Child Labour

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CHILD LABOUR Initiatives towards Elimination of Child Labour  – Action Plan and Present Strategy  The problem of child labour continues to pose a challenge before the nation. Government has been taking various pro-active measures to tackle this problem. However, considering the magnitude and extent of the problem and that it is essentially a socio-economic problem inextricably linked to poverty and illiteracy, it requires concerted efforts from all sections of the society to make a dent in the problem. Way back in 1979, Government formed the first committee called Gurupadswamy Committee to study the issue of child labour and to suggest measures to tackle it. it. The Committee examined the problem in detail and made some far-reaching recommendations. It observed that as long as poverty continued, it would be difficult to totally eliminate child labour and hence, any attempt to abolish it through legal recourse would not be a practical proposition. The Committee felt that in the circumstances, the only alternative left was to ban child labour in hazardous areas and to regulate and ameliorate the conditions of work in other areas. areas . It recommended that a multiple policy approach was required in dealing with the problems of working children. Based on the recommendations of  Gurupadaswamy  Gurupadaswamy Committee, the theChild Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act was enacted in 1986. The Act prohibits employment of children in certain specified hazardous occupations and processes  and regulates the working conditions in others. The list of hazardous occupations and processes is progressively being expanded on the recommendation of Child Labour Technical  Advisory Committee constituted constituted under the Act.  In consonance with the above approach, a National Policy on Child 1987. The Policy seeks to adopt a gradual & sequential Labour was formulated in 1987. approach with a focus on rehabilitation of children working in hazardous occupations & processes in the first instance. The Action Planoutlined in the Policy for tackling this problem is as follows:  Legislative Action Plan for strict enforcement of  Child Labour Act  Act and other labour laws to ensure that children are not employed in hazardous employments,, and that the working conditions of children working in nonemployments hazardous areas are regulated in accordance with the provisions of the Child Labour Act. It also entails further identification of additional occupations and processes, which are detrimental to the health and safety of the children. Focusing of General Developmental Programmes for Benefiting   Child Labour   - As poverty is the root cause of child labour, the action plan emphasizes the need to cover these children and their families also under various poverty alleviation and employment generation schemes of the Government. Action  envisages starting of projects in areas of Project Based Plan of Action    high concentration of child labour. Pursuant to this, in 1988, the  the  National Child  







 

Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme was launched in 9 districts of high child labour endemicity in the country. country. The Scheme envisages running of special schools for child labour withdrawn from work. In the special schools, these children are provided formal/non-formal education along with vocational training, a stipend of Rs.100 per month, supplementary nutrition and regular health check ups so as to prepare them to join regular mainstream schools. schools. Under the Scheme, funds are given to the District Collectors for running special schools for child labour.  labour.   Most

of these schools are run by the NGOs in the district.   Government has accordingly been taking proactive steps to tackle this problem through strict enforcement of legislative provisions along with simultaneous rehabilitative measures. State Governments, which are the appropriate implementing authorities, have been conducting regular inspections and raids to detect cases of violations. Since poverty is the root cause of this problem, and enforcement alone cannot help solve it, Government has been laying a lot of emphasis on the rehabilitation of these children and on improving the economic conditions of their families.  

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The coverage of the NCLP Scheme has increased from 12 districts in 1988 to districts in the 9th Plan to 250 districts during the 10th Plan.

Strategy for the elimination of child labour under the 10th Plan: 

 An evaluati evaluation on of the Scheme was carried out by independent agencies in coordina coordination tion with V. with  V. V. Giri National Labour Institute in 2001. 2001. Based on the recommendations of the evaluation and experience of implementing the scheme since 1988, the strategy for  Plan   was devised. It aimed at greater implementing the scheme during the 10th Plan convergence with the other developmental schemes and bringing qualitative changes in the Scheme. Some of the salient points of the 10 th Plan Strategy are as follows:   Focused and reinforced action to eliminate child labour in the  the  hazardous occupations  by the end of the Plan period.   occupations   Expansion of  National Child Labour Projects  Projects  to additional 150 districts.    Linking the child labour elimination efforts with the Scheme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan of Ministry of Human Resource Development to ensure that children in the age group of 5-8 years get directly admitted to regular schools and that the older working children are mainstreamed to the formal education system through special schools functioning under the NCLP Scheme.     Convergence with other Schemes of the Departments of Education, Rural Development, Health and Women and Child Development for the ultimate attainment of the objective in a time bound manner.    



