Standing Committee Report on Implementation of the MGNREGA

The Standing Committee on Rural Development Chaired by  Sumitra Mahajan submitted its report on the  implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural  Employment Guarantee Act, 2005.
The MGNREGA was enacted in 2005 to guarantee 100 days of employment per year to rural households.
The Committee highlighted several achievements of the MGNREGA in the seven years of its implementation; especially (a) ensuring livelihoods for people in rural areas, (b) large scale participation of women, SCs/STs and other traditionally marginalised sections of society, (c) increasing the wage rate in rural areas, (d) strengthening the rural economy through the creation of assets, (e) facilitating sustainable development and (f) strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) like the gram sabha by involving them in planning and monitoring of the scheme.
However, the Committee found several issues with the implementation of the scheme including (a) fabrication of job cards, (b) delay in payment of wages, (c) non payment of unemployment allowances, (d) a large number of incomplete works, (e) poor quality of assets created, (f) several instances of malpractices and corruption, and (g) insufficient involvement of PRIs.
The Committee made the following recommendations, based on its findings:
• Offences such as missing entries in the job cards and unlawful possession of job cards with elected PRI representatives and MGNREGA functionaries should be made a punishable offence under the Act.
• Since studies have shown that the income of female workers raises the standard of living of their households to a greater extent than their male counterparts, the participation of women must be increased through raising awareness and forming self help groups.
• Special works must be identified, meeting the specific needs of disabled people. Special job cards must be issued and personnel must be employed to ensure the participation of persons with disabilities.
• The Department of Rural Development must analyse poor utilisation of funds and take steps to improve utilisation of funds. In addition, it should initiate action against officers found guilty of misappropriating funds under MGNREGA.
• Since states are at various stages of socio-economic development, they may have varied requirements for development and therefore, state governments should be allowed to undertake works that are pertinent to their context. There should be more emphasis on skilled and semi-skilled work under MGNREGA, possibly through greater coordination with the National Rural Livelihoods Mission. The Committee recommends convergence with other schemes such as the National Literacy Mission and Mid Day Meal Scheme.
• Dated receipts for demanded work should be issued so that workers can claim unemployment allowance. Funds for unemployment allowance should be met by the central government.
• Frequency of monitoring by National Level Monitors should increase and appropriate measures should be taken based on their recommendations. Additionally, social audits must mandatorily be held every 6 months. A nodal officer should be designated to ensure this. Vigilance cells must be established at the state and district level and vigilance and monitoring committees must be established at the local level.
• Training and capacity building of elected representatives and other functionaries of PRIs must be done regularly

Parivarik Mahila Lok Adalat

The concept of Parivarik Mahila Lok Adalat (PMLA) has been evolved by the National Commission for Women (NCW) to supplement the efforts of the District Legal Service Authority for redressal and speedy disposal of matters pending in various courts related to marriage and family affairs. 

Objectives of Parivarik Mahila Lok Adalat:

• To provide speedy and cost free dispensation of justice to women.
• To generate awareness among the public regarding conciliatory mode of dispute settlement.
•  To gear up the process of organizing the Lok Adalats and to encourage the public to settle their disputes outside the formal set-up.
• To empower public especially women to participate in justice delivery mechanism.

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was set up in March 2007 under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, an Act of Parliament (December 2005). The Commission's Mandate is to ensure that all Laws, Policies, Programmes, and Administrative Mechanisms are in consonance with the Child Rights perspective as enshrined in the Constitution of India and also the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Child is defined as a person in the 0 to 18 years age group.
The proposed Commission have a Chairperson and six other Members, including two women members, a Member Secretary and other supporting staff. The Chairperson is a person of eminence in the field of child development. The members are the experts in the field of child health, education, child care and development, juvenile justice, children with disabilities, elimination of child labour, child psychology or sociology and laws relating to children.
The Functions of the Commissions are:
• Examine and review the safeguards provided by Constitution or any law for the protection of child rights and recommend measures for their effective implementation• Present to the Central Government, annually reports upon the working of those safeguards.• Examine all factors that inhibit the enjoyment of rights of most vulnerable children and  children in need of special care and protection• Study treaties and other international instruments and undertake periodical review of existing policies, programmes and other activities on child rights and make recommendation for their effective implementation in the best interest of children.• Undertake and promote research in the field of child rights• Spread child rights literacy among various sections of the society and promote awareness• inspect any juvenile custodial home, or any other place of residence or institution meant for children for the purpose of treatment, reformation or protection and take up with these authorities for remedial action• inquire into complaints and take suo motu notice of matters relating to,a) deprivation of child’s rights;b) non-implementation of laws for protection and  development of children;c) non-compliance of policy decisions, guidelines or and to provide relief to such children, take up the issues arising out of such matters with appropriate authorities;• Such other functions as it may consider necessary for the promotion of child rights.

