social sector initiatives in 2015 (1)

8/18/2019 Social Sector Initiatives in 2015 (1)

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Social Sector in the economy is increasingly being discussed in terms of its potential to bring about

transformational change to the status and opportunities of marginalized groups. Social schemes are believed

to empower poor people by helping them to adopt strategies to balance their immediate needs with their

investments in future livelihoods. They enable people to invest in more productive, but also riskier, activities

such as entrepreneurship or keeping their children in school. There is evidence that these interventions have:

promoted investments in children’s human capital and capabilities; increased the productivity of household

livelihood efforts; contributed to a sense of inclusion and citizenship; mobilised the poor around entitlement

claims; and impacted the local economy.

Hence to bring transformation in the lives of vulnerable and marginalized sections of the society different

Ministries of the government have taken varieties of initiatives in the last year (2015). These initiatives

Ministry-wise have been compiled to give a brief review about it.

The Department of Women and Child Development,Government of India, came into existence as a

separate Ministry with effect from 30th January, 2006;

earlier since 1985 it was a Department under the

Ministry of Human Resources Development.

The Ministry was constituted with the prime intention

of addressing gaps in State action for women and

children for promoting inter-Ministerial and inter-

sectoral convergence to create gender equitable and

child-centred legislation, policies and programmes.

The broad mandate of the Ministry is to have holisticdevelopment of Women and Children. As a nodalMinistry for the advancement of women and children,

the Ministry formulates plans, policies and

programmes; enacts/amends legislation, guides andcoordinates the efforts of both governmental and non-

governmental organisations working in the field of

Women and Child Development. Besides, playing its

nodal role, the Ministry implements certain innovative

programmes for women and children. These

programmes cover welfare and support services,

training for employment and income generation,

awareness generation and gender sensitization. These

programmes play a supplementary and

complementary role to the other general

developmental programmes in the sectors of health,education, rural development etc. All these efforts

are directed to ensure that women are empowered

both economically and socially and thus become equal

partners in national development along with men.

For the holistic development of the women and child

following initiatives have been initiated in the past

one year:

1. Enactment of Juvenile Justice ( Care &

Protection of Children) Act:

This law will strengthen provisions for both children

in need of care and protection and children in conflict

with law. Under Section 15, special provisions have

been made to tackle child offenders committing

heinous offences in the age group of 16-18 years.

The Juvenile Justice Board has been given the option

to transfer cases of heinous offences by such children

to a Children’s Court (Court of Session) after

conducting preliminary assessment.

The enactment of this law is expected to act as a

deterrent for child offenders committing heinous

offences such as rape and murder and will protect the

rights of victim.

Social Sector Initiatives

SOCIAL SECTOR

INITIATIVES IN 2015

Ministry of Women and Child Development


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To streamline adoption procedures for orphan,

abandoned and surrendered children, the existingCentral Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) has

been given the status of a statutory body to enable itto perform its function more effectively.

Several new offences committed against children,

which are so far not adequately covered under anyother law, have also been made part of this law. Theseinclude: sale and procurement of children for anypurpose including illegal adoption, corporalpunishment in child care institutions, use of child bymilitant groups, offences against disabled children and,kidnapping and abduction of children.

2. Launch of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP):

The WCD Ministry has taken a major step to arrestthis trend by launching its flagship programme BetiBachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) this year. BBBP seeks

to improve the declining trend of Child Sex Ratio(CSR) in 100 selected districts in every State/UTfrom the current level of 918 by preventing gender- biased sex selection and ensuring survival, protectionand education of the girl child.

Multi-sectoral District Action Plans have beenoperationalized in all states. District Collectors areleading the initiatives.

The objectives of this initiative are: Prevention of gender biased sex selective elimination; Ensuring

survival & protection of the girl child and Ensuringeducation and participation of the girl child.

3. Formation of One Stop Centres:

The Ministry has launched the Scheme for setting upOne Stop Centres to facilitate access to an integratedrange of services including medical, legal, andpsychological support to women affected by violenceto be funded through Nirbhaya Fund. The victimscan seek help by directly walking in or by calling atoll free number. The victims of rape, dowry

harassment and domestic violence will get medicalaid and also help in filing FIRs, legal advice andpsychological counselling.

4. Launch of Women Helpline:

A schematic proposal to enable the universalizationof a Helpline specifically for women with a commonnumber 181 across the country has been approved.This Helpline will be linked with One Stop Centres.

5. Provision of 33% Reservation of Women inPolice:

This initiative has been taken up to strengthen gender sensitivity in police force so as to improve the overallpolice responsiveness to gender sensitive cases.

6. Special Mahila Police Volunteer Programme:

Guidelines for operationalization of Mahila Police

Volunteers have been developed by WCD Ministry

and sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs for adoption.

MPVs will act as a link between police and community

and facilitate women in distress. They will play a

crucial role in creating community engagement toaddress violence against women by informing police

about any unpleasant behaviour or instances against

women or girls and missing children. The MPVs will

be provided training in counselling and legal literacy

by the Ministry. They will also help spreading

awareness about services including women, police and

children helpline numbers. The MPVs shall report the

incidence of violence against women, domestic

violence and dowry harassment. MPVs shall be given

an Identity Card to authorize their identity and

engagement with public.

7. Engendering Young Boys and Girls in

Educational Institutions through Gender

Champions:

To sensitize young boys and girls on gender equality

issues, the scheme of Gender Champions has been

introduced from the school level itself. UGC has

requested Colleges and Universities to implement

Gender Champions. This programme has been started

for all educational institutions where selected boys

and girls will be recognized as Gender

Champions. Gender Champions are envisaged as

responsible leaders who will facilitate an enabling

environment within their schools/colleges/academic

institutions where girls are treated with dignity and

respect. Gender Champions can be both boys and

girls above 16 years of age enrolled in educational

institutions. They will strengthen the potential of young

girls and boys to advocate for gender equality and

monitor progress towards gender justice.

The broad mandate of Gender Champions is to

provide an integrated and interdisciplinary approachto understand the social and cultural constructs of

gender that shape the experiences of women and men

in society. The aim is to make young boys and girls

gender sensitive and create positive social norms that

value the girls and their rights.

8. Rashtriya Mahila Kosh:

The Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) set up as a society

in 1993 under the Ministry of Women and Child

Development extends collateral free microcredit for

livelihood support and asset creation to women in theunorganized sector. It channelizes microfinance

through Intermediary Micro-finance Organisations

(IMOs) working in different parts of the country. For


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effective implementation of RMK, Rate of Interest

(RoI) of RMK loans has been revised downward.

RoI chargeable to end-beneficiaries by NGOs have

been reduced to 10% from 14% this year.

9. Regulation of Matrimonial Websites:

Responding to a number of complaints of stalkingand harassment of women who register on

matrimonial websites, it has been decided to put in

place a regulatory framework in order to check this

menace. The matrimonial websites have come on

board for this and have agreed to jointly develop a

code of conduct which will be implemented through

self-regulation.

10. Mandatory Mention of Widows Name on

Death Certificates:

In order to ensure that a widow is facilitated to get allher entitlements after the death of her husband, the

Ministry is working with the office of Registrar General

of India as well as the State Governments to ensure

that the names of the widow is compulsorily

mentioned in the death certificates of their husbands.

11. Film on Good Touch Bad Touch – KOMAL:

A National Award winning animation film KOMAL

has been produced to educate young children on sexual

misconduct. The school organizations have been

directed to have this film shown to all children in all

schools.

12. Steps taken on Missing Children:

Several measures have been taken up for tracking,

rehabilitating/restoring lost, missing and trafficked

children.

i) Khoya Paya:

The web portal ‘Khoya-Paya’ will have informationof missing and sighted children. The information will be shared in real time with police and state authorities,who are mandated to register the complaint andinvestigate the case.

ii) MOU with Railways:

Ministry of Women and Child Development andMinistry of Railways have framed path-breakingSpecial Operating Procedures (SOPs) to beimplemented by Railways for runaway, abandoned,kidnapped, trafficked children via medium of railways.Child Helpline Centres at 20 major Railway Stationsfor rehabilitation and rescue of such children have been established.