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Government and the Ministry of Labour & Employment in particular, are

rather serious in their efforts to fight and succeed in this direction. The number of districts covered under the NCLP Scheme has been increased from 100 to 250, as mentioned above in this note. note . In addition, 21 districts have been covered under  INDUS, a similar Scheme for rehabilitation of child labour in cooperation with US Department of Labour. Implementation of this Project was recently reviewed during the visit of Mr. Steven Law, Deputy Secretary of State, from the USA. For the Districts not covered under these two Schemes, Government is also providing funds directly to the NGOs under the Ministry‟s Grants-in-aid Scheme for running Special Schools for rehabilitation of child labour, thereby providing for a greater role and cooperation of the civil society in combating this menace.   Elimination of child labour is the single largest programme in this Ministry‟s activities. Apart from a major increase in the number of districts covered under the scheme, the priority of the Government in this direction is evident in the quantum  jump in in  budgetary allocation during the 10th  Plan. Government has allocated Rs. 602 crores for the Scheme during the 10 th  Plan, as against an expenditure of Rs. th

178 crores in the 9   Plan. The resources set aside for combating this evil in the Ministry is around 50 per cent of its total annual budget.   NCLP and and INDUS  INDUS Schemes is being closely monitored The implementation of  NCLP through periodical reports, frequent visits and meetings with the District and State Government officials. The Government‟s commitment to achieve tangible results in this direction in a time bound manner is also evident from the fact that in the recent Collectors  held in Hyderabad, Pune, Regional Level Conferences of District Collectors  Mussoorie and Kolkata district-wise review of the Scheme was conducted at the level of Secretary. These Conferences provided an excellent opportunity to have one-to-one interaction with the Collectors, who play a pivotal role in the implementation of these Schemes in the District. Besides, these Conferences also helped in a big way in early operationalisation of Scheme in the newly selected 150 districts.   The Government is committed to eliminate child labour in all its forms and is moving in this direction in a targeted manner. The multipronged strategy being followed by the Government to achieve this objective also found its echo during the recent discussions held in the Parliament on the Private Member‟s Bill tabled by Shri Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi. It was unanimously recognized therein that the problem of child labour, being inextricably linked with poverty and illiteracy, cannot be solved by legislation alone, and that a holistic, multipronged and concerted effort to tackle this problem will bring in the desired results.

 

  CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS:  PROVISIONS:  Article 21 A  Right to Education 

The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 6 to 14 years in such manner as the State, by law, may determine.   Article 24  Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc. e tc. 

No child below the age fourteen years shall be employed in work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.  Article 39  The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing:- 

(e) that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength.   Children:   Legislative Provisions Prohibiting and Regulating Employment of Children:  As   As per the  the  Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986“child” means a th person who has not completed is 14  year of age.   The

Act prohibits employment of children in 13 occupations and 57 processes  contained in Part A & B of the Schedule to the Act (Section 3).  

the Act, a  a Technical Advisory Committee  Committee is constituted to advice for inclusion of further occupations & processes in the Schedule. 

 Under  The

Act regulates the condition of employment's in all occupations and processes not prohibited under the Act (Part III). 

 Any   Any

person who employs any child in contravention contravention of the provisions provisions of section 3 of the Act is liable for punishment with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three months but which may extend to one year or with fine which shall not be less than Rs 10,000 but which may extend to Rs 20,000 or both. ((Section 14).  

 

 The

Central and the State Governments enforce the provisions of the Act in their respective spheres.

