Social Sector Initiatives

SOCIAL SECTOR
INITIATIVES IN 2015
Social Sector in the economy is increasingly being discussed in terms of its potential to bring about
transformational change to the status and opportunities of marginalized groups. Social schemes are believed
to empower poor people by helping them to adopt strategies to balance their immediate needs with their
investments in future livelihoods. They enable people to invest in more productive, but also riskier, activities
such as entrepreneurship or keeping their children in school. There is evidence that these interventions have:
promoted investments in childrens human capital and capabilities; increased the productivity of household
livelihood efforts; contributed to a sense of inclusion and citizenship; mobilised the poor around entitlement
claims; and impacted the local economy.
Hence to bring transformation in the lives of vulnerable and marginalized sections of the society different
Ministries of the government have taken varieties of initiatives in the last year (2015). These initiatives
Ministry-wise have been compiled to give a brief review about it.

Ministry of Women and Child Development

The Department of Women and Child Development,
Government of India, came into existence as a
separate Ministry with effect from 30th January, 2006;
earlier since 1985 it was a Department under the
Ministry of Human Resources Development.
developmental programmes in the sectors of health,
education, rural development etc. All these efforts
are directed to ensure that women are empowered
both economically and socially and thus become equal
partners in national development along with men.

The Ministry was constituted with the prime intention
of addressing gaps in State action for women and
children for promoting inter-Ministerial and inter-
sectoral convergence to create gender equitable and
child-centred legislation, policies and programmes.
The broad mandate of the Ministry is to have holistic
development ofWomen and Children.As a nodal
Ministry for the advancement of women and children,
theMinistry for mulates plans, policies and
programmes; enacts/amends legislation, guides and
coordinates the efforts of both governmental and non-
governmental organisations working in the field of
Women and Child Development. Besides, playing its
nodal role, the Ministry implements certain innovative
programmes for women and children. These
programmes cover welfare and support services,
training for employment and income generation,
awareness generation and gender sensitization. These
programmes play a supplementary and
complementary role to the other general
For the holistic development of the women and child
following initiatives have been initiated in the past
one year:
1. Enactment of Juvenile Justice ( Care &
Protection of Children) Act:
This law will strengthen provisions for both children
in need of care and protection and children in conflict
with law. Under Section 15, special provisions have
been made to tackle child offenders committing
heinous offences in the age group of 16-18 years.
The Juvenile Justice Board has been given the option
to transfer cases of heinous offences by such children
to a Childrens Court (Court of Session) after
conducting preliminary assessment.
The enactment of this law is expected to act as a
deterrent for child offenders committing heinous
offences such as rape and murder and will protect the
rights of victim.

[1]
To streamline adoption procedures for orphan,
abandoned and surrendered children, the existing
Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) has
been given the status of a statutory body to enable it
to perform its function more effectively.
Several new offences committed against children,
which are so far not adequately covered under any
other law, have also been made part of this law. These
include: sale and procurement of children for any
purpose including illegal adoption, corporal
punishment in child care institutions, use of child by
militant groups, offences against disabled children and,
kidnapping and abduction of children.
2. Launch of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP):
The WCD Ministry has taken a major step to arrest
this trend by launching its flagship programmeBeti
Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP)this year. BBBP seeks
to improve the declining trend of Child Sex Ratio
(CSR) in 100 selected districts in every State/UT
from the current level of 918 by preventing gender-
biased sex selection and ensuring survival, protection
and education of the girl child.
Multi-sectoral District Action Plans have been
operationalized in all states. District Collectors are
leading the initiatives.
The objectives of this initiative are: Prevention of
gender biased sex selective elimination; Ensuring
survival & protection of the girl child and Ensuring
education and participation of the girl child.
3. Formation of One Stop Centres:
The Ministry has launched the Scheme for setting up
One Stop Centres to facilitate access to an integrated
range of services including medical, legal, and
psychological support to women affected by violence
to be funded through Nirbhaya Fund.The victims
can seek help by directly walking in or by calling a
toll free number. The victims of rape, dowr y
harassment and domestic violence will get medical
aid and also help in filing FIRs, legal advice and
psychological counselling.
4. Launch of Women Helpline:
A schematic proposal to enable the universalization
of a Helpline specifically for women with acommon
number 181across the country has been approved.
This Helpline will be linked with One Stop Centres.
5. Provision of 33% Reservation of Women in
Police:
This initiative has been taken up to strengthen gender
sensitivity in police force so as to improve the overall
police responsiveness to gender sensitive cases.
[ 2 ]
6. Special Mahila Police Volunteer Programme:
Guidelines for operationalization of Mahila Police
Volunteers have been developed by WCD Ministry
and sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs for adoption.
MPVs will act as a link between police and community
and facilitate women in distress. They will play a
crucial role in creating community engagement to
address violence against women by informing police
about any unpleasant behaviour or instances against
women or girls and missing children. The MPVs will
be provided training in counselling and legal literacy
by the Ministry. They will also help spreading
awareness about services including women, police and
children helpline numbers.The MPVs shall report the
incidence of violence against women, domestic
violence and dowry harassment. MPVs shall be given
an Identity Card to authorize their identity and
engagement with public.
7. Engendering Young Boys and Girls in
Educational Institutions through Gender
Champions:
To sensitize young boys and girls on gender equality
issues, the scheme of Gender Champions has been
introduced from the school level itself. UGC has
requested Colleges and Universities to implement
Gender Champions. This programme has been started
for all educational institutions where selected boys
and girls will be recognized as Gender
Champions.Gender Champions are envisaged as
responsible leaders who willfacilitate an enabling
environment within their schools/colleges/academic
institutions where girls are treated with dignity and
respect. Gender Champions can be both boys and
girls above 16 years of age enrolled in educational
institutions. They will strengthen the potential of young
girls and boys to advocate for gender equality and
monitor progress towards gender justice.
The broad mandate of Gender Champions is to
provide an integrated and interdisciplinary approach
to understand the social and cultural constructs of
gender that shape the experiences of women and men
in society. The aim is to make young boys and girls
gender sensitive and create positive social norms that
value the girls and their rights.
8. Rashtriya Mahila Kosh:
The Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) set up as a society
in 1993 under the Ministry of Women and Child
Development extends collateral free microcredit for
livelihood support and asset creation to women in the
unorganized sector. It channelizes microfinance
through Intermediary Micro-finance Organisations
(IMOs) working in different parts of the country. For
effective implementation of RMK, Rate of Interest
(RoI) of RMK loans has been revised downward.
RoI chargeable to end-beneficiaries by NGOs have
been reduced to 10% from 14% this year.
9. Regulation of Matrimonial Websites:
Responding to a number of complaints of stalking
and harassment of women who register on
matrimonial websites, it has been decided to put in
place a regulatory framework in order to check this
menace. The matrimonial websites have come on
board for this and have agreed to jointly develop a
code of conduct which will be implemented through
self-regulation.
10. Mandatory Mention of Widows Name on
Death Certificates:
In order to ensure that a widow is facilitated to get all
her entitlements after the death of her husband, the
Ministry is working with the office of Registrar General
of India as well as the State Governments to ensure
that the names of the widow is compulsorily
mentioned in the death certificates of their husbands.
11. Film on Good Touch Bad Touch KOMAL:
A National Award winning animation film KOMAL
has been produced to educate young children on sexual
misconduct. The school organizations have been
directed to have this film shown to all children in all
schools.
12. Steps taken on Missing Children:
Several measures have been taken up for tracking,
rehabilitating/restoring lost, missing and trafficked
children.
Ministry of Tribal Affairs
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is responsible for overall
development (including health and education) of
people belonging to Scheduled Tribes and to protect
their rights, preserve and promote their culture and
heritage.
It hasgap filling role in the activities of various line
Ministries in the welfare of the tribal population and
implement schemes through the State Governments/
Union Territory Administrations or organizations
recommended by the Multi-Disciplinary State Level
Committee of the concerned State Government/UT
Administration.
i) Khoya Paya:
The web portal Khoya-Paya will have information
of missing and sighted children.The information will
be shared in real time with police and state authorities,
who are mandated to register the complaint and
investigate the case.
ii) MOU with Railways:
Ministry of Women and Child Development and
Ministry of Railways have framed path-breaking
Special Operating Procedures (SOPs) to be
implemented by Railways for runaway, abandoned,
kidnapped, trafficked children via medium of railways.
