and noted economist, Dr. Manmohan Singh - in his farewell address to the Commission in April 2014 - also urged reflection on "what the role of the Planning Commission needs to be in this new world. What additional roles should the Planning Commission play and what capacities does it need to build to ensure that it continues to be relevant to the growth process?

Hence it was time that priorities, strategies and structures dating back to 1950 when the Planning Commission was set up, were to be revisited. As a result the

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Government of India set up NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) in place of the Planning Commission, as a means to better serve the needs and aspirations of the people of India with the Governments’ transition from being a ‘provider of first and last resort’ and ‘major player’ in the economy, to being a ‘catalyst’ nurturing an ‘enabling environment’, where the entrepreneurial spirits of all, from small self-employed entrepreneurs to large corporations, can flourish. This would help the Government to focus its precious resources on public welfare domains such as food, nutrition, health, education and livelihood of vulnerable and marginalized groups.

The NITI Aayog comprises of the Prime Minister of India as the Chairperson; Governing Council comprising the Chief Ministers of all the States and Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories with the Regional Councils formed to address specific issues and contingencies impacting more than one state or a region. Experts, specialists and practitioners with relevant domain knowledge as special invitees nominated by the Prime Minister will assist this think tank comprising Vice Chairman, two fulltime and part time members among others.

Differences between NITI and Planning Commission

While Planning Commission enjoyed the powers to allocate funds to ministries and state governments, NITI Aayog will be an advisory body, or a think-tank. Under Planning Commission, States' role was limited to the National Development Council and annual interaction during Plan meetings and the commission reported to National Development Council that had state chief ministers and lieutenant governors of UTs. But Niti Aayog’s Governing Council has state chief ministers and lieutenant governors as the all powerful body. Under Niti Aayog states are consulted while making policy and deciding on funds allocation. Final policy would be a result of thatconsultations unlike under Planning Commission when policy was formed by the commission and states were then consulted about allocation of funds. While Niti Aayog is a think-tank and does not have the power to impose policies, Planning Commission decided policies for states and tied allocation of funds with projects it approved, a methodology driven by "one size fits all" concept.

Objectives of NITI Aayog

NITI Aayog envisages providing a critical directional and strategic input into the development process. The centre-to-state one-way flow of policy, that was the hallmark of the Planning Commission era, is now sought to be replaced by a genuine and continuing partnership of states. The NITI Aayog will also seek to put an end to slow and tardy implementation of policy, by fostering better Inter-Ministry coordination and better Centre-State coordination. It is expected to help evolve a shared vision of national development priorities, and foster cooperative federalism, recognizing that strong states make a strong nation. In addition, the NITI Aayog will monitor and evaluate the implementation of programmes, and focus on technology upgradation and capacity building.

Comments

The opposition parties as usual had mocked the launch of NITI Aayog as a cosmetic relabeling exercise. However, the ruling party justified by saying that, “With the new set of changes, the state governments no longer need to have a begging attitude and instead take independent steps for development,” and it is one more of their key promises of robust federalism.

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Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi in the first Governing Council meeting called upon all Chief Ministers to work with the Centre to forge a model of cooperative federalism, whereby the Centre and the States – TEAM INDIA - can come together to resolve differences, and chart a common course to progress and prosperity. Noting that India cannot advance without all its states advancing in tandem, the Prime Minister said the idea was to bring up all states together in the spirit of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas. He added that he envisioned different states competing with each other in promoting governance initiatives, in a spirit of "cooperative, competitive federalism." He urged all Chief Ministers to focus on the cycle of investment, growth, job creation and prosperity.

The Prime Minister emphasized that the Centre wants to empower the states with finances, with technology and knowledge so that they are able to plan better and execute even better. He said that for federalism to work well, states must also fulfill their role in promoting the shared national objectives. He said that the critical element for cooperative federalism to flourish is that states commit to the path they choose within the context of the shared national objectives and then deliver on that commitment.

To conclude, adoption of new ideas, techniques, institutions, processes does not occur naturally but results from hard work, trial and error. The adoption of innovations involves altering human behavior, and the acceptance of change. There is a natural resistance to change for several reasons, but change is inherent to development and a structured change through cooperative, competitive federalism can dismiss all resistance and usher in a New Vibrant India.

New De-worming Initiative launched to make India Worm Free National De-worming Day is observed on 10th February 2015.In this

connection union ministry of Health & Family Welfare launched the National De-worming initiative at Jaipur, on 9th Feb. 2015.

De-worming

It is administering an antihelmintic drug to a human or animal to rid them of parasites, such as roundworm, hookworms, flukes and tapeworm. Mass deworming campaigns of school children have been used both as a preventive as well as a treatment method for helminthiasis which includes soil transmitted helminthiasis in children. Children can be treated by administering for example Mebendazole and Albendazole. The cost is relatively low. One tablet of Albendazole rids the child of parasitic worms which live in the child’s intestines and eat the nutrients the child needs for healthy mental and physical development. This tablet is safe for both infected and non-infected children and has a pleasant flavor.

Helminths

They are a group of parasites commonly referred to as worms and include schistosomes and soil-transmitted helminths. Such infections are among the most common infections in developing countries.While mild infections often go unnoticed, more severe worm infections can lead to abdominal pain, listlessness, iron-deficiency anemia, malnutrition, stunting, and wasting.. Infections can also cause cognitive impairment as well as tissue damage that may require corrective surgery

WHO recommendations

To reduce the worm burden, WHO recommends periodic drug treatment (De-worming) of all school-age children living in endemic areas. WHO is of the view

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that treating children for worms—which affect an estimated 600 million school-aged children worldwide—improves school attendance, health, and long-run productivity. Oral de-worming drugs are extremely effective at killing most varieties of worms with a single dose, at negligible cost.

So, de-worming treatment is not only highly effective and inexpensive, it is easy to administer through public schools and brings benefits to children years after treatment. With hundreds of millions of children still at risk of worm infection worldwide, providing free school-based de-worming treatment is an easy policy “win” for health, education, and development.

Government Initiatives School Health program under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), provides

for De-worming as per national guidelines on bi-annually supervised schedule. In the state of Bihar world’s largest school-based de-worming initiative was taken up earlier and also the Delhi government had conducted such campaigns. According to WHO estimates, nearly 24 crore children in the age group of 1-14 years are at risk of intestinal parasitic worm infestation.

The new De-worming Initiative of the Health Ministry aims to de-worm all pre-school and school-age children (enrolled and non-enrolled) between the ages of 1-19 years. In the first phase about 14 crore children across eleven States/UT of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Tripura will be covered; while nearly 10 crore will be targeted in the second phase. In the first phase staring from the National De-worming Day on 10th February 2015, Albendazole tablets will be given to all targeted children; half tablet to 1-2 years children and one full tablet for 2-19 years. The children who are left out will be covered by a mop-up round to be carried out till 14th February 2015.

Union Health Minister has emphasized the need to target intestinal parasitic worms among the children to achieve status of being ‘Worm-free’ in India, after getting the ‘Polio-free’ status,. He has appealed to all MPs, MLAs, and local public representatives in addition to school teachers, ASHAs and Anganwadi workers for converging and supporting the Government in its mission to achieve Worm Free India.

This initiative needs to be coupled with improved sanitation, hygiene, and availability of safe drinking water for reducing worm load with active partnership and participation of the other ministries such as M/o Women and Child Development, M/O Human Resources Development, M/o Panchayati Raj and M/o Water and Sanitation. The deworming initiative is expected to help in achieving the aim of ‘Swachh Bharat’ as envisioned by the Prime Minister.

This small, time tested initiative can have multiplier effect on various sectors like health, education, development at negligible cost.

Walk the Talk- the Prime Ministers’ way to make India Vibrant, Participatory Democracy From Independence Day to Republic Day, India cruises ahead

It was in August 2014, the Prime Minister laid out his vision to involve and integrate every Citizen in the process of Nation Building through Participatory Development by announcing three schemes, theSwacch Bharat Mission, National Digital Literacy Mission and the PM’s Jan Dhan Yojana, which can rejuvenate the socio-economic and political mindset and landscape of this country. While the Swacch Bharat Mission can have a multiplier effect of not only usher in a Clean India but can build a robust India which has an educated, healthy, happy population,

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Pradhan Mantri Dhan-Jan Yojana envisages to empower every person by in tegrating him/her with the banking network in the country and also make him an active beneficiary of the welfare largesse of the government through a transparent mechanism. National Digital Literacy Mission intends to transform India into a digitally empowered knowledge society.

'Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana' announced by the Hon'ble Prime Minister

in his Independence Day address on 15 August, 2014 is a Mission on Financial Inclusion encompassing an integrated approach to bring about comprehensive financial inclusion of all the households in the country. It envisages universal access to banking facilities with at least one basic banking account for every household, financial literacy, access to credit, insurance and pension facility. In addition, the beneficiaries would get RuPay Debit card having inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh. The plan also envisages channeling all Government benefits (from Centre / State / Local Body) to the beneficiaries’ accounts and pushing the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme of the Union Government. Till 14th January 2015, out of the total households of 21.05 crore, 20.99 crore have been covered, which is 99.74%. A total of 11.50 accounts have been opened, 6.84 crore in rural and 4.66 crore in urban areas. Ten crore RuPay Debit cards have been issued as on 17th January, 2015. Direct Transfer of benefits to Aadhar card holders has started.

Coming to the National Digital Literacy Mission, it envisages PM’s Digital India that encompasses a time when the common man is able to track the government’s work from his mobile phone. The Digital India is to be an overarching Program for empowering people by creating digital infrastructure as utility to every person; governance and services on demand. E-Governance is to be hallmark of good governance. Steps have been taken to connect over 2.5 lakhgram panchayats by laying about 7 lakh kilometers of optical fibre cable in the next three years.

As far as Swachh Bharat Mission launched by the Prime Minister of India on 2nd October is concerned, it was to accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage and to put focus on sanitation, which is fundamental to any human habitation. Swachh Bharat Mission has two Sub-Missions, the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), which aims to achieve Swachh Bharat by 2019, as a fitting tribute to the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, which in rural areas shall mean improving the levels of cleanliness in rural areas through Solid and Liquid Waste Management activities and making Gram Panchayats Open Defecation Free (ODF), clean and sanitized. The main objectives of the SBM(G) are to bring about an improvement in the general quality of life in the rural areas, by promoting cleanliness, hygiene and eliminating open defecation; accelerate sanitation coverage in rural areas to achieve the vision of Swachh Bharat by 2nd October 2019; motivate Communities and Panchayati Raj Institutions to adopt sustainable sanitation practices and facilities through awareness creation and health education; encourage cost effective and appropriate technologies for ecologically safe and sustainable sanitation and develop wherever required community managed sanitation systems focusing on scientific Solid & Liquid Waste Management systems for overall cleanliness in the rural areas.

The approach would be to adopt the Community led and Community

Participation approaches focusing heavily on collective behavioral change. Emphasis is to be placed on awareness generation, triggering behaviour change and demand generation for sanitary facilities in Houses, Schools, Anganwadis, places of

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Community congregation, and for Solid and Liquid Waste Management activities. Community action and generation of peer pressure are the key.

An offshoot of Swachh Bharat Mission is the Swachh

Vidyalaya programme propagating ‘Clean India: Clean Schools’, concept. A key feature of the campaign is to ensure that every school in India has a set of functioning and well maintained water, sanitation and hygiene facilities and activities that promote conditions within the school and the practices of children that help to prevent water, hygiene and sanitation related diseases. The provision of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in school secures a healthy school environment and protects children from illness. Children who are healthy and well-nourished can fully participate in school and encourage healthy behavior in future generations of adults. It enables every child become an agent of change for improving water, sanitation and hygiene practices in their families and within their community. Girls are particularly vulnerable to dropping out of school, partly because many are reluctant to continue their education when toilets and washing facilities are not private, not safe or simply not available. When schools have appropriate, gender-separated facilities, an obstacle to attendance is removed.

