Social Justice

Answer : According to Article 47 of Indian Constitution, it is the duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health. To achieve this India’s flagship health sector program, the National Health Mission (NHM) was introduced.

Need for ‘Health for All’ & Government Initiatives

• Ayushman Bharat: For creating a network of health and wellness infrastructure across the nation to deliver comprehensive primary healthcare services, and to provide insurance cover to at least 40 per cent of India’s population which is majorly deprived of community level healthcare.
• Mission Indradhanush: The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) to accelerate full immunization coverage to more than 90% by December 2020.
• Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana: It is a government-run health insurance scheme for the BPL family (a unit of five).
• National Strategic Plan (2017-24) and Mission “SAMPARK”: These are aimed at eradicating HIV/AIDS by 2030.
• Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA): It aims to provide assured, comprehensive and quality antenatal care, free of cost, universally to all pregnant women on the 9th of every month.
• Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT): It aims to provide affordable life-saving cancer, cardiac drugs and medical disposables.

Way Forward

Universal, easily accessible, affordable primary healthcare with Health Card along with free drugs, diagnostics and low cost pharmacy chains for all is the way forward.

Thus, in order to convert demographic dividend into a valuable human capital, India should focus on health and wellness for all of its citizens at affordable prices.

Answer : Post economic reforms of 1991, India achieved higher economic growth reaching close to double digits and even today, is fastest growing economy. However, economic growth has not resulted in elimination of hunger and malnutrition.

Today, Hunger and Malnutrition remains as a challenge in India which is reflected by

• India’s poor ranking in Global Hunger Index 103/119.
• Malnutrition rate of 38.4% among children below 5 years (NFHS-4).
• In India 44% children underweight, 52% women are anemic.

There are many reasons such as:

• Growth did not eliminate poverty: Still 23% of the population is poor according to WB report and face difficulty in meeting their food requirements.
• Lower status of women in society: As a child, as a pregnant woman, her nutritional requirements are ignored.
• Skewed pattern of food consumption: Mainly tilted towards cereals.
• Modern lifestyles-urbanisation: Lack of physical activities leading to problems like obesity.
• Poor governance: Inefficiency in the implementation of schemes like PDS, ICDS. While their number of schemes implemented by Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, lack of synchronised efforts is giving poor results.

Measures Needed to Address the Issue

• Integration of nutrition related intervention across sectors like women and child development, health, food and public distribution, sanitation, drinking water, rural development.
• Focus on most vulnerable communities in districts with higher levels of malnutrition. Example- Districts in Uttar Pradesh like Bahraich, Shrawasti have highest rates of stunting.
• Need for more research in improving efficiency of PDS system. Example- food fortification.
• Gender sensitization and gender approach to food and nutritional security. Priority should be on meeting needs of adolescents, pregnant women. Creating better awareness about need for better nutrition and its effects on child.
• Focus on sanitation through government initiatives like Swachh Bharat Mission.

Conclusion

Though hunger and malnutrition levels have come down recently, they are still very high. India has to continue its fight to end all forms of hunger and malnutrition (SDG 2) to realize its true economic potential and development by having healthy citizens.

Answer : Wash is an acronym that stands for Water Sanitation and Hygiene. This is very closely related with disease prevention and healthcare with further implications to poverty issues due to out of pocket health expenses. It has been implemented from long back but to ensure effective implementation, identification of beneficiary and linkage of it to outcomes is essential.

What was found in recent studies on sanitation

• Only 16% of rural household in India have piped water supply till February 2017, according to the Ministry of Drinking Water.
• 52% of rural areas practice open defection (NSSO 2016 Rapid Survey).
• Studies indicate that about 23% of girls drop out of school due to lack of toilet and sanitation.
• According to WHO, 50% of malnutrition is associated with repeated diarrhea which has linkage with open defecation and sanitation.

To examine the statement now it is very clear that effective identification of beneficiaries is essential. Special focus should be given on urban slums, dingy ghettos, crowded public places like railway stations, bus stops, backward rural areas and schools.

Children should also be the special focus because they are immature and unaware so they could not maintain proper hygiene.

In this aspect, the Swachh Bharat (Clean India) scheme should be transformed into clean schools. Special thrust should be given to Swachh Bharat Gramin (Rural). For urban Swachh Bharat, a different approach will be required due to very dense population and lack of civic amenities.

But, for effective results all of above initiatives should be synchronized with anticipated outcomes. So as the very anticipated expectation that toilets will soon be in no use due to non availability of water or piped water specially in rural areas be dealt with prior preparations of providing piped water in advance.

Many will revert back to older unhygienic practices so a robust and comprehensive plan should be ready in advance to deal with the anticipated outcomes with identified beneficiaries.

Answer : The new Act expands and extents the benefits for the inclusion of newer category of disables. But, to ensure effective mechanism for empowerment requires more than legal provisions.

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 is much improved and progressive version of the earlier Act of 1995. This Act brings the law in line with the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Salient Features:

• Reservation for PWDs increased to 4%.
• New disabilities are included to make it 21 from the earlier 7.
• Various new disabilities included are thalassemia, sickle cell disease, hemophilia, acid attack victims and many more.
• Dwarfism and muscular dystrophy have been indicated as separate clan.
• Effective mechanisms have been created to ensure empowerment of disables.

Indian democratic system cares for the last man including PWDs. Provisions definitely have potential for empowerment of PWDs. But effective empowerment requires something else also.

Often media reports bring about some PWDs were denied their rights due to some insensitive officials. Government authority works through human beings and human beings belong to society with many prejudices or biases.

Ira Singhal, the earlier IAS topper, also had to suffer in her past success when she was denied of post due to disability. She had to go through Central Administrative Tribunal for judgement in favour of her.

Therefore, it is clear that merely provisioning in Act will not empower the PWDs automatically. Rather, a social change is also required in mentality. Many sections of Indian society believe that disability is the result of some sinful acts of earlier birth. People do not accept PWDs. There is a sense among society that the benefits to PWDs are not their right rather an alms.

This mentality needs a drastic change. Strengthening of mechanisms needs to be devised so that rights of PWDs are secured. Stricter penal provision should be brought in to punish those who deny legal rights to PWDs.

Answer : On the eve of Independence, Indian economy was in a very bad shape due to the presence of British colonial rule. The Britishers generally framed policies that favoured them. The only purpose of Britishers was to unjustly enrich themselves at the cost of India’s economic development. Thus, in 1947, when British transferred power back to India, we inherited a crippled economoy and widespread poverty.

But, India did not have enough resources at its disposal. This explains why welfare measures were not made justifiable in the Directive Principles. Despite this, the government started various programmes and schemes to deal with hunger and poverty.

Various programmes and policies of government

• PL – 480 food aid and assistance
• Green Revolution to increase foodgrain production
• White, Blue and Pink Revolutions in various component of food to increase productions
• Krishi Kendras, Agricultural Universities and research to boost food productions
• Food for work programme
• Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana
• Annapurna
• Right to Work as legal right through MNREGA
• National Food Security Act 2013
  Despite all these efforts we need to see how far India has progressed:

Progress So Far:

• Foodgrain production multiplied 5 times since independence. Total Foodgrain production in the country is estimated at 273.38 million tonnes in 2016. As a result of significant increase in the area coverage and productivity of all major Pulses, total production of pulses during 2016-17 is estimated at 22.40 million. Various other products like milk, egg, etc. multiplied 8-40 times and India holds No. 1 rank in the world in many items of food productions.
• Regarding poverty also there is significant improvement like average income was Rs. 249 in 1947 which crossed 88 thousand rupee in 2015.
• But another aspect is that despite so much progress still about 30 crore people live in abject poverty. Although India is self-sufficient in food and hunger deaths have become rare, but poor and hungry population of India is comparable to sub-Saharan Africa region.

Measures for Improvement:

• India is the 3rd largest Economy in the world on PPP basis. Therefore, Right to Food and Right to Work and Income should be made Fundamental Rights and justiciable in the court.
• Apart from above, various other small steps should also be taken like Universal Basic Income, intensive skilling of poor, efficient distribution of food, etc.
  With these measures, every Indian will have food and income to live a dignified life.

Answer : Greatness of any civilisation lies in how it treats women. National Commission of Women as a statutory body was created in 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act 1990 to protect the Constitutional and Legal Rights of women in India. To answer whether the body is able to tackle the problems of women one needs to see the effectiveness and limitation of the body.

Problems Faced by Women:

• India is a patriarchal, male-dominated society where women have to face discrimination, violence, sexual assault at home and workplace, domestic violence, etc.
• Some evil practices against women like dowry, female feticide, etc. are still prevalent across India.

Effectiveness of NCW:

• Chairman of NCW is an ex-officio member of National Human Rights Commission. This adds much weight and power to the NCW though the power is not of authoritative or executive kind. Notwithstanding this, any issue raised by the NCW becomes an issue of prominence.
• Anyone can file complaint with the NCW and the NCW looks into the complaint and proceeds forward.

Limitations of the NCW

• The Commission has no concrete legislative powers. It only has the powers to recommend amendments and submit reports which are not binding on State or Union Governments.
• The Commission does not have the power to select its own members. This power is vested with the Union Government and in India’s volatile political scenario the Commission may be politicized.
• The Commission is dependent on grants from the Union Government for its financial functioning and this could compromise the independence of the Commission.

Answer : Self Help Groups (SHGs) have become a very effective concept to develop and empower poor. These are small groups formed to serve different interests of group members, especially their credit needs.

Role of SHGs in Developmental Activities

SHGs play very important role in the empowerment of women, poor and other socially and economically disadvantaged groups. SHG, as a concept, has become a revolution. Various roles played by SHGs are:

• Providing microfinance and credit
• Enabling members to become self-reliant and self-dependent
• Enhancing social status of members by virtue of their being members of the group
• Providing a platform for members to exchange ideas
• Developing and encouraging decision making capacity of members
• Fostering a spirit of mutual help and cooperation among member
• Providing organisational strength to members
• Awareness and training of group members
• With bank-linkage programme, giving access to cheaper bank credit

Measures Taken by the Government of India:

• The Self-Help Group (SHG)-Bank Linkage Programme has emerged as the major micro-finance programme in the country. It is being implemented by commercial banks, regional rural banks(RRBs), and cooperative banks.
• Under the Swabhimaan financial inclusion campaign, over 74,000 habitations with population in excess of 2,000 had been provided banking facilities.
• Ultra small branches (USBs) are being set up in all villages covered through BCAs under financial inclusion.
• NABARD issued a circular facilitating financial support under MFDEF (Microfinance Development and Equity Fund) to SHG federation.
• SHG avails capital subsidy under Swarn Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna.
• Under Nation Rural Livelihood Mission (Aajeeivika Scheme), women SHGs could avail loans upto Rs 3 lakh at 7% interest rate (2010).
• Government also helped SHGs through Krishi Vigyan Kendras.