Child Helpline Centres at 20 major Railway Stations
for rehabilitation and rescue of such children have
been established.
13. Reforms in Adoption Process:
In adoption reforms, the Ministry of Women and
Child Development has notified the
revisedGuidelines Governing Adoption of Children
2015 coupled with the new IT enabled adoption
system CARINGS, provide a transparent process
of adoption under which all the child care institutions
of the country have been brought into an integrated
system.
For hassle-free adoption, CARINGS will contain a
Centralized Data Bank of adoptable children.
14. National Nutrition Mission:
A new Mission to tackle the problem of malnutrition
is being launched by March 2016 so that
supplementary nutrition can be provided in a targeted
manner with real-time IT based monitoring at ground
level. It will put in place a comprehensive set of
measures and activities that will address pivotal and
complex issues of malnutrition and focus on outcome
monitoring, training and capacity building.
For the holistic development of the women and child
following initiatives have been initiated in different
fields in the past one year:
1. Education
Toovercome language barriers in lear ning
amongst tribal children all Tribal Research
Institutes have been funded to prepare bilingual
primers (both in tribal and regional languages)
which would be reproduced throughSarva Siksha
Abhiyan.
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 Synchronization of vacation with Tribal Festivals
has been advocated to check drop out.
Tomake education relevant for the tribal
children, initivatives have been taken to provide
vocational training integrated with residential
schools with one of the teachers acting as mentor
cum counselor.
2. Strengthening of institutions
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs, in collaboration
with the Government of NCT of Delhi, is setting
up an autonomous body Society for Protection
ofTribals which would help the
migranttribalsaccess basic citizen services,
including Rescue, Rehabilitation & through co-operatives and linking with Milk
counsellingservices, through a 24X7 helpline.
3. Transparency in governance
AProject Appraisal Committee, headed by
Secretary, Tribal Affairs, with representatives of
State Governments, Financial Advisor, Planning
Commission etc. has been constituted to appraise
and approve the proposals for allocation under
various schemes of the Ministry.
4. E-governance
Launching ofMFPnet forrealtimeprices across
variousmandis(www.trifed.in).
Linking Kisan Call Centre (1800-180-
1551)withMFPNetto provide trade information
of not only Minor Forest Produce, but also about
agricultural products.
Launchingof e-Commerce portal for sale of tribal
crafts and produce collaboration
withwww.snapdeal.com for online sale of tribal
products by TRIFED
e-File Tracking System(for tracking files and
correspondences),
e-Samiksha(Real time Online Monitoring),
PRAGATI(Public Grievances),
AEBAS(Bio-metric Attendance System),
myGOV(for seeking public views on various
topics related to the Ministry),
VLMS(VVIP Letter Monitoring System) are
extensively used.
5. Culture
National Tribal Festival Vanaj: The Ministry
is providing a national platform for conservation
[ 4 ]
and promotion of cultural heritage of thetribals.
A national festival was organized to showcase
tribal art, craft, food, literature, medicines and
also display and sale of tribal arts andcrafts.
6. Skill development and employment
Training educated tribal youth to be qualified
teachers and paramedics for filling void in the
services.
7. Livelihood
Livelihood activities which can provide regular,
sustainable incomes have been supported and
advocated e.g. promotion of Dairy Development
Federations would provide a range of veterinary
services and regular income that has women
participation. Similarly, backyard poultry can
reach large number of households and help in
providing protein and additional income.
Composite fish culture is forcontainingmosquito
population, providing protein supplement and
income to the family. Usage of Space Technology
for mapping existing water bodies and developing
potential one through MGNREGS has been
promoted.
In addition, Horticulture, Apiculture, Floriculture,
improved varieties of traditional minor millets
advocated and supported. Minor millets are more
nutritious than polished rice or maize and hence
recommended for menu in schools
also.
8. Health & nutrition
Sickle Cell Anemia: A protocol for identification
of Sickle Cell Hemoglobin in tribal students
through a low cost Turbidity Test has been
developed byICMR.
MALARIA:To reduce the incidences of Malaria
amongst the tribal population,composite fish
cultures in the ponds has been advocated. Using
space technology mapping of existing ponds and
potential ponds has been started .This prevents
the breeding of mosquitoes. Fish provide
additional income and nutrition.
The Ministry has started an initiative to identify
tribal students, particularly girl students, who do
reasonably well in science subjects, train them as
paramedics and keep them attached to an ANM
or any other institution with a regular
remuneration.
 Other initiatives include:
a) Bring all pregnant mothers under immuni-
zationprogramme.
b) Aprotocol for including Folic Acid, every
Monday immediately after the afternoon meal
has been put in place.
c) Toensure regular intake of green leafy vegetables,
kitchen gardens are encouraged. Traditional foods
like minor millets, etc. are encouraged for
cultivation and included as a part of the school
meals.
9. Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal
Groups
CONSERVATION CUM DEVELOPMENT
(CCD) scheme has been launched in addition to
other schemes for socio-economic development
of tribal groups who are at the bottom of
developmental indices. The scheme by adopting
habitat development approach and intervening
in all spheres of their social and economic life,
to make visible impact in improving of the
quality of life ofPVTGs whileretaining their
culture and heritage.
Implementation of Scheduled Tribes and Other
Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest
Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA, 2006) is to recognize
and record their existing rights on the forest land.
Due process for recognition and vesting rights
have beenlaiddown through Rules and
Guidelines.
Under the Scheme titled Assistance to State
Scheduled Tribes Finance & Development
Corporations (STFDCs), the Central
Government is to provide 49% Equity Share
Capital to the State Tribal Finance and
Development Corporations and the balance of
the Share Capitalisto be borne by the State
Government. Aperson belonging to Scheduled
Tribes and living below poverty line is eligible
for assistance from the STFDCsunder the
scheme.
10. Paradigm shift in tribal development:
A. VanbandhuKalyanYojana(VKY):
Converges resources to achieve desired outcomes
through appropriate institutional mechanism.
Envisages comprehensive development
oftribalsby shifting the working character into a
holistic approach rather than focusing on physical
and financial achievements.
Ensures delivery of goods and services to the
tribal population across the country while striking
at the critical gaps in a targeted manner through
appropriate institutional mechanism.
In view of this,a ConvergencePlan has been
worked out in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs with
a view to pool in resources and efforts of various
Central Ministries .Asregards the Tribal sub-plan
(TSP) component of Central Ministries /
Departments, a Committee of Secretaries (CoS)
for Tribal Development has decided to effect
process re-engineering of their respective existing
interventions, planning and implementation of
TSP. The process is currently on.
B. Social safety net:
Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest
Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price
(MSP) and Development of Value Chain for
MFP, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme has been
launched during the year 2013-14 as one of the
social safety measure for the MFP gatherers, who
are primarily members of Schedule Tribe, by
ensuring fair monetary returns for their efforts in
collection, primary processing, storage, packaging,
transportation etc. Thescheme is implemented
in the States having areas under Fifth Schedule
of the Constitution.
C. Scheme of vocational training in tribal areas:
The main aim is to develop skills among the STs
and improve their socio-economic condition by
enhancing their income. Vocational Training
Centre may cater the five vocational courses
depending upon the employment potential of the
area. It will ensure employment of at least 75%
of the students.
D. Scheme of Girls and Boys Hostels forSTs:
Central assistance is given to States/UTs/
Universities for construction of new hostel
buildings and/or extension
State Governments are eligible for 100% central
share for construction of all Girls hostel and
also for construction of Boys hostel
innaxalaffected areas (identified by Ministry of
Home Affairs from time to time).
E. Scheme of Ashram Schools in Tribal Sub-Plan
Area:
Objective is to provide residential schools
forSTsin an environment conducive for learning
to increase the literacy rate among the tribal
students and to bring them at par with other
population of the country.
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 Ministry of Human Resource Development
The essence of Human Resource Development is
education, which plays a significant and remedial role
in balancing the socio-economic fabric of the Country.