Minorities Development in India

India is a democratic country where people of all community live in peace and harmony. All major religions of the world are found in India. As such, Hindus are the majority community and the minority community includes Muslims,  Sikhs,  Christians,  Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) as notified under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.

Minorities are playing a very vital role in India’s political and social upliftment, contributing significantly in the development of our country. Governments from time to time have formulated programmes and schemes for socio-economic upliftment of minorities.

For this purpose Government of India created the Ministry of Minority Affairs, which aims at empowering the minority communities and creating an enabling environment for strengthening the multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-religious character of our nation. It also aims at improving the socio-economic conditions of the minority communities through affirmative action and inclusive development, so that every citizen has equal opportunity to participate actively in building a vibrant nation.

To facilitate an equitable share for minority communities in education, employment, economic activities and to ensure their upliftment, Prime Minister's New 15-Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities was announced in June, 2006. It provides programme specific interventions with definite goals which are to be achieved in a time bound manner. The objectives of the programme are: (a) Enhancing opportunities for education; (b) Ensuring an equitable share for minorities in economic activities and employment through existing and new schemes, enhanced credit support for self-employment and recruitment to State and Central Government jobs; (c) Improving the conditions of living of minorities by ensuring an appropriate share for them in infrastructure development schemes; and (d) Prevention and control of communal disharmony and violence.

An important aim of the programme has been to ensure that the benefits of various government schemes for the underprivileged reach the disadvantaged sections of the minority communities. In order to ensure that the benefits of these schemes flow equitably to the minorities, the programme envisages location of a certain proportion of development projects in minority concentration areas. The schemes included in the New 15-Point Programme are as under;

• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme by providing services through Anganwadi Centres {Ministry of Women & Child Development}.
• Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Scheme (KGBV) {Ministry of Human Resources Development}
• Aajeevika{Ministry of Rural Development}
• Swarnajayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojana (SJSRY) {Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation}
• Upgradation of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) {Ministry of Labour & Employment}
• Bank credit under priority sector lending {Department of Financial Services}
• Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) {Ministry of Rural Development}

Also acting on the Sachar Committee report, the Government has initiated several measures as:

• Universalization of access to quality education at secondary stage called Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).
• One model college each would be set up in 374 educationally backward districts (EBDs) of the country. Of 374 EBDs, 67 are among identified minority concentration districts.
• Preference to be given by the University Grants Commission for provision of girls' hostels in universities and colleges in the areas where there is concentration of minorities especially Muslims.
• Area Intensive & Madarsa Modernisation Programme has been revised and bifurcated into two schemes. (a) Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madarsas (SPQEM). It was attractive provision for better teachers' salary, increased assistance for books, teaching aids and computers and introduction of vocational subjects, etc and the other scheme which provides financial assistance for Infrastructure Development of Private aided/unaided Minority Institutes (IDMI).
• Academies for professional development of Urdu medium teachers have been set up at three Central Universities namely, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Jamia Milia Islamia University (JMIU), New Delhi and Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MAANU), Hyderabad.

Also, the Government has launched the Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) in 2008-09. The programme aims at improving the socio-economic and basic amenity facilities for improving the quality of life of the people and reducing imbalances in the Minority Concentration Districts (MCDs). Identified 'development deficits' are addressed through a district specific plan for provision of better infrastructure for school and secondary education, sanitation, pucca housing, drinking water and electricity supply, besides beneficiary oriented schemes for creating income generating activities. Absolutely critical infrastructure linkages like connecting roads, basic health infrastructure, ICDS centers, skill development and marketing facilities required for improving living conditions and income generating activities and catalyzing the growth process are eligible for inclusion in the plan.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs is also providing several scholarships to the minority communities to empower them educationally and socially across the country. These include: (a) The Pre-matric scholarship scheme. (b) Post-matric scholarship scheme. (c) The Merit-cum-Means Scholarship Scheme. (d) The Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF). (e) The Free Coaching and Allied Scheme. (f) Leadership Development of Minority Women scheme. (g) Grant In Aid Scheme to State Channelising agencies of National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation.

In this way the Government of India is making every effort for upliftment of minorities so that they can stand with others side by side in all spheres of life and live a dignified life.

