Some Social Sector Schemes + Poverty methodology Might have

Some Social Sector Schemes + Poverty methodology Might have missed many schemes, but have tried to include those in news recently.
MGNREGS

* This scheme aims at enhancing livelihood security of households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

* It also mandates 1/3 participation for women.

* The primary objective of the scheme is to augment wage employment. This is to be done while creating durable assets and also focus on strengthening natural resource management through works that address causes of chronic poverty like drought, deforestation, and soil erosion and thus encourage sustainable development.

MNREGS A critical Appraisal

* A study of the best performing water harvesting assets in Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Kerala show a majority of the assets studied had a return on investment of well over 100 per cent, with investment costs recovered in less than one year

* Perception-based surveys, including those carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in three States showed that the vast majority of assets were being used, and the people found them useful.

* Different studies have shown that scheme has provided livelihood and income security, decreased the incidence of poverty, increased food intake, reduced mental depression, positively affected health outcomes, and been successful as a self targeting scheme as the poorest and most marginalised communities have sought work.

* In many States, it has decreased gender differential in wages accompanied by an increase in agricultural productivity and growth. This increase in agricultural productivity could be due to the watershed and water harvesting works, as well as the land development work on the fallow private lands of SC, ST and BPL families to make them productive.

* The report also shows that there is poor implementation in many places. Average wages paid are lower than minimum wages; there is a distressing delay in the payment of wages; demand is not properly captured (an NSSO survey found 19 per cent of people who wanted work did not get it); dated receipts for work applications are not properly given; and the payment of unemployment allowance is a rarity. There is a shortage of staff, and there are many instances of irregular flow of funds. Non-compliance with proactive disclosure provisions such as muster rolls being available at worksites continues to be a problem in some States. As a result, leakages and corrupt practices continue to exist. While social audits in Andhra Pradesh have significantly increased awareness and identified fraud, they are a facade in most other States.






National Rural Health Mission



Bhartiya Mahila Bank
* Womens Bank with an allocation of `1000 announced in 2013 budget.
* Bank will lend mostly to women and women run businesses, that supports women Self Help Groups and womens livelihood, that employs predominantly women, and that addresses gender related aspects of empowerment and financial inclusion.
* One of its primary goals is the financial inclusion of Indias unbanked, more specifically, rural wome
* It will lend to women or to businesses which are either managed by or make products for women.
* There will also be emphasis on funding for skills developments to help in economic activity. Moreover, the products will be designed in a manner to give a slight concession on loan rates to women.
* Usha Ananthasubramanian will be the Boss (CEO). Before joining the Bharatiya Mahila Bank, Usha Ananthasubramanian was executive director of Punjab National Bank.


National Urban Health Mission
* The Union Cabinet gave its approval to launch a National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) as a new sub-mission under the over-arching National Health Mission (NHM). Under the Scheme the following proposals have been approved :
* One Urban Primary Health Centre (U-PHC) for every fifty to sixty thousand population.
* One Urban Community Health Centre (U-CHC) for five to six U-PHCs in big cities.
* One Auxiliary Nursing Midwives (ANM) for 10,000 population.
* One Accredited Social Health Activist ASHA (community link worker) for 200 to 500 households.
* The scheme will focus on primary health care needs of the urban poor.
* The interventions under the sub-mission will result in
* Reduction in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)
* Reduction in Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)
* Universal access to reproductive health care
* Convergence of all health related interventions.


National Food Security Bill
* 75% of rural and 50% of the urban population are entitled for three years from enactment to five kg food grains per month at INR3 (4.6 US), INR2 (3.1 US), INR1 (1.5 US) per kg for rice, wheat and coarse grains (millet), respectively;[5]
* The states are responsible for determining eligibility;
* Pregnant women and lactating mothers are entitled to a nutritious "take home ration" of 600 Calories and a maternity benefit of at least Rs 6,000 for six months;
* Children 6 months to 14 years of age are to receive free hot meals or "take home rations";
* The central government will provide funds to states in case of short supplies of food grains;
* The current food grain allocation of the states will be protected by the central government for at least six months;
* The state governments will provide a food security allowance to the beneficiaries in case of non-supply of food grains;
* The Public Distribution System is to be reformed;
* The eldest woman in the household, 18 years or above, is the head of the household for the issuance of the ration card;
* There will be state- and district-level redress mechanisms; and
* State Food Commissions will be formed for implementation and monitoring of the provisions of the Act.

Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA)
* The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for reforming the state higher education system.
* The important objectives of the scheme are:
* Improving the overall quality of existing state higher educational institutions by ensuring conformity to prescribed norms and standards and adoption of accreditation as a mandatory quality assurance framework.
* Correct regional imbalances in access to higher education through high quality institutions in rural and semi urban areas as well as creating opportunities for students from rural areas to get access to better quality institutions.
* Setting up of higher education institutions in unserved and underserved areas.
* Improve equity in higher education by providing adequate opportunities to socially deprived communities; promote inclusion of women, minorities, SC/ST and OBCs as well as differently abled persons.
* Ensure adequate availability of quality faculty in all higher educational institutions and ensure capacity building at all levels.
* Create an enabling atmosphere in higher educational institutions to devote themselves to research and innovation.
* Integrate skill developments efforts of the government with the conventional higher education system through optimum interventions.