13. Reforms in Adoption Process:

In adoption reforms, the Ministry of Women andChild Development has notified therevised ‘Guidelines Governing Adoption of Children2015’ coupled with the new IT enabled adoptionsystem – CARINGS, provide a transparent processof adoption under which all the child care institutionsof the country have been brought into an integratedsystem.

For hassle-free adoption, CARINGS will contain aCentralized Data Bank of adoptable children.

14. National Nutrition Mission:

A new Mission to tackle the problem of malnutritionis being launched by March 2016 so thatsupplementary nutrition can be provided in a targetedmanner with real-time IT based monitoring at groundlevel. It will put in place a comprehensive set of measures and activities that will address pivotal andcomplex issues of malnutrition and focus on outcomemonitoring, training and capacity building.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is responsible for overalldevelopment (including health and education) of people belonging to Scheduled Tribes and to protecttheir rights, preserve and promote their culture andheritage.

It has gap filling role in the activities of various lineMinistries in the welfare of the tribal population andimplement schemes through the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations or organizations

recommended by the Multi-Disciplinary State LevelCommittee of the concerned State Government/UTAdministration.

For the holistic development of the women and child

following initiatives have been initiated in different

fields in the past one year:

1. Education

• To overcome language barriers in learning

amongst tribal children all Tribal Research

Institutes have been funded to prepare bilingual

primers (both in tribal and regional languages)

which would be reproduced through Sarva Siksha

Abhiyan.

Ministry of Tribal Affairs


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• Synchronization of vacation with Tribal Festivals

has been advocated to check drop out.

• To make educat ion relevant for the t ribal

children, initivatives have been taken to provide

vocational training integrated with residential

schools with one of the teachers acting as mentor

cum counselor.

2. Strengthening of institutions

• The Ministry of Tribal Affairs, in collaboration

with the Government of NCT of Delhi, is setting

up an autonomous body “Society for Protection

of Tribals” which would help the

migrant tribals access basic citizen services,

including Rescue, Rehabilitation &

counselling services, through a 24X7 helpline.

3. Transparency in governance

• A Project Appraisal Committee, headed by

Secretary, Tribal Affairs, with representatives of

State Governments, Financial Advisor, Planning

Commission etc. has been constituted to appraise

and approve the proposals for allocation under

various schemes of the Ministry.

4. E-governance

• Launching of MFPnet – for realtime prices across

various mandis (www.trifed.in).

• Linking Kisan Cal l Centre (1800-180-

1551) with MFPNet to provide trade information

of not only Minor Forest Produce, but also about

agricultural products.

• Launching of e-Commerce portal for sale of tribal

crafts and produce collaboration

with www.snapdeal.com for online sale of tribal

products by TRIFED

• e-File Tracking System (for tracking files and

correspondences),

• e-Samiksha (Real time Online Monitoring),

• PRAGATI (Public Grievances),

• AEBAS (Bio-metric Attendance System),

• myGOV (for seeking public views on various

topics related to the Ministry),

• VLMS (VVIP Letter Monitoring System) are

extensively used.

5. Culture

• National Tribal Festival – Vanaj: The Ministry

is providing a national platform for conservation

and promotion of cultural heritage of the tribals.

A national festival was organized to showcase

tribal art, craft, food, literature, medicines and

also display and sale of tribal arts and crafts.

6. Skill development and employment

• Training educated tribal youth to be qualified

teachers and paramedics for filling void in the

services.

7. Livelihood

• Livelihood activities which can provide regular,

sustainable incomes have been supported and

advocated e.g. promotion of Dairy Development

through co-operatives and linking with Milk

Federations would provide a range of veterinary

services and regular income that has women

participation. Similarly, backyard poultry canreach large number of households and help in

providing protein and additional income.

• Composite fish culture is for containing mosquito

population, providing protein supplement and

income to the family. Usage of Space Technology

for mapping existing water bodies and developing

potential one through MGNREGS has been

promoted.

• In addition, Horticulture, Apiculture, Floriculture,

improved varieties of traditional minor milletsadvocated and supported. Minor millets are more

nutritious than polished rice or maize and hence

recommended for menu in schools

also.

8. Health & nutrition

• Sickle Cell Anemia: A protocol for identification

of Sickle Cell Hemoglobin in tribal students

through a low cost “Turbidity Test” has been

developed by ICMR.

• MALARIA: To reduce the incidences of Malaria

amongst the tribal population, composite fish

cultures in the ponds has been advocated. Using

space technology mapping of existing ponds and

potential ponds has been started .This prevents

the breeding of mosquitoes. Fish provide

additional income and nutrition.

• The Ministry has started an initiative to identify

tribal students, particularly girl students, who do

reasonably well in science subjects, train them as

paramedics and keep them attached to an ANMor any other institution with a regular

remuneration.


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• Other initiatives include:

a) Bring all pregnant mothers under immuni-

zation programme.

b) A protocol for including Folic Acid, every

Monday immediately after the afternoon meal

has been put in place.

c) To ensure regular intake of green leafy vegetables,

kitchen gardens are encouraged. Traditional foods

like minor millets, etc. are encouraged for

cultivation and included as a part of the school

meals.

9. Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal

Groups

• CONSERVATION CUM DEVELOPMENT

(CCD) scheme has been launched in addition to

other schemes for socio-economic developmentof tribal groups who are at the bottom of

developmental indices. The scheme by adopting

habitat development approach and intervening

in all spheres of their social and economic life,

to make visible impact in improving of the

quality of life of PVTGs while retaining their

culture and heritage.

• Implementation of Scheduled Tribes and Other

Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest

Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA, 2006) is to recognize

and record their existing rights on the forest land.Due process for recognition and vesting rights

have been laid down through Rules and

Guidelines.

• Under the Scheme titled “Assistance to State

Scheduled Tribes Finance & Development

Corporations (STFDCs), the Central

Government is to provide 49% Equity Share

Capital to the State Tribal Finance and

Development Corporations and the balance of

the Share Capital is to be borne by the State

Government. A person belonging to Scheduled

Tribes and living below poverty line is eligible

for assistance from the STFDCs under the

scheme.

10. Paradigm shift in tribal development:

A. Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana (VKY):

• Converges resources to achieve desired outcomes

through appropriate institutional mechanism.

• Envisages comprehensive development

of tribals by shifting the working character into a

holistic approach rather than focusing on physical

and financial achievements.

• Ensures delivery of goods and services to thetribal population across the country while strikingat the critical gaps in a targeted manner throughappropriate institutional mechanism.

• In view of this, a ‘Convergence Plan’ has beenworked out in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs with

a view to pool in resources and efforts of variousCentral Ministries .As regards the Tribal sub-plan(TSP) component of Central Ministries /Departments, a Committee of Secretaries (CoS)for Tribal Development has decided to effectprocess re-engineering of their respective existinginterventions, planning and implementation of TSP. The process is currently on.

B. Social safety net:

• “Mechanism for Marketing of Minor ForestProduce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price

(MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP”, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme has beenlaunched during the year 2013-14 as one of thesocial safety measure for the MFP gatherers, whoare primarily members of Schedule Tribe, byensuring fair monetary returns for their efforts incollection, primary processing, storage, packaging,transportation etc. The scheme is implementedin the States having areas under Fifth Scheduleof the Constitution.

C. Scheme of vocational training in tribal areas:

• The main aim is to develop skills among the STsand improve their socio-economic condition byenhancing their income. Vocational TrainingCentre may cater the five vocational coursesdepending upon the employment potential of thearea. It will ensure employment of at least 75%of the students.