Sanitation is the basis of a healthy and civilized living. It has been accepted as

one of the components of human development. Absence of sanitation facilities lead to water-borne diseases. Those who use dry latrines and those who are engaged in the demeaning occupation of manually removing human excreta are exposed to innumerable health risks. The scavengers, also referred to by the more dignified term “sanitary workers”, come from the lower strata of society and the Swachh Bharat Mission will go a long way in creating a situation whereby this age old inhuman/demeaning practice is eliminated and those involved are respectfully rehabilitated. A move at integrating a category of society into mainstream India. Other benefits of this simple but revolutionary move are reduction in the expenditure of prevention and cure of diseases, utilization of the savings on other developmental activities, generation of employment in highly unorganized sanitary industry, tourism sector, etc. It will provide new impetus to Indian economy and respect in the eyes of foreign visitors.

While this initiative of the Prime Minister has been widely appreciated both

inside and outside the country with the World Bank likely to extend its support with a massive financial assistance, some casual comments have been made by few perhaps due to some compulsions. Of course earlier governments did initiate many schemes/programs to improve sanitation and hygiene. But it’s the present Government which has accorded top priority with the Prime Minister himself setting example by taking the broom to show his keenness to make India clean and prosperous. In doing so he has taught the Dignity of Labor, Self Reliance and People Participation which appeared to have clouded the Indian conscience in recent years. After all demonstrating helps by way of Trickledown effect. Following Prime Minister’s footsteps, these days we can see many persons proudly cleaning their habitats or participating in cleanliness drives in public spaces. So finally India has come off age since Mahatma Gandhi who espoused the importance of Cleanliness. To quote him, “Sanitation is more important than independence”, ““I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet”.

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To conclude, we need to understand that every small contribution by citizens would create a wave of action which would usher in a Modern India blessed with peace, prosperity and health. There lies an urgent need to make people realize that their public space should also be treated as private, as it needs equal attention. Unlike other campaigns, ‘swachh bharat campaign’ bears the burden of expectations as it caters to all sections of society moving beyond caste, creed and religion, focusing more on personal hygiene and sanitation. It’s time for us to introspect and try to engage with it in some way or the other. Since blaming the government every time will not clean our mess.

The Ordinary Extraordinaire...an incredible story of empowerment!!

“Women must be put in a position to solve their problems in their own way. No one can or ought to do this for them. Our Indian women are capable of doing it as any in the world.

- Swami Vivekananda

On 6 February 2013, IFAD held a panel discussion on "Scaling up from the perspective of our partners" at IFAD headquarters in Rome. This event brought together representatives from India, Argentina and Sao Tome who shared their respective models of scaling up. One of the most impressive presentations was of Ratnamma (President of a federation of 10000 women in Orvakkal Mandal of Kurnool District in Andhra

Pradesh). Not long ago, Ratnamma’s life was a case of discrimination, injustice, insults and

poverty. Born into a poor untouchable family, she had to feed her five children with the meager income she could earn by fetching firewood from the nearby hillocks. Since her husband was a bonded-laborer, tied to a rich farmer for the debt owed by his father and grandfather, his contribution to the livelihood of the family was nil. Ratnamma had to work from dawn to dusk, fetching the firewood to sell to the villagers in weekly fair. Though she would get Rs. 20 for a stack of firewood, this was hardly adequate to get a decent meal to her and the children. Her husband, who was working for the landlord to clear the debt, rarely he would show up at home. She had no answer when the kids asked about the absence of their father in the house. The loneliness used to haunt her and she endured all this in silence. Having four daughters was seen as curse among the relatives who always talked ill of her.“It was this humiliation that hurt me more rather than the poverty I was in,” was her refrain.“None of the children was in school. In those days my eldest daughter was 12 year old. She used to work in the cotton farms. She would go in morning and return in the evening. She often fell sick because of the chemical fumes she inhaled in the cotton farm,” Ratnamma recalls. The evil of untouchability was rampant in the village. Poor were barred from passing through the village with footwear. This was the plight of all the people from the poor families. But the entry of volunteers of ‘South Asia Poverty Alleviation Program’raised the hopes for a change. Ratnamma was spotted by

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the group which encouraged her to join the Self-help Groups (SHGs). But the big question before Ratnamma was - what she could do in a thrift group when her entire earning was not enough to have square meals a day. Encouraged by the volunteers, she finally decided to join an SHG.

The SHGs conducted four meetings in a month in which the members discussed the

day-to-day problems of their families and try to find solutions together. In one of the meetings, Ratnamma’s struggle becamethe topic for discussion and it was decided that freeing of her husband from the slavery would help her family immensely. The Group decided to give her a loan enough to repay the debt of the landlord and free her husband. The freedom of her husband heralded a new phase in her life. Both husband and wife joined hands to earn more money, the income level rose and gradually Group’s loan was also cleared with their thrift amount.The coming together of these women also led to a realization that banishing the bonded labor and child-labor from the village would pave the way for the welfare of the Girl child. So, a school was set up by the SHG federation for those children who worked in farms and Ratnamma’s eldest daughter was the first to get enrolled as a student. The hamlet reverberated with the recital of alphabet of first generation students from the unlettered families.

Ratnamma recalls “I was married off at a tender age of 13. Had I not joined the Group that enlightened me, my daughter also would have fallen victim to the age-old practice of child-marriage.” It took great courage for Ratnamma to resist the pressure from the members of caste and relatives who opposed the enrollment of her eldest daughter in the school. She was a pioneer in promoting girl child education in that village. Latter on fifty poor families in that village followed her and send their children to the child labour camp. “Change is never welcomed with open arms. You need to summon a lot of courage to face the resistance. My experience has proven that resistance could be won over as a collective. First everybody was hesitant to join the Group. Once I took the lead, many had followed me. I began as member of the group then became leader of the village organization also worked as the president of the federation. Sometimes the fact that I had taken as much as Rs 9.5 lakh from the Group reminds the long road I travelled. Now I am owner of a two-acre farm and cozy house. My husband is land-owning farmer. Nobody would have thought that three daughters of a poor once-untouchable woman have completed general nursing and the fourth is in an undergraduate and my son is doing B.Tech. My daughters are working in the hospitals as general nurses.

My joy knew no bound when my eldest daughter had given me nice saree as a gift from the first salary she received as staff nurse. You know, what I got from the second daughter- a sparkling gold chain while third daughter presented beautiful anklets, says Ratnamma.This is not the story of one Ratnamma but many Ratnamma’swho have come out of poverty by becoming members of SHGs for a period of more than 5 years.

For most of these rural poor women, the SHGs have now become effective vehicles of transformation. It helps them galvanize their energies for productive purposes, increases their social &political visibility. Through SHGs, poor women are able to reclaim their space for self-help, mutual cooperation and collective action for social and economic development.

SHGs: effective vehicles of transformation Throughout the country, SHGs have created significant impact on the empowerment status of women, both at the individual as well as the community level. The

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innumerable success stories (like Ratnamma)have concluded that if properly nurtured and developed, the SHGs of poor women could become effective vehicles of transformation. A large number of Central and State government programs, as well as programs funded by multilateral agencies have attempted to mainstream the SHG-centered approach in their poverty eradication programs. The cornerstone of the Swarnjayanti Gram SwarozgarYojana(SGSY) strategy was that the poor need to be organized into Self Help Groups (SHGs) and their capacities built up systematically so that they can access self-employment opportunities and establish effective linkages between the various components of the programme such as availability of credit, technology transfer/up-gradation, marketing and infrastructure.Performance of SGSY was assessed through concurrent evaluations, various studies and reports. Prof. Radhakrishna Committee on Credit Related Issues Related to SGSY, set up by the Ministry of Rural Development in April, 2008 reported the shortcomings in the implementation of SGSY like uneven mobilisation of rural poor and formation of SHGs across the States, insufficient capacity building of beneficiaries, low credit mobilization and lack of professionals to implement the programme. Based on the findings of the report, SGSY was restructured as National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), subsequently renamed as “Aajeevika”, to

implement it in a mission mode across the country.

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Aajeevika- National Rural Livelihoods Mission NRLM is a programme implemented ‘by the poor’. NRLM’s unique proposition is

that this process is best managed and owned by ‘transformed and empowered’ women and not by ‘external entities’ such as the State missions or even N.G.O s. The external entities, no matter how good they are, cannot replace these internal women champions. The main role of these external entities is to catalyze this process and enable community champions to emerge from among the poor and to take over the process. The Mission therefore plays the role of a ‘facilitator’ and not an ‘implementer’.

The real torchbearers of the program are the ‘Community champions’ - dedicated

women leaders of the groups, community service providers and community best practitioners or community resource persons (CRPs). They make this program for the poor into a program of the poor and by the poor.The programme has adopted a strategy which is community driven, community managed and community owned. The CRPs are the lynchpins of this strategy. Among these the prime place goes to Resource C.R.Ps, who are S.H.G members who have substantially come out of poverty by being members of the S.H.G s for a period of more than 5 years and are willing to share their experiences in other States. The belief is only those whose lives are transformed by this process can bring about change in others. ‘Be the change that you want to see’. This model was used very successfully in A.P, T.N, Bihar and Odisha. At present, S.H.G women from A.P and Bihar are in the forefront of taking the lessons of NRLM to the rest of the country.

Social capital-led ‘Resource Block Strategy’ As part of this strategy, the capacities of the implementers and the CRPs are

adequately built up before actual implementation starts. Intensive implementation starts with 10% select blocks (Resource Blocks- RBs) in the state. The Social capital from the 1st phase RBs enable organic scaling, through local CRPs and other community cadres to the rest of the blocks in a phased manner. Each RB produces local ‘community heroes’ for 20 blocks in 5 years and after 2 ½ years itself, 5 new blocks get seeded.

At present, around 1200 CRPs, community heroes of A.P and Bihar are

spearheading the process in the RBs of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, M.P, Rajasthan, U.P, Haryana, Nagaland, Mizoram, West Bengal, Gujarat and Karnataka. Rest of the states will commence the implementation of this strategy in this year. Thus, as per the Resource Block Strategy, all the blocks and villages will be covered in 8-10 years wherein every poor family in a block will be supported to enable them to come out of poverty.

NRLM’s core belief is that the poor have innate capabilities to graduate out of

poverty. The challenge is to unleash their energies. This can only be done by organizing and capacitating them through their institutions. This is done very effectively by targeting women. Towards this, NRLM has put in place a dedicated, sensitive structure to help the poor build their institutions. These institutions provide services to their members –savings, credit, livelihoods support, etc. – and serve as platforms for collective action based on self-help and mutual cooperation.

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Key Features of NRLM

Universal Social Inclusion: NRLM has adopted a strategy of universal social mobilization of all poor households into the fold of SHG network. The SHGs are federated at the village level and beyond. Later, as the institutions of poor mature, livelihoods collectives would be encouraged. The institutions are supported with adequate capacity building and training on managing the groups, bookkeeping, etc.

Financial Inclusion: NRLM facilitates universal access to the affordable cost-

effective reliable financial services to the poor. These include financial literacy, bank account, savings, credit, insurance, remittance, pension and counselling on financial services. NRLM provides two Resources in Perpetuity the Revolving Fund and Community Investment Fund (CIF) as a means of capitalizing the institutions. These funds are used to meet the credit needs of the members and also build their corpus.

Livelihoods:NRLM firmly believes that the poor households know what they

want and will prioritize their efforts based on their felt needs, knowledge and resources available to them. The livelihoods strategy of NRLM rests on three pillars – a) stabilizing and enhancing the existing livelihoods and subsequently diversifying their livelihoods; b) Skills and Placement Projects; c) Self-employed entrepreneurship.

The mission will work on 2 – 3 ‘universal’ livelihoods – which impact 70 – 80%

households. NRLM has identified agriculture livelihoods as the critical intervention area. Toward this objective, a sub-programme called Mahila kisan sashaktikaranpari yojana under NRLM has been designed to demonstrate viable livelihoods under agriculture for S.H.G members.

Convergence and Partnerships: NRLM works in convergence with other

programs of Central and State Governments. It has also entered into partnerships with NGOs and other CSOs for more effective reach-out. NRLM encourages linkages with PRIs or traditional local village institutions for creating local synergies.

Sensitive support: NRLM’s long-term dedicated sensitive support would be

with the poor and extend facilitation support in all their efforts to get out of poverty and achieve increased access to their rights, entitlements and public services, diversified risk and better social indicators of empowerment.As the institutionsof poor grow and mature, they become the internal sensitive support structures and institutions for the poor. This gives sustainability to the efforts under NRLM, unlike in the past where support was sporadic.

NRLM, with its women centric and women-led approach and posited on the four key pillars of universal social mobilization, financial inclusion economic inclusion and

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convergence provides a strong foundation for greater empowerment of poor,

especially women.