Since citizens of India are its most valuable resource,
our billion-strong nation needs the nurture and care in
the form of basic education to achieve a better quality
of life. This warrants an all-round development of
our citizens, which can be achieved by building strong
foundations in education. In pursuance of this mission,
the Ministry of Human Resource Development
(MHRD) was created on September 26, 1985, through
the 174th amendment to the Government of India
(Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961. Currently, the
MHRD works through two departments:
Department of School Education
Literacy(Dept. of SE & L)
Department of Higher Education (Dept. of HE)
While the Department of School Education &
Literacy is responsible for development of school
education and literacy in the country, the Department
of Higher Education takes care of what is one of the
largest Higher Education systems of the world, just
after the United States and China.
The Dept of SE & L has its eyes set on the
universalisation of education and making better
citizens out of our young brigade. For this, various
new schemes and initiatives are taken up regularly
and recently, those schemes and initiatives have also
started paying dividends in the form of growing
enrolment in schools.
The Dept of HE, on the other hand, is engaged in
bringing world class opportunities of higher education
and research to the country so that Indian students
should not lack when facing an international platform.
For this, the Government has launched joint ventures
and signed MoUs to help the Indian student benefit
from the world opinion.
The year 2015 will be recorded as a landmark year in
education sector in many respects.
Achievement of 100% target of completion of
construction of separate toilets for boys and girls
in schools under Swachch Vidyalaya Abhiyan .
The year will also be known for technical
advancement made by the Ministry by laying
emphasis on ICT leading to launch of a number
of initiatives like e pathshala, Saransh, Shala
[ 6 ]
Siddhi, Shaala Darpan, availability of NCERT
books on mobile app etc.
The year also saw the Government of Indias
sincere efforts towards bringing out a New
Education Policy to meet the changing dynamics
of the populations requirement with regard to
quality education, innovation and research, aiming
to make India a knowledge superpower by
equipping its students with the necessary skills
and knowledge and to eliminate the shortage of
manpower in science, technology, academics and
industry.
The year will also be remembered because of
& the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore cracking
the top 100 in world University ranking as per
Times High Education ranking for 2015-16 and
IIT, Delhi also figuring in the top 200 list of QS.
A glimpse of other major achievements and initiatives
of theDepartment of Higher Education and
theDepartment of School Education & Literacyis
given as follows:
1. Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat:It is a sub-
programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan launched
in August, 2014 with special focus on improving
language development and to create interest
inmathematics.The two tracks of Padhe Bharat
Badhe Bharat are:
Early reading and writing with
comprehension (ERWC) and
Early mathematics (EM).
2. A programme called theNational Reading
Initiativewas launched to develop and promote
the habit of reading among students in elementary
schools, thereby extending the programme up to
class 8.
3. Children with Special Needs:With the active
support by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, over 25 lakh
children with special needs have been enrolled in
elementary education. In order to equip teachers
to facilitate classroom transaction and teaching
learning of children with special needs, material
on curricular adaptations for inclusive classrooms
has been developed by NCERT. All teachers
across the country are being oriented in practising
such classroom adaptations through teacher
training.
4. Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan:The
RMSA guidelines provide for augmenting
secondary school infrastructure through
constr uction of additional class rooms,
laboratories, toilet blocks, drinking water, libraries
etc. Till date 10,513 new schools have been
approved under the scheme. The Integrated
RMSA scheme extends the benefit to aided
Secondary schools (excluding infrastructure
support and teachers and staff salaries) for quality
interventions.
5. The Teacher Education Bureau is focusing on
the following main components for improving
the quality of teacher education:
a) In-STEP: Capacity Building Program of Teacher
Educators: Ministry of Human Resource
Development (MHRD) and USAID have
formulated the In-STEP programme (India
Support to Teacher Education Program) under
which 110 teacher educators from the Eastern
and North Eastern part of the country have
undergone a three month fellowship at Arizona
State University with the clear purpose of
understanding issues related to teacher education.
b) TheTESS-Indiais another programme for
Teacher Educators with collaboration between
Department for International Development
(DFID) and Ministry of HRD with UKs Open
University as the implementing agency.
c) TheCentrally Sponsored Scheme on Teacher
Education(CSSTE) puts emphasis on monitoring
of the process and outcome parameters in respect
of each level of institution, and for the purpose
a comprehensive monitoring mechanism has been
developed thereof:
Accreditation for Teacher Education
Institutions (TEIs)for better management
and improved quality of teacher
education.
Mapping of Teacher Education Institutions
(TEIs)to identify the gap areas for
effective future planning.
6. Digital Gender Atlas for Advancing Girls
Education in India:It was launched on 8thMarch
2015. The tool, which has been developed with
the support of UNICEF, will help identify low
performing geographic pockets for girls,
particularly from marginalised groups such as
scheduled castes, schedule tribes and Muslim
minorities, on specific gender related education
indicators.
The Atlas provides comparative analysis of
individual gender related indicators over three
years and that enables a visual assessment of the
change and an understanding of whether some
intervention introduced in a geography at a
particular point in time has worked or not. It is
constructed on an open source platform with an
inbuilt scope of updating data by authorized
persons to retain its dynamic character.
7. Udaan: This Scheme is dedicated to the
development of girl child education, so as to
promote the admission of girl students. It seeks
to enhance the enrolment of girl students in
prestigious technical education institutions
through incentives & academic support.
8. Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao programme, has
ushered in to encourage education among girl
children. The programme is a joint initiative of
Ministry of Women and Child Development,
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and
Ministry ofHuman Resource Development.
9. Saransh: The CBSE Board has launched an on-
line facility titled Saransh to help the schools
to look at their performance at an aggregate level
and at the level of each student. It is an online
self-review tool for schools affiliated to
theCentral Board of Secondary
Education(CBSE).
10. Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyanwas launched on
9thJuly 2015. This programme is directed towards
creating interest among school going students
from classes I to XII in sciences.
Under Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan, government
schools will be mentored by Institutes like IITs/
IIMs/ IISERs and other Central Universities and
reputed organisations through innovative
programmes, student exchanges, demonstrations,
student visits, etc. to develop a natural sense of
passion towards learning of Science and Maths.
Model labs would be created all over the country
for this purpose. The key activities under this
programme include
Mentoring of elementary and secondary
schools by Institutions of higher Education;
Forming Maths and Science clubs for
children at school and professional
development of teachers in order to make
teaching of Maths and Science interesting
for students.
[7]
11. National Conference on ICT in School
Education: During the Conference, e-Pathshala,
Saaransh, and National Programme on School
Standards and Evaluation Framework (Shala
Siddhi) were launched. All these are web portal/
mobile app. These apps promise to make learning
more interesting, school bags lighter and books
available on the go.
12. The first phase ofShaala Darpan Projectto
cover all the 1099 Kendriya Vidyalayas was
launched in June 2015. With the launch of KV
Shaala Darpan, parents will get entire information
at a unified platform about their children in
respect of the attendance status, performance,
health challenges and entire academic record from
Ist to XIIth standard. Students will have facilities
of e-tutorials and learning aids to enrich their
knowledge. This programme will be made
available as a mobile app which will keep the
parents informed of their wards progress in
schools.
13. The National Programme on School Standards
and Evaluation (NPSSE) Shaala siddhi:Shaala
Siddhi is a comprehensive instrument for school
evaluation which enables the schools to evaluate
their performance in more focused and strategic
manner to facilitate them to make professional
judgement for continuous improvement. The
web-portal of the framework will help all schools
to assess themselves and the results can be seen
by all enabling them to provide feedback. The
initiative has already been successfully piloted in
four districts of Tamil Nadu.
The School Standards and Evaluation Framework
(SSEF) has been developed to evaluate the
performance of schools against the well-defined
criteria in a focused and strategic manner.
14. E-pathshala: As a part of the Digital India
Campaign, the Ministry of HRD has launched
e-pathshala which is a single point repository of
e-resources containing, NCERT text-books and
various other learning resources.
E-Pathshala, a web portal which hosts educational
resources for Students, Teachers, Parents,
researchers and educators, is available through
especially developed mobile app interface on
Android, IOS and windows platforms for wider
access and contains textbooks and other e-books
as E-Pub 3.0 and Flipbooks in English, Hindi
and Urdu.The National Curriculum Framework,
(NCF) 2005 stipulates region specific books which
takes care of the local context, culture and
[ 8 ]
resources and therefore different books for
different regions better relate to the daily lives
of the local students.