D. Scheme of Girls and Boys Hostels for STs:

• Central assistance is given to States/UTs/Universities for construction of new hostel

buildings and/or extension

• State Governments are eligible for 100% centralshare for construction of all Girls’ hostel andalso for construction of Boys’ hostelin naxal affected areas (identified by Ministry of Home Affairs from time to time).

E. Scheme of Ashram Schools in Tribal Sub-PlanArea:

• Objective is to provide residential schoolsfor STs in an environment conducive for learningto increase the literacy rate among the tribalstudents and to bring them at par with other population of the country.


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The essence of Human Resource Development is

education, which plays a significant and remedial role

in balancing the socio-economic fabric of the Country.

Since citizens of India are its most valuable resource,

our billion-strong nation needs the nurture and care inthe form of basic education to achieve a better quality

of life. This warrants an all-round development of

our citizens, which can be achieved by building strong

foundations in education. In pursuance of this mission,

the Ministry of Human Resource Development

(MHRD) was created on September 26, 1985, through

the 174th amendment to the Government of India

(Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961. Currently, the

MHRD works through two departments:

• Depar tment o f School Educat ion &

Literacy(Dept. of SE & L)

• Department of Higher Education (Dept. of HE)

While the Department of School Education &

Literacy is responsible for development of school

education and literacy in the country, the Department

of Higher Education takes care of what is one of the

largest Higher Education systems of the world, just

after the United States and China.

The Dept of SE & L has its eyes set on the

“universalisation of education” and making better citizens out of our young brigade. For this, various

new schemes and initiatives are taken up regularly

and recently, those schemes and initiatives have also

started paying dividends in the form of growing

enrolment in schools.

The Dept of HE, on the other hand, is engaged in

bringing world class opportunities of higher education

and research to the country so that Indian students

should not lack when facing an international platform.

For this, the Government has launched joint ventures

and signed MoUs to help the Indian student benefitfrom the world opinion.

The year 2015 will be recorded as a landmark year in

education sector in many respects.

• Achievement of 100% target of completion of

construction of separate toilets for boys and girls

in schools under Swachch Vidyalaya Abhiyan .

• The year will also be known for technical

advancement made by the Ministry by laying

emphasis on ICT leading to launch of a number of initiatives like e pathshala, Saransh, Shala

Ministry of Human Resource Development

Siddhi, Shaala Darpan, availability of NCERT

books on mobile app etc.

• The year also saw the Government of India’s

sincere efforts towards bringing out a NewEducation Policy to meet the changing dynamics

of the population’s requirement with regard to

quality education, innovation and research, aiming

to make India a knowledge superpower by

equipping its students with the necessary skills

and knowledge and to eliminate the shortage of

manpower in science, technology, academics and

industry.

• The year will also be remembered because of

the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore cracking

the top 100 in world University ranking as per Times High Education ranking for 2015-16 and

IIT, Delhi also figuring in the top 200 list of QS.

A glimpse of other major achievements and initiatives

of the Department of Higher Education and

the Department of School Education & Literacy is

given as follows:

1. Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat: It is a sub-

programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan launched

in August, 2014 with special focus on improving

language development and to create interestin mathematics. The two tracks of Padhe Bharat

Badhe Bharat are:

• E arl y re adin g and wri ti ng wi thcomprehension (ERWC) and

• Early mathematics (EM).

2. A programme called the National Reading

Initiative was launched to develop and promote

the habit of reading among students in elementary

schools, thereby extending the programme up toclass 8.

3. Children with Special Needs: With the active

support by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, over 25 lakh

children with special needs have been enrolled in

elementary education. In order to equip teachers

to facilitate classroom transaction and teaching

learning of children with special needs, material

on curricular adaptations for inclusive classrooms

has been developed by NCERT. All teachers

across the country are being oriented in practising

such classroom adaptations through teacher training.


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4. Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan: The

RMSA guidelines provide for augmenting

secondary school infrastructure through

construction of additional class rooms,

laboratories, toilet blocks, drinking water, libraries

etc. Till date 10,513 new schools have been

approved under the scheme. The Integrated

RMSA scheme extends the benefit to aidedSecondary schools (excluding infrastructure

support and teachers and staff salaries) for quality

interventions.

5. The Teacher Education Bureau is focusing on

the following main components for improving

the quality of teacher education:

a) In-STEP: Capacity Building Program of Teacher

Educators: Ministry of Human Resource

Development (MHRD) and USAID have

formulated the In-STEP programme (IndiaSupport to Teacher Education Program) under

which 110 teacher educators from the Eastern

and North Eastern part of the country have

undergone a three month fellowship at Arizona

State University with the clear purpose of

understanding issues related to teacher education.

b) The TESS-India is another programme for

Teacher Educators with collaboration between

Department for International Development

(DFID) and Ministry of HRD with UK’s Open

University as the implementing agency.

c) The Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Teacher

Education (CSSTE) puts emphasis on monitoring

of the process and outcome parameters in respect

of each level of institution, and for the purpose

a comprehensive monitoring mechanism has been

developed thereof:

• Accreditation for Teacher EducationInstitutions (TEIs) for better management

and improved quality of teachereducation.

• Mapping of Teacher Education Institutions(TEIs) to i dentify the gap areas foreffective future planning.

6. Digital Gender Atlas for Advancing Girls’

Education in India : It was launched on 8th March

2015. The tool, which has been developed with

the support of UNICEF, will help identify low

performing geographic pockets for girls,

particularly from marginalised groups such asscheduled castes, schedule tribes and Muslim

minorities, on specific gender related education

indicators.

The Atlas provides comparative analysis of

individual gender related indicators over three

years and that enables a visual assessment of the

change and an understanding of whether some

intervention introduced in a geography at a

particular point in time has worked or not. It is

constructed on an open source platform with an

inbuilt scope of updating data by authorized

persons to retain its dynamic character.

7. Udaan: This Scheme is dedicated to the

development of girl child education, so as to

promote the admission of girl students. It seeks

to enhance the enrolment of girl students in

prestigious technical education institutions

through incentives & academic support.

8. “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” programme, has

ushered in to encourage education among girl

children. The programme is a joint initiative of

Ministry of Women and Child Development,

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and

Ministry of Human Resource Development.

9. Saransh: The CBSE Board has launched an on-

line facility titled ‘Saransh’ to help the schools

to look at their performance at an aggregate level

and at the level of each student. It is an online

self-review tool for schools affiliated to

the Central Board of Secondary

Education (CBSE).

10. Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan was launched on

9th July 2015. This programme is directed towards

creating interest among school going students

from classes I to XII in sciences.

Under Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan, government

schools will be mentored by Institutes like IITs/

IIMs/ IISERs and other Central Universities and

reputed organisations through innovative

programmes, student exchanges, demonstrations,

student visits, etc. to develop a natural sense of

passion towards learning of Science and Maths.

Model labs would be created all over the country

for this purpose. The key activities under this

programme include

• Mentoring of elementary and secondaryschools by Institutions of higher Education;

• Forming Maths and Science clubs forchildren at school and professional

development of teachers in order to maketeaching of Maths and Science interestingfor students.


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11. National Conference on ICT in School

Education : During the Conference, e-Pathshala,

Saaransh, and National Programme on School

Standards and Evaluation Framework (Shala

Siddhi) were launched. All these are web portal/

mobile app. These apps promise to make learning

more interesting, school bags lighter and books

available on the go.

12. The first phase of ”Shaala Darpan Project” to

cover all the 1099 Kendriya Vidyalayas was

launched in June 2015. With the launch of KV

Shaala Darpan, parents will get entire information

at a unified platform about their children in

respect of the attendance status, performance,

health challenges and entire academic record from

Ist to XIIth standard. Students will have facilities

of e-tutorials and learning aids to enrich their

knowledge. This programme will be madeavailable as a mobile app which will keep the

parents informed of their ward’s progress in

schools.