Corruption in Public Life India is one of the largest and most successful democracies in the world. At present we are moving rapidly towards becoming a developed nation with a high trajectory of economic growth. We have established our impeccable track record in meeting all the democratic credentials. But there are some manmade obstacles within our system which are hindering our path of development. Among such problem most important is the prevalence of rampant corruption throughout the arteries and veins of the whole system.  We have seen, through sting operations that several ministers, leaders of political parties and many members of Parliament and State Legislature accepting bribes red-handedly. Corruption is not confined to political circle only. Rather it is ever vigorous in bureaucratic system now. In our country the roots of corruption are so deep that in some government departments it has become the order of the day. The biggest irony is that in such departments, the bribed and corrupt people are known to be „talented‟, while an honest official is termed as „moron‟. Because of this corrupt system many honest people have been victimized. Many such incident come to our mind be it the case of Bhagwati Prasad Dixit of Kanpur or Satyendra Dubey, K. Manjunathan and Manoj Gupta, who became victims of this corrupt system.  This prevalence of rampant corruption in public life is quite clear from our track record in Transparency International‟s annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). In the latest report published in 2008 India has retained the position of being in the big league of the most corrupt having placed at 85th out of 180 countries. It is one of the bottommost amongst 55 of the 146 countries where corruption is rampant. In fact except for some media reports and some discussions on TV and channels, nobody in the Government, like in the past, has shown any concern or expressed regret at the slide down. The result is that people have got to accept corruption as a part of their lives. Even in the recently held general elections and assembly elections in various state corruption was never an issue of manifesto. Corruption as an issue is periodically raised invariably by the political parties in wilderness when they run short of any other idea or issues.   The report of Transparency International, indicates that Indians pay $ 5 billions or Rs. 32000 crores, as bribes every year. This report only talks of

 

the money paid by the contractors to the public servants, which includes both the political and bureaucratic executives.  Government rules are made, on the presumption that the general public is corrupt. They tend to create a web of complicated procedures, which gives birth to corrupt practices. A number of Chartered Accountants have been arrested by the CBI for acting as conduits of the revenue officials either for settlement of the cases or for getting them transferred to the juiciest of the prized wet postings, where such people can line up their pockets.   According to another survey, there is a price tag, which varies from person to person as per his or her capacity to pay to get the government services, which should be normally free. These include getting a ration card, birth & death certificates, driving licenses, admission to schools and colleges, bank loans, customs, excise and income tax or o r sales or pollution, or tax clearance, getting insurance claims passed, admission to hospitals, allotment of government or DDA built houses, escaping traffic violation or getting married the same day in the court compromising examination system. This list is only illustrative and not exhaustive.   Another reason for the diffusion and dispersal of corruption is that the corrupt people have no apprehension forget about any fear of being brought to the book. Public rightly questions as to why people involved in high profile corruption cases are not only free, but are calling the shots and in some places even ruling roost. The answer to this lies in the fact that a lot of political will is required to reform the criminal justice system, which unfortunately for one consideration or the other is lacking.  The corrupt on a grand scale have a habit of making life unpleasant and often short-lived for whistle-blowers. There have been cases, where such whistle blowers - as happened in the case of an Engineer of National High Way Authority of India, Satendar Dubey- were killed to prevent exposure of corruption in the system.   Corruption in our country is hardly a new phenomenon. Surveys after surveys, cases after cases in CBI have documented a widespread pattern of corruption and racketeering prevails in several departments of the Government. Corruption has been more than a problem for India. Recently, the Supreme Court of India had observed over how did efforts were made, to change the prosecutor in Bihar Fodder Scam case and it correctly found fault with how things had been done under the influence of the powerful politicians 

 