15. Mid Day Meal Scheme: The IVR (Interactive
Voice Response System) to monitor the daily
implementation of Mid Day Meal scheme was
showcased this year during the National
Conference on ICT in School Education. The
Central Government has requested the States to
consider the concept ofTithi Bhojanfor mid day
meals in a suitable manner, to encourage local
community participation in the pro-
gramme.Social Audit,another intervention under
this Scheme means a process in which people
collectively monitor and evaluate the planning
and implementation of the Scheme. The Central
Government notified Mid Day Meal Rules, 2015
on September 30th,2015. The Rules inter alia
provide for temporary utilization of other funds
available with the school for MDM in case school
exhausts MDM funds for any reason; Food
Security Allowance to be paid to beneficiaries in
case of non-supply of meals for specified reasons;
and monthly testing of meals on a random basis
by accredited Labs to check its quality.
16. IMPRINT INDIA is a Pan-IIT and IISc joint
initiative to develop a roadmap for research to
solve major engineering and technology challenges
in ten technology domains relevant to
India.IMPRINT INDIAaims at direct research
in the premier institutions into areas of social
relevance. Under this, 10 domains have been
identified which could substantially impact the
living standards of the rural areas: (1) Health
care technology, (2) Energy security, (3) Rural
urban housing design, (4) Nano technology, (5)
Water/river system, (6) Advanced materials, (7)
Computer science and ICT, (8) Manufacturing
technology, (9) Advanced security and (10)
Environment/climate change.
17. Global Initiative for Academics Network
(GIAN), was launched as an initiative to attract
the bestforeignacademics to Indian Universities
of Excellence.Theprogramme has been
launched to facilitate the partnership between
Higher Education Institutions of India and other
foreign universities. Under this (352) courses are
being offered by foreign faculty from 38
Countries. These courses are being looked at as
a starting point of long-term research
collaboration between Indian Institutions and the
other Global institutions.
18. National Institutional Ranking Framework
(NIRF) evaluates each higher education
institution on 5 broad parameters namely
teaching/learning resources, research, graduation
outcomes, outreach/inclusive nature and the
public perception. An independent body is being
proposed to undertake this work based on
objective and verifiable criteria.
19. Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young
Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM), is a Web portal
where Massive Open On-line Courses (MOOCs)
will be available on all kinds of subjects.
SWAYAMis the Indian electronic e-education
platform which proposes to offer courses from
the high school stage to Post-Graduate stage in
an interactive electronic platform. Once it
becomes operational, students from the backward
rural areas can access teaching from the best
institutes in the country electronically, thereby,
raising the overall standards of higher education
in the country. SWAYAM-MOOCs project is
intended to address the needs of school level 9-
12 to Under Graduate and Post Graduate
students, covering all disciplines.
20. Launch of theCredit framework for Skills and
Educationas per the National Skills Qualification
framework paving the way for certification of
skills through the formal system and allowing for
multiple exits and entrance into the education
system with scope for vertical and lateral
mobility.The CBCS will enable students to take
courses of their choice, learn at their own pace,
undergo additional courses and acquire more than
the required credits, and adopt an interdisciplinary
approach to learning.
21. Saksham scholarship scheme:The All India
Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is
implementingSaksham scholarship schemeto
provide support to differently abled students to
pursue technical education.
22. Launch of theKnow Your College portalis to
provide informed decision making opportunity
for students along with complete availability of
all e-learning resources. A portal calledKnow
Your College (KYC) has been started in which
the data declared by all the educational institutions
is being placed in a public portal and also made
available through a mobile application so that
the stakeholders can verify the same.
23. UnderCampus Connectprogramme, all the
Central Universities in the country are going to
be connected through WIFI network at a cost of
approximately Rs.320 crores. Under this, all the
classrooms, libraries, laboratories, hostels and
places frequented by the students would be
connected through a secured WIFI hotspots
providing access to the educational and
information resources to the students on 24x7
basis.
24. UnnatBharatAbhiyanwas launched for
connecting higher education and society to enable
technology and its use for development of rural
areas. Under this all technical and higher
education institutions have been asked to adopt
five villages each; identify technology gaps and
prepare plans for innovations that could
substantially increase the incomes and growth in
the rural areas.
25. Ucchtar Aavishkar Abhiyaan: For promotion
of innovation, All the IITs have been encouraged
to work with the industry to identify areas where
innovation is required and come up with solutions
that could be brought up to the commercialization
level. Participation of industry in part-funding
the project would be mandatory.
26. Engineering skills to unemployed youth:An
initiative as a part of the PMKVY is being
launched to encourage all the 10,000 technical
institutions (engineering and polytechnic) to
provide engineering skills (through part-time
courses of 6 to 8 months duration) to at least
100 unemployed youth using their infrastructure
after college-hours.
27. Matribhasha Diwas:Matribhasha Diwas was
celebrated on 21.2.2015 to sensitize people about
the need of greater use of mother tongues and
other Indian Languages for development and
progress of the Nation. Finally, the above flagship
programmes, new schemes and innovations of
the Ministry of HRD prove beyond doubt that
it is playing a significant role in building strong
foundations in education.
28. While the Department of School Education &
Literacy has its eye set on the universalisation
of Education and making better citizens out of
the countrys young brigade, the Department of
Higher Education is engaged in establishing world
class institutes of learning and providing ample
opportunities for research and skill development
to ensure that we create the worlds largest
workforce.
[9]
 Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
(MSDE)
The challenge is immense. 54% of Indias population To achieve this Vision, the Policy has four thrust areas.
is below 25 years of age and over 62% of the
population is in the working-age group. Yet, only 4.69%
of the Indian population has undergone formal skills
training. By 2025, almost 1 in 5 of the worlds working
age population (18.3%) will be Indian. Recent skill
gap reports suggest that over 109 million incremental
human resources will be required in India alone, across
24 key sectors by the year 2022. 93% of Indias
workers work in the unorganized sector and acquire
skills through informal channels and lack formal
certification. Thus to meet the challenge Ministry of
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has been
established on 10th Nov, 2014. The mandate of the
Ministry is to:
1. Ensure youth emerging from formal education
are employable with job or self-employment
oriented skills.
2. Ensure people stuck in low income jobs and in
the unorganised segments can access growth
opportunities through up-skilling / re-skilling and
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).
3. Improve supply and quality of the workforce for
industry, contributing to increased productivity
4. Make skilling aspirational for youth.
To achieve these outcomes, a framework built on five
central pillars representing the core requirements for
skilling has been conceived by the Ministry to Create
a pipeline of skilled people, Correct supply for
demand, Certify global/common standards, Connect
supply with demand and Catalyse entrepreneurship.
These five pillars will be supported by cross-cutting
enabling measures.
The major initiatives taken in order to lay a strong
foundation for the skill training and entrepreneurship
ecosystem in the country are detailed below:
National Policy for Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship (MSDE) 2015, articulates a
framework for skilling at scale and speed while
ensuring high quality outcomes.Policy
Implementation Unit (PIU) set up and a system
of quarterly monitoring of key elements of
policy has been established. The Vision of the
Policy isto create an ecosystem of empowerment by
Skilling on a large Scale at Speed with high Standards
and to promote a culture of innovation based
entrepreneurship which can generate wealth and
employment so as to ensure Sustainable livelihoods
for all citizens in the country.
[10]
It addresses key obstacles to skilling, including low
aspirational value, lack of integration with formal
education, lack of focus on outcomes, low quality of
training infrastructure and trainers, etc. Further, the
Policy seeks to align supply and demand for skills by
bridging existing skill gaps, promoting industry
engagement, operationalising a quality assurance
framework, leverage technology and promoting greater
opportunities for apprenticeship training. Equity is also
a focus of the Policy, which targets skilling
opportunities for socially/geographically marginalised
and disadvantaged groups. Skill development and
entrepreneurship programmes for women are a specific
focus of the Policy. In the entrepreneurship domain,
the Policy seeks to educate and equip potential
entrepreneurs, both within and outside the formal
education system. It also seeks to connect
entrepreneurs to mentors, incubators and credit
markets, foster innovation and entrepreneurial culture,
improve ease of doing business and promote a focus
on social entrepreneurship.
The Ministry also proposes to launch the
NATIONAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT
MISSION (NSDM - known henceforth as, the
Mission), which will provide the overall
institutional framework to rapidly implement and
scale up skill development efforts across India.