13. The National Programme on School Standards

and Evaluation (NPSSE) – Shaala siddhi: Shaala

Siddhi is a comprehensive instrument for school

evaluation which enables the schools to evaluate

their performance in more focused and strategic

manner to facilitate them to make professional

judgement for continuous improvement. The

web-portal of the framework will help all schoolsto assess themselves and the results can be seen

by all enabling them to provide feedback. The

initiative has already been successfully piloted in

four districts of Tamil Nadu.

The School Standards and Evaluation Framework

(SSEF) has been developed to evaluate the

performance of schools against the well-defined

criteria in a focused and strategic manner.

14. E-pathshala: As a part of the Digital India

Campaign, the Ministry of HRD has launched‘e-pathshala’ which is a single point repository of

e-resources containing, NCERT text-books and

various other learning resources.

E-Pathshala, a web portal which hosts educational

resources for Students, Teachers, Parents,

researchers and educators, is available through

especially developed mobile app interface on

Android, IOS and windows platforms for wider

access and contains textbooks and other e-books

as E-Pub 3.0 and Flipbooks in English, Hindi

and Urdu. The National Curriculum Framework,(NCF) 2005 stipulates region specific books which

takes care of the local context, culture and

resources and therefore different books for

different regions better relate to the daily lives

of the local students.

15. Mid Day Meal Scheme: The IVR (Interactive

Voice Response System) to monitor the daily

implementation of Mid Day Meal scheme was

showcased this year during the NationalConference on ICT in School Education. The

Central Government has requested the States to

consider the concept of Tithi Bhojan for mid day

meals in a suitable manner, to encourage local

community participation in the pro-

gramme. Social Audit, another intervention under

this Scheme means a process in which people

collectively monitor and evaluate the planning

and implementation of the Scheme. The Central

Government notified ‘Mid Day Meal Rules, 2015’

on September 30th,

2015. The Rules inter aliaprovide for temporary utilization of other funds

available with the school for MDM in case school

exhausts MDM funds for any reason; Food

Security Allowance to be paid to beneficiaries in

case of non-supply of meals for specified reasons;

and monthly testing of meals on a random basis

by accredited Labs to check its quality.

16. IMPRINT INDIA is a Pan-IIT and IISc joint

initiative to develop a roadmap for research to

solve major engineering and technology challenges

in ten technology domains relevant to

India. IMPRINT INDIA aims at direct research

in the premier institutions into areas of social

relevance. Under this, 10 domains have been

identified which could substantially impact the

living standards of the rural areas: (1) Health

care technology, (2) Energy security, (3) Rural

urban housing design, (4) Nano technology, (5)

Water/river system, (6) Advanced materials, (7)

Computer science and ICT, (8) Manufacturing

technology, (9) Advanced security and (10)

Environment/climate change.

17. Global Initiative for Academics Network

(GIAN), was launched as an initiative to attract

the best foreign academics to Indian Universities

of Excellence. The programme has been

launched to facilitate the partnership between

Higher Education Institutions of India and other

foreign universities. Under this (352) courses are

be ing offered by fo reign fa cu lt y from 38

Countries. These courses are being looked at as

a starting point of long-term researchcollaboration between Indian Institutions and the

other Global institutions.


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18. National Institutional Ranking Framework

(NIRF) evaluates each higher education

institution on 5 broad parameters namely

teaching/learning resources, research, graduation

outcomes, outreach/inclusive nature and the

public perception. An independent body is being

proposed to undertake this work based on

objective and verifiable criteria.

19. Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young

Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM), is a Web portal

where Massive Open On-line Courses (MOOCs)

will be available on all kinds of subjects.

SWAYAM is the Indian electronic e-education

platform which proposes to offer courses from

the high school stage to Post-Graduate stage in

an interactive electronic platform. Once it

becomes operational, students from the backward

rural areas can access teaching from the bestinstitutes in the country electronically, thereby,

raising the overall standards of higher education

in the country. SWAYAM-MOOCs project is

intended to address the needs of school level 9-

12 to Under Graduate and Post Graduate

students, covering all disciplines.

20. Launch of the Credit framework for Skills and

Education as per the National Skills Qualification

framework paving the way for certification of

skills through the formal system and allowing for multiple exits and entrance into the education

system with scope for vertical and lateral

mobility. The CBCS will enable students to take

courses of their choice, learn at their own pace,

undergo additional courses and acquire more than

the required credits, and adopt an interdisciplinary

approach to learning.

21. Saksham scholarship scheme: The All India

Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is

implementing Saksham scholarship scheme to

provide support to differently abled students to

pursue technical education.

22. Launch of the Know Your College portal is to

provide informed decision making opportunity

for students along with complete availability of

all e-learning resources. A portal called Know

Your College (KYC) has been started in which

the data declared by all the educational institutions

is being placed in a public portal and also made

available through a mobile application so that

the stakeholders can verify the same.

23. Under Campus Connect programme, all the

Central Universities in the country are going to

be connected through WIFI network at a cost of

approximately Rs.320 crores. Under this, all the

classrooms, libraries, laboratories, hostels and

places frequented by the students would be

connected through a secured WIFI hotspots

providing access to the educational and

information resources to the students on 24x7

basis.

24. Unnat Bharat Abhiyan was launched for

connecting higher education and society to enable

technology and its use for development of rural

areas. Under this all technical and higher

education institutions have been asked to adopt

five villages each; identify technology gaps and

prepare plans for innovations that could

substantially increase the incomes and growth in

the rural areas.

25. Ucchtar Aavishkar Abhiyaan : For promotion

of innovation, All the IITs have been encouraged

to work with the industry to identify areas where

innovation is required and come up with solutions

that could be brought up to the commercialization

level. Participation of industry in part-funding

the project would be mandatory.

26. Engineering skills to unemployed youth: An

initiative as a part of the PMKVY is being

launched to encourage all the 10,000 technicalinstitutions (engineering and polytechnic) to

provide engineering skills (through part-time

courses of 6 to 8 months duration) to at least

100 unemployed youth using their infrastructure

after college-hours.

27. Matribhasha Diwas: Matribhasha Diwas was

celebrated on 21.2.2015 to sensitize people about

the need of greater use of mother tongues and

other Indian Languages for development and

progress of the Nation. Finally, the above flagship

programmes, new schemes and innovations of

the Ministry of HRD prove beyond doubt that

it is playing a significant role in building strong

foundations in education.

28. While the Department of School Education &

Literacy has its eye set on the universalisation

of Education and making better citizens out of

the country’s young brigade, the Department of

Higher Education is engaged in establishing world

class institutes of learning and providing ample

opportunities for research and skill development

to ensure that we create the world’s largest

workforce.


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Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

(MSDE)The challenge is immense. 54% of India’s populationis below 25 years of age and over 62% of the

population is in the working-age group. Yet, only 4.69%

of the Indian population has undergone formal skills

training. By 2025, almost 1 in 5 of the world’s workingage population (18.3%) will be Indian. Recent skill

gap reports suggest that over 109 million incremental

human resources will be required in India alone, across

24 key sectors by the year 2022. 93% of India’s

workers work in the unorganized sector and acquire

skills through informal channels and lack formal

certification. Thus to meet the challenge Ministry of

Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has been

established on 10th Nov, 2014. The mandate of the

Ministry is to:

1. Ensure youth emerging from formal educationare employable with job or self-employment

oriented skills.

2. Ensure people stuck in low income jobs and in

the unorganised segments can access growth

opportunities through up-skilling / re-skilling and

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

3. Improve supply and quality of the workforce for

industry, contributing to increased productivity

4. Make skilling aspirational for youth.To achieve these outcomes, a framework built on five

central pillars representing the core requirements for

skilling has been conceived by the Ministry – to Create

a pipeline of skilled people, Correct supply for

demand, Certify global/common standards, Connect

supply with demand and Catalyse entrepreneurship.

These five pillars will be supported by cross-cutting

enabling measures.