POVERTY IN RELATION TO INDIA

The ultimate objective of development planning is human development or to increase social welfare and well-being of the people. Increased social welfare of the people requires a more equitable distribution of development benefits along with better living environment. Development process therefore needs to continuously strive for broad-based improvement in the standard of living and quality of life of the people through an inclusive development strategy that focuses on both income and non income dimensions. The challenge is to formulate inclusive plans to bridge regional, social and economic disparities. Poverty and unemployment are the major hurdles in the goal of inclusive development.
Poverty is a social phenomenon wherein a section of society is unable to fulfil even its basic necessities of life. The UN Human Rights Council has defined poverty as “a human condition characterized by the sustained or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights".

Types of PovertyThe poverty has two aspects: (1) Absolute poverty (2) Relative poverty.
1. Absolute Poverty: It is a situation in which the consumption or income level of people is less than some minimum level necessary to meet basic needs as per the national standards. It is expressed in terms of a poverty line.

2. Relative Poverty: It is expressed in the form of comparisons of the levels of income, nutrition or consumption expenditure of the poor strata vis-à-vis rich strata of the society. It shows the extent of inequality.

The HDR 2010 measures poverty in terms of a new parameter, namely multidimensional poverty index (MPI), which replaced the human poverty index (HPI) used since 1997. The MPI indicates the share of the population that is multi-dimensionally poor adjusted by the intensity of deprivation in terms of living standards, health, and education.
The Planning Commission which is the nodal agency for estimating the number and proportion of people living below the poverty line at national and State levels, separately for rural and urban areas, makes poverty estimates based on a large sample survey of household consumption expenditure carried out by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) after an interval of approximately five years.
The recommendations of different committees for estimation of poverty:

• Lakdawala Committee The Lakdawala Committee defined the poverty line based on per capita consumption expenditure as the criterion to determine the persons living below poverty line. The per capita consumption norm was fixed at Rs.49.09 per month in the rural areas and Rs.56.64 per month in the urban areas at 1973-74 prices at national level, corresponding to a basket of goods and services anchored in a norm of per capita daily calorie intake of 2400 kcal in the rural areas and 2100 kcal in the urban areas.

• Tendulkar Committee Report to Review the Methodology for Estimation of PovertyThe Planning Commission constituted an Expert Group in December 2005 under the chairmanship of Professor Suresh D. Tendulkar to review the methodology for estimation of poverty. The Expert Group submitted its report in December 2009. While acknowledging the multidimensional nature of poverty, the Expert Group recommended moving away from anchoring poverty lines to the calorie - intake norm to adopting MRP based estimates of consumption expenditure as the basis for future poverty lines and MRP equivalent of the urban poverty line basket (PLB) corresponding to 25.7per cent urban headcount ratio as the new reference PLB for rural areas. On the basis of the above methodology, the all-India rural poverty headcount ratio for 2004-05 was estimated at 41.8 per cent, urban at 25.7 per cent, and all-India at 37.2 per cent. 

• Saxena Committee Report to Review the Methodology for Conducting BPL Census in Rural AreasAn Expert Group headed by Dr N.C. Saxena was constituted by the Ministry of Rural Development to recommend a suitable methodology for identification of BPL families in rural areas. The Expert Group submitted its report in August 2009 and recommended doing away with score-based ranking of rural households followed for the BPL census 2002. The Committee has recommended automatic exclusion of some privileged sections and automatic inclusion of certain deprived and vulnerable sections of society, and a survey for the remaining population to rank them on a scale of 10.

Automatic ExclusionHouseholds that fulfil any of the following conditions will not be surveyed for BPL census:
• Families who own double the land of the district average of agricultural land per agricultural household if partially or wholly irrigated (three times if completely unirrigated).
• Families that have three or four wheeled motorized vehicles, such as, jeeps and SUVs.
• Families that have at least one mechanized farm equipment, such as, tractors, power tillers, threshers, and harvesters.
• Families that have any person who is drawing a salary of over ` 10,000 per month in a non-government/ private organization or is employed in government on a regular basis with pensionary or equivalent benefits.
• Income tax payers.

Automatic InclusionThe following would be compulsorily included in the BPL list:
• Designated primitive tribal groups.
• Designated most discriminated against SC groups, called Maha Dalit groups.
• Single women-headed households.
• Households with a disabled person as breadwinner.
• Households headed by a minor.
• Destitute households which are dependent predominantly on alms for survival.
• Homeless households.
• Households that have a bonded labourer as member.

The Ministry of Rural Development is in the process of conducting the pilot studies and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) exercises to fine tune the methodology.