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) - Skill Development for Inclusive Growth

According to Census 2011, India has 55 million potential workers between the ages of 15 and 35 years in rural areas. At the same time, the world is expected to face a shortage of 57 million workers by 2020. This presents a historic opportunity for India to transform its demographic surplus into a demographic dividend. The Ministry of Rural Development implements DDU-GKY to drive this national agenda for inclusive growth, by developing skills and productive capacity of the rural youth from poor families.

There are several challenges preventing India’s rural poor from competing in the modern market, such as the lack of formal education and marketable skills. DDU-GKY bridges this gap by funding training projects benchmarked to global standards, with an emphasis on placement, retention, career progression and foreign placement.

Features of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana · Enable Poor and Marginalized to Access Benefits

Demand led skill training at no cost to the rural poor · Inclusive Program Design

Mandatory coverage of socially disadvantaged groups (SC/ST 50%; Minority 15%; Women 33%)

· Shifting Emphasis from Training to Career Progression Pioneers in providing incentives for job retention, career progression and foreign

placements · Greater Support for Placed Candidates

Post-placement support, migration support and alumni network · Proactive Approach to Build Placement Partnerships

Guaranteed Placement for at least 75% trained candidates

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· Enhancing the Capacity of Implementation Partners Nurturing new training service providers and developing their skills

· Regional Focus Greater emphasis on projects for poor rural youth in Jammu and Kashmir

(HIMAYAT), the North-East region and 27 Left-Wing Extremist (LWE) districts (ROSHINI)

· Standards-led Delivery All program activities are subject to Standard Operating Procedures that are not

open to interpretation by local inspectors. All inspections are supported by geo-tagged, time stamped videos/photographs

Implementation Model DDU-GKY follows a 3-tier implementation model. The DDU-GKY National Unit at

MoRD functions as the policy-making, technical support and facilitation agency. The DDU-GKY State Missions provide implementation support; and the Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) implement the programme through skilling and placement projects. Project Funding Support

DDU-GKY provides funding support for placement linked skilling projects that address the market demand with funding support ranging from Rs. 25,696 to over Rs. 1 lakh per person, depending on the duration of the project and whether the project is residential or non-residential. DDU-GKY funds projects with training duration from 576 hours (3 months) to 2304 hours (12 months).

Funding components include support for training costs, boarding and lodging (residential programmes), transportation costs, post-placement support costs, career progression and retention support costs.

In funding projects, priority is given to PIAs offering:

• Foreign Placement • Captive Employment: Those

PIAs or organizations that take up skill training to meet internal ongoing HR needs

• Industry Internships: Support for internships with co-funding from industry

• Champion Employers: PIAs who can assure skill training and placement for a minimum of 10,000 DDU-GKY trainees in a span of 2 years

• Educational Institution of High Repute: Institutes with a minimum National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grading of 3.5 or Community Colleges with University Grants Commission (UGC)/ All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) funding willing to take up DDU-GKY projects

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Training Requirements DDU-GKY funds a variety of skill training programs covering over 250

trades across a range of sectors such as Retail, Hospitality , Health, Construction, Automotive, Leather, Electrical, Plumbing, Gems and Jewelry, to name a few. The only mandate is that skill training should be demand based and lead to placement of at least 75% of the trainees.

The trade specific skills are required to follow the curriculum and norms prescribed by specified national agencies: the National Council for Vocational Training and Sector Skills Councils.

In addition to the trade specific skills, training must be provided in employability and soft skills, functional English and functional Informational technology literacy so that the training can build cross cutting essential skills. Training Quality Assurance

Through the National Policy on Skill Development, 2009, India recognized the need for the development of a national qualification framework that would transcend both general education and vocational education and training. Accordingly, GOI has notified the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) in order to develop nationally standardized, and internationally comparable qualification mechanism for skill training programs which can also provide for interoperability with the mainstream education system.

In line with NSQF, DDU-GKY mandates independent third party assessment and certification by assessment bodies empanelled by the NCVT or SSCs. Scale and Impact

DDU-GKY is applicable to the entire country. The scheme is being implemented currently in 33States/UTs across 610 districts partnering currently with over 202 PIAs covering more than 250 trades across 50+ sectors. So far, from the year 2004-05 till 30th November 2014, a total of 10.94 lakh candidates have been trained and a total of 8.51 lakh candidates have been given placement.

“Even though I couldn’t complete my education, I have been able to create my own identity because of DDU-GKY.

Now everyone knows me by my name.” Seema Bharti Textile Expert, Orient Craft Limited, Faridabad Seema’s commitment has made her a textile expert today and is known by one and all in

her company. She is looked at with respect despite not having been able to complete her education.

“Swavlamban” - The Mantra for Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities

The Department of Disability Affairs was created in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on May 12,2012 to ensure greater focus on policy matters to effectively address disability issues and to act as a nodal Department for greater coordination among stakeholders, organizations, State Governments and related

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Central Ministries. According to the Notification dated December9, 2014 the Department has been renamed as Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.

The Department envisions an inclusive society where equal opportunities are provided for the growth and development of persons with disabilities to lead a productive, safe and dignified life. To this end the Department strives to create an accessible barrier free environment for PwDs and also for their empowerment through legislation, policies, programmes and schemes. Financial assistance for creating a barrier free environment under SIPDA Scheme; Financial assistance for purchase of aids and appliances for PwDs under ADIP Scheme; Physical rehabilitation: Services like early detection and intervention, counseling and medical rehabilitation, Research and Development for technological advancement; Educational empowerment; Social empowerment; Development of rehabilitation professionals/personnel; Advocacy and awareness generation are steps taken in this direction.

Shri Pranab Mukherjee, President of India during his address on the occasion of International Day for the Disabled Persons on 3rd December, 2014 had said that education was one of the key instruments for empowering Persons with Disabilities. The President further added that children with disabilities should have access to educational opportunities that will enable them to equally compete for gainful employment and lead a life of dignity.

Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, in his message has saluted the indomitable spirit of those with disability and had urged the people to work together to create a better world for them. “Let us all work together to create a world where Persons with Disabilities can scale new heights of success without any obstacles,” the Prime Minister tweeted from his personal account. On the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, he saluted persons with disabilities and hailed them as “heroes”. Today is a day to pledge our commitment towards our unwavering support to Persons with Disabilities and ensuring equal opportunities for them.

The Secretary-General of United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon has called for efforts to ensure that the technology of the 21st century is accessible to Persons with Disabilities so that critical information can reach them.

Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment has been steering the Department with immense vigour under the overall leadership of the Prime Minister to realize the goal of inclusion of PwDs in the mainstream development process under the “Sabke Saath Sabka Vikas” mission of the Government.

It is estimated that there are one billion people with disabilities worldwide who face many barriers in order to participate in all aspects of society and the population of PwDs in India as per Census 2011 is around 2.68 crore (2.2% of total population). The result is that People with Disabilities do not enjoy access to society on an equal basis with others, including transportation, employment, education, justice and political participation. The right to participate in public life is essential to create democracies and citizenship. Yet, this fundamental right is very often denied to Persons with Disabilities. The United Nations Convention on the rights of Persons with Disabilities requires all states parties to promote and protect the political rights of all Persons with Disabilities.

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Realizing the need for empowerment, both social and economic, of PwDs, the Department has adopted a multi-pronged strategy to take forward and step up the Rehabilitation and Development related issues for PwDs.

Education of PwDs is one of the recent initiatives undertaken - Literacy and higher education level of PwDs is very low. Several schemes have been approved for enabling Students with Disabilities to acquire education and further their employability potential.

New schemes

“Pre-Matric Scholarship and Post-Matric Scholarship for Students with Disabilities (SwD)” was launched. Under the Pre-Matric Scholarship, 46,000 students studying in class IX and X will be awarded scholarship every year (@ Rs.10000/- per SwD p.a.). Under the Post-Matric Scholarship 16,650 disabled students studying in class XI, XII onwards will be provided scholarship annually (@Rs.15000/- per SwD p.a.).

National Overseas Scholarship Scheme for SwDs at a total outlay of Rs.10.00 crores benefitting 60 students per annum @ Rs.13.00 lakh per annum to enable SwD to pursue higher education at the level of Masters Degree or Ph.D abroad has been implemented from the current financial year 2014-15. Applications have been invited.

Under the “Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship for Students with disabilities”, applications have been invited for the year 2014-15. Selection is being done by University Grants Commission. UGC is in the process of selecting 300 candidates for the fellowship.

Flagship scheme of the Department

Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS) and ADIP, the Department has introduced a centralized on-line application system developed by NIC on the website www.ngograntsje.gov.in in the month of July 2014.

The revised ADIP Scheme has been operationalised. The salient features of the schemes are- Enhancement of cost ceiling; revised from Rs.6000/- to Rs.10000/- for single disability and from Rs.8000/- to Rs.12000/- for SwDs; Enhancement of income eligibility ceiling for 100% concession from Rs.6500/- per month to Rs, 15000/- per month and for a 50% concession from Rs.15000/- to Rs.20000/- per month.

Under the Scheme of Assistance to Disabled persons for purchase / fitting of aids & appliances (ADIP), the Department has introduced a centralized on-line application system developed by NIC on the website www.ngograntsje.gov.in in the month of July 2014. Revised ADIP Scheme contains a provision to provide Cochlear Implant to 500 children per year, with a ceiling of Rs. 6.00 lakh per unit to be borne by the Government. The Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment has announced the commencement of First Cochlear Implant by AYJNIHH, Mumbai on International Day for the Persons with Disability on 3rd December 2014.

The Department in collaboration with TIFAC, an autonomous body of the Dept of Science & Technology, has launched a dedicated web portal for meeting the accessible needs relating to aids & appliances for persons with disabilities. The web portal was launched by the President of India on International Day for the Persons with Disability

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on 3rd December 2014. Swavlamban Composite camps – 200 Composite 'ABILITY- SWAWLAMBAN'. Camps are being organized all over the Country.

The first batch of "motorized tricycles" has been distributed to 20 beneficiaries on 25.09.2014 at Shajapur, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh.

The Prime Minister of India and the Union Minister of SJ&E felicitated the winners

of Blind Cricket World Cup and announced a cash Award of Rs. two Lakhs to each player of the winning Team representing India.

The Ministry is establishing Centres for Disabilities Sports to develop and encourage disabled sports persons.

A new “Scheme on Awareness Generations and Publicity” has been launched in the current financial year 2014-15 for creating enabling environment for social inclusion of the PwDs in all fields of life by promoting awareness, encouraging volunteer action, financially supporting national/international events and accomplishments, etc. for the realization of the aspirations of PwDs.

Future Plans and New Initiatives on Good Governance:

"Accessible India campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan)" is proposed to be launched for the empowerment of persons with disabilities through universal accessibility for creating an enabling environment for the PwDs to live an independent life with dignity and equal opportunity.

In order to facilitate PwDs, process of equipping them with Universal ID has been initiated and the detailed project report (DPR) has been prepared. These will be smart cards containing information regarding the disabilities etc. and will be valid across the country.

A “Job portal for the PwDs” for facilitating employment of PwDs is being developed for the sector through National Handicapped Finance Development Corporation (NHFDC). This will aggregate various jobs availability for PwDs in Government/PSUs and private sector and facilitate placement and employment of unemployed, skilled and semi-skilled PwDs.

A toll-free “Help Desk/Help Centre” is being developed by the Department through Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) for dissemination of information relating to PwDs, tracking and handling of grievances, facilitating the aspirations and needs of PwDs such as skilling/ employment, etc.

The Department in collaboration with Ministry of Skill and Entrepreneurship Development and National Skill Development Council (NSDC) is preparing a comprehensive Strategy and Action Plan for upscaling the skilling needs of the PwDs and their placement/employment with active involvement of various stakeholders and different Departments mandated with skilling and employment generation.

An exclusive “National Level Mega Fair” for exhibition and sale of various products/goods being manufactured by PwDs and their organizations from all over the country will be organized in Delhi to provide enhanced exposure and market linkage/access for their products.

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The Department is formulating a scheme of “Scholarship for Top Class Education for Students with Disabilities” for Post Graduate Degree/Diploma in specified premier Institutions of Excellence in India

Scheme for “Free Coaching for Students with Disabilities” for competitive Examinations in Government Jobs or for Admission in Professional

and Technical Courses” is also being formulated.