The Mission seeks to:
a) Create an end-to-end implementation framework
for skill development, which provides
opportunities for life-long learning. This includes:
incorporation of skilling in the school curriculum,
providing opportunities for quality long and short-
term skill training, by providing gainful
employment and ensuring career progression that
meets the aspirations of trainees.
b) Align employer/industry demand and workforce
productivity with trainees aspirations for
sustainable livelihoods, by creating a framework
for outcome focused training.
c) Establish and enforce cross-sectoral, nationally
and internationally acceptable standards for skill
training in the country by creating a sound quality
assurance framework for skilling, applicable to
all Ministries, States and private training providers.
d) Build capacity for skill development in critical
un-organized sectors (such as the construction
sector, where there are few opportunities for skill
 training) and provide pathways for re-skilling and
up-skilling workers in these identified sectors, to
enable them to transition into formal sector
employment.
e) Ensure sufficient, high quality options for long-
term skilling, benchmarked to internationally
acceptable qualification standards, which will
ultimately contribute to the creation of a highly
skilled workforce.
f) Develop a network of quality instructors/trainers
in the skill development ecosystem by
establishing high quality teacher training
institutions.
g) Maintain a national database, known as the
Labour Market Information System (LMIS),
which will act as a portal for matching the
demand and supply of skilled workforce in the
country.
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)
is a flagship scheme for skill training of youth to
be implemented by the new Ministry of Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship through the
National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).
The objective of this Scheme is to encourage skill
development for youth by providing monetary rewards
for successful completion of approved training
programs. Specifically, the Scheme aims to:
a) Encourage standardization in the certification
process and initiate a process of creating a registry
of skills
b) Enable and mobilize a large number of Indian
youth to take up skill training and become
employable and earn their livelihood. Increase
productivity of the existing workforce and align
the training and certification to the needs of the
country.
c) Provide Monetary Awards for Skill Certification
to boost employability and productivity of youth
by incentivizing them for skill trainings
d) Reward candidates undergoing skill training by
authorized institutions at an average monetary
reward of Rs. 8,000 (Rupees Eight Thousand)
per candidate.
e) Benefit 24 lakh youth at an approximate total
cost of Rs. 1,500 Crores.
Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushal
Yojana is aGover nment of Indiayouth
employment scheme.
Main Highlights of the Yojana are:
The Yojana aims at training 10 lakh (1 million)
rural youths for jobs in three years, that is, by
2017; The minimum age for entry under the
Yojana is 15 years compared to 18 years under
the Aajeevika Skills Programme; Skill
development training centres to be launched so
as to address the unemployment problems in the
rural area; The skills imparted under the Yojana
will now be benchmarked against international
standards and will complement the Prime
Ministers Make In India campaign. The
Kaushalya Yojana will also address the need for
imparting training to the differently-abled persons
and chip in private players including international
players to impart the skills to the rural youths. A
sum of Rs. 1500 crore has been allocated for
this scheme, for which disbursement will be
through a digital voucher directly into qualified
students bank account.
ITIs which were formerly under Ministry of
Labour and Employment has transferred to
MSDE this year. A number of initiatives are
being undertaken to revitalise these organisations.
This includes for example, upgrading their
curriculum (in collaboration with industry
experts), strengthening industry linkages, scaling
up apprenticeships, modernising equipment and
facilities within ITIs etc. In addition, 34 ITIs
and 68 Skill Development Centres are also being
established in 34 Left Wing Extremism (LWE)
affected districts to open up employment
opportunities for youths in these areas. These
initiatives are aimed at improving the quality of
training in these institutions and ensuring that
students who complete ITI courses are
employable.
The Apprenticeship Act was modified in 2014,
to incentivise employers to take on more
apprentices.New Apprentices rules notified on
18 June15 enabling 4-fold increase in apprentices.
Advocacy campaign among industry taken up
and online portal launched. Upward trend in
enrollment already noted this year.
Strategic partnerships have also been undertaken
between MSDE and other Ministries/
Departments in the Central Government, to
collaborate on scaling up skill training activities
in specific sectors.
MSDE now has strategic partnerships with
Ministries/Departments, including Ministries of
[11]
 Social Justice and Empowerment (Department
for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities),
Health and Family Welfare, Steel, Mines,
Railways, Defence and Chemicals and Fertilizers
(Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals,
Department of Fertilizers, Department of
Pharmaceuticals).
Public Sector Units (PSUs) within these sectors
and related contractors will be encouraged to hire
workers certified in job roles aligned to NSQF,
utilize CSR funds for skill training purposes and
set up Centres of Excellence in collaboration with
DGT or NSDC, through these strategic
partnerships. These partnerships will play an
important role in scaling up skill training initiatives
and ensuring that these skill training takes place
at high quality, in each of these sectors.
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment is
entrusted with the empowerment of the disadvantaged
and marginalized sections of the society. The target
groups of the Ministry are:
i. Scheduled Castes
ii. Other Backward Classes
iii. Persons with Disabilities
iv. Senior Citizens and Victims of Substance Abuse
The Ministry has been implementing various
programmes/schemes for social, educational and
economic development of the target groups. As a
result there has been considerable improvement in
the welfare of these groups.
During the year 2015, Ministry of Social Justice &
Empowerment launched various initiatives for the
welfare of Scheduled Caste, Other Backward Class,
Denotified, Nomadic & Semi-Nomadic Tribes, Persons
with Disabilities, Persons in Destitute, Safai
Karamcharis, etc. These initiatives include financial
support to the target groups, rehabilitation of beggars,
and result oriented skill development programmes.
Some of the programmes launched during the year
include
1. Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat
Abhiyan):
Accessible India Campaign aims at achieving universal
accessibility for Persons with Disabilities and to create
an enabling and barrier free environment, with a focus
on three verticals:Built Environment; Public
[12]
The project, Special Industry Initiatives for J&K
(SII J&K) Udaan is to provide skills and enhance
employability to 8000 youth from J&K per
annum over a 5 year period in key high growth
sectors. Government will work along with the
corporate sector to bring about a positive change
in their skills and employment space in J&K
through collaborative approach. Udaan is targeted
at providing well-paid jobs to the trained
manpower. The Scheme is being implemented
by National Skill Development Corporation
(NSDC) and the corporate sector in PPP mode.
NSDC is a one of its kind Public Private
Partnership in India. It aims to promote skill
development by giving a push to creation of
quality vocational institutions.
Transportation and Information & Communication
Technologies.It was launched on 3rdDecember 2015,
commemorating International Day of Persons with
Disabilities.
It aims at enhancing the proportion of accessible
government buildings, airports, railway stations, Public
Transport, Public Documents and Websites.
2. 1stInternational Film Festival for the Persons
with Disabilities:
For the first time, the Ministry in partnership with
National Film Development Corporation has brought
out a Film Festival for the Persons with Disabilities,in
recognition of the spirit of the persons with disabilities.
It will showcase cinemas that open our world to their
mind-space and also cinema that has been made by
them.It helps bring to the fore the everyday struggles
of persons with disabilities and enables governments
and organizations across the world to address these
issues, help the persons with disabilities achieve their
full potential by providing them with all possible
resources, raise awareness about their needs, and make
communities more inclusive for them.
3. Steps taken by the ministry to promote
Entrepreneurship are:
a) Venture Capital Fund of Rs. 200 Crore for
Schedule Caste Entrepreneurs created on 22
December 2014. The scheme would be
implemented by Industrial Finance Corporation
of India Limited. The Fund has been registered
with SEBI.
The objectives of the Venture Fund are as follows:
It is a Social Sector Initiative to be implemented
nationally in order to promote entrepreneurship
amongst the SCs who are oriented towards
innovation and growth technologies.
To provide concessional finance to the SC
entrepreneurs, who will create wealth and value
for society and at the same time will promote
profitable businesses. The assets so created will
also create forward/backward linkage. It will
further create chain effect in the locality.
To increase financial inclusion for SC
entrepreneurs and to motivate them for further
growth of SC communities.
To develop SC entrepreneurs economically.
To enhance direct and indirect employment
generation for SC population in India.
b) Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme for
Young Scheduled Caste Entrepreneurs launched
with a budget of Rs. 200 Crore to facilitate
concessional finance. This will encourage
Entrepreneurship among SC and result in job
creation.
