Yojana and Kurukshetra- September 2016

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Yojana and Kurukshetra- September 2016

Preface
This is our 18th edition of Yojana Gist and 9th edition of Kurukshetra Gist, released for the
month of September, 2016. It is increasingly finding a place in the questions of both UPSC
Prelims and Mains and therefore, weve come up with this initiative to equip you with
knowledge thatll help you in your preparation for the CSE.
Every Issue deals with a single topic comprehensively sharing views from a wide spectrum
ranging from academicians to policy makers to scholars. The magazine is essential to build
an in-depth understanding of various socio-economic issues.
From the exam point of view, however, not all articles are important. Some go into scholarly
depths and others discuss agendas that are not relevant for your preparation. Added to this
is the difficulty of going through a large volume of information, facts and analysis to finally
extract their essence that may be useful for the exam.
We are not discouraging from reading the magazine itself. So, do not take this as a
document which you take read, remember and reproduce in the examination. Its only
purpose is to equip you with the right understanding. But, if you do not have enough time to
go through the magazines, you can rely on the content provided here for it sums up the
most essential points from all the articles.
You need not put hours and hours in reading and making its notes in pages. We believe, a
smart study, rather than hard study, can improve your preparation levels.
Think, learn, practice and keep improving! That is the key to success

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Yojana and Kurukshetra- September 2016

Road to Rural Prosperity: Some Practical Tips
High economic growth in India has certainly reduced the number of rural poor from 50% of
the total rural population in 1993-94 to 28% in 2011-12, yet it has not been able to reduce
the gap between the rural and urban areas.
Monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) for rural India in 2011-12 was Rs. 1,281 as
compared to Rs. 2,402 for urban India. Thus, per capita urban expenditure was 87% higher
than rural consumption.
Hence, there are some practical measures that can be taken to move rural India at a faster
pace.
Revamp Agriculture
The policy approach to agriculture since 1990s has been to secure increased production
through subsidies on inputs such as power, water and fertiliser and by increasing the
minimum support prices, rather than building new capital assets in surface irrigation,
rainwater harvesting, improving credit for small land holders and evolving new drought
policy.
Hence, the equity, efficiency and sustainability of the current approach are
questionable.
Permitting and encouraging water guzzling crops in Punjab and sugarcane in semi-arid
areas has led to excessive withdrawal of groundwater. More than 30% of the blocks in
the country have become over-exploited as groundwater use exceeds the rate of
groundwater recharge.
Over the years, government policies made agriculture capital intensive which makes
agriculturalists less attractive to banks and insurance companies.
As there is no effective control over digging of tubewells in water scarce regions, farmers
are borrowing money from money lenders at high interest rates to dig tube wells.
Thus, there is a need to build efficient irrigation systems and water conservation
strategies in rain fed regions.
The main thrust of the programmes is to combat the impact of climate change in rainfed areas should be on activities relating to rain water harvesting, soil conservation, land
shaping, pasture development, vegetative bunding and water resources conservation on
basis of compact micro-watershed which could include both cultivated and uncultivated
lands.
Agriculture in semi-arid regions have to move away from traditional crop centric farming
to agri-pastoral-farm forestry system.

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Yojana and Kurukshetra- September 2016

Promote Value Chain in Agriculture

As fruits and vegetables give 4-10 times more returns than from other crops, India needs
better mechanismso To increase the communication and direct linkages between small holders producing
fruits and vegetables and large buyers
o To reduce transaction cost, there has to be more efficient procurement markets,
quality standards, and electronic exchanges enforcing compulsory delivery.
Government should take fruits and vegetables out of Mandi committee acts and make
their sales and purchases completely free. This will encourage private sector to go for
contract farming and have assured supply of suitable material for processing.
Producer companies, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and SHGs can function as aggregators.
As farmers cannot perform multiple functions like weighing, loading and unloading
freight, depositing goods at accredited warehouse etc., there is a great opportunity for
aggregators and private companies to develop good business model around performing
various functions and thus bridge gap between supply and demand for fruits and
vegetables.

Change the Design of NREGA

Despite the fact that NREGA mandates 80% work be related to local water conservation,
and drought proofing, the sustainability and productivity of assets created is never
monitored.
The result is that the programme is reduced to creating short term unproductive
employment with no focus on asset creation or soil and water conservation.
Moreover, the better governed states receive most of the funds irrespective of low
incidence of poverty in those states.
More importantly, collective capability is required for management of commons and for
new structures created with NREGA funds.
Unfortunately, most projects have failed to generate sustainability because of the failure
of various agencies to involve the people and build their social capital.

