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Provisions for Children With Special Needs Under Mission Vatsalya

 Mission Vatsalya Scheme is a roadmap to achieve development and child protection priorities aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It lays emphasis on child rights, advocacy and awareness along with strengthening of the juvenile justice care and protection system with the motto to ‘leave no child behind’. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 provisions and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 form the basic framework for implementation of the Mission. Funds under the Mission Vatsalya Scheme are released according to the requirements and demands made by the States/UTs.

Under Mission Vatsalya Scheme support is provided to States/ UTs for setting up of Special Unit for children with special needs in Child Care Institutions (CCIs), who are not able to go to school due to physical/ mental disabilities. Special provisions are made in the CCIs to provide services including Special Educators/ therapist and Nurse required for such children in CCIs for occupational therapy, speech therapy, verbal therapy and other remedial classes as per the children’s need. The capacity building of the Special Unit staff in sign language, Braille etc. is undertaken with help of resource institutions in States for such Homes.

GOI Measures for Safety, Security and Empowerment of Women

 The Government accords highest priority to improving sex ratio in the country and ensuring healthy life for women. Some major initiatives taken by the Government in this regard are as follows:

 

  • Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) ensures protection, survival and education of girl child.
  • Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 aims to address the challenges of malnutrition in children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers through a strategic shift in nutrition content and delivery and by creation of a convergent eco-system to develop and promote practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity.
  • Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojna (PMMVY) provides partial compensation for the wage loss and seeks to improve health seeking behaviour among the pregnant women and lactating mothers. The revamped PMMVY under Mission Shakti also aims to promote positive behavioural change towards girl child by providing additional cash incentives for the second child, if that is a girl child.
  • Rollout of Comprehensive Primary Health Care including health promotion through Ayushman Bharat-Health & Wellness Centers (AB-HWC).
  • Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) to eliminate out-of-pocket expenses for pregnant women delivering in public health institutions and sick infants accessing public health institutions for treatment.
  • Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) to provide financial assistance to pregnant women for encouraging institutional delivery.
  • Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana empowers women and protects their health by providing LPG cylinder free of cost.

 

As a result of the above measures, the sex ratio at birth has improved from 918 (2014-15) to 937 (2020-21) and the life expectancy at birth has improved from 69.4 years (2014-18) to 69.7 years (2015-19).

The Government has taken several initiatives to enhance women’s participation in labour force. The labour laws have specific provisions relating to women workers besides all other rights under labour laws which, inter alia, include:

 

  • The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 provides that there shall be no discrimination in an establishment or any unit thereof among employees on the ground of gender in matters relating to wages by the same employer, in respect of the same work or work of similar nature done by any employee.
  • The Maternity Benefit Act, as amended in 2017, provides paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for two surviving children. It also has enabled provision of “Work from home”, after availing of the maternity benefit by the woman, where the nature of work being assigned of such nature, for such period and on such conditions mutually agreed upon by the employer and the woman employee.
  • Vide notification dated 29th January 2019 under Mines Act 1952, the Government allowed the employment of women in the aboveground mines including opencast workings between 7 pm and 6 am and in below ground mines working between 6 am and 7 pm in technical, supervisory and managerial work where continuous presence may not be required.
  • The Government has also enacted the four Labour Codes, namely the Code on Wages, 2019; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, which inter alia promote participation of women in workforce in a dignified manner through a number of provisions, some of which are as follows:
  • No discrimination on the ground of gender in matters relating to wages, recruitment and in the conditions of employment,
  • Women are entitled to be employed in all establishments for all types of work even before 6 AM and beyond 7 PM subject to their consent and other adequate safety measures.

 

Some of the major initiatives taken by the Government for improving economic empowerment of women are as follows:

 

  • Sakhi Sadan (Working Women’s Hostel) scheme provides safe and affordable housing for working women and thereby encourages more women to seek employment.
  • Palna, the National Crèche Scheme, ensures that women take up gainful employment through providing a safe, secure and stimulating environment to the children.
  • Hubs for Empowerment of Women (HEW) at National, State and District level have been approved under the new ‘Mission Shakti’. The support under HEW is available for guiding, linking and hand holding women to various institutional and schematic set-up for their empowerment and development including equal access to healthcare, quality education, career and vocational counselling/training, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, backward and forward linkages, health and safety for workers, social security and digital literacy at various levels across the country.
  • Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) has been initiated by Government, inter alia, for facilitation self-employment. Under PMMVY, collateral free loans upto Rs. 10 lakh are extended to micro/small business enterprises and to individuals to enable them to setup or expand their business activities. Majority of the beneficiaries under this yojana are women.
  • Stand Up India scheme promotes entrepreneurship amongst women, SC and ST categories, i.e., those sections of the population understood to be facing significant hurdles due to lack of advice/ mentorship as well as inadequate and delayed credit.
  • Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana aims to enable a large number of Indian youths including women to take up industry-relevant skill training in securing a better livelihood.
  • Deen Dayal Antyodaya National Urban Livelihoods Mission focuses on creating opportunities for women in skill development, leading to market-based employment.
  • Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana aims to provide housing under the name of woman also.
  • Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna – Girls have been economically empowered by opening their bank accounts under this scheme.
  • Skill Upgradation & Mahila Coir Yojna is an exclusive training programme of MSME aimed at skill development of women artisans engaged in coir Industry.
  • Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme is a major credit-linked subsidy programme aimed at generating self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector.