4. Steps taken by the ministry towards imparting
Skill Development training to SC, OBC,etc.:
National Schedule Caste Finance Development
Corporation provided skill development training
to 1325 trainees during 2014-15
Safai Karmacharis Finance Development
Corporation provided skill development training
to 8750 trainees during 2014-15
Commercial Motor Driving Training with Self
Defense skills for women imparted by National
Safai Karmacharis Finance Development
Corporation
National Backward Classes Finance Development
Corporation provided skill development training
to 13,510 trainees during 2014-15
National Action Plan for Skill Training of Persons
With Disabilities has been launched by which 25
Lakh PwDs will be Skill Trained by the year
2022.
New Scholarship Schemes introduced by the
ministry to encourage more and more
participation of these communities.
National fellowship for OBCs was launched and
implemented through UGC.
Dr. Ambedkar Post Matric Scholarship for
economically backward classes launched.
5. National Fellowship for OBCs was launched
and implemented through UGC.
The scheme aims at providing financial assistance to
the OBC students in obtaining quality higher education
leading to degrees such as M.Phil and Ph.D in
universities, research institutions and scientific
institutions. This will not only enable them to be
eligible for employment to the posts of Lecturers
lying vacant in various colleges and universities but
will also equip them to effectively take advantage of
the growing opportunities at the national and
international level in the context of the new economic
order.
6. Dr Ambedkar Post Matric Scholarship Scheme
for Economically Backward Classes launched
This is a 100 % centrally sponsored scheme being
implemented through the State Government and
Union Territories. The objective of the scheme
is to provide financial assistance to the EBC
students studying at post-matriculation or post-
secondary stage
7. National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic
and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNT) constituted
to prepare state wise list of Denotified, Nomadic
& Semi-Nomadic Tribes communities who are
not included in SC/ST/OBC and to assess
welfare measures for these communities.
8. National Backward Classes Finance
Development Corporation has launchede-
Marketing platformto the target group
9. National Safai Karmacharis Finance
Development Corporation launchedSwachhta
Udyami Yojanafor financing viable community
toilet projects & Garbage collection vehicles.
10. Scheme for Establishment of College for deaf
in each of the five regions of the countryhas
been launched in January, 2015. The object of
the Scheme is to provide equal educational
opportunities to hearing impaired students for
pursuing higher studies and improve the chances
of employability and better quality of life through
higher education.
[13]
 Ministry of Minority Affairs
The Ministry of Minority Affairs was created on 29th
January, 2006 to ensure a more focused approach
towards issues relating to the notified minority
communities namely Muslim, Christian, Budhist,
Sikhs, Parsis and Jains. The mandate of the Ministry
includes formulation of overall policy and planning,
coordination, evaluation and review of the regulatory
framework and development programmes for the
benefit of the minority communities.
1. Economic Empowerment:
Ministry has taken it as a mission to orient and involve
minority youths in nation building process by
equipping them with education and skills. Under Skill
India Mission, Ministry has strengthened the scheme
Seekho aur Kamao by allocating more resources
and targets for placement linked training of minority
youths. Moreover, Ministry on one hand striving to
bring school dropouts back in education and on the
other hand making efforts to provide formal education
to students from community institutions like Madarsas
etc. Ministry is also trying to integrate skills and has
taken up initiatives through various schemes/
programmes namely, Nai Manzil, USTTAD and
Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills
(MANAS).
2. Seekho aur Kamao (Learn and Earn)
A placement linked skill development scheme for
minorities aims to upgrade various modern/traditional
skills of minority youth enabling self-employment.It
ensures placements of minimum 75% trainees(at least
50% in organized sector) and post placement tracking
of trainees for one year is mandatory for PIAs (Project
Implementing Agencies).
3. USTTAD(Upgrading the Skills and Training
in Traditional Arts/ Crafts for Development)
It isanew scheme formally launched on 14thMay,
2015 at Varanasi (U.P.) to preserve rich heritage of
traditional arts/crafts of the minorities. It aims at
capacity building and updating the traditional skills
of master craftsmen/artisans; documentation of
identified traditional arts/crafts of minorities; set
standards for traditional skills; training minority youths
in identified traditional arts/crafts through master
craftsmen; and develop national and international
market linkages.It targets minority youths of 14-35
years of age and minimum Class-V qualified. The
scheme will be implemented through selected Project
Implementing Agencies (PIAs) and Knowledge
Partners. Ministry signed a MoU with an E-commerce
[14]
portal shopclues.com for facilitating the market
linkages of crafts.
4. Nai Manzil
An integrated education and livelihood
initiativelaunched on 8thAugust, 2015,for school
dropouts and Madarsa students.It will enable minority
youthsin the age group of 17 to 35 yearsnot having
formal school leaving certificate,i.e.,those in the
category of school-dropouts or educated in the
community education institutions like theMadarsas,
to seek better employment in organized sector. A
Non-residential programme, to take prospective
participants through a Basic Bridge Programme (For
Class VIII or Class X), along with training in trade
based skills for sustained livelihood/gainful
employment.
5. MANAS Maulana Azad National Academy
for Skills
A special purpose vehicle established on 11.11.2014
addresses all skill development needs of minority
communities. It provides an all India Training
framework with leading training partners in PPP Mode.
Operates on Architecture of the Ministry of Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship and covers all skill
sectors as per the local demand.MANAS establish
linkages with concessional credit to Skill Development
to provide sustainable livelihood to Minority
Communities with primary focus on self-employment
and entrepreneurship. MANAS has signed MoUs with
NSDC and sector skill councilsof Health, Security,
Leather, Logistics, and Media & Entertainmentand
the lending bodies of trade and industry.
6. Infrastructure Development:
UnderSwachch Bharat Mission, the Ministry has
taken initiatives in its Multi-sectoral Development
Programme (MsDP) by including mandatory
construction of toilets in schools, hostels and toilets
in public areas. During 2014-15, 80 schools and 86
hostels with proper toilet facilities and 39 toilets in
other schools were sanctioned under MsDP. Ministry
promotes the Swachch Bharat campaign in its
publications. During 2015-16, 73 hostels with proper
toilet facilities and 52 toilets and drinking water
projects in other schools were sanctioned under MsDP.
Digital Literacy Missionhas also been integrated
intoMulti-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP)
with a new programme calledCyber Gram. This
programme aims to impart digital literacy to students
of Madarsas and government Schools in identified
Minority Concentration Areas. The programme is
implemented through M/s CSC e-Governance
Services Ltd., a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created
by the Ministry of Electronics & IT, Govt. of India
for implementation of their Common Service Centre
(CSC) scheme.
7. Nai Roshni:
Ministry implements an exclusive schemeNai
Roshnifor Leadership Development of Minority
Women with an aim to empower and instill confidence
in women by providing knowledge, tools and
techniques for interacting with Government systems,
banks and intermediaries at all levels.
The scheme is implemented through Non -
Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Civil Societies,
Trust etc. The scheme provides one week training
programmes followed by Handholding for one year.
The training is provided on various Training modules
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
To optimally tap constructive and creative energies
of youth, the Ministry pursues the twin objectives of
personality building and nation building, i.e. developing
the personality of youth and involving them in various
nation-building activities. The Youth, i.e. those falling
within the age group of 15-35 years constitutes nearly
40% of the total population of India. This group which
is the most vibrant and dynamic segment of the
countrys population constitutes potentially its most
valuable human resource. As most of the issues
concerning young people are the functions of other
Ministries/Departments, like Education, Employment
& Training, Health and Family Welfare, etc. the role
of the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports is to act
as a facilitator and catalytic agent. Sports promotion
is primarily the responsibility of the various National
Sports Federations which are autonomous. The role
of the Government is to create the infrastructure and
promote capacity building for broad-basing sports as
well as for achieving excellence in various competitive
events at the national and international levels.
1. National Young Leaders Programme (NYLP):
It was launched in order to develop leadership qualities
among the youth.The Scheme has the following 5
components, namely:
a) Neighbourhood Youth Parliament (NYP): The
platform of youth clubs of Nehru Yuva Kendra
Sangathan (NYKS) will be developed in the shape
of vibrant neighbourhood youth parliament to
educate the youth club members
covering issues relating to women viz. Leadership of
Women through participation in decision making,
Educational Programmes for women, Health and
Hygiene, Legal rights of women, Financial Literacy,
Digital Literacy, Swachch Bharat, Life Skills and
Advocacy for Social and Behavioural change.