Improve Rural Infrastructure

As opposed to lack of durable assets in NREGA, PMGSY focuses on construction of allweather roads that has contributed to improvements in connectivity, government
services, transportation, livelihood, commerce, education, health, land value,
infrastructure, social interactions and gender empowerment.
Roads are lifeline for rural communities, linking them to markets, education, health and
other facilities.

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Yojana and Kurukshetra- September 2016

Perishable commodities require good road communication as it leads to major increase

in productivity and employment in labour intensive fruits and vegetables industry.
The road construction has also attracted complementary investments such as shops and
real estates.
Roads also facilitate labour movements to better paid jobs in nearby semi-urban regions.
They also allow government workers like health workers, teachers and agriculture
extension workers to have easier access to habitations.
Similarly, providing continuous and stable power in rural India would lead to faster
industrialisation and better capacity utilisation of the MSMEs.
According to 2011 census, only 10% rural households in Bihar had access to electricity,
thus keeping most households and school going children in complete darkness.

Simplify Laws and Procedures to Promote Non-Farm Enterprise

The maze of laws, organisations and practices that confront ordinary citizens in their
dealings with government encourage corruption and harassment.
De-regulation has made almost no impact in rural India.
Industry worth millions can be established without license but a farmer cannot set up a
brick kiln unit, a rice shelling plant or even cut a tree on his own private field.
A simple operation of converting prosopis (a wild shrub) occurring mostly on waste lands
into charcoal in Tamil Nadu requires government permission.
It is a sad commentary that the informal sector which provides maximum employment is
mostly declared illegal and subject to the whims of law enforcing agencies.
Regulated markets were supposed to improve efficiency, but many official market
committees in UP, Punjab and Haryana make it illegal for farmers to sell through
alternative channels (i.e. selling directly to millers). The markets have emerged as a
taxing mechanisms, rather than facilitating farmers to get the best price.

Empower Women through Land Ownership and Employment

Of all the disadvantaged people in rural India, interests of women have been least
articulated, even by civil society.
Ownership is mostly with male farmers. Not more than 2% land is exclusively in
womens name.
Although, Hindu Succession Act has been amended in 2005 giving equal rights to women
in inheritance, yet none of the state governments have taken new law seriously.
The Department of Land Resources should launch a campaign to correct revenue
records and ensure that womens land ownership rights are properly recorded by the
states with the intimation to women.

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Yojana and Kurukshetra- September 2016

The civil society should prepare and circulate pamphlets to MPs that enable them raising
concerns about womens right to land and property in Parliament.
Rural women are being displaced by growing mechanisation. Farmers are switching to
mechanical rice transplanters and combined harvesters are spreading in Bihar.
The non-farm jobs such as construction, retail trade and hospitality sector are largely
male oriented. These are generated away from rural areas where males can go on bike
but women cant as they dont know how to ride even a cycle.
Prosperity in India has thus made women more disempowered and dependent on men.
Special efforts are therefore needed to push womens productive employment.

Reduce Leakages in PDS through DBT

Government should abolish the dual pricing system in PDS and sell stocks to fair price
shops at market price.
The consumer will buy the foodgrains at subsidised price and transfer the remaining
amount to seller through his/her UID card.
This will vastly reduce leakages and subsidy and also improve the dealers attitude
towards the buyer.
As of now, the dealer avoids the consumer as his main interest is in selling the grain in
open market.
Once he is given the grain at market price, he will be forced to welcome the card holder
and persuade her/him to come to his shop at the earliest so that the transfer of subsidy
takes place.
This would allow PDS entitlements to be accessed anywhere in the country and greatly
help the poor migrant workers who are unable to access their entitlements now.
Thus, this would revolutionise PDS by providing genuine choices to entitlement holders
and would also cut down significantly on corruption.

Control absenteeism

All ministries/departments should collect quantitative data on absenteeism of both

service providers and service receivers as it throws great deal of light on quality of
service.
Through a carefully designed methodology backed by technology, it is quite possible to
measure the performance of all service providing agencies, such as police stations,
health and anganwadi centres, panchayats etc. and to what extent they are responsive,
efficient and participative.
For example, teacher absenteeism is endemic in north, with 2/3rds of teachers
employed in the sample school absent or not teaching at the time of the investigators
unannounced visits. In rural healthcare, there is marked absenteeism of doctors/ health
workers/ inadequate supervision/ monitoring in most states.