When it comes to rooting out corruption, it seems no matter how much liberalization or progress is claimed to have been made, nothing has really changed. It matters little to charge a few politicians with corruption when they have learned their tactics of attacking corruption cases launched as political vendetta.  Recently, the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, addressing a conference of anti-corruption agencies, admitted that there is a perception that while petty cases get tackled quickly, the “big fish” escape punishment. He said that there is an urgent need to change this. He also said that "high level” corruption has to be aggressively denounced. He said that all such cases should be investigated on priority basis. Hopefully, the top level honest officers would be encouraged with Dr. Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister and they would be able to „trap‟ a „big fish‟ as early as possible. Perhaps, then only the common people would say „Jai Ho‟.  Corruption has neither disappeared nor reduced but has only grown more sophisticated with the help of lawyers and accountants. The reason for all malaises in the country is that some wrong sorts of people are always in power. Perhaps they would not be in power, if they were not so. Many a times, people questions that what can be done to improve the situation and root out corruption. To this Carlyle replied; “Make Yourself an honest man ma n and then you may be sure that there is one less rascal in the world”. There is no doubt that a straight line is the shortest both in morals in geometry. It is also important for our rulers to realize that people are fashioned according to the examples they see. Laws, rules and edicts are less powerful than the models, which our leaders exhibit. It is a matter of dishonour, ignominy and infamy to be branded as the 85th most corrupt country in the world. The onus for this situation as well as the responsibility to rectify it falls on our leaders, who need not be reminded that example is the school of mankind. SaidCicero, “Be a pattern to others and then all will go well, for as a s a whole city is infected by the licentious passions and vices of great men so it is likewise reformed by their moderation”.   Naxalism Problem in India The problem of Naxalism is more dangerous than any other form of violence in India, either terrorism or religion or caste related violence. The number of people died in Naxalite violence is more than the deaths caused by insurgents in Kashmir and north-eastern states. Naxalism is an informal name given to communist groups that were born out of the Sino-Soviet split in the Indian communist movement. Ideologically they belong to various trends of Maoism. Initially the movement had its centre in West Bengal.

 

In recent years, Naxalites have spread into less developed areas of rural central and eastern India, such as Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh through the activities of underground groups like the Communist Party of India (Maoist). They are conducting an insurgency, the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency. They now have a presence in 40% of India‟s geographical area, and are especially concentrated in an area known as the „Naxal Belt,‟ comprising 92,000 square kilometers. According to India‟s intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, 20,000 insurgents are currently in operation, and their growing influence prompted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare them as the most serious threat to India‟s national security. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE The term comes from Naxalbari, a small village in West Bengal, where a section of Communist Party of India (Marxist) ( Marxist) (CPI(M)) led by Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal led a violent uprising in 1967, trying to develop a „revolutionary opposition‟ in opposition to the CPI(M) leadership. The insurrection started on May 25, 1967 in Naxalbari village when a peasant was attacked by hired hands over a land dispute. Local peasants retaliated by attacking the local landlords and the violence escalated. Majumdar greatly admired Mao Zedong of China and advocated that Indian peasants and lower classes must follow in his footsteps and overthrow the government and upper classes whom he held responsible for their plight. He engendered the Naxalite movement through his writings, the most famous being the „Historic Eight Documents‟ which formed the basis of Naxalite ideology. In 1967 „Naxalites‟ organized the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR), and later broke away from CPI (M). Uprisings were organized in several parts of the country. In 1969 AICCCR gave birth to Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).

During the 1970s, the movement was fragmented into several disputing factions. By 1980, it was estimated that around 30 Naxalite groups were active, with a combined membership of 30 000. A 2004 Home Ministry estimate puts numbers at that time as „9,300 „ 9,300 hardcore underground cadre…( holding) around 6,500 regular weapons beside a large number of unlicensed country-made arms‟. More recent figures put the strength of the movemen t at 15,000, and claim the guerrillas control an estimated one fifth of India‟s forests, as well as being active in 160 of the country‟s 604 administrative districts.‟ India‟s Research and Analysis Wing believed in 2006 that 20,000 Naxals are currently involved in the growing insurgency. i nsurgency. Today some groups have become legal organisations participating in parliamentary elections, such as Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation. Others, such as Communist Party of India (Maoist) and

 

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Janashakti are engaged in armed guerrilla struggles. Naxalite-Maoist insurgency The Naxalite-Maoist insurgency is a low-level war of maoists against the Indian government. The insurgency started as a peasant rebellion in the eastern Indian village of Naxalbari in 1967 and has now spread to a large swath in the central and eastern parts of the country. In 2004 the Maoist rebel organisation People‟s War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre of India merged to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). In 2006 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the Naxalites “The single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country.” In 2009 Manmohan Singh said the country was “losing the battle against Maoist rebels”. 