8. Preservation of Rich Heritage:
Ministry launched a new scheme Hamari
Dharoharin 2014-15to preserve the rich heritage of
minority communities of India. The scheme aims at
curating iconic exhibitions, supporting calligraphy,
preser vation of old documents, research and
development, etc.
The Government has decided to provide support to
iconic exhibition of Parsis i.e. The Everlasting
Flame to showcase the civilization and culture of
the Parsis (Zoroastrians) under Hamari Dharohar
during 2015-16.
aboutcontemporary socio-economic develop-
mental issues and to involve them in debate/
discussions on such issues.
b) Youth for Development Programme (YFD): To
channelise the immense youth energy towards
the nation-building, by involving them
inShramdaan(voluntary labour) on a large-scale
all over the country.
c) National Young Leaders Awards (NYLA): To
motivate the youth to strive for excellence in
their respective fields by recognising and
rewarding the outstanding work done by them.
d) National Youth Advisory Council (NYAC): to
seek active involvement of the youth leaders as
well as other stakeholders in the decision-making
process on the youth related issues.
e) National Youth Development Fund (NYDF): To
mobilise funds for youth development from non-
Government sources like Corporate social
responsibility (CSR) funds.
2. Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS):
NYKS, with about 8.43 million youth enrolled through
2.98 lakh youth clubs, has been working all over the
Country to develop the personality of the youth and
to engage them in nation-building activities.
Nehru Yuva Kendras were established in the year 1972
with the objective of providing rural youth avenues
[15]
to take part in the process of nation building as well
providing opportunities for the development of their
personality and skills. NYKS was set up as an
autonomous organization under the Government of
India, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, to oversee
working of these Kendras. NYKS is the largest
grassroots level youth organization; one of its kind in
the world. It channelizes the power of youth on the
principles of voluntarism, self-help and community
participation.
3. National Service Scheme (NSS):
National Service Scheme, was launched in Gandhijis
Birth Centenary Year 1969 with primary focus on
the development of personality of students through
community service.
The main objectives of National Service Scheme
(NSS) are :
Understand the community in which they work.
Understand themselves in relation to their
community.
Identify the needs and problems of the
community and involve them in problem-solving.
Develop among themselves a sense of social and
civic responsibility.
Develop capacity to meet emergencies and
natural disasters. and
Practise national integration and social harmony.
4. Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth
Development (RGNIYD):
RGNIYD, located at Sriperimbudur (Tamilnadu), is a
premier institution for training, research, extension
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Health care should be within the reach of every
citizen.The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
is charged with implementing of the Health Policy of
India. It is also responsible for all government
programs relating tofamily planning in India.
The Ministry regularly publishes theIndian
Pharmacopoeiasince 1955 through Indian
Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) an autonomous
body under the ministry for setting of standards for
drugs, pharmaceuticals and healthcare devices and
technologies in India.
1. Mission Indradhanush
[16]
and outreach initiatives on youth issues. RGNIYD
has been declared as an Institute of National
Importance through enactment of RGNIYD Act,
2012. The mandate of the Institute is as under:-
To function as a resource agency and think- tank
for youth programmes, policies and
implementation strategies.
To develop multi-faceted-programmes for youth
keeping in view of the social harmony and
national unity as the ultimate objective.
To grow and develop as a facilitator and nodal
agency for youth training, youth work and youth
development in the country for rural, urban as
well as tribal youth.
To function as an institute of advanced study in
the field of youth and to develop such
professional excellence as may be required for
the purpose.
5. Youth Hostels:
Youth Hostels are built to promote youth travel and
to enable the young people to experience the rich
cultural heritage of the country. The construction of
the Youth Hostels is a joint venture of the Central
and State Governments. While the Central
Government bears the cost of construction, the State
Governments provide fully developed land free-of-
cost, with water supply, electricity connection and
approach roads. Youth Hostels are located in areas of
historical and cultural value, in educational centres, in
tourist destinations, etc. youth Hostels provide good
accommodation for the youth at reasonable rates. The
Youth Hostels are looked after by managers, appointed
by the Central Government.
The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has
launched Mission Indradhanush, depicting seven
colours of the rainbow, to fully immunise more than
89 lakh children who are either unvaccinated or
partially vaccinated; those that have not been covered
during the rounds of routine immunisation for various
reasons. They will be fully immunised against seven
life-threatening but vaccine preventable diseases which
include diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio,
tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis-B.In addition,
vaccination against Japanese Encephalitis and
Haemophilus influenza type B will be provided in
selected districts/states of the country. Pregnant
women will also be immunised against tetanus.
2. Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Eliminated
(MNTE)
All the States/UTs of India have been validated for
Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination (MNTE)
well before the global target date of December, 2015.
The Maternal and neonatal tetanus validation in India
started in 2003 in a phased manner. Andhra Pradesh
was the first state to validate MNT elimination.
Nagaland was the last state in the country where the
validation exercise was completed on 17th April 2015.
As per WHO India has achieved the milestone of
Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus elimination in 2015.
Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination (MNTE)
is defined as less than one neonatal tetanus case per
thousand live births per year in every district. In 1989,
global deaths from Neonatal Tetanus (NT) were
estimated at 7.87 lakh per year and India contributed
to approximately 2 lakh deaths.
India has achieved this validation through the system
strengthening, including improvement of institutional
delivery, which is also a proxy indicator for clean
delivery and clean cord care practices and by
strengthening Routine Immunization. Strategies to
improve clean delivery have been included in the
innovative Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) and Janani
Shishu Suraksha Karayakaram (JSSK).
3. Decision to Introduce New Vaccines
In a bid to protect the children from more vaccine
preventable diseases, new vaccines are proposed to
be introduced as part of Indias Universal
Immunisation Programme (UIP). Introduction of
these vaccines will be done in a phased manner over
a period of time, depending upon the field level
assessments and preparedness. In addition, it has been
decided to introduce an adult vaccine against Japanese
Encephalitis (JE) in the high burden districts. The
new vaccines are:
a. Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV)
India is Polio free but to maintain this status, the
Inactivated Polio Vaccine was introduced on
30thOctober 2015. The vaccine has been initially
introduced in six states: Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam and Punjab. This will benefit
2.7 crore children every year.
b. Adult Japanese Encephalitis (JE) vaccine
21 high burden districts have been identified in Assam,
Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal for adult JE
vaccination in the age-group of 15-65 years. This
will cut down deaths and morbidity due to Japanese
Encephalitis in adults as well.
c. Rotavirus vaccine
Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhoea
among infants and young children in the world. Each
year India loses approximately 2 lakh children to
diarrhoea out of which 1 lakh deaths are caused by
Rotavirus. Rotavirus vaccine implemented to full scale
would save approximately 1 lakh lives every year.
The vaccine is planned to be introduced in first quarter
of 2016 in four states initially i.e. Odisha, Himachal
Pradesh, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.
d. Measles Rubella vaccine
Measles Rubella vaccine eliminates measles and
controls Rubella in the country. The vaccine will help
to reduce incidence of Congenital Rubella Syndrome.
As on date, approximately 25,000 cases of CRS are
estimated each year and if the child survives, this
adds to the disabilities in the country. MR vaccination
campaign will be carried out after appropriate planning
and will cover 45 crore children.
4. Special New born Care Units(SNCUs)
In order to strengthen the care of sick, premature and
low birth weight newborn Special New born Care
Units (SCNU) have been established at District
Hospitals and tertiary care hospitals. These are 12-20
bedded units, with 4 trained doctors and 10-12 nurses
and support staff with provision of 24x7 services to
sick newborns.
MoHFW provides free entitlement of care at these
centres under Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram.
Each SNCU is expected to provide: Care at birth
including resuscitation of asphyxiated newborn, sick
newborn and routine postnatal care. Follow up of high
risk newborn and Immunization/Referral Services are
also provided for. Once the baby is discharged to
home ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) will
do the follow up of these babies for one year. District
Early Intervention Centre (DEIC) have also been
linked with SNCU to provide specialized care to the
babies with special needs and delays.
5. National Deworming initiative
Like many other countries across the globe, India is
also endemic for Soil Transmitted Helminths. More
than 241 million children are estimated to be at risk
of parasitic intestinal worm infections leading to
impaired physical growth, cognitive development,
fatigue, inter nal bleeding. They also cause
micronutrient deficiencies leading to poor school
performance and absenteeism in children. Albendazole
tablets, once in 6 months, is a simple drug proven to
reduce the worm load.