First ever National Para –games are scheduled to be organized in New Delhi in association with the Paralympic Committee of India, in the month of March 2015.

Skill development for 15000 PwDs has been targeted under vocational training to be conducted by NHFDC and National Institutes.

A new interactive, informative and disability friendly dedicated website of the Department is being developed and will be launched in the current financial year.

Meeting Challenges in the New Consumer Era Consumer markets for goods and services have undergone profound

transformation in recent years. The emergence of global supply chains, rise in international trade and the rapid development of e-commerce have opened new opportunities for consumers. Equally, this has rendered the consumers vulnerable to new forms of unfair trade and unethical business practices.

Taking the benefits of good governance to the common citizen by way of policy

coherence; coordinated programme implementation; harmonization of regulatory action and an institutional mechanism to produce optimal results is the mandate of the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA).

Soon after the new government took over, urgent steps were initiated to

moderate the price rise that had characterised the market for essential commodities. On 04.07.2014 a national conference of the Food Ministers of all States and Union Territories was held. The conference adopted a plan of action to mitigate the inflationary pressures particularly on food prices. Prices of perishable commodities do increase between July and December. States were urged to take action to prevent hoarding and black marketing as well as to strengthen the supply and distribution of essential commodities during this period. This coordinated action by the Central Government and the States helped in keeping the prices of perishable essential commodities lower than in the corresponding period in 2013.

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The DCA has finalised comprehensive amendments to the Consumer Protection Act as well as the Bureau of Indian Standards Act to ensure that the consumer disputes redress mechanism serves the consumers with quick, inexpensive and simple redress of their grievances, establish an institutional arrangement to prevent unfair trade practices, incorporate the concept of product liability in consumer protection and enable mediation as an Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) arrangement.

The DCA is one of the departments with a fully operational e-office programme.

Most of the work we do is online and the vast majority of our files are electronic files. We are also developing e-applications for the benefit of consumers that will provide for transparency, and speed of decision making.

The DCA seeks to empower consumers through awareness and education;

enhance consumer protection through prevention of unfair trade practices; enable quality assurance and safety through standards and their conformity; and ensure access to an affordable and effective grievance redress mechanism.

The Legal Metrology Division of the Department of Consumer Affairs, by

implementing the Legal Metrology Act 2009, safeguards the interests of Consumers to get the correct quantity for the price charged by ensuring use of the correct weights and measures.

Consumers are entitled to quality assurance and safety of all products that they

buy and the services that they use. Quality assurance and safety are facilitated by prescribing stringent standards laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standards Body of India. The ISI mark of the BIS is synonymous with quality and safety. The BIS has taken several measures to promote a culture of quality in the manufacturing process. It has developed over 19000 quality standards and over 28000 licensees who use the ISI quality mark in manufacturing their products.

The DCA has finalized major amendments to the BIS Act. These amendments

seek to strengthen the quality assurance regime for goods and services in India; prevent the entry of sub-standard goods; eliminate the dumping of poor quality products; provide for ease of doing business in India and make the market surveillance and testing of products more stringent. The list of products under mandatory certification will be expanded significantly to provide Indian consumers products of better quality. This transformation in our quality assurance eco system will catalyze the ‘zero defect, zero effect’ approach under the Make in India campaign.

The Jago Grahak Jago multimedia campaign is an initiative of the Department

of Consumer Affairs towards consumer education and awareness. The Jago Grahak Jago campaign has used diverse media to reach out to the consumers in a vast country like India. An open forum discussion has been launched on www.mygov.inplatform to create awareness amongst the consumers by involving them in discussions. Services of various Voluntary Consumer Organizations, Schools etc. are being utilized to spread awareness. New media platform like community radio and social networking sites such as facebook, twitter are being progressively used in creating awareness.

The thrust of the efforts of the DCA has been on the key sectors that impact all

consumers: agriculture, food, housing, healthcare, transport, financial services and education. Joint campaigns have been launched in partnership with the Food Safety

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and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA), and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to raise awareness on the rights of consumers. The campaigns reflect the government’s determination to address issues that affect the common man such as food adulteration, food safety, quality assurance, misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices.

Asymmetry in market information, deterritorialisation of the market, and the explosive growth of advertising has constrained Consumer Sovereignty. Hence the emphasis of the new government on seamless consumer advocacy on a government- wide basis by which the common consumers are better protected.

An inter-ministerial Group on Consumer Advocacy has been established with the Secretary, DCA as the chair. This group has now initiated several significant steps for consumer protection and welfare. These include specific actions to set quality assurance and safety standards for goods and services in diverse sectors under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan as well as the Make in India Campaign.

The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 provides a three-tier quasi-judicial

consumer dispute resolution mechanism in the country to adjudicate complaints filed before them and to provide speedy redress to the consumers. This includes:

The National Consumer Disputes Redress Commission (National Commission) at the apex with territorial jurisdiction over the whole country and pecuniary jurisdiction to consider consumer disputes/complaints involving claims above Rs.1.00 crore and with appellate jurisdiction over State Commissions.

36 State Consumer Disputes redress Commissions (State Commissions) with territorial jurisdiction over the State/ UT concerned and financial jurisdiction to entertain consumer complaints involving claims above Rs.20.00 lakhs and up to Rs.1.00 crore and with appellate jurisdiction over the District Fora.

644 District Consumer Dispute Redress Fora (District Forum) with territorial jurisdiction over the district and pecuniary jurisdiction up to Rs.20.00 lakhs.

The DCA operates a Price Monitoring Cell (PMC) tasked with monitoring prices of select essential commodities. This monitoring is done in respect of both retail and wholesale prices on a daily basis. The Cell monitors the prices of 22 essential commodities, which include cereals, pulses, vegetables, edible oils, sugar, milk etc. collected from 64 reporting centres across the country through the Civil Supplies Departments of States/UTs.

The DCA attaches the highest priority to prompt and effective redress of consumer grievances. The Cooperation Division of the DCA oversees the ‘Consumer Grievances Redress Cell’ (CGRC). The CGRC seeks to initiate proactive action to redress consumer grievances. In doing so, the DCA partners with Consumer Online Research (CORE), a voluntary consumer organisation with expertise in this field. Complaints so received through on-line and hard copies are addressed promptly.

Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare The Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare was set up in 1985 as part of

the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions to formulate policy and coordination of matters relating to retirement benefits of Central Government employees. The total number of pensioners as on 31.3.2014 is more than 55 lakhs which is more than the employees under GOI. Few recent initiatives by the Department for the welfare of the pensioners are as follows:

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AADHAAR-BASED DIGITAL LIFE CERTIFICATE – A GIFT TO THE PENSIONERS

Every year in month of November, a Government pensioner has to provide Life Certificate. On 10thNovember, 2014, the Prime Minister launched an Aadhaar-based Life Certificate authentication system for pensioners. This is an important step in realizing the vision of Digital India. Department of Electronics and Information Technology developed the requisite technology platform.

The software application enables recording of the pensioner’s Aadhaar number and biometric details by plugging in a biometric data capturing device.

Pensioners wishing to avail of this facility are required to register themselves on ‘Jeevan Pramaan’ application.Digital life certificate may be accessed by pension disbursing agencies through (i) accessing website http://www.jeevanpramaan.gov.in or (ii) by enabling their pension disbursing application to receive the digital life certificate data electronically from http://www.jeevanpramaan.gov.in

About 17,000 pensioners used this to submit their Life Certificate on-line.

SANKALP

Approximately 40,000 employees retire every year from the Central Government Civil establishments alone. This number could be close to 2 lakhs if we include the retirees from Defence, Railways, Posts and Telecom. Besides the average life expectancy today has increased to 69.2 years. A pensioner’s cognitive skills by and large remain intact for ten to fifteen years. This group of personnel have maturity, experience and stability.

The voluntary or other organisations working towards building society may be looking for expertise, skill and maturity which can be offered by these retired government servants.

Another possibility is to bring together groups of like-minded pensioners /Pensioners’ Associations and the ministries which are looking for concurrent audit or evaluation of development schemes being implemented all over the country.

Accordingly, an activity called “Sankalp’ has been initiated and a web portal of the same name has been launched. Pensioners, Pensioner Associations and NGOs can register on the website (http//pensionersportal.gov.in/sankalp).

Realising that this initiative requires a total change in mindset of retiring employees, pensioners as well as Government departments, the Department of Pensions is also institutionalising regular conduct of Pre-retirement Counselling workshops. These workshops target retiring personnel 12-15 months before the retirement date. Topics covered are (i) formalities to be covered for timely payment of retirement dues (ii) financial planning for the amounts received at retirement (iii) Preparation of Will (iv) CGHS facilities after retirement and (v) Post retirement opportunities through Sankalp.

Some of pensioners belonging to Tamil Nadu Ex Services League in Madurai have already started working with Aravind Eye care Hospital, a non-profit institution dedicated to providing high quality eye care to all patients who come to its door. The

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pensioner Association conducted Eye camp in remote areas of Tamil Nadu like Muduvarputti, Pudukottai etc along with Aravind Eye care team where 178 and 126 persons were screened respectively.

Some of our pensioners who were interested in the field of teaching have been tied up with “Teach for India”, a project of “Teach to lead” which is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to create a movement of leaders who will work to eliminate educational inequity in the country. The pensioners share their experience with these school kids of Municipal Schools thereby adding value to their life.

Our pensioners in Chennai were exposed to the SANKALP initiative in the meeting held on 25th July, 2014 in Chennai. The pensioners were also told about “Pratham” an innovative learning organization created to improve the quality of education in India. As one of the largest non-governmental organizations in the country, Pratham focuses on high-qualtiy, low-cost, and replicable interventions to address gaps in the education system. 3 of our pensioners in Chennai got involved in the activities of Pratham and were involved as Master Trainers in theAnnual Status of Education Report (ASER) Survey.

Global Dreams, an NGO engaged in literacy drive in the city of Lucknow has developed a toolkit to engage masses in making illiterate people literate very quickly in a month or two with just fifteen minutes session per day. Thus within 30 to 40 sessions of 15 minutes, a learner is made capable of reading a newspaper, write and sign his name. So far, 118 pensioners stationed in Lucknow have registered themselves for the literacy drive launched by Global Dreams.

Bhavishya Online Pension Sanction and Payment Tracking System: - It’s the age of digitization .Realizing that a retiring employee is at a vulnerable stage,

Department of P&PW has introduced an online Pension Sanction and Payment Tracking System called ‘BHAVISHYA’ for the Civil retirees. Through the software all actions required to be taken before sanction of Pension and its payment can be monitored by the employee as well as the Heads of offices, Accounts office and the Pension authorization office.

Actions for timely payment of retirement dues and issue of Pension Payment Order (PPO) start one year before the date of retirement of the employee. There are a number of intervening stages and through this system an employee can pinpoint the delays at each stage thus enabling timely interventions. The pension forms have also been provided online and can be submitted online too. The new system will also capture personal information, service data and contact details like mobile number and e-mail etc. The retiring employees will be kept informed of the progress of pension sanction process through SMS/E-mail.

For retired employees the system shall display the date of credit of monthly pension by the pension disbursing bank. The system has been started as a pilot in 25 Ministries/Departments.

Programmes and Initiatives of Government of India Department of Telecommunications Growth in the reach of telecommunications is one of the key drivers of socio-economic development. The performance of the Telecommunication sector during 2014-15 has

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been encouraging with approximately 30 million new telephone connections added during April to October, 2014. Overall teledensity in the country has increased from 75.23% at the beginning of the financial year to 77.12% at the end of November, 2014, while total broadband connections have touched 82.22 million.

2. In order to ensure equity in access and to accelerate the socio-economic

growth in the rural areas, the Government has planned to connect all 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats in the country with minimum 100 Mbps bandwidth under the National Optical Fibre Network Project (NOFN). Cable laying has been completed to about 5000 villages and the project is likely to be completed by 31.12.2016.

