SCHEMES AND PROGRAMMES OF GOVT OF INDIA

1 SCHEMES and PROGRAMMES of government of INDIA on Human Rights Related IssuesNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONINDIAS chemes and PROGRAMMES of government of INDIA on Human Rights Related IssuesPrepared by : Dr. TejaCover Concept, Editorial & Technical Assistance :Utpal Narayan Sarkar Asstt. Director (Pub.) NHRCE ditorial Adviser : Shri Jaideep Singh KochherJoint Secretary, NHRCD esign & Printed by:Dolphin Printo-Graphics4E/7, 1st Floor, Pabla Building, Jhandewalan Extn., Delhi-110055Ph.: 011-23593541-42 NHRC, 2015 First Published : 10 December, 2015 FOREWORDThe National Human Rights Commission was constituted under the provisions of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.

2 The mandate of the Commission is better protection of human rights. According to Section 2(1)(d) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, human rights means the rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by courts in INDIA . Obviously human rights include all the rights necessary for an individual to lead a life with dignity. In INDIA , protection of human rights is a constitutional value and a constitutional goal. In view of the Articles contained in Parts III and IV of the Constitution of INDIA , protection of human rights is an obligation of the State.

3 Protection of human rights is also a duty of the citizen in view of the citizen s fundamental duty under Article 51A(a), to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions. The role of the National Human Rights Commission is to motivate and persuade the State to discharge its obligation and the citizen to discharge his 12 of the Protection of Human Rights Act mentions the functions of the National Human Rights Commission. They include: (1) inquire, suo motu or on a petition presented to it by a victim or any person on his behalf or on a direction or order of any court, into complaint of (i) violation of human rights or abetment thereof; or (ii) negligence in the prevention of such violation, by a public servant.

4 (2) visit, notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, any jail or other institution under the control of the State government , where persons are detained or ledged for purposes of treatment, reformation or protection, for the study of the living conditions of the inmates thereof and make recommendations thereon to the government ; (3) spread human rights literacy among various sections of society and promote awareness of the safeguards available for the protection of these rights through publications, the media, seminars and other available means.

5 To carry out the functions of the Commission, the Members and the Officers of the Commission and the Special Rapporteurs engaged by the Commission visit jails and other institutions for the study of living conditions of inmates thereof and make recommendations to the government . The Commission also inquire into complaints of violation of human rights or abetment thereof or negligence in the prevention of such violations by a public servant. Since right to good governance is a human right of a citizen, the Commission is also required to monitor the implementation of various PROGRAMMES and SCHEMES of the government for the welfare of the people in general and the poor and the marginalized sections of the society in particular.

6 To enable the Commission s Officers and Special Rapporteurs to conduct effective monitoring and make effective evaluation based on definite data and common norms, it was found necessary to provide them up-to-date knowledge about the contents and details of the PROGRAMMES / SCHEMES being implemented by the Central as well as State Governments and also to make available to them specific questionnaires / inspection formats for eliciting necessary information and collecting required data on the SCHEMES not only from the implementing authorities but also from the field workers.

7 Accordingly, the questionnaires / inspection formats relating to important SCHEMES / PROGRAMMES of the Governments have been prepared and are being published in two work has been carried out by Dr. Balbir Kaur Teja, Consultant, NHRC in consultation with Shri Sinha, Member, NHRC, Shri Sayanarayan Mohanty, Secretary General, NHRC and Shri , Joint Secretary, NHRC. Dr. Savita Bhakhry, Joint Director, Shri Sarkar, and Shri Guljeet Singh, Research Assistant also have assisted in this am sure that this publication will be very useful to the Members, Officers and Special Rapporteurs of the Cyriac JosephNew Delhi10th December, and PROGRAMMES of government of IndiaPages Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) Awas Yojana (IAY)

8 And PROGRAMMES for Protection, Welfare and Development of Children and PROGRAMMES for Protection, Development, Empowerment and Welfare of and PROGRAMMES for Welfare of Senior and PROGRAMMES for Protection, Welfare and Empowerment of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled SCHEMES and PROGRAMMES for Human Resource Development and Empowerment of and PROGRAMMES to Ensure Food Security for Vulnerable Groups of Health Mission (NHM) Drinking Water and Sanitation PROGRAMMES , PROGRAMMES , and Disability Act for Welfare and Rehabilitation of Persons with Living Condition and Protection of Human Rights of Mentally Ill Prison Conditions and Protection of Human Rights of Prison Announced SCHEMES 2871 SCHEMES and PROGRAMMES of government of INDIA .

9 MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT (MGNREGA)The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is also known as National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, (NREGS). The government of INDIA notified Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) on September 7, 2005. The Act was notified in 200 districts in the first phase with effect from 2 February 2006, and then extended to additional 130 districts in the financial year 2007-2008 (113 districts were notified with effect from 1 April 2007 and 17 districts in Uttar Pradesh were notified with effect from 15 May 2007).

10 The remaining districts have been notified under MGNREGA with effect from 1 April 2008. Thus, MGNREGA covers the entire country with the exception of districts that have a hundred percent urban population. The MGNREGA provides a legal guarantee for one hundred days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage. The Ministry of Rural Development, government of INDIA is monitoring the entire implementation of this scheme in association with state governmentsThis act was introduced with an aim of improving the purchasing power of the rural people, primarily by providing manual work to people living below poverty line in rural INDIA .