The major initiatives taken in order to lay a strong

foundation for the skill training and entrepreneurship

ecosystem in the country are detailed below:

• National Policy for Skill Development and

Entrepreneurship (MSDE) 2015, articulates a

framework for skilling at scale and speed while

ensuring high quality outcomes. Policy

Implementation Unit (PIU) set up and a system

of quarterly monitoring of key elements of

policy has been established. The Vision of the

Policy is ”to create an ecosystem of empowerment by

Skilling on a large Scale at Speed with high Standards

and to promote a culture of innovation based entrepreneurship which can generate wealth and

employment so as to ensure Sustainable livelihoods

for all citizens in the country”.

To achieve this Vision, the Policy has four thrust areas.

It addresses key obstacles to skilling, including low

aspirational value, lack of integration with formal

education, lack of focus on outcomes, low quality of

training infrastructure and trainers, etc. Further, thePolicy seeks to align supply and demand for skills by

bridging existing skill gaps, promoting industry

engagement, operationalising a quality assurance

framework, leverage technology and promoting greater

opportunities for apprenticeship training. Equity is also

a focus of the Policy, which targets skilling

opportunities for socially/geographically marginalised

and disadvantaged groups. Skill development and

entrepreneurship programmes for women are a specific

focus of the Policy. In the entrepreneurship domain,

the Policy seeks to educate and equip potentialentrepreneurs, both within and outside the formal

education system. It also seeks to connect

entrepreneurs to mentors, incubators and credit

markets, foster innovation and entrepreneurial culture,

improve ease of doing business and promote a focus

on social entrepreneurship.

• The Ministry al so proposes to launch the

NATIONAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT

MISSION (NSDM - known henceforth as, the

Mission), which will provide the overall

institutional framework to rapidly implement andscale up skill development efforts across India.

The Mission seeks to:

a) Create an end-to-end implementation framework

for skill development, which provides

opportunities for life-long learning. This includes:

incorporation of skilling in the school curriculum,

providing opportunities for quality long and short-

term skill training, by providing gainful

employment and ensuring career progression that

meets the aspirations of trainees.

b) Align employer/industry demand and workforce

productivity with trainees’ aspirations for

sustainable livelihoods, by creating a framework

for outcome focused training.

c) Establish and enforce cross-sectoral, nationally

and internationally acceptable standards for skill

training in the country by creating a sound quality

assurance framework for skilling, applicable to

all Ministries, States and private training providers.

d) Build capacity for skill development in critical

un-organized sectors (such as the construction

sector, where there are few opportunities for skill


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training) and provide pathways for re-skilling and

up-skilling workers in these identified sectors, to

enable them to transition into formal sector

employment.

e) Ensure sufficient, high quality options for long-

term skilling, benchmarked to internationally

acceptable qualification standards, which willultimately contribute to the creation of a highly

skilled workforce.

f) Develop a network of quality instructors/trainers

in the skill development ecosystem by

establishing high quality teacher training

institutions.

g) Maintain a national database, known as the

Labour Market Information System (LMIS),

which will act as a portal for matching the

demand and supply of skilled workforce in thecountry.

• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)

is a flagship scheme for skill training of youth to

be implemented by the new Ministry of Skill

Development and Entrepreneurship through the

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).

The objective of this Scheme is to encourage skill

development for youth by providing monetary rewards

for successful completion of approved training

programs. Specifically, the Scheme aims to:

a) Encourage standardization in the certification

process and initiate a process of creating a registry

of skills

b) Enable and mobilize a large number of Indian

youth to take up skill training and become

employable and earn their livelihood. Increase

productivity of the existing workforce and align

the training and certification to the needs of the

country.

c) Provide Monetary Awards for Skill Certification

to boost employability and productivity of youth

by incentivizing them for skill trainings

d) Reward candidates undergoing skill training by

authorized institutions at an average monetary

reward of Rs. 8,000 (Rupees Eight Thousand)

per candidate.

e) Benefit 24 lakh youth at an approximate total

cost of Rs. 1,500 Crores.

• Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushal

Yojana is a Government of India youth

employment scheme.

• Main Highlights of the Yojana are:

The Yojana aims at training 10 lakh (1 million)

rural youths for jobs in three years, that is, by

2017; The minimum age for entry under the

Yojana is 15 years compared to 18 years under

the Aajeevika Skills Programme; Skill

development training centres to be launched soas to address the unemployment problems in the

rural area; The skills imparted under the Yojana

will now be benchmarked against international

standards and will complement the Prime

Minister’s Make In India campaign. The

Kaushalya Yojana will also address the need for

imparting training to the differently-abled persons

and chip in private players including international

players to impart the skills to the rural youths. A

sum of Rs. 1500 crore has been allocated for

this scheme, for which disbursement will bethrough a digital voucher directly into qualified

student’s bank account.

• ITI’s which were formerly under Ministry of

Labour and Employment has transferred to

MSDE this year. A number of initiatives are

being undertaken to revitalise these organisations.

This includes for example, upgrading their

curriculum (in collaboration with industry

experts), strengthening industry linkages, scaling

up apprenticeships, modernising equipment andfacilities within ITIs etc. In addition, 34 ITIs

and 68 Skill Development Centres are also being

established in 34 Left Wing Extremism (LWE)

affected districts to open up employment

opportunities for youths in these areas. These

initiatives are aimed at improving the quality of

training in these institutions and ensuring that

students who complete ITI courses are

employable.

• The Apprenticeship Act was modified in 2014,

to incentivise employers to take on more

apprentices. New Apprentices rules notified on

18 June’15 enabling 4-fold increase in apprentices.

Advocacy campaign among industry taken up

and online portal launched. Upward trend in

enrollment already noted this year.

• Strategic partnerships have also been undertaken

be tween MSDE and other Mi ni st ries/

Departments in the Central Government, to

collaborate on scaling up skill training activities

in specific sectors.

• MSDE now has strategic partnerships with

Ministries/Departments, including Ministries of


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Social Justice and Empowerment (Department

for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities),

Health and Family Welfare, Steel, Mines,

Railways, Defence and Chemicals and Fertilizers

(Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals,

Department of Fertilizers, Department of

Pharmaceuticals).

• Public Sector Units (PSUs) within these sectors

and related contractors will be encouraged to hire

workers certified in job roles aligned to NSQF,

utilize CSR funds for skill training purposes and

set up Centres of Excellence in collaboration with

DGT or NSDC, through these strategic

partnerships. These partnerships will play an

important role in scaling up skill training initiatives

and ensuring that these skill training takes place

at high quality, in each of these sectors.

• The project, Special Industry Initiatives for J&K

(SII J&K) ‘Udaan’ is to provide skills and enhance

employability to 8000 youth from J&K per

annum over a 5 year period in key high growth

sectors. Government will work along with the

corporate sector to bring about a positive change

in their skills and employment space in J&K

through collaborative approach. Udaan is targeted

at providing well-paid jobs to the trained

manpower. The Scheme is being implemented

by National Skill Development Corporation

(NSDC) and the corporate sector in PPP mode.

NSDC is a one of its kind Public Private

Partnership in India. It aims to promote skill

development by giving a push to creation of

quality vocational institutions.

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment is

entrusted with the empowerment of the disadvantaged

and marginalized sections of the society. The target

groups of the Ministry are:

i. Scheduled Castes

ii. Other Backward Classes

iii. Persons with Disabilities

iv. Senior Citizens and Victims of Substance Abuse

The Ministry has been implementing various

programmes/schemes for social, educational and

economic development of the target groups. As a

result there has been considerable improvement in

the welfare of these groups.

During the year 2015, Ministry of Social Justice &

Empowerment launched various initiatives for the

welfare of Scheduled Caste, Other Backward Class,

Denotified, Nomadic & Semi-Nomadic Tribes, Personswith Disabilities, Persons in Destitute, Safai

Karamcharis, etc. These initiatives include financial

support to the target groups, rehabilitation of beggars,

and result oriented skill development programmes.