Answer : The poverty alleviation programmes in India are generally classified into (i) Self employment programmes; (ii) wage employment programmes; (iii) food security programmes; (iv) social security programmes; and (v) urban poverty alleviation programmes.

Some of the major poverty alleviation programmes started by the Government in the last 15 years include: a rural connectivity scheme (PMGSY), a universal primary schooling initiative (SSA), a rural health initiative (NRHM), a rural electrification scheme (RGGVY), a rural employment guarantee (NREGA), a food subsidy (Food Security Act), and a new digital infrastructure for transferring benefits directly to the poor (UID).

The experience of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) suggests that effective anti-poverty programmes play an increasingly important role in Indian elections and are therefore here to stay. Programmes like NREGA represent a quiet revolution in India’s poverty alleviation strategy.

Despite so many schemes, the proportion of our population living in poverty has declined enough. A large number of programmes and schemes have been implemented to directly attack poverty through generating work, providing healthcare, education, nutrition and support to backward areas and vulnerable groups.

Although the poverty rate has declined, a large proportion of our population still lives in poverty. There are several reasons for this.

• While a large number of poverty alleviation programmes have been initiated, they function in silos.
• There is no systematic attempt to identify people who are in poverty, determine their needs, address them and enable them to move above the poverty line.
• There is no commitment by the government to support an individual or a household for getting minimum level of subsistence through any programme or group of programmes.
• The resources allocated to anti-poverty programmes are inadequate and there is a tacit understanding that targets will be curtailed according to fund availability.
• For instance, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (mgnrega) does not provide the guaranteed 100 days of work in many States.
• In another example, the Centre has provisioned Rs 200 per person per month for old age pension, with the understanding that States would add to this amount. But there is a substantial difference in the amount that different States add to the pension.
• There is no method to ensure that programmes reach everybody they are meant for. While our plans have taken cognisance of the literature on chronic poverty and dynamics of poverty, alleviation programmes and schemes have not used this understanding to address this issue.

Answer : Considering the poor quality of primary education as reflected in ASER report and high out of pocket expenditure (about 70 percent) India needs to broaden its base in the spheres of education & healthcare to foster economic growth said Noble laureate Amatya sen. Further low coverage and low quality of scheme education in India extracts a heavy price in the pattern of our economic development.

Amatya Sen says India remarks alongside Haiti and Sierra leone when it comes to government spending on health as a sphere of the total health expenditure of the people. To reclaim a high growth trajectory, priorities expenditure on education and healthcare instead of ill-directed subsidies and tax exemptions, says Sen.

Suggestions to improve primary education and primary healthcare involve:

1. 3A’s i.e Availability, affordability and assurance is must for improving status and performance of health care in India.
2. Increase expenditure: Right now government spends only 1% of GDP on Health and education spending in India has been lower than the world average. Globally 4.9% of GDP was spent on education in 2010 while India spent only 3.3 percent of GDP, according to World Bank.
3. Quality of Education: RTE has ensured physical infrastructure but teacher pupil ratio outcome of learning are remain a distant dream. Thus there is a need of focused approach on teacher availability, teacher training, child friendly pedagogy, social audit and outcome based education.
4. There is a wide gap between the numbers of patients and doctors. The number of doctors graduating every year in India is very less.
5. Promotion of innovation in both primary education and primary health care.
6. Co-operation and collaboration of both public and private sector. For example recently Delhi government allowed free medical checkup even in private hospitals if public facility found to be insufficient.

Answer : Transparency International (TI) is a Berlin based anti-corruption watchdog which publishes corruption perception Index annually. India ranked 76 out of 168 countries showing no improvement with respect to last year score. This implies a decline in public morality in India.

The various factors responsible for this decline involve:

1. Legal factor:

• Multiplicity of law and complex nature of law: For e.g to there are more than 100 laws exist relating to labour. Also, multiple interpretations lead to benefit of doubt to corrupt people (for e.g: prevention of corruption Act, 1988).
• Role of judiciary: With over 30 million cases pending, delay in justice has become a norm. Due to this corrupt people enjoys a free hand to influence man and material evidence for long time and thus low conviction rate has been observed.
• Loopholes in law itself which leads to tax evasion. for example double tax avoidance agreement has been misused severely by round tripping.

2. Political Factor:

• Political parties which are first line of government still not under the purview of RTI. It reflects apathy towards tracking corruption.
• Misuse of power to counter opposition and political benefit. Recently Supreme Court ordered investigation against Ranjit Sinha (Former CBI Chief) and termed CBI as caged parrot.

3. Economic factor: Globalization and market based economy has created inequity and aroused greed in many classes. Also, materialistic culture is prevailing now days where people are preferring greed over need.

4. Social and Cultural factors

• Lack of value based education

Role of elderly people as a guide and mentor is reducing.

Migration has caused deterioration in social bonding thus people are willing to take decision for their own sake which leads to corruption and other immoral things.

Thus all above mentioned factor has caused a decline of public morality in India. To tackle this government has come forward with several measures like demonetization, amendment in Prevention of corruption Act, strict tax evasion rules, Benami property Act and so on. But to take corruption there is need of value based education which will inculcate morality in public.

Answer : In pursuance of the constitutional objective and UN convention on child rights, the government launched National Child Policy in 2013 reaffirming children as an important national asset. Through right based approach policy proposes to provide long term, sustainable, multi-sectoral, integrated and inclusive approach for the overall and harmonious development and protection of children.

Various provisions and their implementation

1. Survival Health and Nutrition

• It ensures the right to life survival, health and nutrition (Safeguarded against hunger deprivation and malnutrition) as inalienable rights of every child and will receive the highest priority.
• It also recognizes the rights of differently abled the girl child and HIV affected children.
• India New Born Action Plan 2014, National Deworming initiatives Tarni Shishu svoakhsha Kanyakiran forms on institutional delivery and Mission Indradhanush are some of the initiatives launched by government to fulfill above mentioned objectives.
• However infant mortality rate (IMR) in India is remain high (about 40). As per the Global Hunger Index, India’s hunger levels are ranked as “serious” with around 40 percent of children are stunted. Though the level of stunting has declined as per NFHS, the absolute number is skill high.

2. Education and Development

• As per National Child Policy 2013, every child has equal right to learning knowledge and education with due regard to their special needs.
• Various initiatives like Right to education Act, Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Sarva Sikhsha Abhiyan, Mid day Meal scheme has been started to fulfill the above said objective.
• Though RTF along with other initiatives ensured near 100 percent gross enrollment ratio ideal pupil-teacher ratio is yet to be reached. Also, recent ASER report highlighted decline in learning outcome and quality education.

3. Protection of children

• It recognizes the nights of child to be protected wherever they are initiatives like E-Pocso box for campaign against sexual harassment of children has been started.
• However despite of stringent lows and punishment, child labour and trafficking are still high.

4. Participation

• It ensures provision of an enabling environment to support aspirations of children.
• Government established National/State Co-ordination and Action Groups to ensure the field implementation. However awareness about child right is still low and even child labour has gone unchecked at places.
• Finally, NCP 2013 has promised a lot for children’s survival protection, education and health. But recognizing various gaps, child labor (amendment) act, juvenile justice Act etc have been packed. Also, the recent Draft National Action plan for children 2016 aims to provide a roadmap that links the policy objectives to actionable strategics and is a welcome step in realizing the objectives of the policy.

Answer : Demographic dividend as defined by the united Nations population fund (UNPF) Means, the economic growth potential that can result from shift in a population’s age structure mainly when the score of the working age population (15 to 64) is larger than the non-working age score of the population. By 2021, 67 percent of India’s population will be under working age (Economic Survey-12)

However this may not be realized automatically but depends upon a right economic policy that is focused on increasing the productivity and hence empowering the citizens more educated skilled and innovative.

Following measures are taken by the Government to reap the demographic divided.

1. Women’s employment: As demographic transition results in greater women coming into the workforce schemes as relaxed age limit for higher education, Nai Roshni focus on improving leadership qualities of women.

• Other initiatives include standup India where women are getting preferential treatment.

2. Increasing labour productivity: Vocational training is provided under

• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana
• Suryanistra for solar energy
• Paryatak Mitra for tourism
• USTAAD, to improve expertise of people from minority community in their traditional act.
• Hunar Haat for handicraft and artisans
• Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kawsalya Yojna focuses on agro-allied industries
• National Policy for skill Development and Enterpreneurship 2015

3. Improving Employ ability

• Initiatives such as SETU (Self-employment and talent utilization) and Atal Innovation Mission help in fostering innovation. Also schemes such as startup India and stand up India strive towards developing entrepreneurship qualities in people.
• Finally in order to optimally enhance the production of maximum number and reap the benefits of demographic bonus, a part from measures taken an improved forms on infrastructure facilities and on health and education lead to inclusive growth.

Answer : The Self help bank linkage programme launched by NABARD way back in 1992 envisaged synthesis of formal financial system and informal sector has become a movement throughout a country. A major objective of the SBLP is to alleviate poverty by extending banking services to the poor, thereby helping them to enhance employment and income opportunities to come out of poverty. It has its impact on poverty alleviation and women empowerment through group effort and ensuing financial independence to women, which emanates from their own savings and timely credit from various institutional agencies.

With this, the formal financial institutions in India have ventured into microfinance into massive way. It is considered as the largest community based microfinance programme in terms of outreach in the world. In India, two types of SBLP models have emerged over a period of time. Under first model, banks itself acts as a self-help group promoting institutions (SHPI). Under second model, NGOs, government agencies, or other community-based organizations form groups. Another model is also emerging in which banks are providing bulk financing to microfinance institutions (MFIs) for onward lending to the SHGs.

Effectiveness of NBLP can be measured through reduced incidence of poverty through increase in income, and also enabling the poor to build assets and thereby reduce their vulnerability. It enabled households (largely women) that have access to it to spend more on education. Families participating in the programme have reported better school attendance and lower dropout rates especially of the girl Childs. The programme reduced child mortality, improved maternal health and the ability of the poor to combat disease through better nutrition, housing and health - especially among women and children, thereby containing factors that causes poverty.

The programme also contributed to a reduced dependency on informal money lenders and other non-institutional sources, thus, allowing easy and affordable access to money to marginalized borrowers to start their own venture, therefore, and evading the vicious circle of poverty.

The programme had made commendable impact upon the socio-economic empowerment of the women. It empowered women by enhancing their contribution to household income by providing them various earning avenues such as jobs and enterpreneurship, increasing the value of their assets and generally by giving them better control over decisions that affect their lives. The programme has substantially raised the confidence level of the women members of the SHG. It has improved their personality by bringing a positive change in their lives. Moreover, all those women who were poor, discriminated, underprivileged has been uplifted out of poverty with the help of this programme. Not only this, but the women who earlier were somewhat hesitative for joining political activities, started participating in political functions and contesting elections leading to their political empowerment.

Answer : NGO plays a very important role in protection of environment through social services. Some of the NGOs working in this field in India are AWAAZ Foundation, Goa Foundation, CONSERVE India, Kalpavriksha, WWF India. They spread the awareness amongst the public to conserve and protect wildlife, forests etc. The key constraints that hinders their work towards environment protection are delayed registration process and inadequate availability of funds for their unrestrained working.