National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM)
* The Mission of NULM is to reduce poverty and vulnerability of the urban poor households by enabling them to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities, resulting in an appreciable improvement in their livelihoods on a sustainable basis, through building strong grassroots level institutions of the poor.
* The mission would also aim at providing shelter equipped with essential services to the urban homeless in a phased manner.
* In addition, the Mission would also address livelihood concerns of the urban street vendors also by facilitating access to suitable spaces, institutional credit, social security and skills to the urban street vendors for accessing emerging market opportunities.
* NULM will rest on the foundation of community mobilization and women empowerment.
* Under the Mission, City Livelihood Centres (CLCs) will be established in Mission cities to provide a platform whereby the urban poor can market their services and access information on self-employment, skill training and other benefits.
* Through the Self-Employment Programme (SEP), NULM will provide financial assistance to individuals and groups of urban poor to set up gainful self-employment / micro-enterprise ventures.

Universal Immunization ProgrammeUnder UIP, Govt. gives children vaccine for seven diseases
* Polio
* Measles
* Childhood TB
* Hepatitis B
* Tetanus
* Diphtheria
* Pertussis (whooping cough)
* BIBCOL is the public sector undertaking (PSU) which manufactures Oral polio vaccine for Universal immunization program.A
* Government has declared year 2012-13, as Year of Intensification of Routine Immunization.
* Government is setting up the Integrated Vaccine Complex under Universal immunization program. Itll provide vaccines at affordable prices and also manufacture Pentavalent Vaccine. It will be located in Kanchipuram, TN.
* Penta-valent includes vaccine for following diseases
* Diphtheria
* Pertussis
* Tetanus,
* Hepatitis-B
* Hib. (Hib Haemophilus Influenzae Type B). It is Responsible For Pneumonia, Meningitis And Epiglottitis)

National Rural Livelihood Mission (Ajeevika)The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana has been restructured as the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). The NRLM aims at reducing poverty by enabling poor households to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities. The salient features of the NRLM are
* Ajeevika will be a demand driven programme and the states will formulate their own poverty reduction action plans under it based on their past experience, resources and skill base.
* It will provide for a professional support structure for programme implementation.
* at least one member from each identified rural poor household, preferably a woman, to be brought under the SHG network in a time-bound manner, the ultimate target being 100 per cent coverage of BPL families;
* ensuring 50% beneficiaries are from SC/ST , 15% from minorities and 3% from disabled.
* to work towards universal financial inclusion beyond basic banking services to all poor households, SHGs, and their federations on both the demand and supply sides of financial inclusion;
* in order to ensure affordable credit, the NRLM has a provision for subsidy on interest rates above 7 per cent per annum for all eligible SHGs who have availed of loans from mainstream financial institutions, based on prompt loan repayment;
* to develop backward and forward linkages and support business plans;
* to pursue skill upgradation and placement projects through partnership mode, with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) being one of the leading partners in this effort and 15 per cent of the central allocation under the NRLM earmarked for this purpose;
* Establishment of Rural Self Employment Training Institutes in every district in partnership with banks.
* Linkage of SHGs with corporate.

Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana
* The Janashree Bima Yojana (JBY) has now been merged with the AABY to provide better administration of life insurance cover to the economically backward sections of society.
* The scheme extends life and disability cover to persons between the ages of 18 and 59 years living below and marginally above the poverty line under 47 identified vocational/occupational groups, including 'rural landless households'.
* It provides insurance cover of a sum of `30,000 on natural death, 75,000 on death due to accident, `37,500 for partial permanent disability due to accident, and `75,000 on death or total permanent disability due to accident.
* The scheme also provides an add-on benefit of scholarship of `100 per month per child paid on half-yearly basis to a maximum of two children per member studying in Classes 9 to 12 (including ITI courses).
* The total annual premium under the scheme is `200 per beneficiary of which 50 per cent is contributed from the Social Security Fund created by the central government and maintained by the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). The balance 50 per cent is contributed by beneficiary/state governments/union territory (UT) administrations.
* The scheme is being implemented through the LIC.

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY)
* RSBY has been launched by Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India to provide health insurance coverage for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. The objective of RSBY is to provide protection to BPL households from financial liabilities arising out of health shocks that involve hospitalization.
* In Budget 2013, the Finance Minister has extended Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to rickshaw, auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers, sanitation workers, rag pickers and mine workers.
* Beneficiaries under RSBY are entitled to hospitalization coverage up to Rs. 30,000/- for most of the diseases that require hospitalization.
* Pre-existing conditions are covered from day one and there is no age limit. Coverage extends to five members of the family which includes the head of household, spouse and up to three dependents. Beneficiaries need to pay only Rs. 30/- as registration fee while Central and State Government pays the premium to the insurer selected by the State Government on the basis of a competitive bidding.
* RSBY provides the participating BPL household with freedom of choice between public and private hospitals
* A beneficiary of RSBY gets cashless benefit in any of the empanelled hospitals (beneficiary can avail services in any RSBY hospital across India). He/ she only needs to carry his/ her smart card and provide verification through his/ her finger print.
* The premium is shared on 75:25 basis by the centre and state governments (90:10 in Jammu and NE states)

Unorganized Workers Social Security Act (2008)
* The Act came into force from 16 May 2009 with the objective of providing social security to unorganized workers
* National Social Security Board looks into administration of unorganized sector Act, formulation of policies at the national level and mobilization of finances and allocating them to state boards. It reviews the working including auditing of State-level Social security boards every four years and makes recommendations for further improvement.
* The state level boards are the key implementing agencies that will ensure the delivery of the social security entitlement
* A National Social Security Fund for Unorganized Sector Workers with initial allocation of ` 1000 crore has been set up. This Fund will support schemes for weavers, toddy tappers, rickshaw pullers, bidi workers, etc

Bharat Nirman YojanaThis scheme was launched in 2005-06 for building infrastructure and basic amenities in rural areas. It has 6 components
* Water Supply - Every habitation to have a safe source of drinking water.
* Housing - Construction of 1.2 crore houses by 2014.
* Telecommunication and Information Technology - Increase rural tele-density to 40% and provide broadband connectivity and Bharat Nirman Seva Kendras to all Panchayats.
* Roads - Provide road connections to all villages with population of 1000 or 500 in case of hilly or tribal areas.
* Electrification Every village to be provided electricity.
* Irrigation 10 million hectares of additional irrigation capacity.

Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Arewas (PURA)
* Concept of PURA was promoted by President Kalam. It aims to bridge the rural-urban divide and achieve balanced social economic development. It aims to meet the gaps in physical and social infrastructure in rural clusters around town with population of one lakh or less to further their growth potential. Identified areas are:
* Road, transportation and power connectivity
* Electronic connectivity
* Knowledge connectivity (good schools etc.)
* Market connectivity to enable farmers to get best prices.
* Provision of drinking water supply and upgradation of health facilities.

Indira Awaas Yojana
* It is one of the six components of the Bharat Nirman Programme.
* It is a Government of India social welfare programme to provide housing for the rural poor in India.
* Under the scheme, financial assistance worth Rs. 70000/- in plain areas and Rs. 75000/- in difficult areas (high land area) is provided for construction of houses. The houses are allotted in the name of the woman or jointly between husband and wife.
* The construction of the houses is the sole responsibility of the beneficiary and engagement of contractors is strictly prohibited.
* Sanitary latrine and smokeless chullah are required to be constructed along with each IAY house for which additional financial assistance is provided from Total Sanitation Campaign and Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana respectively
* Another significant change is the extension of the scheme to the urban poor who got displaced from rural areas.
* The increment of unit assistance for homestead site to rural below poverty line (BPL) households who have neither agricultural land nor a house site has been raised from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000

Jalmani Programme
* It is a scheme to provide 100 per cent assistance to states for installing stand-alone water purification systems in schools in rural areas was launched in 2008. Operated by Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan
* Studies conducted by World Health Organisation and UNICEF have found that with 626 million people defecating in the open, India has the largest population without access to toilets (only 32.7% of rural households have latrines).
* Encouraged by the success of Nirmal Gram Puraskar(NGP), the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) has been renamed as Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA).
* The objective is to accelerate the sanitation coverage in the rural areas. Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) envisages covering the entire community for saturated outcomes with a view to create Nirmal Gram Panchayats with following priorities:
* Bring about an improvement in the general quality of life in the rural areas
* Accelerate sanitation coverage in rural areas to achieve the vision of Nirmal Bharat by 2022 with all gram Panchayats in the country attaining Nirmal status.
* Provision of Individual Household Latrine (IHHL) for both Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Identified Above Poverty Line (APL) households within a Gram Panchayat (GP).
* Motivate communities and Panchayati Raj Institutions promoting sustainable sanitation facilities through awareness creation and health education. Extensive capacity building of the stake holders like Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), Village Water and Sanitation Committees (VWSCs) and field functionaries for sustainable sanitation.
* To cover the remaining schools not covered under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Anganwadi Centres in the rural areas with proper sanitation facilities and undertake proactive promotion of hygiene education and sanitary habits among students.
* Encourage cost effective and appropriate technologies for ecologically safe and sustainable sanitation.
* Develop community managed environmental sanitation systems focusing on solid & liquid waste management for overall cleanliness in the rural areas.

National Rural Drinking Water Programme


JNNURMIt is a programme meant to improve the quality of life and infrastructure in the cities. Projects pertaining to following are not eligible for JNNURM assistance:
* Power
* Telecom
* Health
* Education
* Wage employmentJNNURM has two sub-missions
* Mission for Urban Infrastructure and governance with a focus on water supply and sanitation, solid waste management, road network etc. It is implemented by urban development ministry.
* Mission for Basic Services to the Urban Poor with a focus on integrated development of slums. It is administered by ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation. JNNURM has further components.
* Mission for urban infrastructure development of small and medium towns It will subsume schemes of Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns (IDSMT) and Accelerated Urban Water Supply Programme (AUWSP).
* Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor (ISHUP) seeks to supplement the efforts of the government through the JNNURM to comprehensively address the housing shortage

Rajiv Awaas Yojana
* It seeks to provide support for shelter and redevelopment and creation of affordable housing stock to states that are willing to assign property rights to slum dwellers primarily in urban areas. It is to be implemented in two phases.
* Phase 1 will start from 2011-13. In order to address the credit enablement of economically weaker sections government has approved establishment of a credit risk guarantee fund with an initial corpus of 100 crores.

Integrated Low Cost Sanitation Scheme (ILCS)
* The ILCS aims at conversion of individual dry latrines into pour flush latrines, thereby liberating manual scavengers from the age-old, obnoxious practice of manually carrying night soil.
* The scheme is on an all-town coverage basis irrespective of the population criterion and is limited to EWS households. The scheme is funded on a sharing basis, i.e. central subsidy 75 per cent, state subsidy 15 per cent, and beneficiary share 10 per cent.

Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan (SSA)
* Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is Government of India's flagship programme for achievement of Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE) in a time bound manner, as mandated by 86th amendment to the Constitution of India making free and compulsory Education to the Children of 6-14 years age group, a Fundamental Right.
* Main features are :
* Opening of new schools in those habitations which do not have schooling facilities and strengthen existing school infrastructure through provision of additional class rooms, toilets, drinking water, maintenance grant and school improvement grants.
* Existing schools with inadequate teacher strength are provided with additional teachers, while the capacity of existing teachers is being strengthened by extensive training
* SSA seeks to provide quality elementary education including life skills.
* SSA has a special focus on girl's education and children with special needs.
* SSA also seeks to provide computer education to bridge the digital divide.
* Centre shares 68% of the funds after the 13th finance commission allocated additional resources.
* Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya scheme (KGBV) which aimed to set up residential schools with boarding facilities at elementary level for girls belonging predominantly to the SC, ST, OBC and minorities in difficult areas has been merged with SSA.

National Programme for Education of Girls atElementary Level (NPEGEL)
* This is a focused intervention for reaching out to the hardest to reach girls. It provides additional support for enhancing girls' education over and above the investments for girls' education under the SSA, including gender sensitization of teachers, development of gender-sensitive material, and provision of need-based incentives. The scheme is implemented in educationally backward blocks (EBB) where rural female literacy is low.

National Programme for Midday Meals
* Under this scheme cooked midday meals are provided to all children attending Classes I-VIII in government, local body, government-aided schools and other institutions supported under SSA.
* At present the cooked midday meal provides an energy content of 450 calories and protein content of 12 grams at primary stage and an energy content of 700 calories and protein content of 20 grams at upper primary stage.
* Adequate quantity of micro-nutrients like iron, folic acid, and vitamin A are also recommended for convergence with the NRHM.

Saakshar Bharat
* Saakshar Bharat is a government of India initiative launched by Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh to create a literate society through a variety of teaching learning programmes for non-literate and neo-literate of 15 years and above.
* The National Literacy Mission, recast as SB, reflects the enhanced focus on female literacy
* The government has taken focused measures for reducing the disparities in backward areas and target group
* Mission has been envisaged as a people's programme, stakeholders, especially at grassroots level i.e. PRIs, have due say and role in its planning and implementation.
* Set up Lok Shiksha Kendras

Inclusive Education for the Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS)
* While inclusive education for disabled children at elementary level is being provided under the SSA, this scheme provides 100 per cent central assistance for inclusive education of disabled children studying in Classes IX-XII in mainstream government, local body, and government-aided schools.
* The aim of the scheme is to facilitate continuation of education of children with special needs up to higher secondary level. The scheme provides for personal requirements of the children in the form of assistive devices etc. and scholarship for the girl child up to 3000 per disabled child per annum. In addition, assistance is also provided for salary of special teachers, capacity building of teachers etc.
* The IEDSS scheme has replaced the earlier Integrated Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) scheme.

Selected Health Indicators
* MMR (per 100,000 live births) 212
* IMR (per 1000 live births) 46


HUNGaMA Survey in 100 Focus Districts on Hunger and Malnutrition
* A reduction in the prevalence of child malnutrition is observed - Prevalence of child underweight has decreased from 53 per cent to 42 per cent
* Child malnutrition is widespread across states and districts and starts early in life - 42 per cent of children under five are underweight and 59 per cent are stunted. Of the children suffering from stunting, about half are severely stunted; about half of all children are underweight or stunted by age 24 months.
* Birth weight is an important risk-factor for child malnutrition - Prevalence of underweight in children born with a weight below 2.5 kg is 50 per cent while that among children born with a weight above 2.5 kg is 34 per cent.
* Household socio-economic status has a significant effect on children's nutrition status - Prevalence of malnutrition is significantly higher among children from low-income families. Children from Muslim or SC/ST households generally have worse nutrition indicators.
* Girls' nutrition advantage over boys fades away with time - Nutrition advantage girls have over boys in the first months of life seems to be reversed over time as they grow older, potentially indicating neglect vis--vis girls in early childhood

AYUSHThe Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) is a part of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare of the Government of India.
* The Suruta Sahit and the Charaka Sahit are among the foundational and formally compiled works of Ayurveda
* Yoga is one of the six systems of Vedic philosophy. Maharishi Patanjali, rightly called "The Father of Yoga" compiled and refined various aspects of Yoga systematically in his "Yoga Sutras" (aphorisms). He advocated the eight folds path of Yoga, popularly known as "Ashtanga Yoga" for all-round development of human beings. These steps are believed to have a potential for improvement of physical health by enhancing circulation of oxygenated blood in the body, retraining the sense organs thereby inducing tranquillity and serenity of mind.
* Naturopathy, or Naturopathic Medicine, is a type of alternative medicine based on a belief in vitalism, which posits that a special energy called vital energy or vital force guides bodily processes such as metabolism, reproduction, growth, and adaptation. Modern Naturopathy movement was started in Germany and other western countries with Water Cure (Hydrotherapy) therapy. Gandhiji was a proponent of Naturopathy.
* Unani system originated in Greece. The foundation of Unani system was laid by Hippocrates. The system owes its present form to the Arabs who not only saved much of the Greek literature by rendering it into Arabic but also enriched the medicine of their day with their own contributions
* The term Siddha means achievements and Siddhars were saintly persons who achieved results in medicine. Eighteen Siddhars were said to have contributed towards the development of this medical system. Siddha literature is in Tamil and it is practised largely in Tamil speaking part of India and abroad. The Siddha System is largely therapeutic in nature.
* Homeopathy is a system of alternative medicine originated in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann, based on his doctrine according to which a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people will cure that disease in sick people. Scientific research has found homeopathic remedies ineffective and their postulated mechanisms of action implausible.