Some of the programmes launched during the year

include –

1. Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat

Abhiyan):

Accessible India Campaign aims at achieving universal

accessibility for Persons with Disabilities and to createan enabling and barrier free environment, with a focus

on three verticals: Built Environment; Public

Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment

Transportation and Information & Communication

Technologies. It was launched on 3rd December 2015,

commemorating International Day of Persons with

Disabilities.

It aims at enhancing the proportion of accessible

government buildings, airports, railway stations, Public

Transport, Public Documents and Websites.

2. 1st International Film Festival for the Personswith Disabilities:

For the first time, the Ministry in partnership with

National Film Development Corporation has brought

out a Film Festival for the Persons with Disabilities, in

recognition of the spirit of the persons with disabilities.

It will showcase cinemas that open our world to their

mind-space and also cinema that has been made by

them. It helps bring to the fore the everyday struggles

of persons with disabilities and enables governments

and organizations across the world to address theseissues, help the persons with disabilities achieve their

full potential by providing them with all possible

resources, raise awareness about their needs, and make

communities more inclusive for them.

3. Steps taken by the ministry to promote

Entrepreneurship are:

a) Venture Capital Fund of Rs. 200 Crore for

Schedule Caste Entrepreneurs created on 22

December 2014. The scheme would be

implemented by Industrial Finance Corporationof India Limited. The Fund has been registered

with SEBI.


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The objectives of the Venture Fund are as follows:

• It is a Social Sector Initiative to be implemented

nationally in order to promote entrepreneurship

amongst the SCs who are oriented towards

innovation and growth technologies.

• To provide concessional f inance to the SCentrepreneurs, who will create wealth and value

for society and at the same time will promote

profitable businesses. The assets so created will

also create forward/backward linkage. It will

further create chain effect in the locality.

• To increase financial inc lusion for SC

entrepreneurs and to motivate them for further

growth of SC communities.

• To develop SC entrepreneurs economically.

• To enhance direct and indirect employment

generation for SC population in India.

b) Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme for

Young Scheduled Caste Entrepreneurs launched

with a budget of Rs. 200 Crore to facilitate

concessional finance. This will encourage

Entrepreneurship among SC and result in job

creation.

4. Steps taken by the ministry towards imparting

Skill Development training to SC, OBC,etc.:

• National Schedule Caste Finance Development

Corporation provided skill development training

to 1325 trainees during 2014-15

• Safai Karmachar is Finance Development


to 8750 trainees during 2014-15

• Commercial Motor Driving Training with Self

Defense skills for women imparted by National

Safai Karmacharis Finance DevelopmentCorporation

• National Backward Classes Finance Development


to 13,510 trainees during 2014-15

• National Action Plan for Skill Training of Persons

With Disabilities has been launched by which 25

Lakh PwDs will be Skill Trained by the year

2022.

• New Scholarship Schemes introduced by theministry to encourage more and more

participation of these communities.

• National fellowship for OBCs was launched and

implemented through UGC.

• Dr. Ambedkar Post Matric Scholarship for

economically backward classes launched.

5. National Fellowship for OBCs was launched

and implemented through UGC.

The scheme aims at providing financial assistance to

the OBC students in obtaining quality higher education

leading to degrees such as M.Phil and Ph.D in

universities, research institutions and scientific

institutions. This will not only enable them to be

eligible for employment to the posts of Lecturers

lying vacant in various colleges and universities but

will also equip them to effectively take advantage of

the growing opportunities at the national and

international level in the context of the new economicorder.

6. Dr Ambedkar Post Matric Scholarship Scheme

for Economically Backward Classes launched

This is a 100 % centrally sponsored scheme being

implemented through the State Government and

Union Territories. The objective of the scheme

is to provide financial assistance to the EBC

students studying at post-matriculation or post-

secondary stage

7. National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic

and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNT) constituted

to prepare state wise list of Denotified, Nomadic

& Semi-Nomadic Tribes communities who are

not included in SC/ST/OBC and to assess

welfare measures for these communities.

8. National Backward Classes Finance

Development Corporation has launched e-

Marketing platform to the target group

9. National Safai Karmacharis Finance

Development Corporation launched Swachhta

Udyami Yojana for financing viable community

toilet projects & Garbage collection vehicles.

10. Scheme for Establishment of College for deaf

in each of the five regions of the country has

been launched in January, 2015. The object of

the Scheme is to provide equal educational

opportunities to hearing impaired students for

pursuing higher studies and improve the chancesof employability and better quality of life through

higher education.


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The Ministry of Minority Affairs was created on 29th

January, 2006 to ensure a more focused approach

towards issues relating to the notified minority

communities namely Muslim, Christian, Budhist,

Sikhs, Parsis and Jains. The mandate of the Ministryincludes formulation of overall policy and planning,

coordination, evaluation and review of the regulatory

framework and development programmes for the

benefit of the minority communities.

1. Economic Empowerment:

Ministry has taken it as a mission to orient and involve

minority youths in nation building process by

equipping them with education and skills. Under Skill

India Mission, Ministry has strengthened the scheme

“Seekho aur Kamao” by allocating more resourcesand targets for placement linked training of minority

youths. Moreover, Ministry on one hand striving to

bring school dropouts back in education and on the

other hand making efforts to provide formal education

to students from community institutions like Madarsas

etc. Ministry is also trying to integrate skills and has

taken up initiatives through various schemes/

programmes namely, ‘Nai Manzil, USTTAD and

Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills

(MANAS).

2. Seekho aur Kamao (Learn and Earn)

A placement linked skill development scheme for

minorities aims to upgrade various modern/traditional

skills of minority youth enabling self-employment.It

ensures placements of minimum 75% trainees(at least

50% in organized sector) and post placement tracking

of trainees for one year is mandatory for PIAs (Project

Implementing Agencies).

3. USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training

in Traditional Arts/ Crafts for Development)

It is a new scheme formally launched on 14 thMay,

2015 at Varanasi (U.P.) to preserve rich heritage of

traditional arts/crafts of the minorities. It aims at

capacity building and updating the traditional skills

of master craftsmen/artisans; documentation of

identified traditional arts/crafts of minorities; set

standards for traditional skills; training minority youths

in identified traditional arts/crafts through master

craftsmen; and develop national and international

market linkages.It targets minority youths of 14-35

years of age and minimum Class-V qualified. The

scheme will be implemented through selected Project

Implementing Agencies (PIAs) and Knowledge

Partners. Ministry signed a MoU with an E-commerce

portal shopclues.com for facilitating the market

linkages of crafts.

4. Nai Manzil

An integrated education and livelihoodinitiative launched on 8th August, 2015, for school

dropouts and Madarsa students.It will enable minority

youths in the age group of 17 to 35 years not having

formal school leaving certificate, i.e., those in the

category of school-dropouts or educated in the

community education institutions like the Madarsas,

to seek better employment in organized sector. A

Non-residential programme, to take prospective

participants through a Basic Bridge Programme (For

Class VIII or Class X), along with training in trade

based sk ill s fo r sust ained livelihood/gai nfulemployment.

5. MANAS – Maulana Azad National Academy

for Skills

A special purpose vehicle established on 11.11.2014

addresses all skill development needs of minority

communities. It provides an all India Training

framework with leading training partners in PPP Mode.

Operates on Architecture of the Ministry of Skill

Development and Entrepreneurship and covers all skill

sectors as per the local demand.MANAS establishlinkages with concessional credit to Skill Development

to provide sustainable livelihood to Minority

Communities with primary focus on self-employment

and entrepreneurship. MANAS has signed MoUs with

NSDC and sector skill councils of Health, Security,

Leather, Logistics, and Media & Entertainment and

the lending bodies of trade and industry.