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Yojana and Kurukshetra- September 2016

Thus, technology should be used not only to monitor attendance but performance of
field staff also.

Improve flow of funds

Many state governments are not able to draw their entitled funds from GOI nor are able
to release these to the district and villages in time.
The result is that GOI diverts these unclaimed funds to better performing states.
Thus, it is important that changes are needed in financial procedures at the state level so
that utilisation of funds improves, timely payments are made to the staff and utilisation
reports are sent to GOI in time without delay.
The need to reform financial procedures is more urgent now because of the changes in
the pattern of fund flow from GOI, as central funds are no longer passed on to state
societies and agencies as before.

Evaluate flagship programmes

Although some ministries do concurrent evaluation and engage professional

organisations in preparing impact studies, no corrective action follows from the
examination done in reports.
Ultimately, the process of hiring a professional for impact study denigrates into another
patronage activity, here favourites are chosen, and the quality of report is secondary
consideration.
Only creating departmental studies is not sufficient. The findings should be publicised
and discussed with key stakeholders so that improvements in design and delivery can be
effected at the earliest.
Government should put on its website findings of impact studies and distribute these in
the workshops it conducts.

All these reforms require strong political support. In some states, political pressures for
distribution of patronage are so intense that there is no time or inclination for the ministers
and bureaucrats to do conceptual thinking, design good programmes, weed out
unnecessary programmes and monitor the on-going programmes. Such states should learn
from well-performing states which have overcome the anti-incumbency factor by improving
governance and thereby achieving inclusive growth.

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Yojana and Kurukshetra- September 2016

Ways to make Indian Villages Smart

Peoples participation is
extremely important in
development,
governments
alone
cannot do everything.
Community also needs
to take responsibility
and initiative.
This thinking is behind
governments village
scheme Sansad Adarsh
Gram Yojana (SAGY)

In 1975, Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Ahmednagar district of

Maharashtra, was one of many villages of India plagued by
acute poverty, deprivation, a degraded ecosystem and
unemployment.
Then one of its resident- Anna Hazare, retired from army and
the returned to his native place. Hazare inspired the villagers
to come together and improve the watershed management.
He campaigned against alcoholism and castism prevelane in
the village.
Today, Ralegan Siddhi is a rich and prosperous village.
The unique things is that this prosperity was achieved through
community efforts only with little or no external support.
It is a clear example of how a community can make its life
better through cooperative and collective efforts.

The idea behind SAGY

India has 6 lakh villages and approx. 2 lakhs Gram Panchayats.

Some Gram Panchayats have shown exceptional achievement in integrated local
development, mainly due to inspiring leadership and collective action.
However, many difficulties and challenges were faced by people in the process.
So it was thought to create an institutional mechanism where collective action by
community be nurtures and promoted.
Government aspires this through SAGY. Under this, some villages will be developed as
model villages through community participation and remaining villages should be
encouraged to emulate them in a competitive spirit.
The SAGY does not look at the beneficiaries as receivers and the government as doer.
The schemes is inspired by ideals of Mahatma Gandhi whose concept of rural
development revolves around creating model villages for transforming Swaraj into
Su-raj. (good governance)
As part of the scheme, the villagers will prepare their own development plan, activities
and fix targets for achievement. It seeks to not only provide physical infrastructure and
access to basic amenities, but also improve the standard of living, enrich social capital
and build community spirit.

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Yojana and Kurukshetra- September 2016

What will SAGY do?

Under this scheme,

an MP will adopt a
village
(Gram
Panchayat)
and
develop it as an
Adarsh Gram by
2106. Two more
such villages would
be developed by
2019 and after that
one village every
year till 2024.
Nominated MPs may
choose a GP from
rural area of any
district
in
the
country. In case of
urban constituencies (where there are no GPs such as Delhi), the MP will identify GP
from nearby rural constituency.
SAGY does not have separate funding. The funding for model villages has to be ensured
through convergence of existing central and state government schemes eg. Indira Awas
Yojana, PM Sadak Yojana. Also, funds from MPLAD and CSR can be used.

Village Development Plan

A Village Development Plan is prepared under MPs leadership.

It is done by involving villagers and leveraging scientific tools with special focus on
enabling every poor household to come out of poverty. This includes personal
development, human development, social development, economic development and
environment development.