Further, these NGO’s do not have specific missions or values to legitimize their action and augment their social influence. This does not increase people’s faith in them leading to isolation from the civil society and lack of support. Another factor is that these NGO’s lacks specialization in their work. So, it is imperative that they get adequately equipped with the adequate skill and also brings professional expertise on board.

Environment protection is not only about increasing awareness and restraining detrimental actions but also about studying the ecological sensitivity and conducting environment impact assessment, all these requires specialized technical skills. Therefore equipping these environmental NGOs is must. Moreover, NGO and industries that affects environment must work together to meet the larger objective of creating environment friendly and sustainable products in the market. In fact NGO may become an arm for the businesses to achieve their corporate social responsibility.

The role of media in strengthening the action of these NGOs also needs a relook. The media, especially, electronic media, should also give prominence to the actions of environmental NGOs and the actions of both of them should be seen as complementary to each other with regards to issues such as environmental degradation, climate change, dumping of toxic wates, land degradation, and environmental impact due to excessive mining etc. For Instance, in the recent case of Lavasa Corporation involved in creating the so called “India’s First Planned Hill City”. Due to violation of Environment laws by Lavasa, there has been growing pressure created by NGOs on the Government and law enforcing agencies to act against Lavasa so that it meets the environmental norms. This has been the Headline news in both Electronic and Newspapers.

Further, the misuse of RTI and PIL by some NGOs is creating bad publicity, and needs to be curtailed. The courts and government needs to have a strong view on the frivolous litigations and stop its misuse. There is also a growing trust deficit amongst NGOs, Industry, Government and Public due to lack of transparency and accountably in the working of NGOs. So, it’s important that NGOs should self-regulate and acts as responsible organizations.

Other constraints faced by these NGOs are: the role of the NGO is not well understood and recognized. NGOs, whose mandate is to contribute to causes such as environment, art, and education, are misunderstood because they are seen as lobbyists against governments or even competitors. Another challenge is a somewhat popular view in the region that NGOs are not needed because the government is seen as solely responsible for the welfare of its citizens and residents. This is exacerbated by a lack of faith in the ability of non-governmental actors to drive change in our countries - if governments with all their strengths and funding aren’t doing their job then how can an NGO do it? This perception is exemplified by the fact that there is no legal framework for NGOs to establish themselves in the region, which significantly hinders their work.

Answer : Large population combined with low incomes levels, high incidence of diseases, and the dire need to have a healthy population working at their maximum potential to ensure economic growth. All these make it imperative to have Universal health coverage.India’s health system is largely dominated by public sector especially in rural areas. Participation of private sector is by far mostly restricted to urban areas. But, India’ public health care system, despite serving as a bedrock of India healthcare, is grappling with multiple limitations.

Some of these limitations are: Lack of resources both human as well as financial resources, non utilization of available funds due to corrupt and inefficient practices, inadequate medical infrastructure and cutting edge technologies, concentration on hospital health care facilities and least on primary health care services, lack of research and developmental efforts, least innovation in the public health care sector, surroundings and vicinity are unhygienic, unavailability of medicines and tests,etc.

The private sector participation definitely increases access to health care services by providing these facilities’ near home thus saving on time and money and therefore preventing deferment of treatment in the early stages of the disease. Also they can bring in most updated technology and state of the art infrastructure along with skilled manpower. So, private sector can be contacted by the public sector in delivering the services assured under Universal health coverage. But, thinking that it alone can bridge the gap surface by public sector limitation would be too optimistic approach.

Private sector is guided by profit motive only, it is the unregulated sector flourished largely because of the mismanagement of the public sector and inefficient government policies. So its help can be taken but it cannot be assigned leading role in ensuring universal health coverage in India. Therefore, strengthening of public facilities is the only way to reach.

As far as alternative systems are concerned, Community participation that can build public support for policies and programs generates compliance with regulations and helps alter personal health behaviors can be a viable option. Further, a health entitlement card or a unified insurance scheme, assuring every citizen access to a national health package of essential health services can be allotted.

Answer : The UNDP MDG 2014 report says India is home to the largest number of poor with one-third of the world’s 1.2 billion extreme poor living here. According to HDR 2015 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), 55.3 percent of Indian population is multi-dimensionally poor. The MPI, which is the share of the population that is multi-dimensionally poor, adjusted by the intensity of the deprivations, is 0.282. Bangladesh and Pakistan have MPIs of 0.237 and 0.237 respectively. The World Bank’s with revised poverty line at $1.90 a day reports lower MMRP-based estimates at only 12.4% of India’s population as poor in 2011-12.

The consistent decline in the poverty figures in India in the last two decades has been subjected to criticisms related to measurement issues. Going by the Planning Commission’s estimates, poverty in India has declined from nearly 60 percent in the late seventies to 22 percent in 2011-12. The Tendulkar committee estimated it at 21.9%, but the latest Rangarajan committee puts the number at 29.5%. The Rangarajan committee presented monthly per capita consumption expenditure of Rs 972 in rural areas and Rs 1,407 in urban areas as the poverty line at the all-India level, with urban poor at 26.4% and rural poor at 30.9%. The paltry per day and monthly amounts suggested by these committees are supposed to cover not only food but all non-food essentials, including fuel for cooking, transport, education, medical costs and rent etc. This is unrealistic at best. Amazingly, however, about 350 million Indians subsist below these levels. But these underweight, stunted, prone to diseases in unhygienic conditions and without the means to obtain adequate food or medical treatment can hardly be said to ‘live’ in any true sense. The official poverty lines do not measure poverty any more; they measure starvation line.

The poverty indicators, both rural and urban, measures deprivations like food, education, health, shelter, sanitation, safe drinking water etc. among the poor. A large proportion of India’s urban and rural population lacks the income or assets to meet basic needs. But most of these “living in poverty” are not considered poor by official definitions. Poverty in India is just defined and measured by specifying a poverty line based on a particular level of per capita consumption or income and assessing what proportion of the population falls below this line.

Some critics believe that it is unacceptable and counterproductive to link the official poverty estimates to basic entitlements of the people, especially access to food. The official surveys of nutritional intakes and outcomes indicate that under-nutrition is much more widespread than income poverty, however defined. The narrow approach of the income-poverty line overlooks the multifaceted nature of human deprivation.

Since its independence, India has accomplished many notable social and economic achievements. An UN report says India is on track to cut poverty in half by the end of this year, compared to 2000 level. However, consistent poverty reduction in India has failed and India is still a poor country. India’s government is well aware that poverty is a giant barrier to overcome if it is to fully develop the nation and it is taking steps to address the problem, the success of which remains to be seen.

Answer : Self Help Groups (SHG) is a small voluntary association of poor people preferably from the same socio-economic back ground. The micro credit given to them makes them economically empowered. It can be all women group, all men group or even mixed group. However, it has been experience that women’s group perform better in all important activities.

SHG plays an important role in rural economy and especially women groups contribute for rural development in their communities. Hence, SHG contributes for constructive development of society as a whole and in particular to individual households and community livelihood collectively contributes for national development. Though it plays a constructive role in development still the penetration of SHGs in rural areas are facing some socio-cultural hurdles in promoting development especially women groups are facing more issues in active participation.

The major impediment for making rural household participative in SHG for rural development is poverty. Indian economy is still in developing stage and unequal distribution of development makes rural area poorer as compared to the urban areas. When household is struggling for their basic needs be it food or shelter, their ultimate aim is to sustain their daily life such households, hence could not actively participate in development activity like SHG or Community group activity for rural development.

The next major hurdle is Illiteracy rate in rural India, according to census 2011 the literacy rate of rural India is 67.8% especially national women literacy rate is further low with 65.46% and with this lack of literacy rate most SHG couldn’t function to it potential because of lack of leadership quality and also most people in rural area are not much aware of the functioning of SHG where most of rural population have educational skill of either primary or secondary education.

From gender perspective view SHG i.e. women groups in rural area face some other socio-cultural hurdle in active participation. Since Indian society is patriarchal, women are not empowered to complete financial control, mostly it is under men in family makes women’s limited role in household and hindering them in participation in SHG.

Women’s in Indian society is more confined to reproductive role in the family and community puts women in disadvantageous position saying that women lack entrepreneur skills. Further women in rural India are not allowed to own property, makes them alienated in active participation on SHG at times required monetary requirements for long term investments.

It is also found that women’s access to information was lower than male counterpart. Therefore women are not as empowered to get access to information about group development, management of group, information related to credit and other information related to SHG. So, in order to make SHG more participative policy framers should actively promote community based approaches in rural India. Further there should be sustainability and equal participation and involvement of both the genders along with proper monitoring frameworks to strengthen and also active participation of rural community in SHGs.

Answer : Government has initiated various schemes to uplift the vulnerable (women, children, person with disability, poor migrants) and backward communities (SC, ST, Dalits, Tribes) is affecting the establishment of business in one way or the other in urban economies.

To establish a business there is need of capital, labour etc. and above all there is need of risk taking attitude to run a successful business. The government schemes though necessary, develops a dependent attitude among the vulnerable and backward communities. This dependency attitude hampers a person’s risk taking ability. Since business is all about profit and loss people in India, especially vulnerable section of society are not ready to take such risks when they are able to access their basic needs through government schemes.

• Schemes like National Food Security Act, Rajiv Awas Yojana, Free Education to Children etc. guarantees the basic human needs.
• Government is providing guaranteed job programmes like MGNREGA and Self-employment schemes make vulnerable section more rely on government.
• Most of government schemes on entrepreneur oriented programmes are small and micro industry or household industries only, where here also government guarantees with minimum returns either government itself buys such products or it takes care of marketing and all without giving opportunity to those vulnerable sections to act independently.

In a way governmental schemes have negative impact on promoting entrepreneurial skill among the vulnerable and backward communities. To establish a business in urban economies one needs good entrepreneurial skill. A successful entrepreneur besides risk taking ability needs to have sound knowledge of market, finance, innovative ideas, leadership quality, good communication skill and good managerial skill. These qualities cannot be developed in a day in a person. It has to be harnessed since childhood. If conducive atmosphere is not created in an early age it becomes too difficult to develop in later age. By providing good education to the vulnerable section can be useful in this regard. Good education not only makes a person knowledgeable but also confident. This confidence develops risk taking ability in a person.

So government should ensure that it efficiently providing quality and accessible education for all. Rather than running any welfare schemes for years together, government should implement the schemes in time bound manner. In that time duration it is the responsibility of the government to make these vulnerable sections not only independent but also make them efficient enough to contribute to the national income.

For improvement of business, government should create better atmosphere for establishing business in the country by way of granting loans with minimal security and offering entrepreneurial skill training and developing conducive climate for business establishment.