 

Mission Vatsalya Scheme

 Mission Vatsalya Scheme is a roadmap to achieve development and child protection priorities aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It lays emphasis on child rights, advocacy and awareness along with strengthening of the juvenile justice care and protection system with the motto to ‘leave no child behind’. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 provisions and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 form the basic framework for implementation of the Mission. Funds under the Mission Vatsalya Scheme are released according to the requirements and demands made by the States/UTs.

The Scheme is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in partnership with State Governments and UT Administrations to support the States and UTs in universalizing access and improving quality of services across the country. The fund sharing pattern is in the ratio of 60:40 between Centre and State & Union Territories with Legislature respectively. The fund sharing pattern between Centre and State is in the ratio of 90:10 for the North-Eastern States viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura and two Himalayan States viz. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and UT of Jammu and Kashmir. For Union Territories without Legislature, it is 100% central share.

Mission Vatsalya scheme supports the children through Non-Institutional Care under Private Aided Sponsorship wherein interested sponsors (individuals/ institutions/ company/ banks/ industrial units/ trusts etc.) can provide assistance to children in difficult circumstances. The District Magistrates take measures to encourage individuals or Public/ Private Sector Organisations to sponsor a child or a group of children or an Institution. Such arrangements are subject to stipulations as per the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and Rules thereof.

Digitalization of Anganwadi Services

 IT systems have been leveraged to strengthen and bring about transparency in nutrition delivery support systems at the Anganwadi centres. The ‘Poshan Tracker’ application was rolled out on 1st March 2021 as an important governance tool. The Poshan Tracker facilitates monitoring and tracking of all AWCs, AWWs and beneficiaries on defined indicators. Technology under Poshan Tracker is being leveraged for dynamic identification of stunting, wasting, under-weight prevalence among children. Further, under Poshan Abhiyan, for the first time, a digital revolution was ushered in when the Anganwadi Centres were equipped with mobile devices. The mobile application has also facilitated digitization and automation of physical registers used by AWWs that helps in improving their quality of work.

Universal access to Anganwadi Services ensures that no beneficiary, who migrates or whose family migrates from one State to another or within a State is deprived of access to key services delivered through Anganwadis. To facilitate the same, a module on ‘migration’ is available and functional on Poshan Tracker. Using the same, beneficiary details can be accessed by the Anganwadi Centre, where the beneficiary migrated to, by using the beneficiary’s Aadhar details. The Anganwadi Worker at the Centre, where the beneficiary migrated to, can pull the data of the beneficiary to its own data-base by using the migration module. In this regard, Ministry has informed all States / UTs about the detailed flowchart of the migration module on the Poshan Tracker and advised them to undertake appropriate measures for wider dissemination of the availability of this facility among beneficiaries

Aadhaar Seeding of beneficiaries has been initiated to ensure last mile tracking and effective delivery of services to beneficiaries at Aanganwadi centres. Further, a child’s Aadhaar card shall not be mandatory for availing the benefits under the Scheme. The benefits under the scheme can be accessed using the mother’s Aadhaar card. As on 31st July 2022, close to 53% of beneficiaries have been Aadhar seeded on the Poshan Tracker. The Ministry is constantly following up with the States/ UTs to complete the Aadhar seeding process. Funds for enrollment kits have been placed with the States/UTs to facilitate enrollment of beneficiaries at the AWC itself.

 

Conditions Conducive to Sex Workers to Live with Dignity

 The National Commission for Women (NCW) organized a Consultation on the topic ‘Conditions Conducive to Sex Workers to Live with Dignity’ to understand the issues faced by the sex workers and to take recommendations to attempt mainstreaming of their rights.

Through this Consultation, the Commission sought to discuss topics such as educating marginalised sex workers about the recent Supreme Court ruling and how to use it for their protection, human and fundamental rights of sex workers, as well as sensitization of the masses to protect dignity of sex workers and their children.

Ms Rekha Sharma, Chairperson, National Commission for Women, Ms Meeta Rajivlochan, Member Secretary, NCW and other senior officials of the Commission graced the occasion. Stakeholders from across the country were invited to attend the meeting to understand the problems of sex workers. Some of the organisations that joined today’s deliberation were All India Network of Sex Workers, Saheli Sangh, SANGRAM, Kat-Katha Foundation, Guria India, Durbar, National Network of Sex Workers, VAMP, ApneAap Women’s Collective, Mahila Jagrut Seva Bhavi Sanstha, SIAAP, Karnataka Sex Workers Union and Women Initiatives (Me and My World).