Model village

The village under SAGY will have smart schools, universal access to basic health
facilities, pucca houses for the homeless, universal PDS for eligible families, egovernance and Aadhar card for all.
Pulling every house out of poverty is the main thrust area of the scheme.

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Yojana and Kurukshetra- September 2016

It also includes ensuring toilets in each household, supply of piped drinking water, all
weather connectivity to main road, electric connection to all households, village
libraries, telecom and broadband connectivity.
Unlike other schemes, attention would be given to social issues as well like reducing risk
behaviours like alcoholism, smoking and substance abuse among all age groups of
population.
Women participation in decision making will be encouraged. Mahila Sabhas and Bal
Sabhas will be held to discuss women and children specific issues.
Cultural life of village would also be under SAGY. Folk art festivals, having a village song
will be promoted. Sports will be promoted for overall development of youth.
Technology will be largely leveraged effectively to make this programme successful.
There will be use of space applications and remote sensing for planning, mobile based
technology for monitoring, agriculture technology for increasing productivity etc.

Implementation and Monitoring

The activities under SAGY are very diverse. Hence there is requirement of close
coordination and convergence across different ministries, departments, schemes,
MPLADS, state government and private sector.
At national level, there will be real time web based monitoring system. Capacity building
programme for all, right from GP functionaries to MPs would be undertaken by Ministry.
At state level, there will Empowered Committee headed by the Chief Secretary
consisting of relevant departments and including experts with at least two civil society
representatives.
The district collector will be the nodal officer for implementing SAGY.
To encourage good performance, 4 types of awards are instituted
o Best practices
o Best charge officers
o Best district collectors
o Best Adarsh Grams

Conclusion
Aim of SAGY was clear from the beginning- do it yourself rather than excessively rely on
government.
The current government has attempted to break away from past traditions of seeing the
governments role as benefactor and public as mute beneficiary.
This model is based on development with community participation.

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Yojana and Kurukshetra- September 2016

Connecting India, Building Roads for poor
Background

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana since its inception has been given Rs. 1.39 lakh crore
and states have reported expenditure to the tune of Rs. 1.5 lakh crore.
This programme envisages connecting all eligible unconnected habitations with a
population of 500 persons and above in plain areas and 250 persons and above in
special category states like Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram,
Nagaland, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura and J&K as per 2001 census.
Besides this, the habitations having population of 100 and above, identified by Home
Ministry as crucial are also covered under this scheme.
Rural roads have been state subject and PMGSY is a one-time special intervention of the
government to provide rural connectivity by way of single an all-weather road to the
eligible unconnected habitations in the core network.

How it works?

The preparation of District Rural Roads Plan as well as Core Network helps in
identification of the roads required to connect the unconnected habitations.
The road works proposed each year are identified and executed in a time bound manner
as per Indian Roads Congress standards.
The road works are tendered in packages of Rs. 1 to 5 crores, to attract competent
contractors with requisite equipment.

Monitoring

A 3 tier quality control system has been designed to ensure the quality of road works.
The National Rural Roads Development Agency, an agency set up by the ministry of rural
development, engages senior technical personnel as National Quality Monitors to
inspect the road works.
The roads constructed under the PMGSY are to be maintained by Panchayati Raj
Institutions.

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As assessment
Besides the socio-economic impact, the study also helped document the changes brought
about by the PMGSY roads in daily lives of rural poor at the household level and village level.
Sector-wise findings
Agriculture
Employment generation
Education sector
Social aspects
Health
Urbanization

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Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission
Vision- to develop a cluster of villages that preserve and nurture the essence of rural
community life with focuses perceived to be essentially urban in nature, thus creating a
cluster on equity and inclusiveness without compromising with the facilities perceived to be
essentially urban in nature, thus, creating a cluster of Rurban villages.
Integrated Cluster Action Plan will be an important document covering base line studies
outlining the requirement of cluster and the main intervention needed to address identified
needs and to leverage its potential.
Deficiency Analysis and Identification of Needs for the Cluster

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Implementation of Fasal Bima Yojana
Introduction
To provide financial support to farmers suffering from crop loss/damage arising out of
unforeseen events, a new scheme- Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana has been approved
for implementation in all states and UTs from Kharif 2016 season.
It has taken place of National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified National
Agricultural
Insurance
Scheme
(MNAIS).