Naxalites claim to be supported by poorest rural population, especially Dalits and Adivasis. They have frequently targeted tribals, police and government workers in what they say is a fight for improved land rights and more jobs for neglected agricultural labourers and the poor and follow a strategy of rural rebellion similar to that of protracted people‟s war wa r against the government. Region affected The rebels claim to operate in 182 districts in India, mainly in the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal. The area affected by Naxalism stretches from the border with Nepal to Karnataka in the South (2006). In West Bengal areas west of Howrah are affected by the insurgency. Chhattisgarh is the epicenter of the conflict (2007). THE RED CORRIDOR The Red Corridor is a term used to describe an impoverished region in the east of India that experiences considerable Naxalite maoist militant activity. These are also areas that suffer from the greatest illiteracy, poverty and overpopulation in modern India, and span parts of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal states.

According to Judith Vidal-Hall (2006), “More recent figures put the strength of the movement at 15,000, and claim the guerrillas control an estimated one fifth of India‟s forests, as well as being active in 180 of the country‟s 630 administrative districts. There exists the pro-democratic and anti-Maoist Salwa Judum, which is a government sponsored self defense force which was constituted after the maoists unleashed a campaign of violence against the tribals of

 

Chhattisgarh.The Ranvir Sena, a caste-supremacist paramilitary of the upper-caste landlords and proscribed terrorist organisation by the Indian government, is anti-communist and has been known to kill Dalit civilians in retaliation to Naxalite activity. Similar self-defense groups have emerged in Andhra Pradesh during the last decade. Some of these groups are Fear Vikas, Green Tigers, Nalladandu, Red Tigers, Tirumala Tigers, Palnadu Tigers, Kakatiya Cobras, Narsa Cobras, Nallamalla Nallatrachu Nallatrachu (Cobras) and Kranthi Sena. Over ground activists of maoists were axed to death by the Nayeem gang in 1998 and 2000. On 24 August 2005, alleged members of the self-styled Narsi Cobras killed a maoist activist in Mahbubnagar district.   Corruption In India  All luxury corrupts either the morals or the state. - Joubert Corruption in the Indian society has prevailed from time immemorial in one form or the other. The basic inception of corruption started with our opportunistic leaders who have already done greater damage to our nation. People who work on right principles are unrecognized and considered to be foolish in the modern society. Corruption in India is a result of the connection between bureaucrats, politicians and criminals. Earlier, bribes were paid for getting wrong things done, but now bribe is paid for getting right things done at right time. Further, corruption has become something respectable in India, because respectable people are involved in it. Social corruption like less weighing of products, adulteration in edible items, and bribery of various kind have incessantly prevailed in the society. In today‟s scenario, if a person wants a government job he has to pay lakhs of rupees to the higher officials irrespective of satisfying all the eligibility criteria. In every office one has either to give money to the employee concerned or arrange for some sources to get work done. There is adulteration and duplicate weighing of products in food and civil supplies department by unscrupulous workers who cheat the consumers by playing with the health and lives of the people. In the assessment of property tax the officers charge money even if the house is built properly according to the Government rules and regulations.

Political corruption is worst in India. The major cause of concern is that corruption is weakening the political body and damaging the supreme importance of the law governing the society. Nowadays politics is only for criminals and criminals are meant to be in politics. Elections in many parts of the country have become associated with a host of criminal activities. Threatening vote booth for a particular candidate  – especially physically prevent voters from going invoters to the to polling weakerorsections

 

of the society like tribals, dalits and rural woman occurs frequently in several parts of the country. Recently, the Government increased the salary of the M.P.‟s from Rs.16, 000 to Rs.50, 000, that is 300% increase to the existing salary. But many of them are unhappy with rise and want the Government to increase the salary to a much more extent. This clearly shows how the politicians are in constant thirst for monetary benefits and not caring about the welfare of the people. Tax evasion is one of the most popular forms of corruption. It is mostly practiced by Government officials and politicians who lead to the accumulation of black money which in turn spoils the moral of the people. Major Factors Responsible For Corruption:

1. The most important factor is the nature of the human being. People in general, have a great thirst for luxuries and comforts and as a result of which they get themselves involved in all unscrupulous activities that result in monetary or material benefits. 2. Moral and spiritual values are not given utmost importance in educational system, which is highly responsible for the deterioration of the society. 3. The salary paid to employees is very less and as a result of which they are forced to earn money by illegal ways. 4. The punishments imposed on the criminals are inadequate. 1. The political leaders have spoiled the society completely. completel y. They lead a luxurious life and do not even care about the society. 2. People of India are not awakened and enlightened. They fear to raise their voice against anti-social elements prevailing in the society. Measures To Control Corruption:

corruption.   There are some specific measures to control increasing corruption.  1. The Right to Information Act (RTI) gives one all the required information about the Government, such as what the Government is doing with our tax payments. Under this act, one has the right to ask the Government on any problem which one faces. There is a Public Information Officer (PIO) appointed in every Government department, who is responsible for collecting information wanted by the citizens and providing them with the relevant information on payment of a nominal fee to the PIO. If the PIO refuses to accept the application or if the applicant does not receive the required information on time then the applicant can make a complaint to the respective information commission, which has the power to impose a penalty up to Rs.25, 000 on the errant PIO. 2. Another potent check on corruption is Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). It was setup by the Government to advise and guide Central Government agencies in the areas of vigilance. If there are any cases of corruption or any complaints thereof, then that can be reported to the CVC. CVC also shoulders the responsibility of creating more awareness among people regarding the consequences of giving and taking of bribes and corruption.

 

3. Establishment of special courts for speedy justice can be a huge positive aspect. Much time should not elapse between the registration of a case and the delivery of judgment. 4. Strong and stringent laws need to be enacted which gives no room for the guilty to escape. 5. In many cases, the employees opt for corrupt means out of compulsion and not by choice. Somefamilies. people Ifare of the that the areforced insufficient to feed their they are opinion paid better, theywages wouldpaid not be to accept bribe. The one thing that needs to be ensured is proper, impartial, and unbiased use of various anti-social regulations to take strong, deterrent, and timely legal action against the offenders, irrespective of their political influences or money power. Firm and strong steps are needed to curb the menace and an atmosphere has to created where the good, patriotic, intellectuals come forward to serve the country with pride, virtue, and honesty for the welfare of the people of India.

National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) To bring the benefits of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at the last mile to ensure transparent, timely and hassle free delivery of citizen services, Government of India has initiated e-Governance programme in country in the late 1990s. After that, Union Government has approved the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), comprising of 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and 8 components on May 18, 2006 to give a boost to e-Governance initiatives in India. Department of Information Technology (DIT) and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAR&PG) has formulated the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). Vision of National e-Governance Plan National e-Governance Plan has been launched with the aim of improving delivery of Government services to citizens and businesses is guided by the following vision: “Make all Public Services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man.”   The vision statement clearly underlines these priorities of the Government in fostering good governance: Accessibility: The vision has been designed keeping the rural population in mind. The need is to reach those sections of the society which have remained tangential to the government sphere due to various reasons like geographical challenges and lack of awareness. National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) has a provision for State Wide Area Network (SWAN) to connect all the government offices upto the block level and Common Service Centres (CSCs) for accessing the citizens from the rural areas. Common Service Delivery Outlets:  At present, citizens especially those th ose living in remote rural areas have to travel long distances to avail a service through a government department or its local offices. This is time-consuming and costly affairs for a common man to access citizen services. To overcome this problem, as a part of the National e-

 