• Expert Group (S.R. Hashim Committee) on the Methodology for Identification of BPL Families in Urban Areas.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) is the nodal Ministry for issue of guidelines to identify BPL families in urban areas. Till now, no uniform methodology was being followed by the States/UTs to identify the urban poor. An Expert Group under the Chairmanship of Professor S.R. Hashim has been constituted by the Planning Commission to recommend the methodology for identification of BPL families in urban areas. The Expert Group is expected to submit its report shortly.

Slums in India

Slums known as bustees in India, favelas in Brazil, katchi abadis in Pakistan and focos insalubres in Cuba, all have few characterictics in common:

• Poor structural quality and durability of housing
• Insufficient living areas (more than three people sharing a room)
• Lack of secure tenure
• Poor access to water
• Lack of sanitation facilities

The Pranab Sen Committee has given a new definition for slums in India. It has defined a slum as “a compact settlement of at least 20 households with a collection of poorly built tenements, mostly of temporary nature, crowded together usually with inadequate sanitary and drinking water facilities in unhygienic conditions”.

The new definition of slum is different from the definition adopted by the 2001 Census of India. Accordingly to 2001 Census, slum areas broadly constitute of:

1. All specified areas in a town or city notified as ‘Slum’ by State/Local Government and UT Administration under any Act including a ‘Slum Act’;
2. All areas recognized as ‘Slum’ by State/Local Government and UT Administration which may have been formally notified as slum under any act;
3. A compact area of at least 300 people or about 60-70 households of poorly built congested tenements in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities.

There are various reasons for creation of slums of which the most important are as follows:

• Increased urbanization leading to pressure on the available land and infrastructure, especially for the poor.
• Natural increase in the population of urban poor and migration from rural areas and small towns to larger cities.
• Inappropriate system of urban planning which does not provide adequate space for the urban poor in the City Master Plans.
• Sky-rocketing land prices due to increasing demand for land and constraints on supply of land.
• Absence of programmes of affordable housing for the urban poor in most States.
• Lack of availability of credit for low income housing.
• Increasing cost of construction.

Although Land, Colonization and Slums are State subjects, the Central government has brought up with the following schemes:

a) Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) which was launched on 3rd December, 2005 with the objectives of augmenting infrastructure facilities in cities and towns along with provision of shelter and basic civic services to slum dwellers/urban poor. JNNURM aims at creating ‘economically productive, efficient, equitable and responsive Cities’ by a strategy of upgrading the social and economic infrastructure in cities, provision of Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP)[1] and wide-ranging urban sector reforms to strengthen municipal governance in accordance with the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992.

b) Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor (ISHUP) has been conceived for providing interest subsidy on housing urban poor to make the housing affordable and within the repaying capacity of Economically Weaker Section. The scheme encourages poor sections to avail of loan facilities through Commercial Banks/HUDCO for the purposes of construction of houses and avail 5% subsidy in interest payment for loans upto Rs. 1 lakh.

c) Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) has been launched in 2009, for the slum dwellers and the urban poor. This scheme would aim to provide support for shelter & basic civic and social services for slum redevelopment and for creation of new affordable housing stock to States that are willing to assign property rights to slum dwellers. The Slum Free City/State Plan is envisaged to comprise of  two parts-- Part I- Strategy to redevelop existing slums and Part II – Strategy for prevention of creation of slums, delineating the development of affordable housing for the urban poor and revision to existing urban policy and programmes for the prevention of slums. This plan would form the basis for providing assistance to the States, after the scheme is approved.

Census 2011: Primary Data

The Indian Census is the most credible source of information on Demography (Population characteristics), Economic Activity, Literacy & Education, Housing & Household Amenities, Urbanization, Fertility and Mortality, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Language, Religion, Migration, Disability and many other socio-cultural and demographic data since 1872. 

Census 2011 is the 15th National Census of the country. This is the only source of primary data at village, town and ward level. It provides valuable information for planning and formulation of polices for Central & State Governments and is widely used by National & International agencies, scholars, business people, industrialists, and many more. 

The delimitation/reservation of Constituencies - Parliamentary/Assembly/Panchayats and other Local Bodies is also done on the basis of the demographic data thrown up by the Census. Census is the basis for reviewing the country's progress in the past decade, monitoring the on-going schemes of the Government and most importantly, plan for the future. That is why the slogan of Census 2011 is "Our Census, Our Future".

