Penalty under RTS Act a warning for erring staff

Amarjit Thind/TNS

Ferozepur, November 23 For the first time in Punjab, and probably in the country, action has been taken against two officials for not clearing an application under the Right to Service Act within the stipulated time.

While other states in the country are in various phases of implementing the Act, it is in force in 10 states, including Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, in some form or the other. The erring officials, Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) Jasbir Kaur and Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) GS Pannu, have been fined Rs 500 each and departmental action has also been initiated against both of them. The maximum penalty under the Act is Rs 5,000. Local cantonment resident Maya Devi had approached the district Social Welfare Department for seeking old age pension. She had submitted her application on May 5, 2012, and the final decision had to be taken within a month under the provisions of the Act.

Deputy Commissioner S Karuna Raju decided on the matter by virtue of the Second Appellate Authority after the application was sent to him for action by the Right to Services (RTS) Commission. Raju said the applicant was a widow who had filed her application, which was to be decided as per norms by the Social Welfare Department. But it was not done, following which she moved an application before the SDM, who is also the First Appellate Authority.

Since nothing came out of if, she sent her grievance to the RTS Commission in Chandigarh, which, in turn, asked her to take up the matter with the Deputy Commissioner.

Both the officials were sent notices asking for their explanation for the delay and when none was received, he took action as per the provisions of the Act. Action was taken under Section 20-11, Para 9 (1) a, and Para 9 (3) of the Act against the CDPO and she was fined Rs 500. A similar fine was imposed on the SDM for not deciding on the case within the stipulated time.

That a strong message has gone down the line was evident as panic-stricken officials arrived at the district administrative complex voluntarily to disclose the pendency/status of such applications in their departments. An official said they were under the impression that the state was serious in strict implementation of the Act. He cited staff shortage for not processing such applications in addition to the replies they had to give under the RTI Act.

Pannu said he was yet to receive any notice in this context and would be able to comment only after checking with his office about the latest position. “I am on duty in a neighbouring district and will reach Ferozepur by evening,” he said. 

setting an example The penalised officials GS Pannu, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Ferozepur Jasbir Kaur, Child Development Project Officer, Ferozepur Rs 500 fine on each of the officials and initiation of departmental action The maximum penalty under the Right to Service Act is Rs 5,000 What they failed to do Maya Devi, a widow of Ferozepur Cantonment, had approached first Jasbir Kaur and then GS Pannu with her application for old age pension, but both the officials failed to act within the stipulated time period.

Aadhaar based Direct Cash Transfers - Rollout to begin from 1 January 2013 in 51 districts, Half the country to be covered by 1.4.2013

            A meeting of the Executive Committee on Direct Cash Transfers was held today by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister along with the Cabinet Secretary. The  meeting was attended by the Secretaries and representatives of the Departments of  Financial Services, UIDAI (Aadhaar), IT, Planning Commission,  Expenditure, Posts, Rural Development, Social Justice & Empowerment, Tribal Affairs, Minority Affairs, Higher Education, School Education, Health & Family Welfare, Women & Child Development, Labour & Employment, Petroleum & Natural Gas, Fertilizers, and Food & Public Distribution.

            The Prime Minister had recently constituted a National Committee on Direct Cash Transfers under his chairmanship and an Executive Committee on Direct Cash Transfers to give a thrust to roll out a cash transfer programme across the country, leveraging the Aadhaar platform.

            The purpose of the meeting today was to move forward and operationalise Direct Cash Transfers for which many steps need to be taken. The necessary steps include (i) identification of areas where Direct Cash Transfers can be introduced, (ii) establishing mechanisms for preparing rollout plans for these areas, (iii) ensuring rapid rollout of Aadhaar to achieve better coverage (at least 80%), (iv) ensuring universal access to banking and financial inclusion and (v) setting up mechanisms to enable cash transfers to actually take place. To facilitate all this, there is a need to constitute other committees including a Technology Committee, a Financial Inclusion Committee and Implementation Committees within each Ministry so as to ensure coordination and quick implementation.

            The agenda for the meeting was to:

i.                        Explain to all committee members the rationale and purpose of Direct Cash Transfers and the institutional architecture that has been put in place for the rollout.

ii.                     Finalise the constitution and composition of the Implementation Committees.

    iii.            Identify areas for introducing Direct Cash Transfers and make arrangements for finalising roadmaps for rollout in each area, keeping in view the roadmap already prepared for Direct Cash Transfers of LPG Subsidy.

            Based on the extensive discussions that took place and the issues raised by the participants, the following decisions were taken in the meeting:

      i.            All departments engaged in transferring benefits to individual beneficiaries will quickly move to an electronic Direct Cash Transfer system, based on an Aadhaar Payment Bridge/ Platform.

      ii.           They will identify the schemes to move to this system and also prepare a roadmap with timelines so that the rollout is smooth and fast. The roadmap for each scheme will broadly have the following timelines:

a.      51 districts                     -           from 1 January 2013

b.      18 states                      -           from 1 April 2013

c.       16 states                      -           from 1 April 2014 or earlier.                                    

    iii.            The list of schemes, roadmaps, and timelines will be sent to the Planning Commission and PMO by 20 November 2012

    iv.            UIDAI will set up a dedicated cell of technical experts in UIDAI to facilitate Aaadhaar enabled Direct Cash Transfers and help individual Ministries.

      v.            Department of Financial Services will go for universal Financial Inclusion through individual Bank Accounts for all in line with the roadmap.

    vi.            UIDAI will rollout Aadhaar speedily in line with the roadmap.

  vii.            Departments will work towards digitising their databases quickly, particularly at the state level with the help of state governments, DeITy and NIC to ensure convergence.