3. Basic telephony activity is critical for every part of the country. The

Government has identified approximately 55,691 villages as per 2011 census which do not yet have telecom connectivity. Based on a comprehensive GIS mapping of these villages, a decision has been taken to progressively cover all uncovered villages with telecommunication services. In the first phase, a comprehensive development plan for North-Eastern region at a cost of Rs. 5336 crores has been launched which will provide mobile coverage to 8621 uncovered villages, all national highways in NE and also strengthen the transmission network in these States. The project will be supplemented through OFC Network augmentation between Block headquarters and District headquarters in Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

4. In order to provide telecommunication connectivity in the Left Wing

Extremism (LWE) affected areas and support local population and security forces in these areas, a scheme has been launched to provide mobile services in 2199 locations at a total cost of Rs. 3567 crores across 10 States. The project is likely to be completed by September, 2015 and is being funded by the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF).

5. The Government will progressively initiate work to ensure voice connectivity

in uncovered villages in Himalayan States (J&K, Himachal Pradesh) and border States (Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana). Focused infrastructure projects are being planned to ensure connectivity to the Andaman Islands and Lakshadweep through submarine cable and augmented satellite connectivity.

6. The Government is committed to further the objectives of ‘Make in India’. C-

DOT has developed Next Generation Networks, Wireless Broadband and Network Management Systems which are supporting domestic telecom players. Appropriate measures will be taken to create test beds for use of developers of indigenous telecom technology products. Test beds shall also be created for testing & certification of telecom products so as to ensure supply of quality products meeting the prescribed standards including safety, security and seamless operation of such products.

7. The Government is deeply committed to the principles of Good Governance

and transparency in the award of spectrum to the service providers. There are plans to conduct the auction of spectrum in 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz bands. The auction of spectrum in 2100 MHz band is also planned along with auction of spectrum in 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz bands. A roadmap will also be chalked out for providing more spectrum, as per the National Telecom Policy 2012, to serve public

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interest keeping in view the principles of affordable and reliable communication services.

8. The Government will ensure the security of its communication infrastructure

since National security in the present world is closely linked with it. The Government, therefore, committed to put in place a series of measures to protect and preserve our communication network in the same manner as we protect our borders.

9. The Government is also committed to provide indigenous, state-of-the-art

and cost-effective total telecom solutions. Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), which is India's premier telecommunications R&D centre, is not only developing technologies but also helping in creating an eco-system for large scale telecom equipment manufacturing. After taking dial-tone to villages and hinterlands, C-DOT has now focussed its vision on the next goal, of taking broadband to the masses. The institution is totally focussed on making the Internet a reality for the rural population and providing access to e-governance, e-education, e-medicine, e-banking, for empowerment of citizens using communications technology. It has developed technologies in optical communications (GPON), Next Generation Networks (Softswitches, Gateways, Routers, Switches), Wireless broadband (WiFi and LTE), Software Applications (GyanSetu), and Network Management, thus providing a complete bouquet of technologies to the telecom eco-system.

National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN)

NOFN is a landmark initiative in taking forward the vision of Digital India which aims to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. NOFN, funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), Department of Telecom, Ministry of Communications & IT, Govt. of India, is envisaged to provide non- discriminatory access to bridge the digital divide across rural India. NOFN is set to link 600 million rural citizens of India across 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats of India spread over 6600 blocks and 631 districts through Broadband optical fibre network. NOFN will provide a minimum bandwidth of 100 Mbps to each of the 2.5 lakh GPs thereby facilitating delivery of e-governance, e-health, e-education, e-banking, public internet access, G2C, B2B, P2P, B2C etc., weather, agricultural and other services to rural India. The project also seeks to achieve a huge employment generation opportunity through operation and maintenance activities, BPO services, rural entrepreneurship etc.

NOFN Project Highlights

· World’s largest rural broadband connectivity project through optical fibre · All 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats in India to be connected on optical fibre · Minimum 100 Mbps bandwidth at each Gram Panchayat · NOFN to be Non discriminatory Access infrastructure for all Service Providers · Approx 6 lakh Km new incremental optical fibre cable to be laid · Indigenous equipment design and manufacturing under “Make in India” · High Capacity Network Management System and Network Operation Centre

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Digital India is a flagship initiative of the Government of India to integrate the

government departments and the people of India to ensure effective governance. It also aims at ensuring that the government services are made available to citizens electronically by reducing paperwork. NOFN network is an important step towards realization of this ambitious vision of rural empowerment by facilitating delivery of following services:

· e-Governance services such as Land records, Birth/Death certificates,

Aadhar based services, NREGA etc. · e-Healthcare like online medical consultations, medical records, medicine

supply, Pan India exchange of patient information etc. · e-Education aiming at delivery of quality education in all schools at villages,

Digital literacy programme etc. · Public Internet Access including availability of Internet services to villages,

delivery of Internet based services by Common Service Centres (CSCs), enabling flexibility of choosing the service provider by the end-customers etc.

· e-commerce such as Rural banking through online transactions and ATMs, online purchases and online transactions for utilities like railway bookings, electricity bill payments etc as well as online selling of rural goods etc.

Utilities for Panchayats:

ü Panchayat Management - Gram sabha meetings, village records, updating of

citizen databases, effective performance monitoring of Panchayats. ü Community Participation - Intra-village, Intra-district sharing of practices

and resources Communication with Block, and District. ü Knowledge Dissemination - Sharing of Agricultural practices, productivity

techniques, Small enterprises, Vocational learning.

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ü Delivery of Citizen Services - Delivery of services including Health, Education and Finance, etc. A single point of Government-to-citizen interaction for Centrally sponsored/Central sector/ State sponsored schemes and Grievance redressal.

ü Developmental planning - Road, transportation and power connectivity; knowledge connectivity in the form of good educational & training institutions. Provision of drinking water and upgradation of existing health facilities. Market connectivity to enable farmers to get the best prices for their produce.

The project is being implemented by three central PSUs (CPSUs) namely BSNL,

PGCIL and Railtel in the phase first and being managed by the Government of India entity, Bharat Broad Band Nigam Limited (BBNL). A key feature of the project is that the GPON equipment used in the project has been indigenously designed and developed by C-DOT and manufactured domestically.

First step towards achieving Prime Minister’s Digital India dream:

NOFN reaches Idukki in Kerala As a first step in the direction of achieving the ambitious vision of Digital India,

Hon’ble Minister for Communications & IT, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, in the presence of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala Shri Oommen Chandy and other dignitaries commissioned India's first Hi-Speed Rural Broadband Network (NOFN) in Idukki District, Kerala, under the Digital India Programme at an inaugural function held in Thiruvananthapuram on 12th January 2015.

Hon’ble Minister for Communications & IT, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, said, “India

witnesses a new era of digital empowerment. The new government has firmly set its focus on the all round development and inclusive growth of the country. NOFN Project is a giant leap in order to bridge the digital divide in India by linking all Gram Panchayats through the common platform of Optical Fibre Cable. I extend my complete support to this project and I am proud to be a part of this new digital journey in India’s history”.

With the commissioning of Idukki, the district, which is relatively inaccessible and has a large tribal and rural population, it has become the first district in the country to have all its 52 Gram Panchayats connected through NOFN. As there is no feasibility for laying optical Fibre Cable to Edamalakudy Gram Panchayat in Devikulam Block of Idukki District, it is connected through VSAT. The National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) will provide connectivity to all 152 Blocks and 977 Gram Panchayats in Kerala.

The work of laying fibre-optic cables under the NOFN project has commenced in 940 Blocks spread over 265 Districts all over India. This will cover about 21,000 Gram Panchayats and work is likely to start in many more blocks in the near future. About 50,000 Gram Panchayats are targeted to be connected by March 2015 under Phase 1; another one lakh Gram Panchayats by March 2016 under Phase 2 and the remaining one lakh by December 2016.

It is expected that the establishment of NOFN would open up new avenues for access service providers like mobile operators, cable TV Operators etc. to launch next generation services, and spur creation of local employment opportunities encompassing e-commerce, IT outsourcing etc. as well as services such as e-banking, e-health and e-education for inclusive growth.

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C-DOT Next Generation Network

Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), the organization that started the transformation of India into 21st century Information & Technology superpower, was founded in August 1984 as a registered Scientific Society of Government of India. C-DOT is the only Telecom Technology Development Centre in India, and is credited for bringing first Telecom Revolution of India. It is an R&D institution with a difference, in the sense that it developed telecom systems which got manufactured in large numbers by Indian companies, went out into the field and addressed a vital national need.

C-DOT is working on cutting edge technologies and has developed many solutions for the social, strategic, and telecom sector of the country. More than 30,000 C-DOT Exchanges totalling approximately 25 million telephone lines have been installed and are operational in the field.

When it comes to broadband, a powerful growth enabler, India has some catching up to do, both in urban and rural areas. C-DOTians realize this and have already focussed their vision on the next goal, of taking broadband to the masses by doing an encore of what they did in the eighties when they took dial-tone to the villages.

The institution is totally focussed on making the Internet a reality for the average Indian and providing an access to e-education, e-medicine, e-banking, e-market, in fact a whole gamut of e-empowerments. It has developed technologies in optical communications (GPON), Next Generation Networks (Softswitches, Gateways, Routers, Switches), Wireless broadband (WiFi and LTE), Network Management and real-time ICT application (GyanSetu), thus providing a complete bouquet of technologies to the Indian telecom eco-system. The migration of existing C-DOT MAX exchanges to VoIP based NGN through C-DOT MAX-NG proves technology capability and its possible adaptations to developing countries in the world.

C-DOT has also designed and developed India’s first indigenous Terabit Router. Hon’ble Minister of Communications & IT, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurated C-DOT Terabit Router along with GPON based Fiber-to-the-Desk solution (FTTD) during a TSDSI function held at C-DOT Campus on 14th October 2014.

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C-DOT not only developed technologies but also helped create an eco-system for large scale telecom equipment manufacturing in the country. C-DOT Innovation and R&D Model is tightly linked with Transfer of Technology (TOT) & Manufacturing. The aim of technology transfer is to bring about growth by multiplication of production units with similar technologies, and diversifying the product-range, thereby achieving economies of scale and economies of scope. The Transfer of Technology (TOT) philosophy of C-DOT aims a high rate of success in the technology transfer process. It aims at educating the recipients of technology not only on the infrastructural requirements and requisite know-how for production, but also at providing the licensed manufacturers with vital details about the sources for the capital equipment and components.

With its dedicated and enthusiastic teams, C-DOT is committed to creating new waves and driving broadband penetration across the country, especially in rural areas, to promote inclusive development and bridge the digital divide. Some of C-DOT’s latest developments are summarized in the following paragraph.

Next Generation Networks (NGN) is a popular name given to an all IP (Internet Protocol) packet data network which can carry voice, data and video traffic, in contrast to present day networks which need different layers to carry different types of traffic. Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) is an industry standard system that can be used to provide triple play (voice, video and data) through Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) services. GPON enables large amounts of data (2.5Gbps downstream and 1.25 Gbps upstream) to consumer through optical fibre, which makes it a virtually future proof broad-band solution to take the benefits of e-education, e-governance, e-medicine etc. to rural India. Broadband Wireless Terminal (BBWT) is a lightweight low power consuming wireless device suited to indoor or all weather outdoor use. Network Management System (NMS) is the nerve centre of a telecom network. C-DOT NMS solution is being used for management of different type of networks. C-DOT is also developing the NMS for National Optical Fiber Network (NoFN) of BBNL. GyanSetu is an internet based real-time ICT system designed by C-DOT primarily to provide various e-services to the under privileged rural population of India. Such systems are envisaged to be deployed in Gram panchayat as a carrier of information and knowledge along with the traditional other government e-services. This common infrastructure will serve the entire village population and can be accessed easily due to its simplified design. GyanSetu was inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister of Communications & IT on the occasion of Good Governance Day.

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With Digital India & NTP 2012’s accent on indigenous R&D and manufacturing, C-DOT is poised to play a greater role in revitalizing Indian telecom manufacturing and services sector by providing cutting edge technologies and products. With keen R&D effort, C-DOT technologies offer advantages in terms of appropriateness for Indian environment, Innovation & related local manufacturing.

Ensuring 24X7 Power to all Rural Household

Power sector is a critical infrastructure element required for the smooth functioning of the economy. An efficient, resilient and financially healthy power sector is essential for growth and poverty reduction. The availability of reliable, quality and affordable power helps in the rapid agriculture, industrial and overall economic development of the state. The Government of India is committed to improve the quality of life of its citizens by providing each household access to electricity, round the clock.