IMR
* Infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of children less than one year of age per 1000 live births. Neonatal or newborn death is mortality occurring within 28 days postpartum. Neonatal death is often attributed to inadequate access to basic medical care during and after the mother delivers her newborn. It accounts for 40-60% of infant mortality in developing countries.
* Post-neonatal infant mortality occurs when the child is 29 days to a year old. Biggest contributors to post-neonatal deaths are malnutrition, infectious disease, and home environment.
* Peri-natal mortality occurs in the late fetal period, which typically occurs after 28 weeks gestation and the first week postpartum.

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)
* It is a safe motherhood intervention program under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) being implemented with the objective of reducing maternal and neo-natal mortality by promoting institutional delivery among the poor pregnant women. JSY is a 100 % centrally sponsored scheme and it integrates cash assistance with delivery and post-delivery care. The success of the scheme would be determined by the increase in institutional delivery among the poor families
* The Yojana has identified ASHA, the accredited social health activist as an effective link between the Government and the poor pregnant women in l0 low performing states and the remaining NE States.

Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojna (IGMSY)
* It is a new scheme for pregnant and lactating women. It aims at providing cash incentives (4000) for improved health and nutrition to pregnant and lactating mothers. It attempts to partly compensate for wage loss to pregnant and lactating women both prior to and after delivery of the child. The scheme will be implemented by using the infrastructure of ICDS including support of health systems.
* It is not available to women who get paid maternity leaves.

Janani Shishu Surakhsa Karyakram
* The new initiative of JSSK would provide completely free and cashless services to pregnant women including normal deliveries and caesarean operations and sick new born (up to 30 days after birth) in Government health institutions in both rural and urban areas.
* JSSK supplements the cash assistance given to a pregnant woman under Janani Suraksha Yojana and is aimed at mitigating the burden of out of pocket expenses incurred by pregnant women and sick newborns. Besides it would be a major factor in enhancing access to public health institutions and help bring down the Maternal Mortality and Infant mortality rates. Presently it is noted that, out of pocket expenses and user charges for transport, admission, diagnostic tests, medicines and consumables, caesarean operation are being incurred by pregnant women and their families even in the case of institutional deliveries.
* The Free Entitlements under JSSK would include: Free and Cashless Delivery, Free C-Section, Free treatment of sick-new-born up to 30 days, Exemption from User Charges, Free Drugs and Consumables, Free Diagnostics, Free Diet during stay in the health institutions 3 days in case of normal delivery and 7 days in case of caesarean section, Free Provision of Blood, Free Transport from Home to Health Institutions, Free Transport between facilities in case of referral as also Drop Back from Institutions to home after 48hrs stay.

Integrated Child Development Services
* The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme was launched in 1975 with the following objectives:
* to improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group 0-6 years;
* to reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropout;
* to achieve effective co-ordination of policy and implementation amongst the various departments to promote child development; and
* to enhance the capability of the mother to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education.
* The above objectives are sought to be achieved through a package of services comprising:
* supplementary nutrition,
* immunization,
* health check-up,
* referral services,
* pre-school non-formal education
* nutrition & health education
* The Anganwadi is the delivery centre of ICDS and is mainly managed by the Anganwadi worker. She is a health worker chosen from the community and given 4 months training in health, nutrition and child-care. She is in-charge of an Anganwadi which covers a population of 1000.Appraisal
* The scheme suffers from discrepancies and a lack of commitment. Its focus has been mainly on quantitative coverage, food distribution to the 3-5 age group and pre-school education. The most critical period of a childs development is from conception to the first two years but funds allocated are the least for this group.
* To break the intergenerational cycle of under-nutrition, ICDS should enable anganwadi workers to concentrate on high-risk group. Community participation in terms of creating focus groups for pregnant women and young mothers to educate them on healthy practices should also be encouraged.
* Provision of conditional food coupons instead of the nutritious powder can help combat under-nutrition more effectively. Such a model has been successful in the United States in the form of the WIC program.
* The ICDS has contained severe protein-energy malnutrition, but failed to alleviate mild to moderate under-nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies.
* Involvement of 3 tier panchayat in ICDS has so far been nil. The guidelines should be revised to give an effective role to PRIs.

Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram
* The initiative is to provide comprehensive healthcare and improve the quality of life of children through early detection of birth defects, diseases, deficiencies, development delays including disability.
* With the launch of the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram, regular health screening of children in public health facilities, Aanganwadis and Government and Government aided schools for defects at birth, diseases, deficiencies and development disorders will be done now. This programme will cover 25 crore children all over the country in a phased manner and provide for free follow up management and treatment at the district hospitals and at tertiary levels. Program will be covered under NRHM.

Integrated Child Protection Scheme
* It seeks to contribute to improvement of children in difficult circumstances, to reduce vulnerability of children. It also seeks to provide preventive, statutory and rehabilitation services to various socially disadvantaged children.

Ujjawala
* It is a comprehensive scheme for prevention of trafficking launched in 2007 with following major components: Prevention, Rescue, Rehabilitation, Reintegration and Repatriation (Priyadarshini is a similar scheme, may be the two are same?)

Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (Sabla)
* It is a merger of Kishori Shakti Yojna (KSY) and National Programme for Adolescent girls (NPAG). SABLA aims to empower adolescent girls of 11 to 18 years by improving their nutritional and health status, up gradation of home skills, life skill and vocations skills. The girls are to be equipped with information on health and family welfare, hygiene and guidance on existing public services. The scheme also aims to mainstream out of school girls into formal education or non-formal education. Aanganwadi centers will be focal point for delivery of services.