6. Infrastructure Development:

Under ”Swachch Bharat” Mission, the Ministry has

taken initiatives in its Multi-sectoral Development

Programme (MsDP) by includ ing manda to ry

construction of toilets in schools, hostels and toilets

in public areas. During 2014-15, 80 schools and 86

hostels with proper toilet facilities and 39 toilets in

other schools were sanctioned under MsDP. Ministry

promotes the Swachch Bharat campaign in its

publications. During 2015-16, 73 hostels with proper

toilet facilities and 52 toilets and drinking water

projects in other schools were sanctioned under MsDP.

“Digital Literacy Mission” has also been integrated

into Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP)with a new programme called ‘Cyber Gram’. This

programme aims to impart digital literacy to students

of Madarsas and government Schools in identified

Ministry of Minority Affairs


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Minority Concentration Areas. The programme is

implemented through M/s CSC e-Governance

Services Ltd., a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created

by the Ministry of Electronics & IT, Govt. of India

for implementation of their Common Service Centre

(CSC) scheme.

7. Nai Roshni:

Ministry implements an exclusive scheme ”Nai

Roshni” for Leadership Development of Minority

Women with an aim to empower and instill confidence

in women by providing knowledge, tools and

techniques for interacting with Government systems,

banks and intermediaries at all levels.

The scheme is implemented through Non -

Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Civil Societies,

Trust etc. The scheme provides one week training

programmes followed by Handholding for one year.The training is provided on various Training modules

covering issues relating to women viz. Leadership of

Women through participation in decision making,

Educational Programmes for women, Health and

Hygiene, Legal rights of women, Financial Literacy,

Digital Literacy, Swachch Bharat, Life Skills and

Advocacy for Social and Behavioural change.

8. Preservation of Rich Heritage:

Ministry launched a new scheme “Hamari

Dharohar” in 2014-15 to preserve the rich heritage of

minority communities of India. The scheme aims at

curating iconic exhibitions, supporting calligraphy,

preservation of old documents, research and

development, etc.

The Government has decided to provide support to

iconic exhibition of Parsis i.e. “The Everlasting

Flame” to showcase the civilization and culture of

the Parsis (Zoroastrians) under “Hamari Dharohar”during 2015-16.

To optimally tap constructive and creative energies

of youth, the Ministry pursues the twin objectives of

personality building and nation building, i.e. developing

the personality of youth and involving them in various

nation-building activities. The Youth, i.e. those falling

within the age group of 15-35 years constitutes nearly

40% of the total population of India. This group whichis the most vibrant and dynamic segment of the

country’s population constitutes potentially its most

valuable human resource. As most of the issues

concerning young people are the functions of other

Ministries/Departments, like Education, Employment

& Training, Health and Family Welfare, etc. the role

of the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports is to act

as a facilitator and catalytic agent. Sports promotion

is primarily the responsibility of the various National

Sports Federations which are autonomous. The role

of the Government is to create the infrastructure andpromote capacity building for broad-basing sports as

well as for achieving excellence in various competitive

events at the national and international levels.

1. National Young Leaders Programme (NYLP):

It was launched in order to develop leadership qualities

among the youth. The Scheme has the following 5

components, namely:

a) Neighbourhood Youth Parliament (NYP): The

platform of youth clubs of Nehru Yuva KendraSangathan (NYKS) will be developed in the shape

of vibrant ‘neighbourhood youth parliament’ to

educate the youth club members

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports

about contemporary socio-economic develop-

mental issues and to involve them in debate/

discussions on such issues.

b) Youth for Development Programme (YFD): To

channelise the immense youth energy towards

the nation-building, by involving themin Shramdaan (voluntary labour) on a large-scale

all over the country.

c) National Young Leaders Awards (NYLA): To

motivate the youth to strive for excellence in

their respective fields by recognising and

rewarding the outstanding work done by them.

d) National Youth Advisory Council (NYAC): to

seek active involvement of the youth leaders as

well as other stakeholders in the decision-making

process on the youth related issues.

e) National Youth Development Fund (NYDF): To

mobilise funds for youth development from non-

Government sources like Corporate social

responsibility (CSR) funds.

2. Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS):

NYKS, with about 8.43 million youth enrolled through

2.98 lakh youth clubs, has been working all over the

Country to develop the personality of the youth and

to engage them in nation-building activities.

Nehru Yuva Kendras were established in the year 1972

with the objective of providing rural youth avenues


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to take part in the process of nation building as well

providing opportunities for the development of their

personality and skills. NYKS was set up as an

autonomous organization under the Government of

India, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, to oversee

working of these Kendras. NYKS is the largest

grassroots level youth organization; one of its kind in

the world. It channelizes the power of youth on theprinciples of voluntarism, self-help and community

participation.

3. National Service Scheme (NSS):

National Service Scheme, was launched in Gandhiji’s

Birth Centenary Year 1969 with primary focus on

the development of personality of students through

community service.

The main objectives of National Service Scheme

(NSS) are :

• Understand the community in which they work.

• Understand themselves in relation to their

community.

• Ident ify the needs and p roblems of the

community and involve them in problem-solving.

• Develop among themselves a sense of social and

civic responsibility.

• Develop capacity to meet emergencies and

natural disasters. and

• Practise national integration and social harmony.

4. Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth

Development (RGNIYD):

RGNIYD, located at Sriperimbudur (Tamilnadu), is a

premier institution for training, research, extension

and outreach initiatives on youth issues. RGNIYD

has been declared as an “Institute of National

Importance” through enactment of RGNIYD Act,

2012. The mandate of the Institute is as under:-

• To function as a resource agency and think- tank

for youth programmes, policies and

implementation strategies.

• To develop multi-faceted-programmes for youth

keeping in view of the social harmony and

national unity as the ultimate objective.

• To grow and develop as a facilitator and nodal

agency for youth training, youth work and youth

development in the country for rural, urban as

well as tribal youth.

• To function as an institute of advanced study in

the field of youth and to develop suchprofessional excellence as may be required for

the purpose.

5. Youth Hostels:

Youth Hostels are built to promote youth travel and

to enable the young people to experience the rich

cultural heritage of the country. The construction of

the Youth Hostels is a joint venture of the Central

and State Governments. While the Central

Government bears the cost of construction, the State

Governments provide fully developed land free-of-cost, with water supply, electricity connection and

approach roads. Youth Hostels are located in areas of

historical and cultural value, in educational centres, in

tourist destinations, etc. youth Hostels provide good

accommodation for the youth at reasonable rates. The

Youth Hostels are looked after by managers, appointed

by the Central Government.

Health care should be within the reach of every

citizen. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

is charged with implementing of the Health Policy of

India. It is also responsible for all government

programs relating to family planning in India.

The Ministry regularly publishes the Indian

Pharmacopoeia since 1955 through Indian

Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) an autonomous

body under the ministry for setting of standards for

drugs, pharmaceuticals and healthcare devices andtechnologies in India.

1. Mission Indradhanush

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has

launched “Mission Indradhanush”, depicting seven

colours of the rainbow, to fully immunise more than

89 lakh children who are either unvaccinated or

partially vaccinated; those that have not been covered

during the rounds of routine immunisation for various

reasons. They will be fully immunised against seven

life-threatening but vaccine preventable diseases which

include diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio,

tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis-B. In addition,

vaccination against Japanese Encephalitis and

Haemophilus influenza type B will be provided in

selected districts/states of the country. Pregnant

women will also be immunised against tetanus.


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2. Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Eliminated

(MNTE)

All the States/UTs of India have been validated for

Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination (MNTE)

well before the global target date of December, 2015.

The Maternal and neonatal tetanus validation in India

started in 2003 in a phased manner. Andhra Pradeshwas the first state to validate MNT elimination.

Nagaland was the last state in the country where the

validation exercise was completed on 17th April 2015.

As per WHO India has achieved the milestone of

Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus elimination in 2015.

Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination (MNTE)

is defined as less than one neonatal tetanus case per

thousand live births per year in every district. In 1989,

global deaths from Neonatal Tetanus (NT) were

estimated at 7.87 lakh per year and India contributedto approximately 2 lakh deaths.