Some of the salient features of the data released are as below: -

a) Population:

• India's total population stands at 1.21 billion, which is 17.7 per cent more than the last decade, and growth of females was higher than that of males.
• There was an increase of 90.97 million males and increase of 90.99 million females. The growth rate of females was 18.3 per cent which is higher than males -- 17.1 per cent.
• India's population grew by 17.7 per cent during 2001-11, against 21.5 per cent in the previous decade. Among the major states, highest decadal growth in population has been recorded in Bihar (25.4 per cent) while 14 states and Union Territories have recorded population growth above 20 per cent.

b) Rural and Urban population 

• Altogether, 833.5 million persons live in rural area as per Census 2011, which was more than two-third of the total population, while 377.1 million persons live in urban areas.
• Urban proportion has gone up from 17.3 per cent in 1951 to 31.2 per cent in 2011. Empowered Action Group (EAG) states have lower urban proportion (21.1 per cent) in comparison to non EAG states (39.7 per cent).
• Highest proportion of urban population is in NCT Delhi (97.5 per cent). Top five states in share of urban population are Goa (62.2 per cent), Mizoram (52.1 per cent), Tamil Nadu (48.4 per cent), Kerala (47.7 per cent) and Maharashtra (45.2 per cent).

c) Literacy:

• Literacy rate in India in 2011 has increased by 8 per cent to 73 per cent in comparison to 64.8 per cent in 2001.
• While male literacy rate stands at 80.9 per cent – which is 5.6 per cent more than the previous census, the female literacy rate stands at 64.6 per cent -- an increase of 10.9 per cent than 2001.
• The highest increase took place in Dadra and Nagar Haveli by 18.6 points (from 57.6 per cent to 76.2 per cent), Bihar by 14.8 points (from 47.0 per cent to 61.8 per cent), Tripura by 14.0 points (from 73.2 per cent to 87.2 per cent).
• Improvement in female literacy is higher than males in all states and UTs, except Mizoram (where it is same in both males and females) during 2001-11.
• The gap between literacy rate in urban and rural areas is steadily declining in every census. Gender gap in literacy rate is steadily declining in every census. In Census 2011, the gap stands at 16.3 points.
• Top five states and UTs, where literacy rate is the highest, are Kerala (94 per cent), Lakshadweep (91.8 per cent), Mizoram (91.3 per cent), Goa (88.7 per cent) and Tripura (87.2).
• The bottom five states and UTs are Bihar (61.8 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (65.4 per cent), Rajasthan (66.1 per cent), Jharkhand (66.4 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (67 per cent).

d) Density:

• The density of population in the country has also increased from 325 in 2001 to 382 in 2011 in per sq km. Among the major states, Bihar occupies the first position with a density of 1106, surpassing West Bengal which occupied the first position during 2001.
• Delhi (11,320) turns out to be the most densely inhabited followed by Chandigarh (9,258), among all states and UTs, both in 2001 and 2011 Census. The minimum population density works out in Arunachal Pradesh (17) for both 2001 and 2011 Census.

e) Sex Ratio:

• The sex ratio of population in the country in 2011 stands at 943 female against 1000 males, which is 10 per cent more than the last census when the number female per thousand male stood at 933.
• Haryana has the dubious distinction of having the worst male-female ratio among all states while Kerala fares the best.
• The number of females per 1000 males in Haryana in 2011 stands at 879 followed by Jammu and Kashmir (889 female) and Punjab (895 females).
• The other two worst-performing states in terms of skewed sex ration are Uttar Pradesh (912 females) and Bihar (918 females).
• Five top performing states in terms of sex ratio were Kerala (1,084 females), Tamil Nadu (996), Andhra Pradesh (993), Chhattisgarh (991), Odisha (979).

f) Child population:

• Child population in the age of 0 to 6 years has seen an increase of 0.4 per cent to 164.5 million in 2011 from 163.8 million in 2001.
• The child population (0-6) is almost stationary. In 17 states and UTs, the child population has declined in 2011 compared to 2001.
• With the declaration of sex ratio in the age group 0-6, the Census authorities tried to bring out the recent changes in the society in its attitude and outlook towards the girl child.
• It was also an indicator of the likely future trends of sex ratio in the population. There has been a decline of 8 per cent in the sex ratio of 0-6 age group. In 2011, the child sex ratio (0-6) stands at 919 female against 1000 male in comparison to 927 females in 2001.
• Male child (0-6) population has increased whereas female child population has decreased during 2001-11. Eight states, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Meghalaya have proportion of child population more than 15 per cent.
• The worst performing states in regard to sex ration in the age group of 0 to 6 years are Haryana (834 females), Punjab (846), Jammu and Kashmir (862), Rajasthan (888) and Gujarat (890).
• The best performing states are Chhattisgarh (969), Kerala (964), Assam (962), West Bengal (956) Jharkhand (948) and Karnataka (948).

g) SC/ST data:

• According to the Census, Scheduled Castes are notified in 31 states and UTs and Scheduled Tribes in 30 states. There are altogether 1,241 individual ethnic groups, etc. notified as SCs in different states and UTs.
• The number of individual ethnic groups, etc. notified as STs is 705. There has been some changes in the List of Scs/STs in states and UTs during the last decade.
• The SC population in India now stands at 201.4 million, which is 20 per cent more than the last census.
• The ST population stands at 104.3 million in 2011 – 23.7 per cent more than 2001.