Swadhar Greh
* Swadhar and Short Stay Home schemes have been merged into the 'Swadhar Greh' scheme in order to reach out to those women who are victims of unfortunate circumstances and are in need of institutional support for rehabilitation, so that they can lead their lives with dignity. Under the new scheme, women are provided emotional support and counselling to enable them to become self-reliant and get rehabilitated socially and economically through education, skill upgradation, and personality development.

Swabhiman
* It is a nationwide program on financial inclusion. It is focused on bringing the deprived sections of society in banking network to ensure that the benefits of economic growth reach everyone at all levels. The scheme will facilitate opening of bank accounts, provide need based credit and help to promote financial literacy in rural India.

Swayamsiddhya
* It is flagship programme of Ministry of Women and Child Development for women empowerment. It aims to mobilize women through self help groups, clusters and federation for income generation activities. The long term objective of the scheme is to achieve an all round development especially socially and economically by ensuring their access and control over resources through a sustained process of mobilization and convergence of all ongoing sectoral programs.

NPS
* New Pension System (NPS) was started in 2004, for the new recruits in Government of India (except the armed forces). In 2009 New Pension System (NPS) was opened up for any citizens in India who wanted to subscribe, even if they are not in Government service.
* Any person in the age group 18-60 can join. NRI's can also join.
* Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) is a unique account number given to subscribers.
* PFRDA is the regulator for NPS.
* National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) works as the Central Record keeping Agency for NPA. It maintains record of every subscriber, based on his PRAN number.
* ICICI, UTI, SBI, Kotak etc are the fund managers for NPS. Subscribers can choose fund managers. Money can be invested in either equities or debts (Corporate bonds+Government securities. One can decide how much they want to invest in each of them. (with some caveats).
* NPS Lite was introduced for economically weaker sections of the society. Minimum contribution is 100 compared to 500 in NPS. An aggregator (e.g. NGO or Microfinance agent) comes to subscribers and collects money. In NPS lite by default 85% of money is invested in debt and 15% in equities.

Swavalamban
* To encourage the people from the unorganised sector to voluntarily save for their retirement and to lower the cost of operations of the New Pension Scheme (NPS) for such subscribers, Government will contribute Rs. 1000 per year to each NPS account opened in the year 2010-11. This initiative, Swavalamban will be available for persons who join NPS, with a minimum contribution of Rs. 1000 and a maximum contribution of Rs. 12000 per annum during the financial year 2010-11. The scheme will be available for another three years. It will benefit about 10 lakh NPS subscribers of the un-organised sector. The scheme will be managed by the interim Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority.

Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP)
* It seeks to impart training for up gradation of skills which would lead to their sustainable employment. The target group is marginalized, asset-less rural women and urban poor. It covers traditional sectors of employment such as agriculture, husbandry, handlooms, and waste land development.

Schemes under National Social Assistance Programme
* Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme - All persons of 60 years (and above) and belonging to below the poverty line category according to the criteria prescribed by the Government of India time to time, are eligible to be a beneficiary of the scheme. The pension amount is INR 400 (for persons above 80 years of age amount is 500) per month per person and states are supposed to contribute an equal amount. The death of a pensioner is immediately reported to the appropriate sanctioning authority by the village panchayats and municipalities and the payments are promptly stopped by the same
* Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme - A pension of Rs. 300 per month to be granted to widows aged 4059 living below poverty-line conditions. Pradhan of Gram panchayat shall review the list of widows and report in case of any re-marriage
* Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme - A pension of Rs. 300 per month to be granted to physically/mentally handicapped individuals aged 1859, living below poverty-line conditions. Beneficiary should be 80% disabled.
* National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) - In case of the death of the "primary breadwinner" of a household living below poverty line conditions, a lump sum grant of Rs. 20,000 is provided to the household. Beneficiary should be in the age group of 18 to 64 years
* Annapurna Scheme - It is a 100 % centrally sponsored scheme. It aims at providing food security to meet the requirement of those senior citizens who though eligible for pension under the National Old Age Pension Scheme are not getting the same. Under this 10 Kg of food grains per person per month would be supplied free of cost.
* I have got conflicting search results on the amount of pension that is provided Please verify and use accordingly

Grain Bank Scheme
* Launched with the objective of extending food security to remote regions of the country which cannot be covered under the formal PDS i.e. basically tribal areas. It is handled by Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Allocation of food grains was made for the first time during 2002-03 under the scheme

Valimiki Ambedkar Awaas Yojana (VAMBAY)
* Scheme seeks to ameliorate the conditions of urban slum dwellers living below poverty line

Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)
* The RMSA was launched in March 2009 with the objective of enhancing access to secondary education and improving its quality.
* To increase the enrollment rate from current 52% (2005-06s number) to 75% within five years.
* Provide secondary school within reasonable distance from any habitation.
* Provide affordable (not free) secondary education to all. Universal access to secondary education by 2017 universal retention by 2020.
* It provides States support for construction of new school buildings and to existing secondary schools for strengthening of infrastructure, salary of teachers and staff sanctioned under the RMSA, learning enhancement programmes, equity interventions, etc

Model Schools Scheme
* A scheme for setting up of 6000 high quality model schools as a benchmark of excellence at block level at the rate of one school per block was launched in November 2008 to provide quality education to talented rural children.
* The scheme has two modes of implementation, viz. (i) 3500 schools are to be set up in as many EBBs through state governments and (ii) the remaining 2500 schools are to be set up under PPP mode in blocks which are not educationally backward

PMSSYPradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) aims at correcting regional imbalances in the availability of affordable/reliable tertiary health-care services and augmenting facilities for quality medical education in the country. It aims at (i) construction of 6 AIIMS-like institutions in the first phase at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur, and Rishikesh and in the second phase in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, (ii) upgradation of 13 medical colleges in the first phase and 6 in the second phase.