The PMFBY is compulsory for

loanee farmers availing crop loans
for notified crops in notified areas
and voluntary for non-loanee
farmers.
There is no cap in premium,
however, premium payable by
farmers has been substantially
reduced and simplified and there is
one premium rate on pan-India
basis for farmers which would be
maximum 1.5%, 2% and 5% for all
rabi,
kharif
and
annual
horticultural/commercial
crops
respectively.

Salient features of PMFBY

Provide comprehensive risk coverage against crop loss on account of non-preventable

natural risk.
Increase risk coverage of crop-cycle: pre- sowing to post- harvest.
Area approach for settlement of claims for widespread damage.
Uniform maximum premium of only 2%-1.5%-5%.
The difference between premium and the rate of insurance charges payable by farmers
shall be provided as subsidy and shared equally by the centre and state.
Uniform seasonality discipline and sum insured for both loanee and non-loanee farmers.
Removal of the provision of capping on premium and reduction of sum insured.
Inundation has been incorporated as a localised calamity in addition to hailstorm and
landslide for individual farm level assessment.

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Yojana and Kurukshetra- September 2016

Provision of individual farm level assessment for post-harvest losses against cyclonic and
unseasonal rains.
For more effective implementation, a cluster approach to be adopted under which a
group of districts with variable risk profile will be allotted to an insurance company
through bidding.
Use of remote sensing technology, smartphones and drones for quick estimation of crop
losses to ensure early settlement of claims.
Launch of crop insurance portal for better administration, coordination, transparency
and dissemination of information.
More attention to increase awareness for the scheme
Premium rates under weather based crop insurance scheme have also been reduced
and brought at par with new scheme.
In addition, a Unified Package Insurance Scheme has also been approved for
implementation on pilot basis in 45 districts of India from Kharif 2016 season.

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Yojana and Kurukshetra- September 2016

Mission Indradhanush: Progress and Constraints
Mission Indradhanush was launched in the year 2014 by Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare with a dominant motive to immunize all the children under two years of age and
pregnant women with vaccines for seven major preventable diseases Whooping cough
Hepatitis B
Diphtheria
Tetanus
Polio
TB
Measles
It would help in better child health and lower chances of their death.
Apart from the above mentioned seven vaccines, four new vaccines- Rotavirus, Measles
Rubella, Inactivated Polio Vaccine Bivalent and Japanese Encephalitis have been added
under Mission Indradhanush.
The government of India has involved various external agencies like WHO, UNICEF and
Rotary for technical and financial guidance.
Ensuring full immunization of a child is identified as one of the most economical method
to reduce high rates of child mortality in India.
Under Mission Indradhanush, a local ASHA worker identifies potential beneficiaries, i.e.
children who are left out or not vaccinated and prepares a due list of her area.
ASHA and ANM workers organize a session near local area to immunize the children
mentioned in the due list.
There has been substantial increase in the immunisation coverage and through
mechanism of camps and sessions in the outreach areas, it becomes possible to identify
and immunize children even in the rural/remote areas.
In high-risk settlement areas in the rural strata of a state where large cohort of
unvaccinated children are present, ANMs and ASHA workers go door-to-door to identify
and immunize the unimmunised children.
The focus of the programme has been the high risk areas and also under served areas
comprising of population living in the deprived strata of the country such as urban
slums, brick kilns workers, construction site workers with high rate of migration, people
living in fishermens villages, riverine terrains, difficult and forested areas and nomadic
and tribal population.
Apart from areas with low routine immunization (RI) coverage along with vacant sub
centres where routine immunization sessions are missed.

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All the above mentioned areas along with small villages, hamlets, dhanis or purbas
clubbed with another village for RI sessions and not having independent RI sessions
constitute the major focussed areas.

Constraints
Challenge to spread awareness in the high risk and under covered areas.
Challenge to convince the parents who prefer their daily wage over wasting a day to sit
at home and take care of the immunised child.
The immunisation sessions are conducted at the peak hours- between 10 am to 4pmwhere majority of parents are absent from the location. Thus immunising all the children
in such areas is a challenging task.
Another challenge is lack of awareness amongst parents regarding the importance of full
immunisation for the development of child and fear of adverse symptoms like fever post
immunisation.
ASHAs and ANMs face various difficulties like poor storage of vaccines, fewer incentives
to ASHAs and ANMs, not getting official conveyance, travelling in potentially unsafe
areas alone. Thus, it leads to fewer efforts by them.
Thus, role of community workers becomes even more crucial to convince parents and
ensure that no child is left unvaccinated and equally important to provide them proper
facilities to conduct their responsibilities.
Almost 1.62 crore children were immunized under Mission Indradhanush in the last one
year and around 45 lakh have been fully immunised.
Overall, Mission Indradhanush is expected to expand full immunisation coverage to around
100% by 2020 after recording only 1% annual increase in the immunisation coverage amidst
2009-2013.
Although a big challenge, if implemented effectively, Mission Indradhanush is expected to
reduce child death rate by a substantial percentage in the coming years thereby ensuring
lower mortality and morbidity from diseases.