Sachar Committee Report

The Prime Minister has constituted a High Level Committee, headed by Rajindar Sachar, to prepare a report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community of India in 2005. 

The Committee's mandate was to: 

(a) Obtain relevant information and conduct a literature survey on the relative social, economic an educational status of Muslims in India at the state, regional and district levels;
(b) determine the level of their socio-economic development; 
(c) determine the relative share in public and private sector employment; 
(d) determine the proportion of OBCs from Muslim community in the total OBC population in various states, 
(e) Determine access to education and health services, municipal infrastructure and bank credit provided by Government/ public sector entities.

Major findings of the report:

Literacy 

The literacy rate for Muslims in 2001 was, according to the Committee’s findings, far below the national average. The difference between the two rates was greater in urban areas than in rural areas. For women, too, the gap was greater in the urban areas.

When compared to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes the growth in literacy for Muslims was lower than for the former. The female urban enrolment in literacy ratio for the SCs/STs was 40 per cent in 1965 that rose to 83 per cent in 2001. The equivalent rate for Muslims—that was considerably higher in 1965 (52 per cent)—recorded a figure of 80 per cent, lower than the figure for the SCs / STs.

According to the Sachar Committee’s findings, 25 per cent of Muslim children in the 6-14 age-group either never went to school or else dropped out at some stage.

The disparity in Graduate Attainment Rates between Muslims and other categories has been widening since the 1970s in urban and rural areas. According to the Sachar Committee only one out of 25 undergraduate students and one out of 50 post-graduate students in ‘premier colleges’ are Muslims. 

An important cause for the low level of attainment of Muslims in education is the dearth of facilities for teaching Urdu and other subjects through the medium of Urdu (mother tongue) in lower classes.

Employment 

Muslims have a considerably lower representation in jobs in the government including those in the Public Sector Undertakings compared to other SRCs. According to these findings, in no State of the country the level of Muslim employment is proportionate to their percentage in the population.

The Sachar Committee observes that the low aggregate work participation ratios for Muslims are ‘essentially’ due to the much lower participation in economic activity by the women of the community. Also, a large number of Muslim women who are engaged in work do so from their homes rather than in offices or factories. 

Population

According to the 2001 Census, the Muslim population of India was 138 million (13.4 per cent of the total population).  The period 1991-2001 showed a decline in the growth rate of Muslims in most States. According to the Committee’s findings, the Muslim population shows an increasingly better sex ratio compared to other Socio-Religious Categories. Infant mortality among Muslims is slightly lower than the average. Life expectancy in the community is slightly higher (by one year) than the average.

Poverty

The Committee has found that substantially large proportions of Muslim households in urban areas are in the less than Rs 500 expenditure bracket. The Committee has observed that the inequality is higher in urban areas compared to rural areas in most States. Poverty leads to neglect, or the other way round: the Committee found a “significant inverse association” between the proportion of Muslim population and educational and other infrastructure in small villages. Areas of Muslim concentration are, somehow, not well served with pucca approach roads and local bus stops.

Major recommendations of the Committee are: 
a) Set up an Equal Opportunity Commission to look into grievances of deprivedgroups like minorities. 
b) Provide legal mechanism to address complaints of discrimination against minorities in matters of employment, housing, schooling and obtaining bank loans.
c) Initiate and institutionalise a process of evaluating contents of textbooks to purge them of explicit and implicit material that may impart inappropriate social values, especially religious intolerance. 
d) Create a National Data Bank (NDB) where all relevant data for various socio-religious categories are maintained. 
e) Set up an autonomous assessment and monitoring authority to evaluate the extent of development benefits. 
f) Encourage the University Grants Commission to evolve a system where part of allocation to colleges and universities is linked to diversity in student population. 
g) Facilitate admissions to the most backward amongst all socio-religious categories in regular universities and autonomous colleges and evolving alternate admission criteria 
h) Provide financial and other support to initiatives built around occupations where Muslims are concentrated and that have growth potential. 
i) Increase employment share of Muslims, particularly where there is great deal of public dealing. Working out mechanisms to link madarsas with higher secondary school board. 
j) Recognise degrees from madarsas for eligibility in defence, civil and banking examinations. 
k) Promote and enhancing access to Muslims in ‘Priority Sector Advances’. 
l) Include in teacher training components that introduce importance of diversity and plurality and sensitising teachers towards needs and aspirations of Muslims and other marginalised communities. 
m) Open high quality Urdu medium schools wherever they are in demand and ensuring high quality textbooks for students in the Urdu language. 
n) Improve participation and share of minorities, particularly Muslims, in business of regular commercial banks. 
o) Set up a national Wakf development corporation with a revolving corpus fund of Rs 500 crore and Create new cadre to deal with specific Wakf affairs.