Balshree
* Launched by National Bal Bhavan.Identify kids in four areas of creativity : art, performance, science, writingAnd then train and nurture them.

Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas YojanaProvides hostel Facilities to SC boys and girls in Middle and Higher Secondary Schools, Colleges, Universities. Funds given to states, NGOs to create infrastructure.

School Health ProgrammeA wide range of activities to target healthiness among school students. Biannual health screenings and early management of disease, disability etc. Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplement (WIFS) to tackle anemia in boys and girls. Immunization schemes etc.

Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY)
* Electrifying all villages and habitations as per new definition
* Providing access to electricity to all rural households
* Providing electricity Connection to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families free of charge
* Under the programme 90% grant is provided by Govt. of India and 10% as loan by Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) to the State Governments.
* REC is the nodal agency for the programme.


Poverty Estimates in India

* Planning commission is responsible for poverty estimation in rural and urban areas. It makes estimates based on National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data. The Ministry of Rural Development conducts BPL census to identify individual households.

* Initially poverty estimates in India were done on the basis of Lakadwala methodology. This methodology is based on calorific intake. Calorie requirements for rural/urban populations were defined and people whose intake fell short of these requirements were considered as poor.

* The Tendulkar committee submitted its report in 2009 on the methodology for poverty estimation. It acknowledged the multidimensional nature of poverty and recommended moving away from calorie intake norms to adopting estimates of consumption expenditure as basis for future poverty lines. It measured rural head count ratio as 41.8 %, urban at 25.7% and overall at 37.2%.

* The state-wise estimates of poverty as recomputed by the Tendulkar Committee show that the highest poverty headcount ratios (PHRs) for 2004-5 exist in Odisha (57.2 per cent), followed by Bihar (54.4 per cent) and Chattisgarh(49.4 per cent) against the national average of 37.2 per cent.

* Government in May 2012 formed the Rangarajan committee to look into the matter of estimating the number of BPL households. The problems associated with Tendulkar committee methods are:

* It is difficult to come up with credible estimate of what can be considered a consumption basket and level of expenditure that would provide a definition of poverty

* Few are willing to accept the official position that Rs. 32 a day in urban areas or Rs. 26 a day in rural areas in 2010-11 was adequate to lift a person out of poverty

* While the Lakdawala committee had anchored the poverty estimate on a minimum calorific intake, the current poverty line excludes from the poor those whose calorific intake falls far short of the Lakdawala minimum.

* Estimates of the incidence of poverty at the level of the nation and the States yielded by the official poverty lines are seen as too low to be acceptable

* Focus of the new committee should be to:

* Find in the current historical and social context what could be considered a minimally acceptable level of consumption expenditure.

* Identify a defensible anchor (like calorific intake) or set of anchors to which poverty line estimates would be tethered for a reasonable period into the future.

* Find a robust methodology that would generate estimates that allow inter-temporal comparisons of poverty incidence so as to assess the impact that the path of development being pursued has had on poverty levels

* N.C.Saxena Committee

* It was constituted by Ministry of Rural Development to advise it on the suitable methodology for BPL census and not estimation of poverty.

* The report maps gross errors of exclusion and inclusion that have crept into the system because of the flawed methodology of BPL identification, and argues that errors of inclusion are far better than the errors of exclusions.

* It recommends a new methodology of score-based ranking, besides recommending parameters for automatic inclusion and automatic exclusion for some categories of households.

* Families owning phones, refrigerators etc, and farmers with credit limit more than 50k would be automatically excluded. Destitute and tribal people would be automatically included. For others, a set of seven deprivation indicators would be used. A few of them are households with only one room and kutcha roof, female headed households with no adult male, households with disabled members etc.

* P. Sainath a member of committee argues against the system of targeted welfare schemes for food, health care, education and decent work. He points out that Public Distribution System (PDS) has worked best when it has been for decades closer to universal as in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. He argues that targeted systems are very expensive and call for a huge and expensive apparatus leading to corruption and black-marketing.

* The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation is the nodal ministry for issue of guidelines to identify BPL families in urban areas. An expert group under Chairmanship of Prof S.R.Hashim has been constituted by Planning Commission to suggest a methodology for identification of BPL families in urban areas.

* In urban areas BPL families would be identified through an inclusion criteria based on a) place of residence b) social vulnerability c) occupational vulnerability.

* Those who are houseless, live in temporary houses where usage of dwelling space is susceptible to insecurity of tenure and is affected by lack of access to basic services should be considered residentially vulnerable.

* Households headed by women or minors or where the elderly are dependent on the head of household or where the level of literacy is low or members are disabled or chronically ill should be considered socially vulnerable

* Houses with people unemployed for a significant proportion of time or with irregular employment or whose work is subject to unsanitary or hazardous conditions or those who have no stability of payment for services should be regarded occupationally vulnerable.
Government Social Sector Schemes

* Central government finances these programmes, and actual implementation is carried out by state government agencies. As one would expect, the effectiveness of implementation varies greatly from state to state. The failures can be traced to one or all of three problems: poor design ab initio, underfunding and poor implementation.

* Problems of poor design and inadequate funding can and should be addressed by the central government. Central government guidelines are often inflexible and not tailored to the requirement in particular states. Furthermore, many areas involve cooperation between different arms of government, e g, of agriculture, irrigation and rural development or the departments of health, education and women and child development. Unfortunately, government typically works in silos which makes effective interdepartmental cooperation very difficult.