Presently, power supply in rural areas in many parts of the country is inadequate and unreliable. In rural areas of the country, the agricultural and non-agricultural load (domestic and non-domestic) are typically catered to through common distribution network. The distribution utilities resort to frequent load shedding in rural areas to mitigate the gap between supply and demand, which affects power supply to agricultural consumers as well as non-agricultural consumers owing to common distribution network. Further, the demand of electricity in rural areas is increasing day by day due to increase in customer base, changes in lifestyle and consumption pattern which requires continual strengthening and augmentation of distribution network. Therefore, strengthening and augmentation of sub-transmission & distribution infrastructure is also considered necessary to ensure reliable and quality power supply in rural areas.

Feeder separation in rural areas refers to supply of electricity to agricultural consumers and to non-agricultural consumers separately through dedicated feeders. This arrangement allows the distribution company to ensure adequate and reliable power to farmers as well as to rural households. This will ensure reliable and adequate power supply to farmers resulting in high productivity and farm security. Besides, the rural households will get 24x7 power supply thereby improving the quality of life in rural areas and also give a boost to economic activity.

Finance Minister in his Budget speech for 2014-15 announced that "Power is a vital input for economic growth and the Government is committed to providing 24x7 uninterrupted power supply to all homes. “Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana”

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for feeder separation will be launched to augment power supply to the rural areas and for strengthening sub-transmission and distribution systems".

After inter-ministerial consultations, feedback from States and other stakeholder, Government of India launched "Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana" (DDUGJY) with the objectives; (a) To separate agriculture and non-agriculture feeders to facilitate Discoms in the judicious rostering of supply to agricultural & non- agricultural consumers (b) Strengthening and augmentation of sub-transmission & distribution infrastructure including metering in rural areas and (c) Rural electrification including micro-grid and off-grid distribution network. The scheme is an improvement over the previous programmes as it provides cafeteria approach to the States in prioritising their needs rather than a straight jacketed approach of 'one size fits all'. The scheme covers all villages, habitations & hamlets/dhanis and with special dispensation for hilly/special category States.

Under the scheme, Govt. of India is providing financial support in the form of grant maximum up to 75% of total project cost (90%, in case of special category States) to the Discoms for implementation of the scheme. All Discoms including Private Sector Discoms are eligible for availing financial support under the scheme. The scheme particularly targets incapacities of distribution network by decreasing Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses including theft with emphasis on energy accounting through 100% metering at all levels. The scheme will be implemented within five years during the 12th and 13th Plans in cooperation with the Discoms and the State Governments. Implementation framework along with operational guidelines for implementation of the scheme have been released and Discoms of the States are in the process of formulation of projects.

Effective and efficient implementation of scheme will lead to viable and reliable electricity services resulting in increased productivity in agriculture & labour, improvement in delivery of health & education, access to communications (radio, telephone, television, mobile), improved lighting after sunset, facilitating use of time and energy saving in mills, motors & pumps, increasing public safety through outdoor lighting. Household electrification also increases the likely hood that women would study and earn income. The scheme after its implementation should be able to achieve 100% household electrification fulfilling the goal of 24x7 accessibility, availability, reliability, quality and affordable power by 2019.

The Indian Space Research Organisation

"The Indian Space Research Organisation” (ISRO) is the country's national space agency under the Department of Space, Govt. of India. The primary objective of ISRO is to develop space technology and enable its application to accelerate national development. Satellites designed, developed, built, launched and maintained by ISRO are playing a vital role in many important sectors like telecommunications, TV broadcasting, meteorological observation, natural resources survey and monitoring. The indigenous launch vehicles PSLV and GSLV have launched many operational satellites to orbit.

With the successful Mars Orbit Insertion of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft on September 24, 2014, ISRO became the fourth Space Agency to successfully send a spacecraft to Mars and the first Nation in the world to do so in its first attempt. The successful launch of first experimental flight of India’s future heavy capacity launcher GSLV Mk III, also known as LVM-3, on December 18, 2014, which carried Crew Module

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Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE) as its payload, marked India’s progress towards self-reliance in launching four ton class of communication satellites into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C26) successfully launched India’s third navigational satellite IRNSS-1C, from Sriharikota on October 16, 2014. French Remote Sensing Satellite SPOT-7 and four more co-passenger satellites from Canada, Germany and Singapore were successfully launched using PSLV-C23. India’s new communication satellite GSAT-16 was successfully put into orbit on December 07, 2014 from French, Guiana. The year 2014 also saw the successful flight testing of GSLV’s indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage, with the successful launch of GSLV-D5 placing the GSAT-14 communication satellite into its intended orbit.

Several major space missions are planned during 2015 which include next flight of Geo Synchronous Launch Vehicle GSLV-D6 with Indigenous Cryogenic Stage to launch GSAT-6 communication satellite, launch of Astronomical Satellite ASTROSAT, GSAT-15 communication satellite, four more navigational satellites and two commercial launches of PSLV. In the years to come, India will look forward to sustain its rightful place amongst leading space faring nations while pursuing its vision of harnessing space technology for national development and expanding knowledge in space science research and planetary exploration. Future directions of Indian Space programme include operational services in satellite based communications and navigation, Development and operationalisation of heavy lift launcher for self-reliance in launching 4 Ton class of satellites, Enhanced imaging capability for natural resource management, weather and climate change studies, Space science missions to better understand the solar system and universe, Planetary exploratory missions, Reusable launch vehicles – technology demonstrator missions, development of critical technology human spaceflight and Space Applications towards good governance and National development.

Digital India

Government of India has approved the ‘Digital India’ programme with the vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. Digital India is an umbrella programme that covers multiple Government Ministries and Departments. It weaves together a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single, comprehensive vision so that each of them can be implemented as part of a larger goal. Each individual element stands on its own, but is also part of the entire Government. Digital India is implemented by the entire Government and being coordinated by the Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY).

The vision of Digital India is centred on three key areas, viz., (i) Infrastructure as a Utility to Every Citizen (ii) Governance and Services on Demand and (iii) Digital Empowerment of Citizens. Digital India aims to provide the much needed thrust to the following nine pillars of growth areas as summarised below:

Broadband Highways · This covers three sub components, namely Broadband for All Rural, Broadband for

All Urban and National Information Infrastructure.

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· Under Broadband for All Rural, 250 thousand village Panchayats would be covered by December, 2016. DoT will be the nodal Department and the project cost is estimated to be approximately Rs. 32,000 Cr.

· Under Broadband for All Urban, Virtual Network Operators would be leveraged for service delivery and communication infrastructure in new urban development and buildings would be mandated.

· National Information Infrastructure would integrate the networks like SWAN, NKN and NOFN along with cloud enabled National and State Data Centres. It will also have provision for horizontal connectivity to 100, 50, 20 and 5 government offices/ service outlets at state, district, block and panchayat levels respectively. DeitY will be the nodal department and the project cost is estimated to be around Rs 15,686 Cr for implementation in 2 years and maintenance & support for 5 years.

Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity

· The initiative is to focus on network penetration and fill the gaps in connectivity in the country.

· All together 42,300 uncovered villages will be covered for providing universal mobile connectivity in the country.

· DoT will be the nodal department and project cost will be around Rs 16,000 Cr during FY 2014-18. Public Internet Access Programme

· The two sub components of Public Internet Access Programme are Common Service Centres and Post Offices as multi-service centres.

· Common Service Centres would be strengthened and its number would be increased from approximately 135,000 operational at present to 250,000 i.e. one CSC in each Gram Panchayat. CSCs would be made viable, multi-functional end-points for delivery of government and business services. DeitY would be the nodal department to implement the scheme.

· A total of 150,000 Post Offices are proposed to be converted into multi service centres. Department of Posts would be the nodal department to implement this scheme.

e-Governance – Reforming Government through Technology

· Government Business Process Re-engineering using IT to improve transactions is the most critical for transformation across government and therefore needs to be implemented by all ministries/ departments.

· The guiding principles for reforming government through technology are: a. Form simplification and field reduction – Forms should be made simple and

user friendly and only minimum and necessary information should be collected. b. Online applications, tracking of their status and interface between

departments should be provided. c. Use of online repositories e.g. school certificates, voter ID cards, etc. should

be mandated so that citizens are not required to submit these documents in physical form.

d. Integration of services and platforms, e.g. UIDAI, Payment Gateway, Mobile Platform, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) etc. should be mandated to facilitate integrated and interoperable service delivery to citizens and businesses.

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· Electronic Databases – all databases and information should be electronic and not manual.

· Workflow Automation Inside Government – The workflow inside government departments and agencies should be automated to enable efficient government processes and also to allow visibility of these processes to the citizens.

· Public Grievance Redressal - IT should be used to automate, respond and analyze data to identify and resolve persistent problems. These would be largely process improvements.

e-Kranti (NeGP 2.0) – Electronic delivery of services

· There are 31 Mission Mode Projects under different stages of e-governance project lifecycle. Further, 10 new MMPs have been added to e-Kranti by the Apex Committee on National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) headed by the Cabinet Secretary in its meeting held on 18th March 2014.

· Technology for Education – e-Education All Schools will be connected with broadband. Free wifi will be provided in all

secondary and higher secondary schools (coverage would be around 250,000 schools). A programme on digital literacy would be taken up at the national level. MOOCs –Massive Online Open Courses shall be developed and leveraged for e-Education.

· Technology for Health – e-Healthcare E-Healthcare would cover online medical consultation, online medical records,

online medicine supply, pan-India exchange for patient information. Pilots shall be undertaken in 2015 and full coverage would be provided in 3 years.

· Technology for Farmers This would facilitate farmers to get real time price information, online ordering

of inputs and online cash, loan and relief payment with mobile banking. a. Technology for Security

Mobile based emergency services and disaster related services would be provided to citizens on real time basis so as to take precautionary measures well in time and minimize loss of lives and properties.

b. Technology for Financial Inclusion Financial Inclusion shall be strengthened using Mobile Banking, Micro-ATM

program and CSCs/ Post Offices. c. Technology for Justice

Interoperable Criminal Justice System shall be strengthened by leveraging e-Courts, e-Police, e-Jails and e-Prosecution.

d. Technology for Planning National GIS Mission Mode Project would be implemented to facilitate GIS

based decision making for project planning, conceptualization, design and development.

e. Technology for Cyber Security National Cyber Security Co-ordination Center would be set up to ensure safe

and secure cyber-space within the country.

Information for All · Open Data platform and online hosting of information &

documents would facilitate open and easy access to information for citizens. · Government shall pro-actively engage through social media and web

based platforms to inform citizens. MyGov.in has already been launched as a

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medium to exchange ideas/ suggestions with Government. It will facilitate 2-waycommunication between citizens and government.

· Online messaging to citizens on special occasions/programs would be facilitated through emails and SMSes.

· The above would largely utilise existing infrastructure and would need limited additional resources.

Electronics Manufacturing – Target NET ZERO Imports

· Target NET ZERO Imports is a striking demonstration of intent. · This ambitious goal requires coordinated action on many fronts

a. Taxation, incentives b. Economies of scale, eliminate cost disadvantages c. Focus areas – Big Ticket Items

FABS, Fab-less design, Set top boxes, VSATs, Mobiles, Consumer & Medical Electronics, Smart Energy meters, Smart cards, micro-ATMs

d. Incubators, clusters e. Skill development f. Government procurement

· There are many ongoing programs which will be fine-tuned. · Existing structures are inadequate to handle this goal and need strengthening.

IT for Jobs

· 1 Cr students from smaller towns & villages will be trained for IT sector jobs over 5 years. DeitY would be the nodal department for this scheme.

· BPOs would be set up in every north-eastern state to facilitate ICT enabled growth in these states. DeitY would be the nodal department for this scheme.

· 3 lakh service delivery agents would be trained as part of skill development to run viable businesses delivering IT services. DeitY would be the nodal department for this scheme.

· 5 lakh rural workforce would be trained by the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) to cater to their own needs. Department of Telecom (DoT) would be the nodal department for this scheme. Early Harvest Programmes

· IT Platform for Messages A Mass Messaging Application has been developed by DeitY that will cover

elected representatives and all Government employees. 1.36 Cr mobiles and 22 Lakh emails are part of the database.

· Government Greetings to be e-Greetings Basket of e-Greetings templates have been made available. Crowd sourcing

of e-Greetings through MyGov platform has been ensured. E-Greetings portal has been made live on 14th August 2014.

· Biometric attendance It will cover all Central Govt. Offices in Delhi and is already operational in DeitY

and has been initiated in the Department of Urban Development. On-boarding has also started in other departments.