India has achieved this validation through the system

strengthening, including improvement of institutional

delivery, which is also a proxy indicator for clean

delivery and clean cord care practices and by

strengthening Routine Immunization. Strategies to

improve clean delivery have been included in the

innovative Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) and Janani

Shishu Suraksha Karayakaram (JSSK).

3. Decision to Introduce New Vaccines

In a bid to protect the children from more vaccine

preventable diseases, new vaccines are proposed to

be in troduced as part of India ’s Universal

Immunisation Programme (UIP). Introduction of

these vaccines will be done in a phased manner over

a period of time, depending upon the field level

assessments and preparedness. In addition, it has been

decided to introduce an adult vaccine against Japanese

Encephalitis (JE) in the high burden districts. The

new vaccines are:

a. Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV)

India is Polio free but to maintain this status, the

Inactivated Polio Vaccine was introduced on

30th October 2015. The vaccine has been initially

introduced in six states: Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya

Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam and Punjab. This will benefit

2.7 crore children every year.

b. Adult Japanese Encephalitis (JE) vaccine

21 high burden districts have been identified in Assam,

Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal for adult JEvaccination in the age-group of 15-65 years. This

will cut down deaths and morbidity due to Japanese

Encephalitis in adults as well.

c. Rotavirus vaccine

Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhoea

among infants and young children in the world. Each

year India loses approximately 2 lakh children to

diarrhoea out of which 1 lakh deaths are caused by

Rotavirus. Rotavirus vaccine implemented to full scale

would save approximately 1 lakh lives every year.The vaccine is planned to be introduced in first quarter

of 2016 in four states initially i.e. Odisha, Himachal

Pradesh, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.

d. Measles Rubella vaccine

Measles Rubella vaccine eliminates measles and

controls Rubella in the country. The vaccine will help

to reduce incidence of Congenital Rubella Syndrome.

As on date, approximately 25,000 cases of CRS are

estimated each year and if the child survives, this

adds to the disabilities in the country. MR vaccinationcampaign will be carried out after appropriate planning

and will cover 45 crore children.

4. Special New born Care Units (SNCUs)

In order to strengthen the care of sick, premature and

low birth weight newborn Special New born Care

Units (SCNU) have been established at District

Hospitals and tertiary care hospitals. These are 12-20

bedded units, with 4 trained doctors and 10-12 nurses

and support staff with provision of 24x7 services to

sick newborns.

MoHFW provides free entitlement of care at these

centres under Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram.

Each SNCU is expected to provide: Care at birth

including resuscitation of asphyxiated newborn, sick

newborn and routine postnatal care. Follow up of high

risk newborn and Immunization/Referral Services are

also provided for. Once the baby is discharged to

home ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) will

do the follow up of these babies for one year. District

Early Intervention Centre (DEIC) have also been

linked with SNCU to provide specialized care to the

babies with special needs and delays.

5. National Deworming initiative

Like many other countries across the globe, India is

also endemic for Soil Transmitted Helminths. More

than 241 million children are estimated to be at risk

of parasitic intestinal worm infections leading to

impaired physical growth, cognitive development,

fatigue, internal bleeding. They also cause

micronutrient deficiencies leading to poor school

performance and absenteeism in children. Albendazole

tablets, once in 6 months, is a simple drug proven to

reduce the worm load.


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Understanding the negative impact of worm load in

children effecting their growth and development,

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government

of India, ambitiously launched – National Deworming

Day (NDD) on 10th February, 2015 followed by mop-

up activities to be carried up to 14th February, 2015

across all Government/Government aided schools and

Anganwadi centers of 11 States/UT.

NDD was implemented in 277 districts across 11

States/UT namely Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Dadra

Nagar Haveli, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,

Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Tripura.

More than 4.70 lakh schools and 3.67 lakh Anganwadi

centers were covered under the ambitious NDD

program. With an achievement of 85 percent coverage,

a total of 8.98 crore children aged 1-19 years, received

deworming tablet against a target of 10.31 crore during

the National Deworming Day.6. Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK)

The Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) has

been launched to provide child health screening and

early interventions services by expanding the reach

of mobile health teams at block level. These teams

will also carry out screening of all the children in the

age group 0-6 years enrolled at Anganwadi Centres at

least twice a year. RBSK covers 30 common health

conditions. States/UTs may incorporate a few more

conditions based on high prevalence/endemicity. An

estimated 27 crore children in the age group of zero

to eighteen years are expected to be covered in a

phased manner.

It aims to improve the overall quality of life of

children through early detection of birth defects,

diseases, deficiencies, development delays including

disability (4 Ds) and reduce out of pocket expenditure

for the families.

7. Daksh

For improving the skills of healthcare providers andto enhance their capacity to provide quality

(Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child &

Adolescent Health) RMNCH+A services,

Government of India has established five National

Skills lab ‘’Daksh’’ at Delhi and in NCR region with

support from Maternal health division, Government

of India and Liverpool school of tropical

Medicine(LSTM).

The objectives of Skills lab are to :

(a) Facilitate acquisition/ reinforcement of keystandardized technical skills and knowledge by

service providers for RMNCH+A services

(b) Ensures the availability of skilled personnel at

health facilities

(c) Improves the quality of pre service training

(d) Provides continuing Nursing education /

Continuing medical education. The target

audience of 6 days skills lab training are

Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Paediatricians,

Medical Officers, staff Nurses, Auxiliary Nurse

Midwife (ANM), state trainers and faculty of

Nursing School/ colleges and Medical College

who can adapt it for strengthening pre service

teaching.

8. Family Planning

Three new choices are now being introduced in the

National Family Planning program.

a. Injectable DMPA: The Drugs Technical AdvisoryBoard (DTAB) agreed to the introduction of the

injectable contraceptive DMPA in the public

health system under the National Family Planning

Programme.

b. POP: Progesterone only pill for the lactating

mothers

c. Centchroman: A non-hormonal once a week pill.

9. Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK)

The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK)was launched with an overarching aim to address

sexual and reproductive health, nutrition, injuries and

violence (including gender based violence), prevention

of non-communicable diseases, mental health and

substance misuse related concerns of 253 million

adolescents of our country through effective and

coherent implementation of programmes and schemes.

The short term goal is to ensure holistic health and

development of adolescents and the long term

outcome will increase social and economic

productivity of our nation.

The programme is underpinned by the principles of

equity and inclusion; rights based approach, adolescent

and community participation and strategic partnership.

The key components of the program are community

based interventions; facility based interventions; social

and behavior change communication; and inter-sectoral

convergence.

10. The National Health Mission (NHM)

The National Health Mission (NHM) encompasses

its two Sub-Missions, the National Rural HealthMission (NRHM) and the National Urban Health

Mission (NUHM). The main programmatic


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components include Health System Strengthening in

rural and urban areas, Reproductive-Maternal-

Neonatal-Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A),

and Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases.

The NHM envisages achievement of universal access

to equitable, affordable & quality health care services

that are accountable and responsive to people’s needs.

National Rural Health Mission (NRHM): NRHM seeks

to provide accessible, affordable and quality health

care to the rural population, especially the vulnerable

groups. Under the NRHM, the Empowered Action

Group (EAG) States as well as North Eastern States,

Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh have been

given special focus. The thrust of the mission is on

establishing a fully functional, community owned,

decentralized health delivery system with inter-sectoral

convergence at all levels, to ensure simultaneous action

on a wide range of determinants of health such aswater, sanitation, education, nutrition, social and

gender equality.

National Urban Health Mission (NUHM): NUHM seeks

to improve the health status of the urban population

particularly urban poor and other vulnerable sections

by facilitating their access to quality primary health

care. NUHM covers all state capitals, district

headquarters and other cities/towns with a population

of 50,000 and above (as per census 2011) in a phased

manner. Cities and towns with population below

50,000 will continue be covered under NRHM.

Key Initiatives under NHM:

a) Launch of National Quality Assurance