[17]
Understanding the negative impact of worm load in
children effecting their growth and development,
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government
of India, ambitiously launched National Deworming
Day (NDD) on 10th February, 2015 followed by mop-
up activities to be carried up to 14th February, 2015
across all Government/Government aided schools and
Anganwadi centers of 11 States/UT.
NDD was implemented in 277 districts across 11
States/UT namely Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Dadra
Nagar Haveli, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Tripura.
More than 4.70 lakh schools and 3.67 lakh Anganwadi
centers were covered under the ambitious NDD
program. With an achievement of 85 percent coverage,
a total of 8.98 crore children aged 1-19 years, received
deworming tablet against a target of 10.31 crore during
the National Deworming Day.
6. Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK)
The Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) has
been launched to provide child health screening and
early interventions services by expanding the reach
of mobile health teams at block level. These teams
will also carry out screening of all the children in the
age group 0-6 years enrolled at Anganwadi Centres at
least twice a year. RBSK covers 30 common health
conditions. States/UTs may incorporate a few more
conditions based on high prevalence/endemicity. An
estimated 27 crore children in the age group of zero
to eighteen years are expected to be covered in a
phased manner.
It aims to improve the overall quality of life of
children through early detection of birth defects,
diseases, deficiencies, development delays including
disability (4 Ds) and reduce out of pocket expenditure
for the families.
7. Daksh
For improving the skills of healthcare providers and
to enhance their capacity to provide quality
(Reproductive, Mater nal, Neonatal, Child &
Adolescent Health) RMNCH+A services,
Government of India has established five National
Skills lab Daksh at Delhi and in NCR region with based interventions; facility based interventions; social
support from Maternal health division, Government
of India and Liverpool school of tropical
Medicine(LSTM).
The objectives of Skills lab are to :
(a) Facilitate acquisition/ reinforcement of key
standardized technical skills and knowledge by
service providers for RMNCH+A services
[18]
(b) Ensures the availability of skilled personnel at
health facilities
(c) Improves the quality of pre service training
(d) Provides continuing Nursing education /
Continuing medical education. The target
audience of 6 days skills lab training are
Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Paediatricians,
Medical Officers, staff Nurses, Auxiliary Nurse
Midwife (ANM), state trainers and faculty of
Nursing School/ colleges and Medical College
who can adapt it for strengthening pre service
teaching.
8. Family Planning
Three new choices are now being introduced in the
National Family Planning program.
a. Injectable DMPA:The Drugs Technical Advisory
Board (DTAB) agreed to the introduction of the
injectable contraceptive DMPA in the public
health system under the National Family Planning
Programme.
b. POP:Progesterone only pill for the lactating
mothers
c. Centchroman:A non-hormonal once a week pill.
9. Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK)
The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK)
was launched with an overarching aim to address
sexual and reproductive health, nutrition, injuries and
violence (including gender based violence), prevention
of non-communicable diseases, mental health and
substance misuse related concerns of 253 million
adolescents of our country through effective and
coherent implementation of programmes and schemes.
The short term goal is to ensure holistic health and
development of adolescents and the long term
outcome will increase social and economic
productivity of our nation.
The programme is underpinned by the principles of
equity and inclusion; rights based approach, adolescent
and community participation and strategic partnership.
The key components of the program are community
and behavior change communication; and inter-sectoral
convergence.
10. The National Health Mission (NHM)
The National Health Mission (NHM) encompasses
its two Sub-Missions, the National Rural Health
Mission (NRHM) and the National Urban Health
Mission (NUHM). The main programmatic
components include Health System Strengthening in
rural and urban areas, Reproductive-Mater nal-
Neonatal-Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A),
and Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases.
The NHM envisages achievement of universal access
to equitable, affordable & quality health care services
that are accountable and responsive to peoples needs.
National Rural Health Mission (NRHM): NRHM seeks
to provide accessible, affordable and quality health
care to the rural population, especially the vulnerable
groups. Under the NRHM, the Empowered Action
Group (EAG) States as well as North Eastern States,
Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh have been
given special focus. The thrust of the mission is on
establishing a fully functional, community owned,
decentralized health delivery system with inter-sectoral
convergence at all levels, to ensure simultaneous action
on a wide range of determinants of health such as
water, sanitation, education, nutrition, social and
gender equality.
National Urban Health Mission (NUHM): NUHM seeks
to improve the health status of the urban population
particularly urban poor and other vulnerable sections
by facilitating their access to quality primary health
care. NUHM covers all state capitals, district
headquarters and other cities/towns with a population
of 50,000 and above (as per census 2011) in a phased
manner. Cities and towns with population below
50,000 will continue be covered under NRHM.
Key Initiativesunder NHM:
a) Launch of National Quality Assurance
Framework for Health facilities:To improve
quality of health care in over 31,000 public
facilities and provide a clear roadmap to states,
Quality Standards for District Hospitals (DHs),
CHCs and PHCs under National Quality
Assurance Framework were rolled out in
November, 2014.
b) Launch of Kayakalp- an initiative for Award to
Public Health Facilities: Kayakalp-initiative has
been launched to promote cleanliness, hygiene
and infection control practices in public health
facilities. Under this initiative public healthcare
facilities shall be appraised and such public
healthcare facilities that show exemplary
performance meeting standards of protocols of
cleanliness, hygiene and infection control will
receive awards and commendation. Further,
Swachhta Guidelines for public health facilities
to promote Cleanliness, Hygiene and Infection
Control Practices in public health facilities were
released on 15th May, 2015. The Guidelines
provide details on the planning, frequency,
methods, monitoring etc. with regard to Swachhta
in public health facilities.
c) Launch of National Family Health Survey
(NFHS)IV:NFHS-IV was launched in mid-2014
to provide essential data and information on
important emerging health and family welfare
elements to track progress on key parameters
and provide evidence for policy and programme.
The field work of NFHS-IV is under progress.
This survey results are expected in 2016 and will
provide national, state and district level data.
d) Launch of India Newborn Action Plan
(INAP):Currently, there are estimated 7.47 lakh
neonatal deaths annually. In September 2014,
INAP was launched for accelerating the reduction
of preventable newborn deaths and stillbirths in
the country - with the goal of attaining Single
Digit Neo-natal Mortality Rate (NMR) by 2030
and Single Digit Still Birth Rate (SBR) by 2030.
The neo-natal deaths are expected to reduce to
below 2.28 lakh annually by 2030, once the goal
is achieved.
e) Launch of Mission Indradhanush:Mission
Indradhanush was launched in December 2014
to reach 90 Lakh unimmunized/partially
immunized children by 2020. It has been
implemented in 201 districts in 1st Phase, 297
additional Districts are to be covered in 2nd
Phase. About 20 lakh children received full
immunization during the Phase-1 of Mission
Indradhanush.
f) Approval of four new vaccines-Approval of four
new vaccines namely rotavirus, Inactivated Polio
Vaccine (IPV), Measles-Rubella vaccine, Japanese
Encephalitis vaccine extended to adults. This will
significantly reduce vaccine preventable morbidity,
disability and mortality.
g) Free Drugs Service Initiative:An incentive of
up to 5% additional funding (over and above the
normal allocation of the state) under the NHM
is provided to those States that introduce free
medicines scheme. Under the NHM-Free Drug
Service Initiative, substantial funding is available
to States for provision of free drugs subject to
States/UTs meeting certain specified conditions.
Detailed Operational Guidelines for NHM- Free
Drugs Service Initiative have also been released
to the States on 2nd July 2015.
h) Kilkari & Mobile Academy:To create proper
awareness among pregnant women, parents of
children and field workers about the importance
[19]
 of Anti Natal Care (ANC), institutional delivery,
Post-Natal Care (PNC) and immunization, it was
decided to implement the Kilkari and Mobile
Academy services in pan India in phased manner.
In the first phase Kilkari would be launched in
[20]
6 states viz. Uttrakhand, Jharkhand, Uttar
Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan (HPDs) & Madhya
Pradesh (HPDs). The Mobile Academy would
be launched in 4 states viz. Uttrakhand,
Jharkhand, Rajasthan & Madhya Pradesh.