· Wi-Fi in All Universities All universities on the National Knowledge Network (NKN) shall be covered

under this scheme. Ministry of HRD is the nodal ministry for implementing this scheme.

· Secure Email within Government

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a. Email would be the primary mode of communication. b. Phase-I upgradation for 10 lakh employees has been completed. In Phase II,

infrastructure would be further upgraded to cover 50 lakh employees by March 2015 at a cost of Rs 98 Cr. DeitY is the nodal department for this scheme.

· Standardize Government Email Design Standardised templates for Government email are under preparation and

would be ready by October 2014. This would be implemented by DeitY. · Public Wi-fi hotspots

Cities with population of over 1 million and tourist centres would be provided with public wi-fi hotspots to promote digital cities. The scheme would be implemented by DoT and MoUD.

· School Books to be eBooks All books shall be converted into eBooks. Min. of HRD/ DeitY would be the

nodal agencies for this scheme. · SMS based weather information, disaster alerts

SMS based weather information and disaster alerts would be provided. DeitY’s Mobile Seva Platform is already ready and available for this purpose. MoES (IMD) / MHA (NDMA) would be the nodal organizations for implementing this scheme.

· National Portal for Lost & Found children a. This would facilitate real time information gathering and sharing on the lost

and found children and would go a long way to check crime and improve timely response.

b. DeitY/ DoWCD would be the nodal departments for this project. Some of the aforementioned projects are under various stages of implementation

and may require some transformational process reengineering, refinements and adjustment of scoping and implementation strategy to achieve the desired service level objectives by the concerned line Ministries/Departments at the Central, State and Local Government levels.

Good Governance Initiatives

Abolition of affidavits and adoption of self certification DARPG endeavours to simplify administrative procedures and make governance

citizen-centric. In this context, the central Ministries/Departments and States/UTs have been requested to review the existing requirement of documents attested by Gazetted officers or affidavits in various forms in a phased manner, wherever feasible. This is to be replaced by self-certification.

As a result of constant efforts by the Department, 24 State Governments/UTs and 41

Central Ministries/Departments have reportedly taken appropriate action already.

The Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances and

United Nations Development Programme joint collaborative project “Strengthening Public Administration and Governance”:

(i) The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances in

collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme is

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implementing the joint collaborative project “Strengthening Public Administration and Governance” for the period 2013-2017 under Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP). The Project aims to address the following development challenges or gaps:

(a) The changing environment, rising aspirations of the people, to seek greater

accountability and improved efficiency and effectiveness and changing role of the Government necessitate administrative reforms in India, in tune with the rapid development of the country. There is also a need for associated simplification of rules and procedures, business process re-engineering and change management.

(b) While Indian states and district governments have come up with innovative

solutions and have implemented best practices in public service delivery and public administration, including through the use of ICT and e-governance, these experiences have not been documented in a systematic manner. As a result, states don’t benefit and learn from such experiences of other states.

(c) Currently, there are hardly any analytical studies that attempt to highlight factors responsible for poor service delivery that impinge on development and social indicators for the marginalized people. Similarly, there is no documentation or analysis as to why some best practices that were rewarded or recognized a few years back have disappeared, or have degenerated without making any permanent impact on administrative productivity.

(ii) The Project conceives the following strategies for addressing the above

mentioned challenges / gaps described in the Project document: · Changes in attitudes and access to decision making through awareness

raising, brokering, convening. · Changes in policies, plans, budgets and legislation through support to

national assessment, planning, budgeting, policy making. · Changes in the lives of individuals and communities through

implementation for inclusive development.

(iii) The specific strategies to be adopted to achieve the targets are as below: · Carrying out cross-sectoral studies on the desired goals in government

programmes with a view to improve outcomes and to suggest measures that would improve the targets in such programmes, especially in UN-focussed.

· Evidence-based national and International best practices are available to GOI and State Governments for strengthening public administration and governance.

· Adaptation and replication of best practices within states and in other states.

· Demonstrating innovative e-governance and m-governance initiatives that enhance efficiency in public administration and management.

(iv) The possible improvements in the capacities of institutions, individuals and

systems that will occur as a result of this Project are:

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· Improve capabilities of institutions and individuals responsible for

public administration and governance · Deeper understanding of administrators on factors that contribute to

success or failure of service delivery under government programmes · Increased cooperation in the area of Public Administration globally

including the South-South Context.

(v) As part of this on-going Project, an “International Symposium on Excellence in Public Service / Public Administration” was successfully conducted in New Delhi during 7-9 October, 2014. The major objectives of the International Symposium were (i) to foster spirit of excellence in Public Administration; (ii) to acknowledge, disseminate and learn from the innovative practices and extraordinary achievements in improving public administration and governance. Around 23 countries participated and made presentations on Award winning best practices in international public administration reforms and best practices in governance, including e-governance and m-governance.

Around 200 Indians have also participated in the same.

(vi) A Case Study Workshop was also organised from 21st to 23rd August, 2014 followed by concluding session on 31st October & 1st November, 2014. The objective of the Workshop on Case Studies was to build capacity in developing / teaching case studies and develop case studies of international standard on some of the award winning best practices in India, to facilitate its replication. An eminent expert in Public Policy and Government at Georgetown University, Prof. R. Kent Weaver, had been engaged for this purpose. Five cases have been developed in the Case Study Workshop.

(vii) The Annual Work Plan, 2015 is under finalization.

Public Grievances The front end of PG portal for lodging grievances by citizen has been improved

by providing more options to the petitioner who can now upfront select whether it is public or pensioners’ grievances. Grievances relating to subject matter handled by Directorate of Public Grievances can be directly lodged to them by the petitioner on the pgportal. The petitioner in case he or she is not aware of the authority to whom it should be forwarded can now select NOT KNOWN (earlier it was in dropdown) upfront and by default it would come to DARPG.

“e-Office” Mission Mode Project

(i) INTRODUCTION

The Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DAR&PG) has been entrusted the role to promote e-Governance activities in consonance with the overall national objectivities and priorities. This task mainly involves conceptualization and overall coordination for governance related issues in collaboration with Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITy) for technical expertise.

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DARPG has prepared and circulated reports to all Central Government Ministries on Change Management for eGovernance projects and Business Process Re-engineering for eGovernance projects.

DAR&PG has formulated a generic document on Business Process Reengineering named GPAF as envisaged in National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) and 11th report of 2nd ARC. Government Process Architecting Framework (GPAF) provides a detailed systematic guide for conducting Business Process Reengineering in Central Government Organizations and optimize delivery of services.

DAR&PG had also issued Government of India Guidelines for Government Websites (GIGW) in 2009. In line with new developments, DAR&PG is updating the same.

NeGP (since merged with Digital India Programme) was approved by Cabinet in May 2006. E-Office is one of the Mission Mode Project (MMP) under Central Government category of NeGP jointly formulated by DEITY and DARPG. , DAR&PG is the Line Department (Nodal Department) for e-office Mission Mode Project(MMP). NIC is the technology partner.

‘e-Office’ aims at creating an office environment that minimizes the use of paper documents and files, and by streamlining office workflow helps reduce process delays. Its main objectives are:

To improve efficiency, consistency and effectiveness of government responses To reduce turnaround time and to meet the demands of the citizens charter To provide for effective resource management to improve the quality of

administration To establish transparency and accountability To provide cost effective e-storage facility To make office environment friendly and eco-friendly

(ii) e-Office product developed by NIC presently consists of the following:

File Management System(eFile) - Automates the processing of files and receipts. Knowledge Management System (KMS) - Acts as a centralized repository of various

documents such as acts, policies and guidelines. Leave Management System (eLeave) - Automates the leave application and approval

process. Tour Management System (eTour) - Automates employee tour programmes. Personnel Information System (PIS) - Manages employee records. Collaboration and Messaging Services (CAMS) & ndash for internal collaboration &

messaging.

The ‘eOffice’ project was launched in 2011-12 in phases with Phase-I started in 12 Ministries/Departments. Phase-II was started in 2012-13 and implemented in 5 Ministries/Departments. Phase-III was launched in 2013-14 and being implemented in 7 Ministries/Departments.

DAR&PG has prepared the Master e-Governance Training Plan (MeTP), which has been implemented in NeGP implementing Ministries/ Departments in

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2013-14. Master e-Governance Training Plan (MeTP) intends to build the capacity of central government employees for implementing e-Governance projects. Major proficiency tracks covered are Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), Project Management, Change Management, etc. Training of Group-1(SO/Asst and equiv), Group-2(US/DS/Director and equiv) and Group-3(JS and equiv) levels are being conducted by National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) and NIC.

Digitization of records has been undertaken on priority and more than 700 files have been digitized in DARPG.

DARPG has already implemented e-Office programme. The Department has switched over to e-Leave, e-GPF application, File Tracking System(FTS) and Knowledge Management System(KMS).

End the Mental Illness Called Female Foeticide- Prime Minister

of India Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Scheme to Resurrect Women

Pride

“Educate a man, you educate one person; educate a woman, you educate a

complete family”- is one of the saner concepts we have come across in our life time.

But why only family, she can educate and empower the entire country and humanity,

feels the Government. No wonder it has translated into one of the flagship programs

of union Government under the name, ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ which if

implemented as envisaged can really make India a modern democracy.

Save Girl Child

But before we think of educating girl child we need to address a critical issue in

this country. That is the decline in Child Sex Ratio (CSR).As per the Census, 2011 the

child sex ratio (0-6 years) has shown a decline from 927 females per thousand males

in 2001 to 919 females per thousand males in 2011. Even developed states like

Maharashtra , Punjab, Haryana, NCT Delhi, Gujarat are far behind the national

average compared to NER states and under developed states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,

Jharkhand, Odisha, though the overall trend is quite concerning.

Some of the reasons for neglect of girl child and low child sex ratio are son

preference and the belief that it is only the son who can perform the last rites, that

lineage and inheritance runs through the male line, sons will look after parents in old

age, men are the bread winners etc. Exorbitant dowry demand is another reason for

female foeticide/infanticide. Small family norm coupled with easy availability of sex

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determination tests adds to the declining child sex ratio, further facilitated by easy

availability of Pre-conception sex selection facilities inspite of strict rules against such

tests.

Female Foeticide

The practice of aborting female foetus has become more rampant with the

availability of modern diagnostic tools for sex determination of the unborn. With the

social biases favouring the male child on the presumptions of economic advantages

and labelling the girl child as more of a liability, the sex ratio in the country has been

skewed. The process of elimination continues even after birth in various forms of

discrimination in matters of health, nutritional and educational needs of the girl child.

This shows that women’s disempowerment begins even before birth. On the contrary,

empowerment of women leads to all-round progress and emancipation from absurd

beliefs and unscientific practices in the society.

The Lancet’, a medical journal published a report pertaining to the prevalence

of sex selective abortions in rich and educated Indian families in 2011. According to

the report which is based on review of data of three rounds of the nationally

representative surveys (National Family Health Survey – 1, 2&3) carried out during

the years 1990 to 2005, it was found that the conditional sex ratio for second-order

births when the firstborn was a girl child, fell from 906 per 1000 boys in 1990 to 836

in 2005. But there was no significant decline in the sex ratio for second-order births if

the firstborn was a boy child, or for firstborns.

Government Initiatives

The Government is implementing a comprehensive legislation; the Pre-conception

and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 for

prohibition of sex selection before or after conception, regulation of Pre-natal

Diagnostic Techniques and prevention of their misuse for sex determination leading

to female foeticide.

Government has adopted a multi-pronged strategy devising schemes, programmes

and awareness generation/advocacy measures to build a positive environment for the

girl child through gender sensitive policies, provisions and legislation.

The measures include the following:-

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· Intensified effective implementation of the said Act and amended various provisions of the Rules relating to sealing, seizure and confiscation of unregistered machines and punishment against unregistered clinics. Regulation of use of portable ultrasound equipment only within the registered premises has been notified. Restriction on medical practitioners to conduct ultrasonography at maximum of two ultrasound facilities within a district has been placed. Registration fees have been enhanced. Rules have been amended to provide for advance intimation in change of employees, place, address or equipment.

· The Prime Minister has urged the Chief Ministers of all States to provide personal leadership to reverse the declining trend in Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and address the neglect of the girl child through focus on education and empowerment.

· The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has been requested to block sex selection advertisements on websites.