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Government measures for uplitfment of women in agricultural sector

As per 2011 census, 65% of the total female workers in India are enaged in agriculture.
Of the total cultivators (118.7 million), 30.3% are females.
Out of 144.3 million agricultural labourers, 42.6% are women.
In 2001, female agricultural labourers were 21% which increased to 23% in 2011.

The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare implements various

programmes of farmers including women in agriculture sector.
As per directives for the Women Component Plan, the state governments have been asked
to ensure flow of funds to the tune of 30% for the benefits of women farmers. The
programmes include:
State extension programmes for extension reforms under sub-mission on agricultural
reforms (SMAE), National Food Security Mission, National Mission On Oil Seed And Oil
Palm and National Mission On Sustainable Agriculture, Sub Mission For Seed And
Planting Material, Sub Mission For Agricultural Mechanisation and Mission For
Integrated Development of Horticulture.
The primary objective of Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana implemented by
Ministry of Rural Development is to empower women in agriculture by making
systematic investments to enhance their participation and productivity, as also create
and sustain agriculture based livelihoods of rural women.
The various measures taken by government are:
1. Under centrally sponsored scheme Support To States Extension Programme For
Extension Reforms, mainstreaming gender concerns in agriculture is being addressed by
ensuring utilisation of minimum 30% of resources on programmes and activities for
women farmers and women extension functionaries. To encourage women farmers
participation in planning and decision making process, their representation in Farmers
Advisory Committee at the block, district and state level has been provided under the
Schemes guidelines.
2. Under Sub Mission on Seed And Planting Materials (SMSP), the training is provided
under the components of the Scheme Seed Village Programme and Quality Control
Arrangement Of Seeds in which women farmers are equally benefited.
3. Under National Food Security Mission, 30% of fund allocation is being earmarked for
women farmer. There is also an intervention under NFSM providing cropping system
based training to farmers to create awareness on improved technology for increasing
production and productivity of crops.
4. Under National Mission on Oilseeds And Oil Palm, 30% of budgetary allocation is being
earmarked for women farmers.

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Yojana and Kurukshetra- September 2016

5. Under Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation, 31 drudgery reducing technologies
for women in agriculture developed by ICAR are promoted through training,
demonstration and financial assistance.
6. Under National Horticulture Mission, women are organised into SHGs and farm inputs
and technological and extension supports are provided to women to make them selfreliant.
7. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research has established a network of 645 KVKs
which aim at assessment and demonstration of technologies/products and its
dissemination through number of extension programmes including training of farmers to
update their knowledge and skill.
8. ICAR-Central Institute for Women in Agriculture (ICAR-CIWA) has been in the forefront
undertaking research on issues affecting women in agriculture. It has focussed on
participatory action research in different technology based theme areas involving rural
women to test suitability of technologies for women and suggest their refinement.
For gender mainstreaming and empowering women in agriculture, various
projects are being implemented to address issues related to women in
agriculture in areas of integrated farming system, IPM, drudgery, livestock and
fisheries, extension methodologies etc.

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Empowerment of Women: Government Perspective
Introduction

The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the constitution in its preamble,

fundamental rights, fundamental duties and directive principles.
The constitution not only grants equality to women, but also empowers the state to
adopt measures in favour of women.
In keeping with this principle of equality and inclusive growth, the state has adopted
various measures to empower women.
Empowerment, as an enabling process will only be achieved when an improvement
in the condition of women in terms of health, education, safety and security
including financial security is ensured.