Governance Plan (NeGP) vision, one computer and internet enabled Common Service Centre (CSC) is envisaged to set up for every six villages so that Villagers can easily avail these services. These Common Service Centres (CSCs) are envisaged to offer online Integrated Service Delivery on „Anytime, Anywhere‟ basis.   Adopting e-Governance for improving the Governance:  The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will enable government to reach citizens thereby improving governance. This will also enable improvement in monitoring and implementing of various government schemes thereby increasing the accountability and transparency in government. Improve the quality of life of citizens: e-Governance would help in attaining this objective through the provision of citizen centric service delivery at nominal cost, and thereby providing better turnaround times and convenience in demanding and availing services. Hence, the vision is to use e-Governance as the route for governments to strengthen good governance. All services provided through the various e-Governance initiatives are expected to assist the governments at the Central and State levels in reaching the yet „unreached‟ and enable involvement and empowerment of marginalized groups through their participation in the government processes thereby contributing towards poverty reduction and bridging the sharp social and economic divide. Implementation Strategy for National e-Governance Plan  A prudent approach, approach, therefore, therefore, is proposed proposed for for the National National e-Governance e-Governance Plan Plan (NeGP), (NeGP), which is based on lessons learnt from the past and experiences from successful eGovernance applications that have been implemented nationally and internationally. The approach and methodology adopted for National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) contains the following elements: Common Infrastructure: National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) implementation involves setting up of common and support IT infrastructure such as: State Wide Area Networks (SWANs), State Data Centres (SDCs), Common Services Centres (CSCs) and Electronic Service Delivery Gateways. Governance: Suitable arrangements for monitoring and coordinating the implementation of National e-Governance Plan under the direction of the competent authorities have been set up. The programme also involves evolving/ laying down standards and policy providing technical ofsupport, undertaking capacity building, Research and guidelines, Development etc. Department Information Technology (DIT) strengthens itself and various institutions like National Informatics Centre (NIC), Standardization, Testing and Quality Certification (STQC), Centre for Development of  Advanced Computing Computing (C-DAC), National Institute for Smart Governance Governance (NISG) etc., to play these roles effectively. Centralized Initiative, Decentralized Implementation: e-Governance is being promoted through a centralized initiative to the extent necessary to ensure citizencentric orientation, realize the objective of inter-operability of various e-Governance applications and ensure optimal utilization of Information and Communication Technology infrastructure and resources while allowing for a decentralized implementation model. It also aims at identifying successful projects and replicating them with required customization wherever needed.

 

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) model: It has to be adopted wherever feasible to enlarge the resource pool without compromising on the security aspects. Integrative elements:  Adoption of unique identification codes for citizens, businesses and property is to be promoted to facilitate integration and avoid ambiguity. Implementation Framework for National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) Considering the multiplicity of agencies involved in the implementation of National eGovernance Plan (NeGP) and the need for overall aggregation and integration at the national level, it has been decided to implement National e-Governance Plan as a programme, with well-defined roles and responsibilities of each agency involved and to create an appropriate programme management structure and it has already been approved by government. The key components and features of the programme management structure are given in the graphic. The Strategy for Service Delivery  A common digital service service delivery infrastructure infrastructure consisting consisting of the State Wide Area Network (SWAN), State Data Centre (SDC), National/State Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG/SSDG), State Portal and Common Services Centre (CSC) are being created in every State and Union Territory to ensure seamless and single-window delivery of public services to the common man. National e-Governance Division (NeGD) The Department of Information Technology, Government of India has formed the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) as an autonomous business division within Media Lab Asia, under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Government of India, for assisting Department of Information Technology in the Programme Management of National e-Governance Plan. National e-Governance Plan supports Department of Information Technology in the following tasks:   Facilitating implementation of Mission Mode Projects by Line Ministries/ State Governments,   Providing technical assistance to Central Ministries/ State Line Departments,    Acting as Secretariat Secretariat to Apex Committee undertaking undertaking technical appraisal appraisal of all National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) Projects,   Providing State e-Mission Teams to support States in National e-Governance Plan implementation. Capacity Building National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) is a large and complex endeavor covering 20 central departments, 35 States/ Union Territories and 360 departments across these states/UTs and nearly 500 implementation agencies. In all it is expected to require 70,000 man-years of effort. Therefore, for National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) to achieve its goals, capacity gap that need to be addressed include engaging experts, developing skills and imparting training. Capacity Building scheme is aimed at addressing the above challenges in a holistic manner including support for creation of State e-Governance Mission Teams (SeMT), Project e-Governance Mission Teams (PeMT) and Human Resource management. This scheme is also meant for initiating through various activities like empanelment of candidates, facilitating States in recruitments and providing orientation and sensitization at various levels of leaders/ 







officers involved in e-Governance project implementation, orientation for State eGovernance Mission Teams (SeMT), and specialized trainings with centralized

 

curriculum and content development for various level of officers at programme and project levels. It is envisaged to fill in the three specific capacity gaps in the states, in general:   Lack of Personnel with appropriate background and aptitude,   Inadequate skill sets of personnel already deployed   Lack of appropriate institutional framework to handle the specific program 





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