 

 

In her inaugural address, the Chairperson Ms Rekha Sharma said that like every citizen, sex workers are also entitled to all the rights and a life of dignity and it is important to provide them with opportunities and support. “Today’s Consultation aims to understand the problems faced by sex workers and to understand and prepare a future roadmap for providing them with better institutional support and help for mainstreaming their rights,” said Ms Sharma.

The participants stressed on the need to sensitize police officers as major violence/misuse of power is observed in their conduct while dealing with sex workers, and that social security schemes and benefits be easier to access for sex workers and their children. Physical, mental and social well-being of sex workers and media sensitization on sharing pictures without consent of these workers were also discussed by the participants.

Additionally, the experts also discussed monitoring shelter homes since they may lead to further harassment, ensuring that rehabilitation is not forced, and providing educational and skill development opportunities for sex workers and their children.

 

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Handloom sector is a symbol of our country’s rich and varied cultural heritage

 Minster of State for Textiles and Railways Smt. Darshana Vikram Jardosh accompanied by esteemed women members of parliament Smt. Hema Malini, Smt. Navneet Kaur Rana, Smt. Mahua Moitra and others inaugurated Exclusive Handloom Expo ‘My Handloom My Pride Expo’ at Handloom Haat today. They interacted with weavers & artisans and bought the exquisite handloom products. Smt Darshana Jardosh had invited all the women Members of Parliament to visit the Exclusive Handloom Expo at Janpath Haat and see the rich handloom heritage in order to encourage the weavers and promote the industry.

 

 

A total of 55 Sant Kabir and National Awardees from 14 states are showcasing and selling exquisite handloom products. The exhibition will be open to public from 11 am to 8 pm for 7 days up to August 11th, 2022. This Exclusive Handloom Expo is an initiative of the O/o Development Commissioner (Handlooms), Ministry of Textiles, Government of India through National Handloom Development Corporation (NHDC) Ltd.

 

“Handloom sector is a symbol of our country’s rich and varied cultural heritage,” said Smt. Jardosh.

 

 

 

Swadeshi Movement which was launched on 7th August, 1905 had encouraged indigenous industries and in particular handloom weavers. In 2015, the Government of India decided to designate 7th August every year, as the National Handloom Day.

 

 

On this day, we honour our handloom weaving community and highlight the contribution of this sector in the socio-economic development of this country. We reaffirm our resolve to protect our handloom heritage and to empower the handloom weavers and workers with greater opportunities.

The art of Handloom weaving has traditional value attached to it and each region has exquisite varieties. The uniqueness of products such as Pochampally, Tangaliya saree, Kota Doria, Banarasi, Jamdani, Baluchari, Ikkat, Kalamkari etc. to name a few, attracts customers across the globe with exclusives weaves, designs and traditional motifs.

 

 

 

Through these exhibitions, handloom weavers not only market their products at reasonable rates but also get to know customers’ choice with regard to colour, design and weaving for future improvement of the product. The exhibition enables a direct interface between the awardee Handloom weavers and consumers.

Handloom products drawn from some of the exotic locations of India are on display and sale at the exhibition. A brief list is given below: –

 

· Andhra Pradesh

Venkatagiri Jamdani Cotton Saree,

· Assam

Vegetable Dyed Silk Saree

.   Gujarat

Tangaliya Saree, Duppta Marino woolen Shawl

.   Himachal Pradesh

Kullu Shawl

.   Jammu & Kashmir

Kani Shawl

· Madhya Pradesh

Chanderi sarees, suit, dupatta

· Manipur                           

Manipur traditional H/L products

·   Nagaland

Nagaland traditional H/L products

· Odisha

Triyantra Saree, Pratijna, Ramshila, Beti Cotton Saree

· Rajasthan

Punja Duri, Kota Doria Saree

· Tamil Nadu

Kancheepuram Korvai Silk Saree 

· Telangana

Double Ikat Telia Rumal Saree

· Uttar Pradesh

Rangkat Saree, Cotton Jamdani, Cutwork Stole

· West Bengal                            

Jamdani sarees, dress material, stoles

 

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AD/NS

Nominations for Vayoshreshtha Samman 2022

 The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) has invited nominations for Vayoshreshtha Samman (National Awards for Senior Citizens) 2022. The awards are to be conferred in13 categories to eminent citizens and institutions involved in rendering services for the cause of elderly persons, especially indigent senior citizens, as part of celebration of the International Day of Older Persons (IDOP) on 1st October 2022.

Of the 13 categories, seven are meant for the institutions involved in rendering services for the cause of elderly persons. The remaining six categories are for the individuals rendering services for the cause of elderly persons.