Answer : “The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war” is a saying but for Indian athlete reverse is happening. One who puts all its efforts for winning a medal in Olympic or other international sports event, encouragement comes in the name of sponsorship but no one comes before to sponsoring during his practice session and training by providing necessary equipments. Under this situation, the question arises why not state sponsor the talented youth for their encouragement by way of talent hunt and train them.

In India sports are not considered as career because of this there is lack of encouragement from family, society and governments. But, the talented athletes are bleeding heavily to succeed in their aspiration. Still we read in news like athlete didn’t have proper shoes and other utilities needed for sports.

To encourage sports, government should provide necessary training and infrastructure for sports. Above all, it should initiate steps to identify sports talents, who are more interested in sports but couldn’t access to sports academy for training and encouraged for better performance in world stage, at an early age.

Railways, police and military are the three big systems that provide some sort of support system and security for sports, where athletes is secured with guaranteed job with minimal work load. But this is not the case in international level, where sports is running like a business and player invest in training and also promote him as a brand to attract sponsors. Such kind of things are not possible in India, here sports personalities are still struggling for their basic sports utilities, it is the role of state to promote sports as business and athletes as brands to encourage sports in India.

No sports personality (athletes) should happily accept the reward after winning, rather he/she would request government to encourage sports by providing proper coach, training academy, sports utility etc. as many of our sports personalities comes from rural background and fare from socio-economically weaker section. Hence, they needed encouragement, not after winning but at the time of preparation only.

Answer : The QS World University Rankings, an annual listing of the world’s top universities, had no Indian institutes in the top 200 of its global list for 2013. Also, India has one of the poorest Gross Enrolment Ratios (GER) for higher education in the world, which raise debate on quality and standard of Indian top universities like IITs and IIMs, whether they deserve the premier status enjoyed by them along with this can these institutes be allowed to design independent course for their universities and should there be competitive based exam process as a criteria is required for selection of Students.

Indian universities is facing numerous challenges in providing quality higher education to its students with lack of inadequate infrastructure facilities, lack of quality teachers and has low student teacher ratio prevailing in Indian higher education. The major reason for these issues is because of universities didn’t have sufficient funding facilities in addressing those issues. Further, they are not allowed to have autonomy in functioning, where mostly directed by political bosses in functioning of universities.

Premier Status of Top universities: In India certain universities enjoy premier status and avail certain privileges from government funding like IITs and IIMs for providing high quality of education. Though they are premier in India, it is not when compared to world top class universities, none of Indian universities got listed in Top 200. So, Educational experts raise voice against their current premier status.

Indian universities are not well equipped enough to address the Research and development (R&D) section in universities, on the contrary world’s top universities have well developed R&D labs in universities to provide wide range of opportunities to fulfill the demand of research scholars.

The next major criteria that determines premier status is by having world class teaching professionals, though India have quality professionals but experts opine still India is lagging behind when compared to international standard.

By this one cannot simply say such universities (IITs/IIMs) don’t deserve premier status, although they are not premier when compared with international institutions, they are important for India’s future and if executives address the nuances needed for Indian universities with world class infrastructure facility would definitely make Indian university to become world class in future.

Top Universities on Course designing:Indian universities didn’t enjoy much autonomy when compared to international institutions. Here in India it is often gets disturbed by political executives and concerned government agencies interfere in course design (AICTE, UGC, MCI etc). Experts argue that still we are following the age old syllabus in engineering and medical courses, where world has progressed in all spheres and there is sea change in technical education.

Thus in order to address issue of course designing, greater autonomy is needed for Indian universities to design the course, in order to address the growing demand of market and fulfill the students need.

Top universities on Selection Criteria: Currently top universities (IIMs/IITs) select students based on the competitive examination, well experts argue that how come university simply judge students ability based on competitive exam alone, there are many students with quality knowledge and innovation skills are not able to get admission in top universities, world’s top universities offer students admission, at times, with their quality innovative and research skills which would benefit both university and society.

Hence, there are many challenges exists in Indian higher education, in order to address these issues there is need of greater autonomy to Indian universities with quality professors. For the time being one need not look into the university rankings of private players, mostly such rankings are either driven by subjective based or simply rank on their discretion. In India, these universities (IITs/IIMs) are top universities, since it has produced and producing quality students.

Answer : Mid-day meals in India’s government schools were envisaged to stop hunger from keeping children away from schools and to improve enrollment.

MDMS has boosted school attendance, especially of girls, and has in some cases even reduced nutritional deficiencies in children.

Despite the success of the programme, child hunger as a problem persists in India. According to current statistics, 42.5% of the children under 5 are underweight. Various scams involving Mid-day Meal Scheme have been unearthed since it was started. For example: Bihar incident of 2013. The government should grant powers to the parent-teachers’ associations to monitor the food quality from this year onwards in addition to the school managements. The choice of meal should be dependent on local food habits and cereals available.

Answer : Self-Help Groups have been a phenomenal story of success, providing banking needs to the poor and the destitute. However, the legitimacy and accountability of SHGs and their patrons are plagued with lot of problems, among which are multiple lending, over borrowing, ghost borrowers and coercive method of recovery. It was these problems which were identified by Y.H. Malegam committee. The committee has made a number of recommendations to mitigate the problems. They include:

• A borrower can be a member of only one SHG or joint liability group.
• Not more than 2 MFIs can lend to single borrower.
• Minimum period of moratorium between disbursement of loan and recovery.
• Establishment of credit information bureau, etc.
• It is on this edifice that sustained and legitimate SHGs can unleash its full potential and hence, measures have been put into practices.

Answer : Provision of Urban Amenities to Rural Areas (PURA) is a strategy for rural development in India. This concept was given by former president Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. PURA proposes that urban infrastructure and services be provided in rural hubs to create economic opportunities outside of cities. Physical connectivity by providing roads, electronic connectivity by providing communication network, and knowledge connectivity by establishing professional and Technical institutions will have to be done in an integrated way so that economic connectivity will emanate.

In Feb 2012 Rural Development Minister launched a restructured PURA under the restructured scheme the provisions of PURA are

• Basic goal is to provide urban amenities facilities i.e. of electricity, sanitation, health, education in rural areas (urban here does not imply typical Indian cities)
• Asset creation and management in PPP mode between Gram Panchayat and private sector with active support of state government
• Scheme would be implemented and managed by private sector on considerations of economic viability
• Amenities to be provided under MoRD schemes: water and sewerages, const and maintenance of streets, drainage, solid waste management, skill development, development of economic activities
• Amenities to be provided under non-MoRD schemes: village street lighting, telecom, electricity
• Add-on projects (revenue earning, people centric projects): village linked tourism, integrated rural hub, rural market, warehousing, any other rural economy based project

Answer : Targets set up by the UN:

• Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015.
• Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
• Improve maternal health.
• Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.

India was estimated to have an adult (15-49 years) HIV prevalence of 0.27% in 2011. Adult HIV prevalence among males and females was estimated at 0.32% and 0.22% respectively. Due to constant effort of the Health Ministry, Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) dropped by 3 points from 47 to 44 infant deaths per 1000 live births during 2011. IMR for rural areas dropped by 3 points from 51 to 48 infant deaths per 1000 live births while the urban rate now stands at 29 from the previous 31/1000. Among the states, Goa and Manipur have the lowest IMR of 11 infant deaths followed by Kerala with 12 infant deaths per 1000 live births.

Steps taken by India are:

1. National AIDS Control Programme aims at prevention for those who are not infected and care, support & treatment for those who have been infected.
2. National AIDS Control Support Project (NACSP) under the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) was launched. The primary objective of the project is to increase safe behaviour among high risk groups in pursuance of the national goal of accelerated reversal of the HIV epidemic by 2017.
3. Adolescent Education Programme is skills-based school programmes that shape the ideas and attitudes of a generation in gender equality, as well as encouraging compassion towards people living with HIV/AIDS and taking responsibility for choices related to sexual behaviour.
4. The national vector borne disease control programme is a comprehensive programme for prevention and control of vector borne diseases namely Malaria, Filaria, kala-azar, Japanese Encephalitis (JE), Dengue and Chikungunya which is covered under the overall umbrella of NRHM.

Answer : Unorganised or informal sector constitutes a pivotal part of the Indian economy. More than 90 per cent of workforce and about 50 per cent of the national product are accounted for by the informal economy. A high proportion of socially and economically underprivileged sections of society are concentrated in the informal economic activities. The high levels of growth of the Indian economy during the past two decade are accompanied by increasing informalisation. There are indications of growing interlinkages between informal and formal economic activities. There has been new dynamism of the informal economy in terms of output, employment and earnings. Faster and inclusive growth needs special attention to informal economy. Sustaining high levels of growth are also intertwined with improving domestic demand of those engaged in informal economy, and addressing the needs of the sector in terms of credit, skills, technology, marketing and infrastructure.

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY): The RSBY was launched on 01 October 2007 to provide smart card-based cashless health insurance cover of Rs. 30,000 per family per annum on a family floater basis to BPL families (a unit of five) in the unorganized sector. The scheme became operational from 01 April 2008. The premium is shared on 75:25 bases by the centre and state governments. In the case of the northeastern states and Jammu and Kashmir, the premium is shared in a 90:10. More than 2.55 crore smart cards have been issued.

The Unorganized Workers Social Security Act 2008: The Act came into force from 16 May 2009 with the objective of providing social security to unorganized workers. The Unorganized Workers-Social Security Rules 2009 have also been framed. Constitution of the National Social Security Board in 2009 was another significant step. The Board recommended that social security schemes, namely the RSBY providing health insurance, JBY providing death and disability cover and Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) providing old age pension be extended to building and other construction workers, MGNREGA workers, Asha workers, Anganwadi workers and helpers, porters/coolies/gangmen, and casual and daily wagers. The Government has approved the constitution and operation of the National Social Security Fund for unorganised sector workers with an initial allocation of Rs 1,000 crore. The fund has been created with the aim and objective of providing social security schemes for various segments of unorganised workers like weavers, toddy tappers, rickshaw pullers, beedi workers etc. It is an irony that around 94 per cent of India’s workforce is in the unorganised sector and most of the workers of the unorganised sector do not have social security cover in the form of life or disability insurance, health care and pensions. The fund will also facilitate evolution and funding of schemes by various departments which are currently involved in welfare of these segments of workers. Ministry of Finance is the custodian of the National Social Security Fund and the Ministry of Labour & Employment has been designated as the nodal ministry for operation of the fund.

Answer : The National Advisory Committee recently constituted a working group under the leadership of Mr. Harsh Mander to propose amendments to Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986. The report was recently approved by the cabinet. Following are the salient features of the proposed amendments:

Employing a child below 14 years in any kind of occupation (Hazardous or non hazardous) will be completely banned. The punishment prescribed for the same is jail with a maximum three years imprisonment or fine up to a maximum of Rs. 50,000. At present children under the age of 14 years are prohibited from employment only in hazardous industry.

The Cabinet also approved a blanket ban on employing children below 18 years in hazardous industries like mining.