Alagh Committee Report

An expert committee, headed by Dr. Yoginder K. Alagh, former Union Minister and Vice-Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, has been set up by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to look into the state of the civil services has found serious deficiencies in the system of recruitment.

The committee refers to some basic flaws in the "mindset" of civil servants. It says that in the popular perception members of the civil services have a "ruler mindset", show no signs of courteous and humane behaviour, are totally devoid of transparency in decision-making, and seem to be preoccupied with their own survival and vested interests. This mindset, according to the report, becomes apparent when they are called upon to take care of the needs of the weaker sections of society, especially while implementing policies that can lead to a clash with the interests of influential persons in society.
"As a result, the objectives of justice, fair play, development and welfare vis-a-vis the weaker sections tend to suffer by default”.

A negative orientation, declining professionalism, intellectual sluggishness and a lack of ability to acquire new knowledge, undynamic outlook and, at times, a complete lack of intellectual honesty are some of the other weaknesses identified in the report. The report makes a special mention of the decline in the levels of integrity among civil servants. It points out that extensive regulatory controls by way of export and import licensing, industrial licensing, allocation of permits and quotas and the lowering of domestic duties and taxes on different products offer opportunities to the "venal among those administrating the regulatory set-up to exercise discretion in favour of particular clients on ulterior considerations".

Over the past few decades, the report says, there has been significant erosion of esprit de corps within the higher civil services. It underlines that while some members of the civil service have maintained a firm commitment to high standards of ethics and to the service of the nation, many others have breached the codes of professional conduct and entered into unethical, symbiotic pacts of convenience and mutual accommodation with influential politicians and business interests.

The report states that many civil servants suffer from intellectual sluggishness, which is manifested in the flattening of their learning curves. Most civil servants have the attitude that they are repositories of the wisdom and knowledge needed to deal with matters that lie within their spheres of authority. This attitude, has made them unreceptive to new ideas and impervious to innovations that are essential in a dynamic administrative environment.

The report expresses concern over the "phenomenon of caste and regional prejudice exhibited by some members of the higher civil services". The tendency to favour colleagues belonging to one's own caste, regional or linguistic group implies that those not belonging to any such group will suffer inequitable treatment.

According to the report, postings and transfers have become a tool in the hands of the political executive with which to force civil servants to comply with their diktats. Civil servants who show the flexibility to go along with the directions of their political masters are rewarded and those who refuse to compromise their professional independence, honesty and integrity are sidelined and penalised. The "punishment" comes in the form of frequent changes in assignments.

The report has recommended insulation of the civil service from the vagaries and arbitrariness of the political executive. This can be done by vesting the authority to post and transfer civil servants in independent boards consisting of service professionals.

The other recommendations of the report deal with eligibility parameters, the desired characteristics of candidates in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes and the modalities of identifying the most suitable candidates. It makes a strong case for lowering the age limit for recruitment, arguing that the economic cost of taking the examination at a higher age affects candidates from poorer families.

The committee has designed a scheme to identify younger candidates. It suggests that the preliminary examination be made more objective and the main examination include papers on diverse subjects, including environment and law. 

The report says that the recruitment and training of civil servants should be a long-term exercise. Future civil servants, it says, should be exposed to field-oriented developmental activities so that they remain in touch with people at the grassroots. Civil servants should develop an ability to work closely with civil society. The report emphasises the need to recruit candidates who can champion reforms, facilitate the functioning of non-governmental organisations and cooperative groups and help the economy and society to operate within the national and global markets.

The report suggests that at the time of recruitment it has to be checked whether the aspirants are aware of the direction in which the country is moving and the strengths and weaknesses of civil society. They should also have an ability to interface with modern technology and institutions of local self-government and perform their duties with a sense of fair play, compassion and a commitment to achieve the objectives set by the Founding Fathers. The report also makes a strong case of lowering the age limit for recruitment, arguing that economic cost of taking examination at a higher age effects from poorer family.The committee has designed a scheme to identify younger candidates.