Health

To address the problem of maternal and child under nutrition, the Integrated Child
Development Services (ICDS) scheme has been universalized and strengthened.
The programme covers close to 1.9 crore pregnant and expecting mothers and 8.5
crore children under the age of six.
To accelerate the pace of reduction Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in several
interventions have been made by the Government.
Promotion of institutional deliveries through Janani Suraksha Yojana
Absolute free and no expense delivery, including caesarean for all pregnant
women delivering in public health institutions, under Janani Shishu Suraksha
Karyakaram
Mother and Child protection card to monitor service delivery for mother and
children
Mother and child tracking system to ensure ante-natal, intra-natal and postnatal care along with immunization services
Maternal Death Reviews to take corrective action at appropriate levels and to
improve the quality of obstetric care

Education

The Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 was enacted to make free and compulsory
primary education a right for all children.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan was rolled to universalize access to education at primary and
upper primary levels.
A Gender parity Index score of 1.0 at primary and 0.95 at upper primary levels was
achieved with the help of SSA
A nationwide sub programme to the SSA called Padhe Bharat, Badhe Bharat has
been launched to ensure that learning levels of Class I and Class II students in
reading, writing language, comprehension and mathematics is at par with the world

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Vidyanjali (School Volutee programme) is another initiative under SSA to enhance

community and private sector involvement in Government run elementary schools
across the country
Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan in under implementation to enhance access
to secondary education for all children in the age group of 14-18 years and improve
its quality
Rashtra Uchchattar Shiksha Abhiyaan is being implemented for the holistic
development of higher education
Vidya Lakshmi (vidyalakshmi.co.in) under Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram
provides loan for students seeking higher education

Safety and Security

The criminal law (Amendment) Act, 2013 has been enacted to make punishment for
offences like Rape more stringent and also broadened the meaning of sexual assault
and harassment. New offences like sexual harassment, acid attack, voyeurism and
stalking, and disrobing a women have been incorporated in the Indian Penal Code
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention and Prohibition) Act,
2013 aims to provide a safe and secured environment for women to work
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005; for the protection of
the rights of women who are the victims of violence of any kind within the family
The Prohibition of Child marriages Act, 2006; for prohibition of solemnisation of child
marriages
The Protection of Children from Sexual offences Act, 2012 to protect children from
offences of sexual attack
The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PC & PNDT), 1994 for
prohibition of sex selection, before and after conception
The Maternity benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016; passed in Rajya Sabha which
proposes to increase maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks will definitely
promote female workforce participation in India
For ensuring womens safety pertaining to the strategic areas of prevention,
protection and rehabilitation, Government has established Nirbhaya Fund. It
includes establishment of One Stop Centres for facilitating/Providing medical aid,
police assistance, legal counselling/court case management, psychosocial counselling
and temporary shelter to women affected by violence.
The multi-sectoral Beti Bachao Beti Padhao initiative also aims to secure a bright
future and welfare of the girl child in India and address the declining child sex ration
and related issues of disempowerment of women over a life cycle continuum
To increase the visibility of women in police force 33% reservation for women in
Police force in State and UTs have been made

Financial Security

The flagship programmes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment

Guarantee Scheme, National Rural Livelihoods mission while providing livelihood
security to thousands of rural women, have also provided them with economic
security, empowered them and created rural assets simultaneously.

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Rashtriya Mahila Kosh is working exclusively for poor women by providing them with
regular funds and facilitating market linkages
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana has given confidence to lakhs of women in opening
their first bank account and a breakthrough to overcome the vicious cycle of poverty
and debt
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) launched to help them securing a
decent employment to move out of poverty
Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana has also been launched under the Beti Padhao Beti
Bachao.

Conclusion

With SDG in place, it would be critical in realizing the objectives of a truly inclusive,
equitable, people centered and transformative post 2015 development agenda with
a gender perspective.
This would be only possible, through combined efforts and contribution of all the
relevant stakeholders, including the civil society and private sector.

Swadhar Greh
The scheme envisions a supportive institutional framework for women victims of difficult
circumstances so that they could lead their life with dignity and conviction.
It envisages that shelter, food, clothing, and health as well as economic and social security
are assured for such women.
It also envisions that the special needs of these women are properly taken care of and under
no circumstances they should be left unattended or abandoned which could lead to their
exploitation and desolation
Objectives
Under the Scheme, Swadhar Greh will be set up in every district with capacity of 30 women
with the following objectives:
To cater to the primary need of shelter, food, clothing, medical treatment and care
of the women in distress and who are without any social and economic support.
To enable them to regain their emotional strength that gets hampered due to their
encounter with unfortunate circumstances.
To provide them with legal aid and guidance to enable them to take steps for their
readjustment in family/society.
To rehabilitate them economically and emotionally
To act as a support system that understands and meets various requirements of
women in distress.
To enable them to start their life afresh with dignity and conviction.