The Act if passed by the Parliament and implemented in the right manner would be a revolutionary step towards securing the rights of children and enable them to get the benefits of RTE in the right manner.

Answer : The Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2011 was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2011 by Mr. K.V. Thomas with the aim to empower the consumers to protect themselves against unfair practices of manufactures and providers of services. It has been referred to the Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution. The salient features of the bill are:

The bill seeks to widen the scope of the law by adding some new definitions and expanding or widening the scope of some provisions.

The main ground for consumer complaints is 'deficiency'. The scope of deficiency is sought to be enlarged by including acts of omission and commission that result in damage because of negligence or deliberately withholding information from the consumer.

Similarly, the scope of the term 'unfair trade practice' is being enlarged by providing three additional clauses in the definition. Failure to provide a bill, cash-memo or a receipt to a consumer will be deemed an unfair trade practice. The consumer will also have a right to return the goods/services within 30 days of purchase and, if the seller fails to do so, it would be taken as an unfair trade practice. While return of goods is understandable, how can a service are returned? It can, at best, be discontinued within 30 days. There is a need for some clarity on this count.

Misuse of personal information by companies/traders is widely prevalent. The amendment proposes to make divulging of personal information to third parties without the permission of the consumer to be an unfair trade practice. The law is being changed to make a provision for online filing of complaints.

In addition, failure to comply with the orders under CPA would result in payment of daily penalty, in addition to the amount payable under the order. The orders passed by the different authorities under CPA will be on par with a decree of the court and will be enforceable by the district collector.

Steps are also proposed to improve the quality of members sitting on the Benches of consumer redressal forums, dispensing justice under CPA, by raising their minimum age; this will ensure that only persons of a certain seniority and experience are eligible to occupy the positions. Assistance of experts can be sought by the National Commission to help in cases as it may deem fit. It also aims to strengthening the implementation machinery.

Taken together, all the proposed amendments should help improve the functioning of the authorities under CPA; yet, much will depend on the seriousness with which the state governments respond to the changing needs over time.

Answer : The National Mission on Libraries was set up as a high level committee upon the recommendations of National Knowledge Commission to improve the library sector in India. It aims to link up around 9,000 libraries digitally across India and upgrade the exiting public libraries, set up community information centers school and college libraries. This will help those in towns and villages to access books and information from across the world. Thus it reduces the access to knowledge gap that exists in India today and may serve as a basis of India's knowledge economy.

Answer : Nutrition research in India has previously focused on the serious problem of under nutrition related to nutrient deficit and high rates of infection particularly among vulnerable women and children. The increased consumption of unhealthy foods compared with increased prevalence of overweight in middle-to-low income countries is the case of nutrition transition. Food rich in vitamins, minerals and micronutrients such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains have been substituted by foods heavy in added sugar, saturated fat.

Developing countries like India still stressed and struggling with hunger is how dealing with health problems associated with obesity. As per the NFHS, India is undergoing a nutrition transition that is manifested in the form of lifestyle diseases in urban and affluent upper middle class. As per the survey, 12% of women are overweight, 2% are obese. The reasons for such nutrition transition are increase in the per capita income, increased work pressure, increasing consumerism culture, impact of globalisation and westernisation etc. These factors have collectively changed the lifestyle habits. There is some evidence of an emerging nutrition transition in India and various data demonstrate that in many resource poor settings, rising urbanisation and improvements in economic development lead to concurrent under and over nutrition in the population. The recent data from the representative states like Andhra Pradesh in India provides nationally representative data on women's weight and height. The major nutrition problem facing women continues to be under nutrition with 37% having a low body mass index and 8% of these women are severely malnourished. Further more in large cities of India 37% of women are overweight or obese whereas in rural areas where 74% women reside, 43% have a Body mass Index. Women from lower socioeconomic groups have a low BMI and various findings also revealed that socioeconomic states is a more important factor of both over and under weight than location of residence.

However, India remains one of the poorest countries in the world with a population of over one billion and a fertility rate well above replacement level. The overall improvements in the nutritional status of the population have been less impressive, as more than half of the world's undernourished population live in India. Although the growing prevalence of overweight and ability has received attention. Various samples suggest that the proportion of the overweight population in Indian towns and cities is large and increasing. A study in North Indian men and women found the urban prevalence of overweight to be more than double that of rural population. Thus, the phenomena of nutrition transition are more favourable for urban areas and are less effective in rural areas due to poverty and malnutrition.

Answer : The phenomenon of the 'missing girl' has become an all-India phenomenon and cut across each strata of the Indian society. The child sex ratio used to capture the 'missing girl' phenomenon since 1991 has shown a considerable downward trend. In 2001 though the sex ratio showed an increase, but child sex ratio declined to 927. (Census 2001) This decline was despite the enactment of PCPNDT Act, 1994 indicating its ineffectiveness and faulty implementation. The salient features of PCPNDT Act, 1994 are:

• Prohibition of sex selection, before and after conception.
• Regulation of prenatal diagnostic techniques (e.g. amniocentesis and ultra-sonography) for detection of genetic abnormalities, by restricting their use to registered institutions.
• The Act allows the use of these techniques only at a registered place for a specified purpose and by a qualified person, registered for this purpose.
• Prevention of misuse of such techniques for sex selection before or after conception.
• Prohibition of advertisement of any technique for sex selection as well as sex determination.
• Prohibition on sale of ultrasound machines to persons not registered under this Act.
• Punishment for violation of provisions of the Act.

In light of the ineffectiveness of PCPNDT Act, it was amended with effect from 14th February, 2003 to make it more comprehensive and renamed as "Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994". The techniques of pre-conception sex selection have been brought within the ambit of the Act so as to pre-empt the use of such technologies, which significantly contribute to the declining sex ratio.

Answer : NRLM was announced in the Budget 2009-10 to replace the SGSY. It seeks to alleviate rural poverty by 2015 by redesigning the SGSY. While the NRLM promises a lot with regard to creation and strengthening of rural livelihoods, it does suffer some serious shortcomings, which if not addressed are likely to see it move in the same path as the IRDP, SGSY and/or other programs. The criticisms are as follows:

1. Its emphasis on SHG for providing livelihood. Overemphasis of NRLM on SHGs could lead exclusion (rather than inclusion) of rural low income people who are not inclined and/or unable to participate through SHGs. Hence, the NRLM focuses on the household as the primary target of the program.
2. The NRLM design perhaps looks at the rural economy as one whereas in reality, many segments exist within rural low income people as well as across the broader rural economy spectrum.
3. The whole concept of NRLM should in reality be driven by critical sub-sectors, associated value chains and related livelihoods including MSMEs. Although, the NRLM talks about value chains, it does so in a cursory manner.
4. Another aspect with regard to NRLM is its lack of serious attention to value added agriculture and rural MSMEs - which, as the experiences of many countries suggest, can play a major role in enabling and sustaining inclusive growth in rural areas.
5. The strategy of NRLM is too broad and sweeping. Rather than attempting to do a whole lot of things across the board, it may be better if the NRLM learns from its past avataar's (such as the IRDP or SGSY) mistakes.
6. The design is too academic and top down with the minimal involvement of "real target group”. This was among the biggest reasons for the failures of IRDP and SGSY - in fact, if these had not failed, we would not need an NRLM today.

On account of the above deficiencies in NRLM design it is feared that it may also meet the same fate similar to SGSY. Some suggestion for effective implementation and design:

1. NRLM may focus on covering all the willing households under SHGs, irrespective of BPL/ APL status.
2. NRLM may have twofold strategy for poverty alleviation and rural prosperity.
3. There should be a permanent implementation mechanism at the district and block level.
4. NGO role in the promotion and nurturing of the SHGs and SHG federations need to be articulated clearly so as to promote innovation.
5. To obtain desirable employment transformation and to take full advantage of booming secondary and tertiary sectors, under livelihood promotion, NRLM may promote small and medium enterprises in 'services' and 'manufacturing' sectors with SHG federations.

Answer : The umbrella Central Sector Scheme called the "Scheme to Promote Voluntary Action for Persons with Disabilities" was revised with effect from 01.04.2003 and was renamed as the "Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS)". Under the scheme, funds for the welfare of persons with disabilities are provided to the non-governmental organizations for projects like special schools for disabled, Vocational Training Centres, Half Way Homes, Community Based Rehabilitation Centres, Early Intervention Centres for Disabled and Rehabilitation of Leprosy Cured Persons, etc.

Answer : The Kendirya Vidyalaya Sangathan is registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act (XXI of 1860). The primary aim of the Sangathan is to provide, establish, endow, maintain control and manage the Central Schools (Kendriya Vidyalayas) located all over India and abroad. The Sangathan has three tier management structure with its (I) Headquarters (II) Regional Offices managing a cluster about 45-50 schools and (III) Kendriya Vidyalayas spread all over the country and abroad each having their Vidyalaya Management Committees.

Structure of Sangathan: The general body of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan is the apex body. The Minister of Human Resource Development, in-charge of the Kendriya Vidyalayas scheme, is the Chairman of the Sangathan. The Minister of state in the Ministry of Human Resource Development is the Deputy Chairman and an Officer of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, specified by the Government of India for this purpose, is the Vice Chairman of the Sangathan. Other members are appointed by the Government of India from amongst senior officers of the Ministries of Finance, Defence, Works and Housing, Health and Department of Personnel and Training as well as distinguished educationists including representatives of the Central Board of Secondary Education. National Council of Educational Research and Training and State Governments besides Members of Parliament, Women representatives and Members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Mission:The Kendriya Vidyalayas have a four- fold mission as:

• To cater to the educational needs of the children of transferable Central Government employees including Defence and Para-Military personnel by providing a common programme of education;
• To pursue excellence and set pace in the field of school education;
• To initiate and promote experimentation and innovativeness in education in collaboration with other bodies like the Central Board of Secondary Education and National Council of Educational Research and Training etc, and
• To develop the spirit of national integration and create a sense of “Indianness” among children.

The Navodaya Vidyalaya System is a unique experiment unparalleled in the annals of school education in India and elsewhere. Its significance lies in the selection of talented rural children as the target group and the attempt to provide them with quality education comparable to the best in a residential school system. Such children are found in all sections of society, and in all areas including the most backward. But, so far, good quality education has been available only to well-to-do sections of society, and the poor have been left out. It was felt that children with special talent or aptitude should be provided opportunities to proceed at a faster pace, by making good quality education available to them, irrespective of their capacity to pay for it. These talented children otherwise would have been deprived of quality modern education traditionally available only in the urban areas. Such education would enable students from rural areas to compete with their urban counterparts on an equal footing. The National Policy on Education-1986 envisaged the setting up of residential schools, to be called Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas that would bring out the best of rural talent.

Objectives

• To serve the objectives of excellence coupled with equity and social justice.
• To promote national integration by providing opportunities to talented children, largely rural, from different part of the country, to live and learn together and develop their full potential.
• To provide good quality modern education, including a strong component of culture, inculcation of values, awareness of the environment, adventure activities and physical education.
• To ensure that all students of Navodaya Vidyalayas attain a reasonable level of competence in three language as envisaged in the three language formula; and
• To serve, in each district, as focal point for improvement in quality of school education through sharing of experiences and facilities.