* As far as adequacy of funding is concerned, scarcity of resources is a genuine problem. The solution lies in better prioritisation. It is much better to fully fund schemes that are working well and squeeze other rather than spread resources thinly. However, this is easier said than done and enforcing prioritisation in this way will be a major challenge in the Twelfth Plan.

* Improving implementation on the ground has to be a major objective in the Twelfth Plan. A committed political leadership at the state level, working with an effective administration, can make big difference. Devolution of decision-making and accountability to panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) is also a potential instrument improving accountability. Some progress has been made in devolution, but most state governments have devolved functions with very little devolution of either funds or functionaries. The central government can help in this area by structuring its schemes of assistance in a way which increases the role of the PRIs. For this to work, it will also be necessary to build capacity at the PRI level. Earmarking some portion of central funds for capacity building may be necessary. Greater participation by civil society organizations promoting greater involvement of the community, with a greater awareness of its rights, will also help. The Right to Information Act is an important new initiative which empowers civil society and individual stakeholders to hold government at all levels accountable.

* The benefits of the rural development programmes do not seem to reach the intended targets and they fail to serve full the purpose for which they were launched. There is a lacuna in the identification of the really poor, with the result that the rich farmers have benefitted much more from these programs.

* Most of the experiments in rural development emanate at the top. It is necessary that emphasis is laid on planning from the bottom and the exclusive reliance placed on pyramidal structure approach is given up. Because of this approach to planning, the programmes also tend to have very high administrative cost. The involvement of rural poor in the process of rural development is critical, particularly in the planning and implementation of such programmes

* Most of the experiments in rural development emanate at the top. It is necessary that emphasis is laid on planning from the bottom and the exclusive reliance placed on pyramidal structure approach is given up. Because of this approach to planning, the programmes also tend to have very high administrative cost.

* Organizational dimensions need a reappraisal. With a number of models of rural development administration experimented with and applied during the past few years, it is time that respective efficacy of each is intensely examined.
Restructuring of Schemes

* While the special focus various Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) thus bring to sectors that need extra attention has often proved to be an advantage, poor design and implementation with little other than fancy nomenclature and grand announcements to prop them up, have often proved to be a disadvantage. The branding exercise has not always served the cause.

* Some of the schemes have been plagued by overlaps, duplication and bureaucratic mismanagement and negligence that impinge on efficiencies and lead to wastage. A Group of Ministers has now approved the restructuring of CSSs, merging some 170 of them into 79, in order to ensure better implementation and monitoring. At the end of the 11th Plan, in March 2012, there were 173 CSSs and Additional Central Assistance (ACA) schemes. Hopefully, as the matter comes up before the Cabinet again, competing, even conflicting, interests among different ministries would not come in the way of making the final push on this key issue although the pruning will still not meet the 2011 recommendations of the B.K. Chaturvedi Committee to bring the number down to 59.

* While the share of CSSs in gross budgetary allocations has gone up significantly over the last three Plans, the number of such schemes has come down. Yet, CSSs tend to pre-empt resources available to States, given that fund packages often get channelled directly for the programmes, sometimes without the tailored flexibility that is needed to optimise utilisation. In some instances, funds are transferred to district-level bodies, bypassing State governments. Understandably, several States have complained about the rationale and implementation of CSSs.

* The system of flexi-funds that has now been proposed, under which State governments can use 20 per cent (10 per cent in case of flagship schemes) of the budget allocated for CSSs, within the broader framework of given programmes, should address part of that problem. The GoM has favoured a system of transferring funds from the Centre to State consolidated funds, rather than directly to implementing agencies. It has also approved the setting up of State-specific guidelines for each CSS. Hopefully, the new and improved package will prove to be a more effective, flexible and efficient instrument to translate Plan objectives into actions. Meanwhile, there is a case to tighten monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, with each CSS being reviewed at least once in two years, with an eye on better outcomes and impact.

Misc

* So far India has signed 15 Social Security Agreements These SSAs facilitate mobility of professionals between two countries by exempting them from double payment of social security contributions and enables them to enjoy the benefits of exportability and totalization

* National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT) which aims at providing high speed broadband connectivity to universities and colleges and development of e-content in various disciplines is under implementation

* National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW): This initiative for holistic empowerment of women through better convergence and engendering of policies, programmes, and schemes of different ministries was operationalized in 2010-11. Under the Mission, institutional structures at state level including State Mission Authorities headed by Chief Ministers and State Resource Centres for Women (SRCWs) for spearheading initiatives for women's empowerment have been established across the country.

* Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) - The RMK provides micro-credit in a quasi-informal manner, lending to intermediate micro-credit organizations (IMOs) across states. It focuses on poor women and their empowerment through the provision of credit for livelihood-related activities

* Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS) includes projects for providing education, vocational training, and rehabilitation of persons with orthopaedic, speech, visual, and mental disabilities.

* The 'Vision-2015' adopted for the LPG sector inter alia focuses on raising the LPG population coverage in rural areas and areas where LPG coverage is low. The Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitaran Yojana (RGGLVY) for small-size LPG distribution agencies has been launched in 2009. Under this scheme 75 per cent population is to be covered by 2015 by releasing 5.5 crore new LPG connections. To ensure that growth of LPG usage is evenly spread, public-sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) are assessing/identifying locations in a phased manner under the RGGLVY

Name Abhishek Sharma
Books Not needed
Source Just googled name of the scheme