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Amendments to the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961

The maternity benefit Act 1961 protects the employment of women during the time of her
maternity and entitles her of a 'maternity benefit' - i.e. full paid absence from work - to take
care for her child. The act is applicable to all establishments employing 10 or more persons.
The amendments will help 1.8 million (approx.) women workforce in organised sector
The amendments to Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 are as follows:

Increase Maternity Benefit from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for two surviving children and
12 weeks for more than two childern.
12 weeks Maternity Benefit to a 'Commissioning mother' and 'Adopting mother'.
Facilitate' Work from home'.
Mandatory provision of Creche in respect of establishment having 50 or more
employees.

Justification

Maternal care to the Child during early childhood - crucial for growth and
development of the child.
The 44th, 45th and 46th Indian Labour Conference recommended enhancement of
Maternity Benefits to 24 weeks.
Ministry of Women & Child Development proposed to enhance Maternity Benefit to
8 months.
In Tripartite consultations, all stake holders, in general supported the amendment
proposal.

MAA programme to promote breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is the most natural, cost effective and significant intervention and should be
promoted at all levels. This is an enormous resource that every child has access to.
Breastfeeding programme will greatly help to reduce the under-five mortality of children.
Highlights
MAA-Mothers Absolute Affection' is a nationwide programme launched in an attempt to
bring undiluted focus on promotion of breastfeeding and provision of counselling services
for supporting breastfeeding through health systems.

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Yojana and Kurukshetra- September 2016

The programme has been named MAA to signify the support a lactating mother requires
from family members and at health facilities to breastfeed successfully.
The chief components of the MAA Programme are Community awareness generation,
Strengthening inter personal communication through ASHA, Skilled support for
breastfeeding at Delivery points in Public health facilities, and Monitoring and
Award/recognition.

Adverse Child Sex Ratio: A Mindset Issue

Background
Adverse sex ratio has been problem since at least the colonial period, It re-emerged as a
major problem in the 1970s.
Misuse of Ultrasound technology aided the practice of sex selective abortions.
Pre Conception and Pre Natal diagnostics Techniques Act effective in controlling the
practice.
Rethinking Mind-sets

The common perception is that, families guilty of this practice are suffering from
having fixed views about sons and daughters and how to value them. Their views are
stuck because it stems from age old traditions that devalue daughters.
The perception of current social and economic challenges associated with bringing
up a girl child has been significant in shaping the present daughter averse mindset.
Families in the present times are struggling between the idea of having children and
being able to find the means to support them. This is a very dynamic and complex
relationship in which families are pervasively and deeply influenced by their modern
surroundings.
Families expecting to improve their economic situation by having fewer children in
whom they can invest are the most susceptible to practising sex selection.

Critical role of Government:

Government has been introduced various schemes for correcting the skewed child sex ratio.
Apni Beti Apni Dhan, Ladli and Dhanalakhsmi are few such schemes.
These schemes suffer from a major problem:

The government must use the means at its disposal, such as schemes at the state
and central level to send out the right signals to families.

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Many of these schemes, such as Apni Beti Apni Dhan had been created to address
early marriage, to encourage families below the poverty line to keep their girls in
school and not marry them before the age of 18 years.
The idea behind these schemes was to compensate, as it were, in financial terms, for
the burden of an unwanted girl.
ICDS for pre-school children and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan which has been the
backbone for implementing the Right to Education (RTE) have then in these two
years, witnessed major cuts in budget allocations.

Surkshit Nari, Sashakt Nari

Panic button and Global Positioning System in Mobile Handset Rules, 2016 -> easier to
send out distress signal and identify current location.
181 is the Universal women helpline number which will be active 24*7.
Himmat App To raises SOS alert. The victim/callers location will be reported in real time
at the Police Control Room for instant help.
2 Mahila Battalions have been included in place of two male Battalions in CRPF
Ladies special trains and ladies compartments to be escorted by security squads
Security helpline 182 and Twitter account activated to provide assistance during train
travel.
CCTV Surveillance cameras to be installed in trains
Middle Bay in trains reserved for women.
Increased reservation quota of two lower berths to four per coach in Sleeper Class for
women and senior citizens
Sakhi One Stop Centre Scheme:
To support women affected by violence.
It will offer medical aid, police assistance, legal aid, counselling and shelters.
These centres will be connected with 181 and other helplines.

Best Wishes
IASbaba

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