|
|||||
|
THE government of Rajasthan has taken several steps to promote the empowerment of women, raise literacy levels and address issues of health care. It has also given top priority to eradicating rural poverty. The programmes that have been launched with this in view include an increase in the subsidy for housing under the Indira Awaas Yojana and special employment schemes to provide 100 days of employment to the Saharia tribal families of Baran district.
Under the loan and subsidy scheme, all poor rural families with an annual income below Rs. 32,000 have been provided with a subsidy of Rs.12,500 and a bank loan of Rs.50,000 for constructing houses. Similarly, to ensure community participation in the maintenance and upkeep of community assets, the "Guru Golwalkar" Jan Bhagidar Vikas Yojana has been launched. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme is under way in Banswara, Udaipur, Dungarpur, Karauli, Sirohi and Jhalawar districts.
It has also announced a slew of schemes to address rural poverty, including the "Swaran Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana" for unemployed youth from Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.
The government has announced an annual encouragement award of Rs.2,500 for students belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities who secure 60 per cent and above marks in board/university examinations. As the name suggests, the award is meant to encourage students from these communities to opt for higher education.
The government has also started 28 new hostels and currently 1,375 S.C./S.T. students are benefiting from this scheme. The government should establish more such hostels, especially for girls so that the proportion of girls taking up higher education from these sections goes up. Though the literacy levels of women are still very low, there has been some improvement as per Census 2001.
Among other schemes for S.C./ S.T. youth is a subsidy for self-employment, which has been given to 10,909 persons so far. It is hoped that the numbers and the coverage will go up in future.
Also, Rs.605 lakhs has so far been provided for the construction of pucca housing for S.C./S.T. communities.
The Vasundhara Raje government's record in women's empowerment has also been noteworthy. There are over 1,16,000 Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in the State, of which 51,475 were constituted in the last three years; loans worth over Rs.107.64 crores were provided by the banks to these groups. As a token of encouragement, the government has waived stamp duty on the loans provided to SHGs.
An SHG institute has been set up at the State level to provide training in managerial skills and income-generation activities to these groups. The government has set in motion several regional institutes to decentralise the training process.
It has placed maternal and child health care high on its agenda. A `Sahayogini' is appointed at every Anganwadi centre under the ASHA (Accredited Social Health Worker) scheme to address the health and nutrition issues of pregnant women and of children under three years of age.
The Rajasthan Health System Development Project is responsible for augmenting the overall health care infrastructure. As part of its ongoing health campaign strategy, the government launched the Panchamrit campaign, which was held between January and March 2006. This campaign aimed at promoting awareness about the health of the mother and the child in far-flung areas. Almost 20,000 pregnant women were registered and 6.5 lakh children immunised in the course of the campaign. There is a need for taking such campaigns forward and at regular intervals.
In the community health centres and the primary health centres, emergency obstetric care centres have been set up to arrest maternal mortality and deal with pregnancy-related complications. Nearly 360 such institutions provide 24-hour services; the aim is to have at least one such hospital in every panchayat. In addition to this, 10,000 midwives or dais were trained in safe delivery practices in 2005-06.
The government has realised the need to monitor health delivery services at the grass-roots level. It has launched the Maternal Child Health and Nutrition day scheme in which the chief medical health officer, in the presence of a health functionary, meets patients on a specific Monday or Thursday every month. This facility is available at every Anganwadi centre. The auxiliary nurse midwife ensures that children requiring immunisation get it; she also provides antenatal care and performs tests on pregnant women. A Jacha Bacha Raksha card is issued.
The scheme was launched after a detailed process of micro planning by the Medical and Health Department.
Arresting child malnutrition is a major challenge. The government provides nutrition to children under three and to pregnant women in the form of a take-home ration at weekly intervals. In the form of "nuggets", this food is fortified with essential micronutrients.
For children between three and six years of age, the nutrition requirements come in the form of a hot cooked meal at the Anganwadi centres. This meal is organised either by the SHGs, or the Annapurna Women Cooperative Societies or Mothers' Committees.
The provision of the mid-day meal for primary school children in government schools is made through a unique public-private partnership. The involvement of private organisations such as Akshaypatra, Iskon, Nandi Foundation, Havells India, Sanwliaji Trust and some temple trusts is commendable.
Over 75 lakh children currently benefit from the scheme. In place of ghoogri or porridge that was being served earlier, the Vasundhara Raje government took a decision on April 1, 2006, to provide cooked food, including chappatis, dal and vegetables.
Education For All
Realising that education is the key to empowerment, the government has earnestly tried to involve all stakeholders to achieve the goal of Education for All. The efforts here include improving access to education, paying attention to enrolment, monitoring retention and putting a special focus on the educational needs of the girl child.
Some 15,303 Education Guarantee Scheme Centres have been converted to regular primary schools and also upgraded. In the last two years, under the Mukhya Mantri Shiksha Sambal Mahaabhiyaan, 31 lakh children were enrolled in formal systems of education or "mainstreamed".
On the supply side, over 35,000 teachers were recruited in 2004-05, and an equal number of recruitments will be made in the coming years. Nearly all schoolchildren have been provided with free textbooks. The government also plans to open Kasturba Gandhi Residential Schools in every district to encourage and promote the education of girl children.
Even though female literacy in the State has not crossed the 50 per cent mark, slow and steady progress is being made. Concerted and aggressive efforts are needed if 100 per cent literacy is to be achieved. Even the gender gap in literacy levels is rather high - while male literacy stands at 76.46 per cent, female literacy is only 44.34 per cent.
Other initiatives of the government in the area of education include the establishment of 4,425 Mahatma Gandhi Libraries in various parts of the State, opening of five private engineering colleges and six additional government Polytechnics and earmarking Rs.263.09 lakhs for para teachers working in madrassas.
Partnerships
It is not only in the matter of mid-day meal that the government has involved the private sector; it has done so in the whole arena of school education. In 2005, the government launched the Rajasthan Education Initiative (REI) with the support of the World Economic Forum, the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI), to provide information and communication technologies (ICT) in the school education system so as to build the capacity of both teachers and students.
The REI vision is to serve as an umbrella under which innovative multi-stakeholder partnerships are catalysed by engaging the global and local private sector, private foundations, charitable organisations and grassroots-level non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in support of Rajasthan's educational objectives.
The focus of REI is on improving the delivery of educational services, in particular of promoting equitable access, enrolment and retention of children in schools; reducing gender disparities; promoting skill development; enhancing learning levels.
Since 2005, the Rajasthan government has signed 19 memoranda of understanding with global and local foundations and charitable organisations, and grassroots level NGOs to implement elementary education and mid-day meal schemes. REI is one of the first initiatives that involved organised public-private partnership. With already one lakh schools in operation, one in every kilometre, the government seems to have removed the hurdle of accessibility to schools.
While addressing the issues of primary education and retention of children in schools, the government has paid due attention to the needs of higher education as well. It has realised that there are niche sectors such as Information Technology and IT Enabled Services (ITeS) that have to be promoted in the educational system.
The government is facilitating the imparting of language skills both to college teachers and students in partnership with leading Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) houses. In addition, technical, medical and Sanskrit universities have been established, and letters of intent issued for setting up over 1,000 technical and other colleges.
In fact, one of the first things that the government did was to enact the Private Universities Act, whose mandate is to ensure that educational standards are complied with in private educational institutions. The government has made it clear that while it is committed to expanding the "quantity" of educational services, it cannot be done at the cost of quality.
Printer friendly
page
|