The nominations are to be uploaded on the portal www.awards.gov.in in the prescribed format by 19th August 2022. The detailed guidelines, in this regard, are available on the website of MSJE i.e. https://socialjustice.gov.in.

The Best District Panchayat in providing services and facilities to Senior Citizen will get a citation, memento and a cash award of Rs. ten lakh.

The Best Institution for Research in the field of Ageing will receive a citation, memento and a cash award of Rs. five lakh. Likewise, the Best Institution for providing services to Senior Citizens and Awareness Generation will also receive a citation, memento and a cash award of Rs. five lakh.

In the individual category, the Centenarianaward will be conferred to renowned individuals who are above 90 years and are still physically active, independent and contributing to the society. The awardee will receive a citation, memento and a cash award of Rs. two lakh fifty thousand.

The award of Iconic Mother will be conferred to women senior citizens who in the face of great odds, brought up their children and supported them in being high achievers in the field of their choice. The recipient will get a citation, memento and a cash award of Rs. two lakh fifty thousand.

Click herefor the detailed information.

 

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Skill India launches Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) program in Delhi to upskill Workers

 The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), the strategic implementation and knowledge partner of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), has initiated a project to recognise the prior skills of 75,000 people between the age group of 18-45 years and upskill them in association with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC). The project aims at certifying them to increase their relevance in the volatile job market and encourage them in contributing toward nation-building.

The initiative will be funded by NDMC and SANKALP (World Bank Project under MSDE) and implemented by NSDC. The training commenced today with an aim to upskill 25,000 workers in the first phase.

The workers will be upskilled in multiple trades across construction, electrical, plumbing, pottery etc. It will not only expose them to digital literacy and entrepreneurial opportunities, but also upgrade them in technical skills. During the course of the training, the trainees will also be provided with an additional benefit of accidental insurance for two years.

The Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)/Upskilling program will be implemented in three phases through Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) and their empanelled training providers. Moreover, there will be two modes of implementation — RPL through Camps, under which industrial and traditional clusters will be targeted and RPL at Employer’s premises which will be carried forward in partnership with industries and employers for orientation and training at the employer’s location.

Quoting Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena, Lt. Gov. of Delhi said that there is an urgent need to uplift artisans and workers to increase their relevancy in the volatile job market and all the stakeholders should come together to fulfil this mission. Delhi being the national capital has always been the melting pot of people from different rungs of society and NDMC has been one of the torchbearers working towards improving the quality of life of the workers. He is confident that this RPL program will recognise the talent of the youth, hone their skills and give them the respect that they deserve.

Lauding the initiative, Ved Mani Tiwari, Chief Operating Officer, and Officiating CEO, NSDC, said that we are committed to standardising skills and making them a part of the organised sector by the virtue of recognition and certification. Our

collaboration with NDMC is not only a positive step toward fulfilling the need for a skilled workforce in India but also an effort to identify skilled candidates and help them in upgrading their skills, making them a part of the organised sector. This unique program will also help in meeting the aspiration of the youth and empower them for a better livelihood.

RPL or prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR), which is a component of Skill India’s flagship scheme PMKVY, is an assessment process used to evaluate a person’s existing skill sets, knowledge and experience gained either by formal, non-formal or informal learning. The process helps in aligning the competencies of the unregulated workforce of the country to the standardized National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) to enhance employability opportunities and reduce the skill gap.

 

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National Initiative on Science, Technology and Innovation Statistics (NISTIS)

 The first meeting of the National Advisory Committee of the National Initiative on Science, Technology and Innovation Statistics (NISTIS) discussed the way forward for the initiative.

It was decided that the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Statistics will be prepared by the Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru.

Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Professor Ajay K Sood, who chaired the meeting, underlined the importance of the initiative and the urgent need to establish the centre to start focused work on it.

 

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“Data is critical for knowledge-based decisions. While data is being collected by the different ministries, its centralised management is essential for taking critical decisions in the future,” he pointed out.

Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Dr Srivari Chandrasekhar, welcomed the initiative, highlighting the range of data that is already available with the department and emphasized the need to add to it.

Senior Adviser, DST, Dr Akhilesh Gupta, stressed on the need for a one-stop coordinated effort to bring the various efforts of accumulation of data and presented the tentative structure of the centre. He gave examples of international best practices of such efforts in USA and Japan.

Director Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Professor Govindan Rangarajan, elaborated on the functioning of the future centre at IISc.

 

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Experts from scientific establishments discussed the governance, functioning and way forward for the center.

 

   

Mission raftaar

 Mission Raftaar is a ‘Mission’ envisaged for speed enhancement and to achieve a target of doubling average speed of freight trains and increasing the average speed of Superfast /mail/Express trains by 25 kmph and not a stand alone ‘Project(s)’. The overall allocation and utilization of funds under Mission Raftaar can not be quantified.