Answer : Small holder farmers could be defined as those marginal and submarginal farm households that own or/and cultivate less than 2.0 hectares of land. The strengthening of small holder farms is important because of two reasons. One, as per agricultural census (1990-91) 33% of the total cultivated land in India is small farms and it contributes 41% of the national grain production. Secondly small holder families constitute more than half of the national population and this lot along with agricultural labourers constitutes the bulk of the poor and hungry in India.

Thus strengthening of small holder farms is important both for reasons of its high contribution in agricultural output due to high levels of productivity as compared to large farms and for its role in alleviating poverty across the country, as bulk of the poor depend on it for their sustenance.

And the answer to this is empowerment which follows from access to newer technologies, skill development through education, access to cheap credit and inputs and most importantly effective market management/facilitation by the govt. post WTO.

Answer : Nothing is easier than to recognise a poor person when you see him or her. Yet the task of identifying and counting the poor seems to elude the country’s best experts. In India poverty figures that is captured by BPL families/households has similar variable data. Four alternative figures are available: 28 per cent from the Planning Commission, 50 per cent from the N.C. Saxena Committee report, 42 per cent from the Tendulkar Committee report, and 80 per cent or so from the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS).

In this connection, it is important to remember that the poverty line is, ultimately, little more than an arbitrary benchmark. It is difficult to give it a normative interpretation (in this respect, the Tendulkar Committee report is far from convincing). The notion that everyone below a certain expenditure threshold is “poor,” while everyone else is “not poor,” makes little sense.

But, if a subjective analysis is applied to suggest a relatively better estimate that caters to ground reality than the closest that comes to mind is the Saxena Committee’s estimate. The Committee recently proposed an alternative BPL Census methodology, involving a simplified scoring system. Instead of 13 indicators, there are just five, with an aggregate score ranging from 0 to 10. This is a major improvement. Similarly, the estimation of GDP growth rate of India and the recent data that came out for the first quarter i.e. April-June 2010 of the current financial year amply underlies the variations in the data. While the real GDP growth at factor cost is estimated at 8.8%, at market prices but again since this data depends upon a variable that is market cost which has other variants so it opens door for variable estimation that has steep differences. There is a substantial divergence between the real GDP growth at factor cost and the real GDP growth at market price.

Now we come to so many varied statistical institutions in India that provide GDP growth figures for every quarter ended. In this the data provided by NSSO, CSO, comes. Add to this figures provided by RBI and Ministry of Finance. The series continues with new data for every quarter also being provided by various industrial chambers of commerce and international institution like WB and IMF, and what you get is Statistical data mired in subjective approach providing different result. Since every institution that comes with such data has their own ulterior intention so they apply different approaches that suffice their requirement.

Considering, all the matrix of data, if we look up for an impartial analysis and the intentional neutrality than the figure provided by RBI must be considered as closest to reality. Since RBI has to come up with the apt supply of liquidity in the market so the approach which it implies is practical.

Answer : In order to promote planned and healthy real estate development of colonies and apartments with a view to protecting consumer interest on the one hand and to facilitate smooth and speedy urban construction on the other; Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation has drafted a draft Model Real Estate (Regulation of Development) Act.

The bill seeks to establish a regulatory authority and an appellate tribunal which will help to regulate, control and promote planned and healthy development and construction, sale, transfer and management of new urban infrastructure like colonies, apartments etc.. Thus it will protect public interest. Every builder must register himself before starting any project with the regulatory body and no advance for the sale of plots or flats can be taken from the interested buyers without registering.

The bill also has provisions for:

1. Responsibility of the Promoter to enter all details on the website of the Regulator;
2. Responsibility of promoters regarding veracity of the advertisement or prospectus;
3. Responsibility of Promoter to take measure for protection and safety of property;
4. Responsibility of the promoter to the allottees during project period etc.

Once this bill comes in to force, this will lead to curb the practice of forfeiting the money of innocent buyer. It will wash out the fraud builders and will increase transparency for buyers. Thus, it is a much awaited legislation to control the real estate sector which is growing with an unprecedented rate.

Answer : Swavalamban Scheme, launched in Sep 2010, is applicable to all citizens in the unorganized sector who join the New Pension System. Under the scheme, Government will contribute Rs. 1000 per year to each NPS account opened in the year 2010-11 for the next three years.

Answer : National investment fund, launched in 2007, is a fund maintained outside the consolidated fund of India to which all proceeds from central public sector enterprise disinvestment will be routed. Out of the entire yearly corpus, 75% will be utilized to finance social sector strategies and remaining 25% will be expended to meet up the capital investment needs of profitable and revivable CPSEs.

Answer : The hallmark of any matured and civilized society is gender justice. In this context Domestic violence Act, 2005 has enlarged the sphere of protection given to women in their domestic relationship. The main features of this Act makes for penal provision for all the acts of commonly understood violence within the four confines of the home. The act covers even verbal abuse and threat under the definition of violence, so physical and actual violence is not required to be proved by women comptaint. Post this legal provision, women feels in way 'empowered' to fight against any sort of 'Slave Treatment' mated to them. Relationship required by this act can be of marital or other nature. Even in live-in partners, brother-sister and paternal relationships are covered under this act.

The act shifts the onus to prove innocence on the part of the perpetrator of violence. The person who is convicted under this act may be imprisoned. Even during imprisonment, he may be obliged to provide shelter and food to the dependent woman. Persons may be prevented from entering into certain limits of area where the victim resides so that the safety of victim can be effectively ensured. Coupled with this, there are also provisions in this Act to make the investigating agencies trained in the gender sensitization programmes. There will be women-cell in police station. It is inbuilt into the Act that Mens rea is given significance thus it acts as a strong deterrent.

All these provisions will actually reduce and gradually eliminate domestic violence. But remedy lies in creating proper awareness and social concession apart from ensuring strict implementation of provisions of the Act. The Act has certainly brought in the changes to the attitude of the males to the some extent towards their female counterpart of the family.

Answer : "Deemed universities have become doomed universities" said the Yashpal Committee on the occasion of presenting its report on the 'mushrooming of higher educational institutions' in the country. Now education has been monetized completely. In this whole context with a multiplicity of regulators and the private education lobby emerging very powerful quality is the biggest casualty. In the present scenario when there is talk of increased interface between the industrial houses and the educational institutions and the government not equipped to take the whole mantle of educating India to itself, private investment in the higher education also cannot be overlooked. This calls for a stringent, “impartial and creative regulation coupled with facilitating the private Houses to come forward to establish centers of excellence in the higher education under public-private model. In fact the government can become as the mentor-cum-trustee for the private money and with experts in the fields can create quality educational institution that does not in any way compromise with the quality part.

Answer : The third NFHS presented a holistic picture of the national nutrition of the Indian populace. The report says that more than three-quarter of the Indian females are severely anemic. The report further says that in every five children born, two have less than 10% chances of survival. India has the largest number of malnourished children in the whole world that is roughly touching the figure of about 115 million. The report further says that though the calorie intake upon which the BPL family is calculated does hide more than what it reveals. Engel's theory of nutrition is followed also in the Indian society. There is more of cheaply available carbohydrate calorie intake than the other types of high density and healthy food items like fat, protein. There is severe lack of the micronutrient that is lacking in the food intake habit of the Indian population. Most amazing fact is that there is severe lack of awareness among the urban rich also regarding the healthy diet.

Answer : In the recently released books of certain national level politician who have carved out niche power to sway public perception to certain extent, had certain judgemental statements. Resultantly, this created a ruckus in the political arena. India is certainly a plural society- a cauldron of different cultures which certainly deciphers the historical facts in their own colors of perception. In this regard the people who are in a sort of leadership arena should be more sensitive to their public personality and anything that goes in the public arena through them. If any personal aptitude about any historical facts comes out in the category of 'non-fiction' category, it must be respected as multiple spectacle results in a balanced "filtrate" of history. In this context the role of media is also expected to be more "responsible". Article 19 and 21 in the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression but is qualified with a judicious limitation that any such right should not create poison in the diverse environs of the “Indian society. As in a diverse nation like ours every right is attached with a fundamental duty.It has been said that every power comes with more of responsibility.

Answer : Dramatic changes have taken place in the legal, political, educational and social status of women since independence.

Indian constitution promised a complete equality to women, women got a voting power along with men. But still there was no adequate participation by women in Indian political system.

73rd and 74th Amendment Act of 1992 bought a tremendous change in the participation of women in political system. According to these amendment women are given one third reservation in Panchayat Raj Elections. This grass root level democracy made women to participate in government decision making.

Active participation in Panchayat Raj system make rural women to think about their rights made them to change their social status. Now, they are not only for voting purpose, but also participating in the political decision-making.

As of now, women constitute the half of the population of the India. Therefore, their participation is requirement of the day. In decision-making there is a requirement of bottom-up approach. Therefore, in grass-root level there must be participation by all the classes of people of the society. When policies are made for women, if their decision is included then the efficiency of the policy is more.

This 73rd and 74th Amendment Act of 1992 by giving reservation to women in Panchayat Raj has empowered the rural women. Rural women were the one who were more away from the developmental work. Now, they know what role should be played by them in the political system. Once political status is improved, it makes them economically empowered. There social status is also improved. This helps to remove the social evils, like child marriage, illiteracy and etc. Therefore, the active participation of women in Panchayat Raj system has empowered them.

Answer : According to government reports 2 million fact uses are aborted each year for reason none other than they happen to be females.

Census 2001 shows that during the 1991-2001 decade the overall sex ratio increased from 927 per 1,000 to 933 per 1,000. But during the same decade the child sex ratio (0-6 years) dropped from 945 to 927, while the sex ratio in the 7+age group increased from 923 to 935.

The problem of declining sex ratio cannot be viewed only in terms of numbers. Studies should be conducted to look at the reasons behind decision to abort and neglect baby girls.

Some of the studies shows that juvenile sex ratio (0-6 years) has been dropped from 945 (1991 census) to /896 (2001 census). This juvenile sex-ratio (0-6 years) is the most realistic indicator of trends in female feticide and continuing discrimination against the girl child.

The reasons behind the mistreatment of girls crosses the spectrum of Indian regions, economic classes and castes and are due to a complex mix of economic social and cultural factors.

Declining sex ratio is the reflection of the intrinsic flow in our social system, which has to be taken into consideration and addressed. This shows that government has to take measure to curb this decline in sex ratio.

For that, government gives education to girl child, encourages people not to go for female feticide. Many state governments have implemented programmes for girl child development, to control female feticide.

Even government of India has also introduced the nutritional programmes for both mother and the child.

Government starts programmes to empower the women, takes care of health of the women and the child.

As women constitute half of the population of the country, if they are discriminated, then it will have affect on the country’s development. Therefore, if country starts taking care of women, then it will have affect of social development.

