Promotion of welfare of marginalized section of society

Published: 5th Sep, 2019

Promotion of welfare of marginalized section of society

A democratic Government has the duty to provide the basic necessities of life to its citizens. As Aadhaar verdicts indicated that the idea of a socialist state under a mandate to secure justice- social, economic and political will be completely illusory if it fails to secure for its citizens the basic necessities in life. Therefore, Government has come up with a well formulated and substantive methodology to help people who suffer starvation, subjugation, deprivation and marginalization. Following are the efforts by government:

Aadhaar is a ‘unique’ identity of Indian citizens that is nationally accepted as a proof of identity.
Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) based on Aadhaar platform bypasses existing leakages and standardises delivery procedures by delivering cash directly to the bank accounts of beneficiaries. It ensures accurate targeting of the beneficiaries, de-duplication and reduction of fraud. This addresses the key issue of correct identification of targeted beneficiaries for delivery of various subsidies, benefits, services, grants, wages and other welfare schemes of Government where funds flows from the Consolidated Fund of India.
The combination of Jan Dhan bank accounts, mobile phones and digital identity through Aadhaar i.e. JAM trinity is helping the poor to get benefits directly into their bank account.
It is estimated that in India only about 10 per cent people are English- speaking and it is obvious to presume that a large population is deprived of benefits of technologies due to language barrier. The internet and digital technologies can only be useful to people once it serves citizens in local language. Today India has Indian language content in cyberspace in at least 15 languages and the rest would soon be available on the Internet.
Pradhan Mantri Digital Saksharta Abhiyan has been appreciated as the world's largest Government effort to bridge the digital divide. It aims to make 6 crore rural adults digitally literate - one person in every household, out of which 2.21 crore persons have already been trained.

The BPO Scheme in Tier-II/III locations are offering services in local languages which is in turn creating employment opportunities for the local youth near their home in small towns. The schemes provide special incentives to the units encouraging employment to women and differently abled persons.

E-Governance Initiatives for STs

Several e-Governance initiatives for ST welfare schemes have been launched by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Following are the initiatives taken:

Online portals namely DBT Tribal and NGO Grants Online Application and Tracking System have been launched for bringing in greater e-Governance in implementation of welfare schemes for STs.
In DBT Tribal portal, there are 3 main modules for Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship:
- Data Sharing module is mainly meant for sharing beneficiary-data by states.
- In Communication module, the states have facility to upload document, raise query and DBT data uploaded by states is used for faster release of funds.
- Monitoring module has facility of MIS reports and Dashboards.
The NGO portal is developed for implementing the scheme - Aid to Voluntary Organisations working for the welfare of STs. It has been fully revamped and redesigned with simplified Application form, Inspection Report and Fund Processing module.