CAG report tabled in budget session 2022 has analyzed the punctuality and travel time in train operations in Indian Railways as a whole. Mission Raftaar is only one of the document used as Audit criteria for preparation of report. Speeding up of trains is a constant endeavour and a continuous process on Indian Railways which is dependent on constant optimization of the investments made by Railways in modernization of technology, high powered locos, modern coaches and better tracks. To this end Indian Railways are inter alia proliferating Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches which have higher speed potential, converting passenger trains operating with conventional coaches into MEMU services (which have higher acceleration/deceleration owing to distrusted power). As a part of “Mission Raftaar” and during the period 2015-16 and 2021-22, 414 passenger train services have been converted into MEMU services.

Indian Railway is constructing more than 3000 Km of Dedicated Freight Corridor(DFC), which would enable freight trains to run at speed of 100 kmph.

There is marked improvement in average freight train speed.

During financial year 2016-17 to financial year 2020-21, Average speed of freight train has increased from 23.7 kms/hr to 41.2 kms/hr.

Prevention of human trafficking in railways

 ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India and, as such, State Governments are responsible for prevention, detection, registration and investigation of crime and maintaining law and order etc. on Railways through their law enforcement agencies viz. Government Railway Police (GRP)/local Police. Railway Protection Force (RPF) supplements the efforts of GRP/local Police to provide better protection and security of passenger area and passengers and for matters connected therewith. RPF is not empowered to investigate cases of Human Trafficking and whenever any case of suspected human trafficking is detected by RPF, the same is reported to GRP/District Police. The persons rescued and apprehended are handed over to concerned Police for further necessary action as per law.

Children in need of care and protection coming in contact with Railways, who can be prospective victim of Human Trafficking are rescued regularly, in accordance with the provisions of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by Railways in coordination with Ministry of Women & Child Development and NCPCR (National Commission for Protection of Child Rights) under the Operation ‘Nanhe Farishte’ launched by RPF for rescue of such children.

In order to strengthen action against Human Trafficking, more than 750 Anti Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) have been setup by RPF over the Indian Railways. These AHTUs coordinate with AHTUs of Police & CAPFs (Central Armed Police Forces) i.e. BSF & SSB functioning at district level/state levels/International Borders and with Intelligence Units, NGOs and other stakeholders and take effective action on traffickers as per law.

RPF has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Association of Voluntary Action (AVA) also known as Bachpan Bachao Andolan (an NGO), who is assisting in training and capacity building of RPF, GRP and other railway staff on all child protection issues and in implementation of sensitization and awareness campaigns. Also, AVA shares intelligence information pertaining to suspected traffickers and their activities with RPF to conduct raids and help in rescue of trafficked children.

Further, a pan India Drive ‘Operation AAHT’ is undertaken by RPF focused to take effective action in cases of Human Trafficking through railways. During the current year (upto June), total 150 children being trafficked through railway system have been rescued by RPF from the clutches of traffickers under ‘Operation AAHT’.

Further, the following steps are being taken by the Railways in coordination with GRP/District Police to prevent Human Trafficking through trains and railway premises:-

  1. Train escorting parties and staff deployed in mass contact areas have been sensitized and trained to identify the potential victims of trafficking and immediate action taken to rescue them.
  2. An Exhaustive Security circular No.03/2022 dated 02.02.2022, detailing action plan to be taken by RPF against Human Trafficking have been issued.
  3. To supplement the efforts of State Police, Cyber cells of RPF have been instructed for cyber patrolling of the web/social media to look for digital footprints/traces of human trafficking in the internet and to cull out the clues helpful in taking action against Human Trafficking through railways.
  4. The subject of “Human Trafficking” have been included in all training courses conducted in RPF Training Centres. Also, time to time Special seminars are organised to sensitize RPF personnel and train them in identification of victims and traffickers.
  5. Periodic   review   meetings   are    held    with    Nodal    Officers    of    Anti    Human Trafficking    Units    and     other     concerned     agencies     from     time     to     time     to review the efforts undertaken to combat human trafficking.
  6. Surveillance is kept through CCTV cameras provided in 5882 coaches and 861 Railway Stations for enhanced security of passengers.

Mantra of "reform, perform and transform"

 Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that besides making governance technology driven, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also introduced innovation in governance reforms. This is the essence of the success story of Modi’s Mantra of “reform, perform and transform”, he said.

 

Speaking after the launch of 16th edition of Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure (CSMOP) 2022, the Minister said, there is continuous innovation in reforms under Modi, who takes personal interest in all governance related issues. He also informed that some of the success stories in governance reforms implemented by Modi as Chief Minister of Gujarat are being replicated at the Centre like the abolition of interviews, prompt redressal of grievances and weeding out of obsolete laws.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, since 2014, when Modi took charge at the centre, there is a visible change in the work culture and all the Ministries are strictly adhering to timelines in execution of projects. Referring to CSMOP 2022, the Minister said, after 2019, this is the 2nd Manual prepared by DARPG within such a short time under Modi Government and this is a clear-cut reflection of continuity, consistency and innovation in reforms.