            The Prime Minister will be holding the first meeting of the National Committee on Direct Cash Transfers on 26 November 2012 where the roadmap and timelines will be presented.

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SC/SKS

Schemes & Facilities for the Senior Citizens

A demographic revolution is taking place throughout the world indicating a phenomenal rise in the population of the elderly. According to a UN estimate, the population of the people aged 60 years and above is expected to grow to 1.2 billion by 2025 and to 2 billion by 2050. Today, about two thirds of all the older people are living in the developing world. As per the Census 2001, in India, there were 77 million persons above 60 years constituting 7.5% of the total population of the country. This number is projected to go up to 12.4% of the population in 2026. Such an increase obviously will throw up numerous challenges in designing old age specific programmes and schemes and addressing their issues in a comprehensive manner.  

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment announced a National Policy for Older Persons in January, 1999. This policy reaffirmed the commitment of the Government to ensure the well-being of the older persons in a holistic manner. The National Policy for Older Persons essentially envisages support from the State to the older persons to ensure their financial and food security, health care, the need for shelter as well as other needs of the older persons, providing them an equitable share in development, giving them protection against abuse and exploitation, and ensuring the availability of services to improve the quality of lives of the older persons.

Thirteen years have elapsed since this policy was announced. Keeping in view the changing demographic pattern, the socio-economic conditions and the technological development in the country, the Government is in the process of bringing out a new National Policy. The draft of the new policy is ready. The new Policy is expected to cover a wider spectrum of the issues and challenges facing the elderly.

An institutional mechanism has been put in place to monitor the implementation of the existing national Policy for older persons and to advise the Government regarding the formulation and implementation of the policy and programmes for the aged through a National Council for Older Persons, under the Chairmanship of the Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment. The Council was first constituted in the year 1999 for a period of five years. It was reconstituted for another period of five years in the year 2005. However, the composition of this Council was not comprehensive enough as it did not contain sufficient non-official members to maintain regional balance. Besides, it also did not include the representatives of some of the Ministries/Departments dealing with issues related to the senior citizens.  With a view to address these issues, the Council has been re-constituted and has now been renamed as the National Council of Senior Citizens. A Resolution to this effect has been issued in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary) on 22^nd February 2011.

The Parliament enacted the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act in December 2007, a landmark development. This Act has made the maintenance of parents and senior citizens by children, and where there are no children, then by the relatives, obligatory and justiciable through Tribunals. The Act has to be brought into force by the individual State Governments. It is not applicable to the State of Jammu & Kashmir, while Himachal Pradesh has its own Act, with the concerted efforts made by the Ministry, all the States and UTs have been persuaded to bring the Act into force in the respective States.

For the effective implementation of the various provision of the Act, the States and UTs are required to take further steps, such as framing Rules, appointing Maintenance Officers, and constituting the Maintenance and Appellate Tribunals. As per information available in the Ministry, 14 States and 5 UTs have taken all these necessary steps.

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment is also implementing the “Integrated Programme of Older Persons" since 1992 with a view to improve the quality of life of older persons by providing basic amenities like shelter, food, medical care, entertainment opportunities, etc. Under this Scheme, financial assistance up to 90% is provided to Governments/Non-Governmental Organizations/ Panchayati Raj Institutions/ local bodies etc. for running and maintaining old age homes, day care centres, mobile medicare units, day care centres for Alzheimer's disease/Dementia patients, physiotherapy clinics for older persons, sensitization programmes for children, particularly in schools and colleges, Regional Resource and Training Centres, etc. About 350 NGOs are being supported every year for running and maintaining around 550 projects.

In order to address the increasing demand for care givers, the National Institute of Social Defence (NISD), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, has been conducting One-Year, Six-Month and One-Month Courses on Geriatric Care. Besides, the Institute also collaborates with reputed institutions for organising short term training programmes for the caregivers.

To ensure effective implementation of the policies and programmes of the Ministry and also to augment the activities of the NISD, the Ministry presently supports 3 Regional Resource Centres (RRTCs) namely, (i) Anugraha, New Delhi, which caters to the requirements of the northern States, (ii) Nightingale Medical Trust, Bangalore, which caters to the requirements of the southern States, and (iii) Integrated Rural Development and Educational Organization (IRDEO) which caters to the requirement of the north eastern States. These RRTCs undertake (i) Training of functionaries of grantee organizations under IPOP and monitor their work; (ii) Advocacy and awareness generation; (iii) Liaison with the concerned State Governments in the field of old age care, with specific reference to the implementation of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents & Senior Citizens Act, 2007, and the National Policy for Older Persons, 1999 and the other programmes and interventions for the senior citizens; (iv) Maintain a data-base of the institutions working in the field of old age care; and (v) Research and such other functions as the Ministry may assign from time to time.

The need of the hour is to create a caring society, especially for the ageing population with the help of representatives from the Central Ministries and Departments, the State Governments, experts, academicians and many other stakeholders.                      

 (PIB Features.)