· The Government is extending financial support to the States and UTs for operationalization of PNDT Cells, capacity building, orientation & sensitization workshops, Information, Education and Communication campaigns and for strengthening structures for the implementation of the Act under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

· States have been advised to focus on Districts/Blocks/Villages with low Child Sex Ratio to ascertain the causes, plan appropriate behaviour change communication campaigns and effectively implement provisions of the PC & PNDT Act.

· Religious leaders, women achievers etc. are also being involved in the campaign against skewed child sex ratio and discrimination of the girl child.

Girls Education

Offering girls basic education is one sure way of giving them much greater

power of enabling them to make genuine choices over the kinds of lives they wish to

lead. This is not a luxury. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

establish it as a basic human right. The fact that women might have the chance of a

healthier and happier life should be reason enough for promoting girls'

education. Moreover, there

are also important benefits for society as a whole. An educated woman has the skills,

information and self-confidence that she needs to be a better parent, worker and

citizen. An educated woman is, for example, likely to marry at a later age and have

fewer children. Cross-country studies show that an extra year of schooling for girls

reduces fertility rates by 5 to 10 per cent. And the children of an educated mother are

more likely to survive. In India, for example, the infant mortality rate of babies whose

mothers have received primary education is half that of children whose mothers are

illiterate. An educated woman will also be more productive at work -- and better paid.

Indeed, the dividend for educational investment is often higher for women than men.

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Studies from a number of countries suggest that an extra year of schooling will increase

a woman's future earnings by about 15 per cent, compared with 11 per cent for a man.

But how to improve girls' access to education? Experiences in a number of

countries show the importance of:

· Parental and community involvement -- Families and communities must be

important partners with schools in developing curriculum and managing children's

education.

· Low-cost and flexible timetables -- Basic education should be free or cost very

little.

· Schools close to home, with women teachers -- Many parents worry about

girls travelling long distances on their own. Many parents also prefer to have

daughters taught by women.

· Relevant curricula -- Learning materials should be relevant to the girl's

background and be in the local language. They should also avoid reproducing

gender stereotypes.

Girl Child in India

Even though discrimination towards girls is rampant across caste and class,

girls belonging to socially and economically lower categories as well as girls with

disabilities face multiple discrimination on terms of identity. The Right to Education

Act, 2009 has improved enrolment of children aged 6-14 in elementary schools across

the country. The retention rate of girls at primary level has shown a slight

improvement 75.94% in 2011-12 and the transition rate of girls at upper primary level

has improved from 74.15% in 2003-04 to 87.32% in 2010-11, but there are 35 districts

that continue to show a high gender gap. Thus, despite overall encouraging trends,

inequities continue in educational provision of girls in the country.

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme

Realizing the urgent need to put these problems on high priority and focus, the

present Government has introduced the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao

(BBBP) scheme for survival, protection & education of the girl child. It aims to

address the issue of declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) through a mass campaign across

the country targeted at changing societal mindsets & creating awareness about the

criticality of the issue. The scheme aims at making girls independent both socially as

also financially through education. This approach of the Government can facilitate in

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generating awareness and improving the efficiency of delivery of welfare services

meant for the women. The Scheme will have focused intervention & multi-sectored

action in 100 districts with low Child Sex Ratio. Of these 87 districts in 23 States/UTs

has Child Sex Ratio below the National average of 918.

The objectives of this initiative are:

· Prevention of gender biased sex selective elimination

· Ensuring survival & protection of the girl child

· Ensuring education and participation of the girl child

It is a joint initiative of Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD),

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (H & FW) and Ministry of Human Resource

Development (HRD). The sectoral interventions under the programme include the

following:

Ø Ministry of WCD: Promote registration of pregnancies in first trimester

in Anganwadi Centres (AWCs); Undertake Training of stakeholders; Community

Mobilization & Sensitization; Involvement of Gender Champions; Reward &

recognition of institutions & frontline workers.

Ø Ministry of H & FW: Monitor implementation of Pre-Conception and Pre-

Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCP&DT)Act, 1994; Increased institutional deliveries;

Registration of births; Strengthening PNDT Cells; Setting up Monitoring Committees.

Ø Ministry of HRD: Universal enrolment of girls; Decreased drop-out rate; Girl

Child friendly standards in schools; Strict implementation of Right to Education

(RTE); Construction of Functional Toilets for girls.

BBBP highlights the need for gender equality enshrined in the Constitution

of India and brings out how neglect of girls and discrimination throughout her life

cycle leads to an unequal status for the girls. It also aims to break myths about roles of

men and women in society so that negative attitudes and behaviors steeped in

patriarchy are changed. It can be a boon not just for the girl children but also for the

whole society.

Moreover, ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padao’ yojana comes at a time when the nation is

confronted with problems associated with women’s safety like rape and other forms of

assault. The Government also proposes to spend Rs 150 crore through the Ministry of

Home Affairs on a scheme to extend the security of women in large cities. The Union

budget has also allocated to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Rs 50 crore

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for pilot schemes to safeguard the safety of women on public road transport. The Prime

Minister also launched the ‘Sukanya Samriddhi Account’ for the benefit of the girl

child.

Significance of this Government initiative is very clear when the Prime Minister

Shri. Narendra Modi urged all countrymen in his now famous MAN KI BAAT, on the

need to draw inspiration from families and persons like US President Barack Obama

who have only girl children, to bring up their daughters with pride and give them due

respect. “To save the girl child, to educate the girl child, this is our social duty, cultural

duty, and humanitarian responsibility; we should honour it”, has said the Prime

Minister. Describing the desire to indulge in female foeticide as a "mental

illness" Shri Modi has also warned that if this discrimination does not end it could

cause a "terrible crisis" soon because of lack of women in the country. Prime Minister

also reminded the medical fraternity that medical profession is for the purpose of

saving lives, and not for killing daughters.

To conclude, gender respect should be taught at the school level more so from the home level by the parents. Also we need to address the associated problems in bringing up the girl child, her marriage expenses and discrimination in the society. If these are addressed properly there is no issue which will discriminate the girl from the boy in the society. We need not campaign door to door about the girl child and her safety. After all we live in a country where a state like Kerala extends the best of status to its girls.

Education has unrivalled power to reduce extreme poverty and boost wider development goals. Investing in education, especially for girls, alleviates extreme poverty through securing substantial benefits for health and productivity, as well as democratic participation and women's empowerment. Not only is investing in girls' education a moral obligation, but it is also essential if the country wants to break free of its high child and maternal mortality rates and find true prosperity in the future."

Chittaranjan National Cancer Research Centre on Expansion mode to meet increasing

clinical load Cancer not beyond us is the tagline of World Cancer Day, 2015

Worldwide cancer statistics are estimated at 14.1 million new cancer cases and 8.2 million cancer related deaths in 2012. It is estimated that there would be a substantive increase to 19.3 million new cancer cases per year by 2025, due to growth and aging of the global population. More than half of all cancers (56.8%) and cancer deaths (64.9%) in 2012 occurred in less developed regions of the world, and these proportions have been indicated to increase further by 2025.

Cancer is a disease where myth can bring an end to a life. Under such circumstances

when India along with many other nations of the world is on the verge of a disastrous cancer epidemic, cancer awareness and prevention should be the prime focus. In view of this, the world cancer day which is observed annually on 4th February is an initiative to raise awareness against cancer and to encourage efforts in prevention, detection and treatment. United Nations in the year 2011 had adopted a World Cancer Declaration which included an important issue to “dispel damaging myths and misconceptions” about the disease. Last year i.e. in 2014, the focus was on dispelling damaging myths and misconceptions about cancer under the tagline “DEBUNK THE MYTHS”. In 2015,

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a year has passed and the tagline has changed. This year the World Cancer Day has a contemporary stand point, which is ‘Not beyond us’.

The World Cancer Day 2015 is expected to undertake positive and proactive

approach to the fight against cancer. The theme of this year will highlight that the solutions for cancer do exist and they are not beyond our reach: they are very much accessible for all. This year’s campaign intends to explore how to implement known areas of cancer prevention, early detection, treatment and care, and in turn, open up to the exciting avenues that will leave an impact on the global cancer burden – for the betterment of the society. This day is marked with hope and opportunities to raise awareness. The cumulative effort of an individual, a community and governmental would help to harness and mobilise these solutions and catalyse positive change. Thus though a dreadful disease, it is not beyond our scope. Together we stand and it will be easy to curb and fight the disease. Therefore, Cancer is not beyond us. This year emphasis has been put on four key areas, these are adopting healthy lifestyle, advocating early detection, imparting treatment for all, thereby maximising quality of life.

Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) has a glorified history as renowned personalities like Matatma Gandhi, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das and Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy had been associated with this Institute. The eminent gynaecological oncologist, Dr Subodh Chanda Mitra, the founder Director of this institute laid the foundation stone of Chittaranjan Cancer Hospital (CCH) as a centre for cancer treatment with the help and support of Dr B, C. Roy. Dr Mitra felt that there should be a specialized hospital in this city for the treatment of malignant diseases and to carry out fundamental research on cancer. The institute was formally inaugurated by Nobel laureate Prof. Madame J Curie on 12th January, 1950 and named after Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das. In order to pursue fundamental research on Chittaranjan National Cancer Research Centre (CNCRC) emerged in 1957. Later on the amalgamation of the two separate entities CCH and CNCRC took place in 1987 emerging as CNCI with the prime objective of serving as a premiere Regional Cancer Centre for Eastern region of India. Presently CNCI is an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt of India. This one and only Regional Cancer Centre cater to people from different states of India as well as neighbouring countries for the last sixty years. The institute is funded by Government of India and Government of West Bengal in fixed proportion. CNCI has another chapter at Chandannagar, which is for the treatment of patients in adjoining area; this is Ruplal Nandy Memorial Cancer Research Centre (RNMCRC).

CNCI today is a centre for excellence so far as medical treatment and research

activities are concerned. The hospital is fully dedicated for the treatment of the cancer patients. Patients who are below the poverty line get free treatment from the hospital, more than 500 patients get the benefit free treatment of whom a large number get support to obtain chemotherapeutic drugs from the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) Scheme, Govt of India.

Cancer affects children as well. A paediatric oncology ward is going to be functional soon for special attention and care of the child patients. The preventive oncology division has imparted special efforts in prevention and palliative care of the patients. A new Day care unit was opened on 6th March, 2009 for the benefit of the cancer patients requiring chemotherapy treatment, blood transfusion and small procures. For the benefit of patients and their companions who hail from remote and faraway places

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from the hospital, a Night Shelter and toilet complex with drinking water facility has become operational.

The research wing of CNCI has qualified and highly skilled scientists who own their

fame in their respective field of cancer research. Scientists are focussing mainly towards understanding the molecular mechanisms in the development of cancer, identification of molecular markers, targeted therapy, prevention of cancer, epidemiology, anticancer drug development and immune regulation. Recently need for a new area has been felt, which is a bridge between basic and clinical research; this area has come up with the hope that in future ‘bench to bed side research’ will be carried out at CNCI. With this aim in view the department of Translational Research was established. This department is equipped with modern, highly sophisticated gadgets with the hope to perform best quality research work. Clinical trials under various National and International collaborations have been undertaken at CNCI.

On an average there are around 50 publications from CNCI in peer reviewed

national and international journals. Some of the research activities have been patented by IPR. Every year a good number of summer students from various Universities and colleges from India are being trained by the eminent scientists of the research wing. Good quality PhD work is carried out at CNCI. DNB course has been successfully launched at CNCI hospital and well qualified doctors have been enrolled for the same. It is a great honour that the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh has selected CNCI to conduct the MRCS Part III examination for two consecutive years.

Since the existing CNCI has no adequate facilities to cater the need of ever

increasing number of patients, need for expansion of hospital and research was felt. CNCI has already initiated the process of building a 500 bedded multi-disciplinary sophisticated cancer therapeutic facility over 10 acres of land at New Town, Rajarhat, Kolkata. The land has already been acquired. Boundary walls have been constructed and soil testing has been done. Final DPR prepared by HSCC (I) Ltd. has been submitted with MOH & FW, Govt of India for final approval.

With a vision of a steady progress in the field of basic and clinical cancer research

and targeted therapy, CNCI hospital and research is envisaged to work hand in hand for a better tomorrow where the ill-fated cancer patients can combat the disease with the most effective and modernised treatments.