Referring to productive and result-oriented reforms in grievance redressal, Dr Jitendra Singh said, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) in the union Ministry of Personnel has emerged as a role model, which many of the States and UTs are trying to emulate. He also pointed out that requests are pouring in from several States and UTs for linking their grievance portal with Central CPGRAMS. He said, after Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, several such requests are being received.

Apart from the launch of 16th edition of Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure (CSMOP) 2022, Dr Jitendra Singh also launched Impact Evaluation Report of the Initiative for Increasing Efficiency in Decision Making in the Central Secretariat 2022, Swachhta Assessment Report 2022 and CPGRAMS Monthly Report July 2022.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure 2022 is the 16th Edition of the CSMOP first published in 1955 to enable the march to a digital central secretariat. He said, the 16th Edition has focused on the 4-pronged approach of Delayering, Delegation, Operationalization of Desk Officer System, Digitization of Central Registration Units and Implementation of e-Office ver 7.0 as part of the silent transformation under way in the context of “Maximum Governance – Minimum Government”.

The Swachhta Assessment Report 2022 highlights that the Swachhta Campaign has resulted in holistic process improvement in disposal of pending matters by Central Ministries/ Departments with focus on cleanliness process adoption. The Swachhta Campaign activities are implemented on a regular basis in all Ministries/ Departments for 3 hours/ week. The success of the Campaign is highlighted by the efficient management of the space and bringing pendency down by significant margin. 12 lac sq. feet of space was freed and scrap worth Rs. 62 crore was disposed.

V. Srinivas, Secretary DARPG said that the CPGRAMS Monthly Report, is a unique initiative to present a comprehensive analysis on types and categories of public grievances in Government of India and nature of disposal along with relative performance of Ministries/ Departments. The CPGRAMS Monthly Report says that 68576 PG cases were redressed in July 2022 along with 8539 appeals. The CPGRAMS Monthly Report contains the Grievance Redressal Index which ranks Ministries/ Departments on the overall quality and timely disposal of grievances. For the month of July 2022, Department of Land Resources, Department of Public Enterprises and Department of Expenditure are the top performers in the Grievance Redressal Index for July 2022.

All the 4 reports will be available at www.darpg.gov.in.

The launch function was attended by all Senior Officers of DARPG, all Nodal Appellate Authorities, all Nodal Grievance Officers as also all Nodal Officers of the Special Swachhta Campaign in Government of India.

Promotion of e-Lok Adalat

 Steps taken by Legal Services Authorities to promote e-Lok Adalats include – Standard Operating Procedure for conduct of e-Lok Adalat, Technical training through System officers to the Court Staff, Whatsapp groups for litigants, advocates and respondents for conveying them relevant information/ link for attending e-Lok Adalats and Video conferencing link and cause list displayed on the website of the District Courts.

Lok Adalat is not a permanent establishment and is organised at such intervals as felt required with a view to reduce pendency of cases in courts and settle disputes at pre-litigation stage. During the covid pandemic, the Legal Services Authorities under the aegis of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) ingeniously integrated technology to move Lok Adalat on to the virtual platform, better known as e-Lok Adalats. Since e-Lok Adalats are organized simultaneously with regular Lok Adalats, benches are constituted on the basis of volume of cases referred by various courts or tribunals and institutions for pre-litigation cases.

e-Court Mission Mode Project

 As part of the National eGovernance Plan, the eCourt project is an integrated Mission Mode Project under implementation since 2007 for ICT development of the Indian Judiciary based on the “National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology in the Indian Judiciary”. The e-Court Integrated Mission Mode Project was launched with the objective of improving access to justice using technology. The Phase I of eCourts was concluded in 2015 in which 14,249 Court sites were computerized. Under Phase II, 18,735 District & Subordinate courts have been computerised so far. The details of status of implementation of the said project is as below:

  1. WAN: As part of WAN project, connectivity to 2972 of 2992 court complexes (99.3% sites) have been provided with 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps bandwidth speed using various technologies like OFC, RF, VSAT.
  2. Case Information Software (CIS) based on customized Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) has been developed.  Currently CIS National Core Version 3.2 is being implemented in District Courts and the CIS National Core Version 1.0 is being implemented for the High Courts. A COVID-19 Management Patch has been developed in the CIS to help in smart scheduling of cases thereby enabling judicial officers to retain urgent cases and adjourn cases not urgent on cause list.
  3. Using National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), developed under the eCourts Project with elastic search technology, lawyers and litigants can access case status information of 20.86 crore cases and more than 18.02 crore orders/judgments. Reason for delay of cases has also been included. Open APIs have been introduced which allows the Government departments to use the NJDG data for research and analysis.
  4. 7 platforms for Citizen centric services or service delivery channels for providing real time information on case status, cause lists, judgements etc. to lawyers/litigants. The services are SMS Push and Pull (2,00,000 SMS sent daily), Email (2,50,000 sent daily), multilingual and tactile eCourts services Portal (35 Lakh hits daily), Judicial Service centres (JSC), Info Kiosks, eCourts Mobile App for lawyers/litigants (with 79.65 lakh downloads till 30th April 2022) and JustIS app for judges (17,369 downloads till 4th July 2022).
  5. Virtual Courts: As on 04.07.2022, there are 20 Virtual Courts in 16 States / UTs viz. Delhi (2), Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala (2), Maharashtra (2), Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir (2), Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura and West Bengal to try traffic offences. Virtual Court can be administered by a Judge over a virtual electronic platform whose jurisdiction may extend to the entire State and function 24X7. These courts have heard more than 1.69 crore cases and realised Rs. 271 crore in fines. Delhi High Court has recently started 34 Digital Courts to hear cheque bounce cases under the Section 138 NI Act.
  6. Using Video Conferencing, the District and High courts have heard District courts heard 1,28,76,549 cases while the High Courts heard 63,76,561 cases (totalling 1.92 cr) till 30.04.2022 using video conferencing. The Supreme Court held 2,61,338 hearings till 13.06.2022 since the beginning of lockdown period. VC facilities have also been operationalized between 3240 Courts and corresponding 1272 Prisons. Funds for setting up 2506 VC Cabins have been made available. Additional 1500 VC Licenses have been acquired. Mobile e-courts van equipped with Wi-Fi and computers for video conferencing for speedy disposal of cases have been started in Telangana and Uttarakhand. Live Streaming of video conferencing of proceedings has been started in High Courts of Gujarat, Orissa, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Patna and Madhya Pradesh thus allowing media and other interested persons to join the proceedings.
  7. An eFiling system (version 3.0) has been rolled out for the electronic filing of legal papers with advanced features like online submission of Vakalatnama, eSigning, online video recording of oath, online payment, filing of multiple IAs/application, Portfolio Management and bilingual mode etc. Online payment of court fees, fines, penalties and judicial deposits has also been initiated through https://pay.ecourts.gov.in.
  8. eSewa Kendras: To make justice delivery inclusive and to mitigate handicaps caused by digital divide, eSewa Kendras have been rolled out to provide e-filing services to lawyers and litigants. As on 30.04.2022, 500 eSewa Kendras have been made functional under 26 High Courts. A Nyay Kaushal Centre started in Nagpur to provide all e-facilities.
  9. A ‘Judgment & Order Search’ portal has been inaugurated for the convenience of its stakeholders in searching judgments easily by providing a repository for Judgments and Final Orders of the High Courts. It can be reached at https://judgments.ecourts.gov.in, which encapsulates the features such as search by Bench, Case Type, Case Number, Year, Petitioner/ Respondent Name, Judge Name, Act, Section, Decision: From Date, To Date and Full Text Search.
  10. National Service and Tracking of Electronic Processes (NSTEP) has been developed for technology enabled process serving and issuing of summons. It has currently been implemented in 28 High Courts.
  11. Justice Clock: To bring awareness to the public about justice sector, advertising various schemes of the department and to give status of various fields to the public, 32 Justice Clocks have been installed at 21 High Courts.
  12. Secure, Scalable & Sugamya Website as a Service (S3WAAS) Website: A new divyang friendly website for eCommittee, based on S3WaaS platform is live in 13 regional languages including English & Hindi.All other court websites are being upgraded from the existing system to the S3WAAS platform which are secure, scalable and accessible. Content published on the website is accessible so that even Divyang users will be able to access the information using assistive technologies.
  13. IEC and Training: As part of IEC campaign several initiatives have been taken to educate the Judicial Officers, lawyers and public about the facilities available under eCourts Project, such as
    1. eCommittee Website: Launched exclusively for the e-Committee and linked to the website of the DoJ for dissemination of information relating to eCourts Project amongst all stakeholders and to enable High Courts to upload their achievements and best practices.
    2. Awareness and familiarization of e-filing: Webinars for Bar Council of Tamil Nadu, Goa, Maharashtra and Delhi were held. Manual and Brochure on eFiling is made available on eFiling Portal.
    3. YouTube Channel: Under the title ‘eCourts Services’ for video tutorials on eFiling. 12 help videos in 7 regional languages have been uploaded apart from Hindi and English and circulated for advocates as part of awareness, through eFiling portal help desk and also on social media through eCommittee YouTube channel.
    4. eCommittee Training at National and State level: Training and awareness programmes on the ICT have been conducted covering nearly 3,60,993 stakeholders including Judges of States, Courts staff and Advocates. 25 Master Trainers have been trained in each High Court who in turn has already trained 5409 Master Trainers across the country. These, 5409 Master Trainers have in turn imparted training programme on eCourts Services and e-filing in each district of the country for advocates in their regional languages and also identified Master Trainer Advocates. e-Committee has acknowledged and appreciated Master trainers by issuing Digital certificates with QR Code for online verification by hosting certificates on eCommittee website. These certificates can be authenticated by scanning QR Code from mobile.