The report emphasises the need to re-orient the civil service in the context of the diminishing role of the state in providing direct economic services, the state's growing importance in the economic and social sectors and the growing scarcity of non-renewable resources and the need to protect vulnerable groups of society.

National Mission for Green India

The National Mission for a Green India, as one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), recognizes that climate change phenomena will seriously affect and alter the distribution, type and quality of natural resources of the country and the associated livelihoods of the people. The Mission (henceforth referred to as GIM) acknowledges the influences that the forestry sector has on environmental amelioration through climate mitigation, food security, water security,biodiversity conservation and livelihood security of forest dependent communities.

The objectives of the mission are three-fold:

• Double the area to be taken up for afforestation/eco-restoration in India in the next 10 years, taking the total area to be afforested or eco-restored to 20 million ha.(i.e., 10 million ha of additional forest/non forest area to be treated by the Mission, in addition to the 10 million ha which is likely to be treated by Forest Department and other agencies through other interventions).
• Increase the GHG removals by India's forests to 6.35% of India's annual total GHG emissions by the year 2020 (an increase of 1.5% over what it would be in the absence of the Mission). This would require an increase in above and below ground biomass in 10 million ha of forests/ecosystems, resulting in increased carbon sequestration of 43 million tons CO2-e annually .
• Enhance the resilience of forests/ecosystems being treated under the Mission enhance infiltration, groundwater recharge, stream and spring flows, biodiversity value, provisioning of services (fuel wood, fodder, timber, NTFPs, etc.) to help local communities adapt to climatic variability.

The Mission targets can be classified as:

• 2.0 m ha of moderately dense forests show increased cover and density.
• 4.0 m ha of degraded forests are regenerated/afforested and sustainably managed.
• 0.10 m ha of mangroves restored/established.
• 0.10 m ha of wetlands show enhanced conservation status.
• 0.20 m ha of urban/peri urban forest lands and institutional lands are under tree cover.
• 1.50 m ha of degraded agricultural lands and fallows are brought under agro-forestry.•  0.10 m ha of corridor areas, critical to wildlife migration are secure.
• Improved fuel wood use efficiency devices adopted in about 10 million households (along with alternative energy devices).
• Biomass/NTFP based community livelihoods are enhanced that lead to reduced vulnerability.

Some key highlights of the Mission strategy are listed below:

1. Holistic view to “greening” (broader than plantations):

The scope of greening will not be limited to just trees and plantations. Emphasis will be placed on restoration of ecosystems and habitat diversity e.g. grassland and pastures (more so in arid/semi-arid regions), mangroves, wetlands and other critical ecosystems. It will not only strive to restore degraded forests, but would also contribute in protection/enhancement of forests with relatively dense forest cover.

2. Integrated cross-sectoral approach to implementation:

The Mission would foster an integrated approach that treats forests and non forest public lands as well as private lands simultaneously, in project units/ sub-landscapes/sub-watersheds. Drivers of degradation e.g. firewood needs and livestock grazing will be addressed using inter sectoral convergence (e.g. livestock, forest, agriculture, rural development, energy etc.)

3. Key role for local communities and decentralized governance:

Local communities will be required to play a key role in project governance and implementation. Gram Sabha and its various committees/groups including JFMCs, CFM groups, Van Panchayats, etc. would be strengthened as institutions of decentralized forest governance. Likewise, the Mission would support revamping/strengthening of the Forest Development Agencies. The Mission would support secured community tenure, capacity building for adaptive forest management and livelihood support activities e.g. community based NTFP enterprises.

4. Vulnerability' and 'Potential' as criteria for intervention:

An overarching criterion for selection of project areas/sub-landscapes/sub-watersheds under the Mission would include vulnerability to climatic change projections and potential of areas for enhancing carbon sinks.

5. Robust and effective monitoring framework:
A comprehensive monitoring framework at four different levels is proposed. In addition to on-ground self- monitoring by multiple agencies, the Mission would support use of modern technology like Remote Sensing with GPS mapping of plot boundaries for monitoring at output/ outcome level. A few identified sites within the project area will be selected for intensive monitoring using additional parameters like ground cover, soil condition, erosion and infiltration, run-off, ground water levels to develop water budgets as well as biomass monitoring indicators. The Mission would also commission a comprehensive research needs assessment in support of Mission aim and objectives. The Mission would set up a cell within Mission Directorate to coordinate REDD Plus activities in the country.