Answer : On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The declaration arose directly from the experience of the second world war and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. If consists of 30 articles which have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions and laws.

The international Bill of Human Rights consists of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant in Civil and Political Rights and its two optional protocols.

Preamble of Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. It is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by rule of law”.

It is essential to maintain and promote the development of friendly relations between nations.

The General Assembly of the United Nations proclaims the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, should keep this in mind, by teaching, of and education to promote respect for these rights.

Answer : The impact of globalisation is being visible in almost all sectors, infact the state system is also not untouched. Openness is obvious in economic, social and cultural sectors under globalisation. At present no country can even think of development, keeping itself aloof from the globalisation process. Naturally in such a scenario, change in the state system has become very important. It is a result of globalisation that now-a-days the democratic system hasbecome stronger in comparison to the earlier ones. In the state people are given more freedom. Infact a communistic country like China is also on the track to have a liberal economic system. The countries which are non-democratic and are ruled by militaries are also infleunced by globalisation, in these countries also with time human freedom and global change are agreed to, accept for the developmental change. The state organisations are also liberal so that they can connect the influence of liberal economy and cultural openness with globalisation. Because of globalisation, the state organisations now have started adopting the preventive measures, ensure economic system, administrative advantages and ensure freedom of more than a billion people of the country.

Answer : Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) aims are:

1. To provide nutritious food to children below 6 years and mothers, and to improve health.
2. To reduce mortality rate, mal-nutrition and the number of children who have left school.
3. To place children under psychological, physical and social development.
4. To develop children and different departments concerned and their activities related issues should be taken care.

Under ICDS nutritious food, health and education related facilities are provided to children and pregnant women. Under ICDS almost 5000 plannings are going on presently, where in 378 lakh people are being benefited.

Answer : The most criticised and proposed bill to Parliament, Lokpal Bill has the following aims–

1. Lokpal would be a quasi-judicial office. The working Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or the retired Chief Justice of India becomes the chairman of the Lokpal.
2. Under the chairmanship of the Vice-President, the committee regarding the selection of the members of the Lokpal is established.
3. The Council of Ministers, the members of the Parliament and government officers would be in Lokpal. But the President and Vice-President are kept aside of the Lokpal.
4. The complaints against the Prime Minister regarding the issues like National Security and national system has been kept aside for the test from the scope of Lokpal.
5. If the complaint against the chairman of Lokpal is proved then he may be removed.

If the Lokpal system is established then definitely it would be easier to fight against corruption and it would be easier to have a fair administration in the country.

Answer : In 1999-2000 the Rashtriya Krishi Bima Yojana was started by establishing extensive successful Bima Yojana. The main objectives of the Rashtriya Krishi Bima Yojana are as follows –

1. To protect the farmers from the harm in crops which takes place due to natural calamity like drought, flood, fire, and pest etc.
2. To provide insurance to the farmers in future so that their motivation regarding the increase in production of crops keeps existing.
3. To provide insurance for both the debtor farmers and undebtor farmers so that specially landless and small farmers benefit.
4. To prevent and stop the incidents like suicide and running away from the production process by the farmers because of crop spoiling and lots of loans.
5. To encourage development in the cultivation sector, food crops, cash crops are to be ensured.

The implementation of the Rashtriya Krishi Bima Yojana has been supported by not only the ordinary Indian Insurance Company Limitedbut by other companies as well viz. New India Insurance, Oriental Insurance, United India Insurance Company Limited and NABARD.

Answer : It is unfortunate that even after almost sixty years of independence, besides having a National Mental Health programme, we don’t have country wide epidemiological data of mental illness and whatever available are only estimates and those estimates are based on the prevalence and incidence of other countries. Reducing the incidence of mental disorder by developing programs to forestall emotional problems and produce wellness is referred to a primary responding to sight of illness, primary prevention is proactive, intervening before illness develops. The two prevention strategies often type most often used are system-level approaches and person centered approaches.

System-level prevention includes the need to address the social conditions related to mental illness, especially those associated is one way of capping with the stresses and frustrations produced by these conditions, then this social problem will be reduced if and when social charges alleviate such detrimental conditions. Thus, the most beneficial and meaningful rehabilitation is that based on the ideals of justice, the provision of life opportunities, and empowerment, the ability to control and change one’s life. A second system-level approach is to understand and modify specific social environment.

Answer : In a landmark judgment on April 12, 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the provision in the Right to Education Act, 2009 that makes it mandatory for all schools (government and private) except private, unaided minority schools to reserve 25% of their seats for children belonging to “weaker section and disadvantaged group”.

The Act provides that children between the ages of six and 14 years have the right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school. It also lays down the minimum norms that each school has to follow in order to get legal recognition. The Act required government schools to provide free and compulsory education to all admitted children. Similarly, aided schools have to provide free and compulsory education proportionate to the funding received, subject to a minimum of 25%.

SC Judgement: The Act is constitutionally valid and shall apply to (a) government controlled schools, (b) aided schools (including minority administered schools), and (c) unaided, non-minority schools. The reasons are given below:

First, Article 21A makes it obligatory on the State to provide free and compulsory education to all children between 6 and 14 years of age. However, the manner in which the obligation shall be discharged is left to the State to determine by law. Therefore, the State has the freedom to decide whether it shall fulfill its obligation through its own schools, aided schools or unaided schools. The 2009 Act is “child centric” and not “institution centric”. The main question was whether the Act violates Article 19(1)(g) which gives every citizen the right to practice a profession or carry out any occupation, trade or business.

However, the Constitution provides that Article 19(1)(g) may be circumscribed by Article 19(6), which allow reasonable restriction over this right in the interest of the general public. The Court stated that since “education” is recognized as a charitable activity reasonable restriction may apply.

Second, the Act places a burden on the State as well as parents/guardians to ensure that every child has the right to education. Thus, the right to education “envisages a reciprocal agreement between the State and the parents and it places an affirmative burden on all stakeholders in our civil society.” The private, unaided schools supplement the primary obligation of the State to provide for free and compulsory education to the specified category of students.

Third, TMA Pai and P.A. Inamdar judgments hold that the rights to establish and administer educational institutions fall within Article 19 (1) (g). It includes right to admit students and set up reasonable fee structure. However, these principles were applied in the context of professional/higher education where merit and excellence have to be given due weightage. This does not apply to a child seeking admission in Class I. Also, Section 12 (1) (c) of the Act seeks to remove financial obstacle. Therefore, the 2009 Act should be read with Article 19 (6) which provides for reasonable restriction on Article 19 (1) (g).

However, the government should clarify the position with regard to boarding schools and orphanages. The Court also ruled that the 2009 Act shall not apply to unaided, minority schools since they are protected by Article 30 (1) (all minorities have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice). This right of the minorities is not circumscribed by reasonable restriction as is the case under Article 19 (1) (g).

Answer : PURA stands for Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas to tackle the problem of migration of people from rural to urban areas for employment. President APJ Abdul Kalam has proposed the concept of PURA in the VISION 2020 project initiated by him. Its objective is to make rural areas as attractive to inverter as cities are. Then, rural areas too will generate urban-style employment to halt, if not reverse, rural urban migration. Its major objectives can be summerised as below:

• Replacing agriculture by connectivity as the Driving Force of rural development.
• Job creation should be concentrated in industry and services and farm employment should decrease.
• Providing high cost advanced technology to village.
• Providing same per capita investment to rural areas as cities do.
• Rural fund are for investment not for consumption.
• Treating rural development as corporate social responsibility. The PURA scheme envisages.
• Linking a loop of villages by a ring road about 30 km. in circumference with frequent bus services. That will integrate the population of all connected villages into one market. Those, villages become a virtual city with a potential to expand and accommodate 3-5 lakhs population.
• Compensation to farmers for the land acquired from them not by a lump sum but by an annual fee equal to twice the price of the produce they grow. That gives farmers perpetual inflation protected income.
• Sub-leasing the land to employers both for business and for employee residences within walking distance of each other. That will virtually eliminate daily commuting to work, an unavoidable evil in city living.

Answer : India maintained its 127th in the human development index rankings released by the UNDP-in the Human development Report, 2004. As per the HDR, India’s life expectancy at birth in the year 2002, the latest available, was 63.7 years, adult literacy rate (percentages 15 and above) was 61.3, combined gross enrolment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary schools was 55 per cent and GDP per capita (purchasing power parity basis) was 2670 dollars.

According to the report, the per capita expenditure on health in India is $ 80 compared to $ 224 in China in 2001. In the area of technology diffusion and creation, while India has 40 telephone mainlines per 1,000 people, China has 167. The report says that the number of researchers in India per million is 157, while china has 584.

India has improved on the poverty front and has moved up five notches to 48 this year in a list of 95 developing countries. The report placed India among good performing countries that were able to reduce poverty in the process of development.

Answer : Calorie consumption expenditure level is an important method to determine poverty line in India. Per capita daily calorific minimum has been defined as 2,400 calories villages and 2,100 calories in cities. If we consider this on the basis of sex, a very rough average for the required intake is 3,900 for working women. Though this method appears to be a foolproof method, there are some built in glitches. Since this particular measures of poverty is based only on consumption of food, access to innumerable other essentials is ignored. Adequate fuel, clothing, housing, drinking water, sanitation, health and education are just a few of the many essential goods and services that are not covered by this measure of poverty.

The simplest measure of poverty is the head count ratio (HCR) which is calculated by dividing the number of people below the poverty line by the total population. Simply speaking, this is the proportion of poor in the total population. Though easy to understand, the formulation of policy on the basis of HCR leads to trouble, as it makes no distinction between people just below the poverty line and those much below the poverty line. Hence, the government can claim to have succeeded in eradicating poverty considerably by spending just enough on the least poor, and spending nothing on the most poor. However, despite this shortcoming, HCR is the official method to estimate poverty.

According to the latest survey by NSSO, the poverty in India is estimated at 26.10 percent for the country as a whole and 27.09 per cent in rural areas, 23.62 per cent in urban areas.

Poverty Eradication Programmes: Poverty eradication programmes have been strengthened over the years to generate additional employment, create productivity assets, impart technical and entrepreneurial skills and raise the income level of the poor. For the year 2003-04, Ministry of Rural Development was allocated Rs 19,200 crores for rural development, provision of drinking water supply, rural employment and poverty eradication programmes etc. Major poverty eradication and employment generation programmes are: The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana, Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana, Antyodaya Anna Yojana, Indira Awaas Yojana, Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana, etc.

The success of the poverty eradication programmes can be seen from the reduction of poverty from 54.9% in 1973-74 to 36% in 1993-94. The poverty ratio declined by nearly 10 percentage point in the five years period between 1993-94 to reach 26% in 1999-2000. While the proportion of poor in the rural areas declined from 56.4 per cent in 1973-74 to 27.1 per cent in 1999-2000, the decline in urban areas has been from 49 per cent to 23.6 per cent during this period. Direct poverty eradication programmes are important and will continue on an expanded scale in the ninth and tenth plan. But these programmes would be oriented towards strengthening the productive potential of the economy and providing more opportunities for involving the poor in the economic process. Certain schemes concerning income generation through supplementary employment and targeted PDS system to facilitate easy access to food grains could be successfully implemented to improve the lining condition of poor people.

