Civil Services' Surgicals

  FEATURE SJE 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 Gove...

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari has  said that the size and diversity of the Indian landscape adds to the difficulty of finding solutions. A population of 1.25 billion dispersed over 4,635 communities 78 percent of whom are not only linguistic and cultural but social categories. The human diversities are both hierarchical and spatial. ‘The de jure  WE, the sovereign people is in reality a fragmented ‘we’, divided by yawning gaps that remain to be bridged.’ Around 30 per cent of our people live below the official poverty line and the health and education indicators, for the population as a whole, despite recent correctives, leave much to be desired. Delivering the Annual Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture on ‘Physical Integration and Emotional Inconsonance’ organized by All India Radio (AIR) here yesterday, he said that there are, in addition, problems arising out of Naxalism and insurgency in some areas where the writ of the State runs in name only, demands for a...

The first ever National Conference on Ageing was held by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment here today. Inaugurating the two day conference the Minister, Kumari Selja said “It gives me immense pleasure to be here at the National Conference on Ageing. During the course of this Conference, we will deliberate on important issues relating to senior citizens for further strengthening our efforts to strive for an inclusive society - a society that embraces all ages. Our Government believes that the interface between the State and the Social Institutions in the care of the elderly forms an important area of intervention and needs to be addressed comprehensively. 

Haji Ali dargah in Mumbai shuts door on women Edited by Ashish Mukherjee | Updated: November 06, 2012 08:32 IST Mumbai: Trustees of Mumbai’s Haji Ali dargah, the iconic Sufi shrine visited by thousands every year and immortalised in the movies, has shut the door on women. The Haji Ali Dargah Trust says it’s “un-Islamic under the Sharia” for women to visit graves and its decision is final.

    FEATURE SJE Sarita Brara*       “I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” said poet Maya Angellou.        And this is what Antarchakshu seeks to do through a programme aimed at sensitizing the general public as well policy makers about the issues related to the mainstreaming of the visually challenged.  In a novel initiative Antarakshu seeks to engages people from all walks of life in different activities and tasks blindfolded for about half an hour to open the eyes of the sighted to the world of the visually challenged. The aim of this awareness programme is to remove the prejudices, myths and misconceptions about the capabilities of the visually challenged with or without technical aides in the areas of education and employment and financial transactions and give them firsthan...

FEATURE Minority Affairs     Sapna * The Prime Minister’s New 15-Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities is an initiative of the Government to bring the people of minority classes in the mainstream of development.  This Programme for the Welfare of Minorities was announced in June, 2006 under the Ministry of Minority Affairs to ensure a more focused approach towards issues relating to the minorities. The purpose was to facilitate the formulation of overall policy and planning, coordination, evaluation and review of the regulatory framework and development programmes for the benefit of the minority communities.

Member Countries Sign Colombo Declaration The SAARC countries reaffirmed their determination and renewed their commitment to end violence against children in all forms and all settings at the meet of the member countries at Colombo. They countries unanimously adopted the South Asia Call for Action on Ending Violence against Children. Representatives from SAARC countries were meeting as follow up on regional consultation on the UN study on violence against children, which was held at Colombo between 26-31 May, 2012. 

The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari  presented “International Gandhi Award-2011” to Dr. Caire Velut and Dr. J.D.Samant at a function organized by Gandhi Memorial Leprosy Foundation, Wardha (Maharashtra) here today. Addressing on the occasion, Shri Ansari said that as a disease, leprosy has affected humans for over 2000 years. Social stigma associated with leprosy had imputed moral and social overtones to a medical condition leading to ostracism. Mahatma Gandhi understood the social dimension of leprosy. He worked to end the social stigma associated with the disease and sought to bring about the reintegration of leprosy patients in the mainstream of society.

The Minister of Minority Affairs, Shri  Salman   Khurshid , here today dwelt extensively upon the achievements of his Ministry while addressing a Press Conference. He highlighted the fact that not only his Ministry but various other Ministries of the Government of India are engaged in the welfare of the Minorities, especially under the Prime Minister’s  New  15-Point Programme for the welfare of Minorities. Following are the highlights of the Financial and Physical achievements of the Ministry of Minority Affairs during 11 th  Five Year Plan and FY 2011-12 that Shri  Khurshid  spoke about:

 INFO-NUGGETS - UPA Labour & Employment Sudhir Tiwari*              The broad mandate of the Ministry of Labour & Employment is to protect and safeguard the interests of workers who constitute the poor, deprived and disadvantaged sections of the society.   Legislative Initiatives Amendments in the following Acts have been carried out during last three years:

One of the leading NRIs and Private education providers.   The Founder and Chairman of GEMS Education Group of institutions in the gulf region. Conferred the title of UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Education Partnerships. Sunny Varkey is the second Indian to become a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. He was lauded for his contribution in innovative public-private partnerships to ensure that underprivileged children across the world receive a good quality education, especially in Africa. Sunny Varkey began the Varkey Group in 1980 with 'Our Own English High School'. Since 1980, the organisation has since evolved to include a number of schools internationally. The Varkey group has also grown to include separate divisions in healthcare and construction in addition to their large role in education under the title GEMS Education. GEMS Education is the largest private school operator in the world for students from kindergarten to grade 12. There are over 100,000 students in...