In the Phase II of the eCourts project, out of total outlay of Rs. 1670 crore, the Government has released a sum of Rs. 1668.43 crore as on 31.03.2022 to various organizations involved in the implementation of the project. This includes a sum of Rs. 1164.37 crore released to all High Courts.

18735 District and Subordinate Courts are computerized and are ICT enabled under eCourts phase-II so far.

Steps taken ICT enablement of Courtsare as follows:

  1. ₹646.16 Crore have been provided for additional Hardware for 14,249 Courts, computerisation of new courts and computerisation of expected Courts.
  2. ₹271.02Crore have been released for setting up technical infrastructure at existing Courts Complexes and new Courts Complexes.
  3. ₹14.32Crore have been provided for replacement of obsolete Laptops provided to Judicial Officers in Ph-I and provisioning of Laptop and other IT facilities to new Judicial Officer.
  4. ₹6.31Crore have been provided for installation of VC equipment in Courts and Jails.
  5. ₹ 124.98Crore have been released for providing cloud connectivity in all Court Complexes.
  6. ₹ 317.96 Crore have been released for providing WAN Connectivity.
  7. ₹ 36.6 Crore have been released for providing solar energy in 5% Court Complexes.
  8. ₹ 62.27 Crore have been provided for various software development components like CIS, eFiling, ePayments, etc.

The steps taken to provide efficient and time bound access to citizen centric services of courts to plaintiffs having no access to internet and facing digital divide:

  1. eSewa Kendras have been rolled out to bridge the digital divide by providing e filing services to lawyers and litigants. Covering all High Courts and one District Court as pilot project, it is being expanded to cover all court complexes. Government has released Rs. 12.54 crore for setting up 235 eSewa Kendras. The eSewa Kendras are being set up at the entry point of the court complexes with the intention of facilitating the lawyer or litigant who needs any kind of assistance ranging from information to facilitation and e filing. As on 30.04.2022, 500 eSewa Kendras have been made functional under 26 High Courts. These have been funded both by the eCourts project as well out of state funding.

On 30 October 2020, India’s first e-Resource Center was inaugurated at Nagpur in Maharashtra. The e-Resource Centre “Nyay Kaushal” will facilitate e-filing of cases in Supreme Court India, High Courts and District Courts across the country. It will also assist the lawyers and litigants in access online e-Courts services and shall be the saviour for those who cannot afford the technology. It will provide benefits in saving time, avoidance of exertion, travelling long distances, and saving cost by offering facilities of e-filing of cases across the country, to conduct the hearing virtually, Scanning, Accessing e-Courts services etc.

  1. Using SMS pull facility stakeholders can receive case status by sending sixteen characters CNR number of a case to the number 97668-99899
  2. SMS push facility is provided to stakeholders like litigants and advocates to get SMS on the occurrence of each event in a case like filing, registration, adjournment, scrutiny, listing, transfer of the case, disposal, uploading of orders etc., on their mobile registered with the court.
  3. Service desk to be set up for internal stakeholders to get the relevant information.
  4. Kiosks are installed at various court complexes across the country. Litigants and advocates can view case status, cause lists etc., on the kiosk. The same information can also be obtained from the Judicial Service Centre established at each court complex.

ffordable Judicial Process for Weaker Sections

 Government is making every efforts in providing access to justice to the dalits, backward classes and other weaker sections of the society. National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has been constituted under the Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987 to provide free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society including beneficiaries covered under Section 12 of the Act, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities, and to organize Lok Adalats to secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunities.

For this purpose, the legal services institutions have been setup from the Taluk Court level to the Supreme Court. The activities/programmes undertaken by Legal Services Authorities include legal aid and advice; legal awareness programmes; legal services/empowerment camps; legal services clinics; legal literacy clubs; Lok Adalats and implementation of victim compensation scheme.

To enable quick and equitable access to justice, National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has launched Legal Services Mobile App on Android and iOS versions to enable easy access to legal aid to common citizens.

Further, a scheme on Access to Justice titled “Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice in India“ has been launched by the Government of India which aims to strengthen pre-litigation advice and consultation through Tele-Law: Reaching the Unreached; ensure  pan – India dispensation framework to deliver Pro Bono legal Services through Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal Services) programme; facilitate disposal of 15 year old pending cases at the district level through its Nyaya Mitra programme and to empower citizens through Pan India legal literacy and legal awareness programme. The Scheme embeds use of technology and developing contextualized IEC (Information, Education and Communication) material in regional / local dialect to supports its intervention and to achieve easy accessibility of legal services to the poor and weakest sections of the society. All these services are provided free of cost to all citizens including the dalits, backward classes and other weaker sections of the society.