Answer : Corruption in India is a consequence of the nexus between Bureaucracy, politics and criminals. One part of the remedy is to limit the role of ministers to evolve policies and leave the application of policies to individual cases in the hands of an independent commission/authority in each such area of public interest. Each such commission/authority may be a statutory body whose members are ‘appointed by the cabinet on the basis of their professional credentials for a fixed tenure. Conditions of service similar to those for judges and other constitutional officers may be evolved to ensure independence.

If the decisions of these commissions are not under the purview of ministers but only challengeable in courts, one source of corruption may be eliminated.

If political corruption is at the heart of our corrupt system, then funding of elections is at the core of political corruption. Electoral reforms are crucial in this regard. Several reforms have been suggested—state funding of election expenses for candidates; strict enforcement of statutory requirements like holding in-party elections, making political parties get their accounts audited regularly and filling income tax returns; denying persons with criminal records a chance to contest elections; reducing number of days of campaigning and providing airtime on Doordarshan and AIR to campaign; treating as electoral malpractice the violation of the Model Code of conduct prepared by the Election Commission. These reforms need to be evaluated and the meritorious ones implemented immediately.

Responsiveness, accountability and transparency are a must for a clean system. The bureaucracy must be made sensitive to the needs of the citizens and be purged of its ‘ruler syndrome’. In addition to it, there should exist machinery independent of the government which can provide speedy justice to the citizen with a genuine grievance against the state.

To make an anti-corruption movement credible, it is necessary to punish some major corrupt figures. Punitive action is necessary to jolt the system out of the corruption trap.

Answer : Disabilities are of two broad types: physical and mental. The physically disabled include the deaf, dumb, blind and orthopedics. Mental disability includes mental retardation, autism and cerebral palsy. A disability becomes a handicap when it interferes with one’s ability to do what is expected at a particular time.

The persons with Disability: Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation Act, 1995 includes the following types of disability — blindness, low vision, leprosy-cured, hearing impairment, locomotors disability, mental retardation and mental illness.

Answer : The UN adopted the declaration in December 1948, proclaiming it as a common standard of achievement for all people and all nationals. According to it, everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person; no one shall be held in slavery: no one shall be arbitrarity arrested, there shall be equality before law; freedom of movement shall be guaranteed and right of association and social security shall be recognised. It is a statement of moral standards which every civilised country is expected to accept.

This has led to the establishment of National Human Rights Commission in many countries and Amnesty International is also keeping close watch on those countries who violates the Human Rights of the people. Accordingly pressure is created to respect the rights of the people, by way of sanction etc. So, in this way UN is promoting and protecting the Human Rights.

Answer : India’s nuclear doctrine is unique. Firstly, it is a consensus document designed for public debate unlike the nuclear doctrine of most countries, which are kept secret. Secondly, it adheres firmly to its continued commitment to nuclear disarmament, which it lays down as one of the country’s national security objectives. The doctrine, which has been formulated by the National Security Advisory Board, is still in draft form as it has yet to be discussed in Parliament. The doctrine lies down that India would create a nuclear force that would provide credible nuclear deterrence against nuclear weapons. In doing so, it lays down certain principles, namely, (a) restricting the purpose of nuclear weapons to deterrence against nuclear weapons only and not visualising use of these weapons in a non-nuclear scenario, and (b) a commitment to a policy of “No first use”. “No first use” is consistent with the country’s commitment to nuclear disarmament. If all nuclear powers follow India’s example of “No first use”, it would lead to the ultimate banning of nuclear weapons. The reasons for India’s refusal to sign the CTBT are as follows:

1. No time table has been conceived to get the five nuclear weapon countries to remove all nuclear weapons.
2. The EIF (Entry into Force) clause is unacceptable.
3. The nuclear five have a distinct advantage because of their headstand in modernising their arsenals if they decide to withdraw; the treaty allows withdrawal without sanction of signatories and permits the nuclear five to maintain their design teams and laboratories.
4. The treaty is not comprehensive, it only bans nuclear weapon test. Computer simulated test will still help the ‘haves’ to go ahead in perfecting their weapon system.

Answer : Though it is a state subject, all policy initiatives are taken by ministry of welfare keeping in mind views of various departments/ministries of the government as well as non-governmental organisation. Close liaison is maintained with associated ministries such as the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Department of Education, the Department of women and Child Development, Ministry of Personnel and Training.

The persons with disabilities Act. 1995 deals with both prevention and promotional aspects of the rehabilitation such as education, employment, vocational training. National Programme for the Rehabilitation for the Disabled (NPRD) proposes to mix-up the concept of community based rehabilitation.

IRDP now provides a revolving fund to a self-help organisation of the disable people living in rural areas for carrying out an income generating activity. Grant in Schemes and rehabilitation council of India is also furthering the cause.

Answer : There has been a sharp decline in poverty over the last five years with the percentage of population Below Poverty Line (BPL) declining to 26.1 percent in 1999-2000 from 35.97 percent in 1993-94. According to the latest estimates of the planning commission, while the percentage of rural BPL population has dropped to 27.09 percent from 37.27, in urban India, it fell to 23.62 percent from 32.36 percent during the five year period. In absolute term too, the BPL population has dropped by over 19 percent, to 26.03 crore in 1999-2000, from 32.04 crore in 1993-94. The rural poor stands at 19.32 crore (as against 24.4 crore) while the urban poor stands at 6.71 crore. At the state level, although the percentage of BPL population in Orissa has declined to 47.15 percent from 48.56 percent, it has overtaken Bihar to reach the top slot with the highest incidence of poverty. The other big states with high incidence of poverty were Madhya Pradesh at 37.43 percent (as against 43.52 percent), Assam 40.86 percent (36.09 percent), Uttar Pradesh 31.15 percent (40.85 percent) and West Bengal 27.02 percent (35.66 percent).

However, the planning commission has cautioned that the poverty ratios over the two time period (1993-94 and 1999-2000) are not strictly comparable. The survey methodology has undergone changes over the two surveys in 1993-94 and 1999-2000. Before feeling too good about the drop in BPL, it would be as well to remember that 26 crore (the Indian BPL) is a very large number.

There are two basic pre-requisite of a poverty eradication programme. Firstly, reorientation of the agricultural relations so that the ownership of land is shared by a larger section of the population. Secondly, no programme of removal of poverty can succeed in an economy plagued by inflation and spiraling rise of price. A poverty eradication programme, therefore, must mop up the surplus with the elite classes. These two pre-requisites require a strong political will in the national leadership to implement the much needed structural reforms. Besides, the government must aim at a strategy for the development of the social sector of which the key component should be population control, universal primary education, family welfare and job creation especially in rural areas. These and the other aspects of poverty alleviation have not been given any importance so far in our planning though we have always thought that poverty can be removed through economic development.

Answer : (i) Definition of Human Rights: The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action focus on massive violations of human rights, especially genocide, ethnic, cleansing and systematic rape, on self-determination, referring for the first time to “a government representing the whole people belonging to a territory without distinction of any kind,” on the environmental needs of present and future generations.

(ii) Composition of the National Human Rights commission: National Human Rights commission was constituted in October 1993 under the Human Rights Ordinance of 28th September, 1993 which was soon after enacted as the protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.

The Act envisages that the commission shall consist of:

1. A chairperson who has been a chief justice of the Supreme Court.
2. One member who is or has been, a judge of the Supreme Court.
3. One member who is or has been chief justice of a High Court.
4. Two members to be appointed from amongst persons having knowledge of or practical experience in, matter relating to human rights.

(iii) Functions of the commission: Inquire, on its own initiative or on a petition presented to it by a victim or any persons on his behalf, into complaints at: (i) Violation of human rights or abetment thereof, or (2) negligence in the prevention of such violation, by a public servant.

1. Intervene in any proceeding involving any allegation of violation of human rights pending before a court with the approval of such court.
2. Review the safeguards provided by or under the constitution of any law for the time being in force for the protection of human rights and recommend measures for their effective implementation.

Answer : In order to make the NHRC more effective and keeping in mind the country’s obligation under international conventions, the Government has been sending information and replies to specific questions received from various Rapporteur of the UN High Commission for Human Rights. Prompt replies sent to allegations of alleged human rights violations has strengthened the position of the Government and countered the biased propaganda launched by vested interest.

Answer : The Supreme Court has from time to time, held, that even prisoners have rights to be treated with human dignity. They are not to be treated with derogatory manner and inhuman torture. The court has widened the scope of Article 21 to provide free legal aid and speedy trial as fundamental right. Even the Supreme Court has held that solitary confinement should not be imposed except on extra ordinary courses. It was held to be violation of Article 21.

The Supreme Court has accepted that our constitution requires to follow the process of natural justice and hence, no person can be treated against his natural human dignity, even in prisons. He is empowered and has right to have food, healthy environment and cooperation in certain matters. Prisoners cannot be treated as animals and are not to be punished except in accordance with Laws.

In matters regarding torture in prison, it has been strictly ordered that no treatment can be imparted to the prisoners which injure them bodily or mentally. In case of women prisoners, they are not to be sexually harassed. The Court has in some cases given effect to a single post card for or by the prisoner as a petition for a writ and writs have been issued to save them from torture.

Not only relieving them from inhuman treatment or torture in prisons but also compensatory measures have been taken by the court.

Active role of the judicial body, especially the apex court, has saved prisoners from the police atrocities.

Answer : This scheme is launched to serve the people who are living below poverty line, thus can provide them with nutrition’s food apart from imparting basic education by attracting them to schools.

Answer : It came into existence in 1875. The universal postal convention was adopted by the postal congress of Berne on 9th October, 1874; it became the base for the Universal Postal Union.

The Union Postal Bill aims at –

1. To assure various postal services organization and protection.
2. To take steps for the promotion of international collaboration.
3. They are united as single postal territory for the reciprocal exchange of correspondence.

It is a specialized agency of the UN Since 1948. Its constitution adopted in 1964. There is a provision of meeting of the universal postal congress every three years. It has a 44 member council of Administration.

To function as permanent secretariat, there is a 40 member postal operations council and an International Bureau.

Answer : The economic and social council was set up by the UN charter as the principal organ to co-ordinate the functions of the UN, Specialized Agencies and institutions with regard to international economic, social, cultural, educational, health and related matters. It operates under the authority and supervision of the General Assembly and is responsible to it. ECOSOC is committed to establish world peace by creating conditions of stability and well-being required for peaceful and friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self determination of the people.

The ECOSOC is composed of 54 members who are elected by the General Assembly, one-third of which are elected every year for a term of 3-years.

However with the increase in membership of UNO to 189, a Plea is made for further increase in its membership to make it more representative.