What is Red Ribbon Express? Red Ribbon Express is an AIDS/HIV awareness campaign train by the Indian Railways. The ‘Red Ribbon Express’ is a special train being run in order to propagate information on primary prevention and services, developing an understanding the infection to reduce stigma and discrimination against the people living with HIV/AIDS, strengthening people knowledge about the measures to be taken to prevent HIV/AIDS and adopting preventive health habits and lifestyle. The Red Ribbon Express was launched in India on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2007. Motto: The motto of the Red Ribbon Express is “Embarking on the journey of life” Government launched 3rd Phase of Red Ribbon Express in New Delhi on January 12, 2012 Source : gktoday.in

The government has amended Schedule-I and Schedule-II of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREG) Act, 2005. There is now an expansion of the scope of activities permitted under the MNREGS by including 30 new activities. These will supplement agricultural and animal husbandry operations along with flood management and sanitation-related works in rural India. •    The amendment will provide for inclusion of vermi-composting, liquid bio-manures, creation of poultry and goat shelters, construction of pucca floors for cattle, development of public water bodies for fisheries, construction of fish drying yards and rehabilitation of minor, sub-minor and field channels for irrigation among the permissible activities to benefit the agriculture sector. •    The amendments into the Schedule, which do not require the approval of Parliament, also include sanitation-related activities like construction of soak pits and recharge pits, individu...

FEATURE Labour Sarita   Brara * Raghunath   Lohar , an aeronautical student was walking past a construction site when he saw woman carrying bricks on her head lose her balance. A heavy brick fell on  her  foot and broke her toes. He felt bad for the woman but more than that this incident raised several questions in his mind. What for is he an engineer if he cannot devise an implement that could help lessen the burden of these people. He started thinking of ways on how this could be done. Then he saw an advertisement from the National Innovation Council which called for proposals on models that could reduce the drudgery of the workers. This gave him an incentive to start working on what he had been thinking ever since he saw the woman  labourer  break her toes. Finally he was able to design a vessel desk. Bricks and other material could be put in this vessel and the light desk to carry it was so designed that it distributed the burde...

-           K. K. Pant             Several initiatives have been taken from time to time to improve the justice delivery system and for making it affordable and accessible to the common man all across the country. Increasing access by reducing delays and arrears in the system has also been the constant  endeavor  of the Union Government. These initiatives of the Union Government inter-alia include measures for strengthening the judicial system, reviewing the strength of the judges from time to time and setting up of part time/special courts, improving infrastructure in the courts and increasing use of ICT for court management as well as for providing citizen-centric services at all levels starting from Supreme Court/ High Courts to the district and subordinate courts. Some of the initiatives are as follows: The disposal of cases has been accelerated by undertaking ...

FEATURE PRESS         M.V.S. Prasad* Dr K. Parameswaran** The World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) was jointly established in 1991 by UNESCO and the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), against the framework of a conference held in  Windhoek , Namibia . This conference emphasized the idea that press freedom should be understood as necessitating pluralism and independence for the mass media at large.  Since then, the World Press Freedom Day has been celebrated every year on May 3rd. May 3rd was proclaimed World Press Freedom Day by the UN General Assembly also. This happened in 1993, following a recommendation adopted at the twenty-sixth session of UNESCO's General Conference. The day serves to inform citizens about various kinds of violations of press freedom – a grim reminder that publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed and attacked. It is also ...

    FEATURE   WCD   Varun Bhardwaj* Motherhood is a divine feeling, a wonderful experience, but it brings with itself tremendous responsibilities which call for proper care for both mother and the child. For a healthy mother and child, it must be ensured that required medical care is provided to pregnant woman and full immunization course is administered to the child. It is with this spirit in the mind that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) in December 2009. The focus in MCTS is on the Beneficiary Based Monitoring of the delivery of services to ensure that all pregnant women and all new born receive ‘full’ maternal and child health services. The MCTS utilizes Information Technology and seeks to capture details of every pregnancy in the country in a centralised data base. It is a generic system which aims to provide information of different health services received at the ind...