(GIST OF YOJANA) Recent Initiatives of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment [AUGUST-2018]

(GIST OF YOJANA) Recent Initiatives of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment

[AUGUST-2018]

Recent Initiatives of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment

A press conference on the recent initiatives of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment was addressed by the Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot. The highlights of the press conference are:
The Budget in year 2017-18 of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment was Rs. 6908.00 crore which has been increased to Rs. 7750.00 crore in year 2018-19 - an increase of 12.19 percent.
A National Survey of Manual Scavengers in 170 identified districts of 18 States has been undertaken. Survey Camps in 125 districts have been completed and so far, 5365 persons have been identified as manual scavengers.
25 Schemes in Direct Benefit Transfer mode are being implemented by the Ministry. During 2016-17 and 2017-18 assistance/benefits to 1.45 and 1.66 crore beneficiaries respectively were released in DBT mode by the implementing agencies
Allocation under Allocation for Welfare of Scheduled Castes (AWSC) has increased from Rs. 30850.88 crore in 2015-16 to Rs. 56618.50 crore, an increase of 83.52 per cent.
Between 2014 to 2018, 2,29,30,654 students have availed Post-Matric Scholarship to SC Students (PMS-SC scholarships and an amount of Rs 10,388 crores has been utilised. In 2018-2019 Rs. 3000 crores has been allocated for this purpose.
Rate of Pre-Matric Scholarship for SC students studying in class IX and X and Pre-Matric Scholarship for SC Students and Pre-Matric Scholarship to the Children of those engaged in occupations involving cleaning and prone to health hazards has been enhanced by 50 per cent from 2017-2018.
During the period April, 2014 to March, 2018, 8000 Scholars were covered under the National Fellowship Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana for Scheduled Castes scheme at a total cost of A holistic approach for rural development Rs.770.80 crore. In 2018-19, 2000 scholars will receive Fellowships for M.Phil /Ph.D.Parental Income limit for all merit based scholarship schemes have been raised to Rs. 6 lakh per annum from 2017-2018.

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Rs. 300 crore has been allocated for PMAGY for the period 2017-2018 to 2019-2020.2500 Scheduled Castes majority villages are covered under the Scheme.
Scheme of Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes was started in 2014-15 and till date, Rs. 255 crores had been sanctioned to 71 SC entrepreneurs.
Overall allocations for the welfare of OBC in 2018-19 has been increased by 41.03 per cent, from, Rs. 1237.30 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 1747.00 crore in 2018-19.
A new scheme Venture Capital Fund for OBCs on similar lines as Venture Capital Fund for SCs is to be launched with an initial corpus of Rs. 200 crore. Rs. 140 crore has been provided in 2018-19.
Under the Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana, a total of 292 Districts have been selected, assessment camps were held in 52 Districts and distribution camps held in 39 districts, benefiting 43865 Senior Citizens. Total 99431 devices have been provided to senior citizens belongings to BPL categories.
For the first time, National survey to identify victims of drug abuse has been taken up. The survey covers 185 districts, 1.5 lakh households and 6 lakh individuals.
Till date, Rs. 622.45 crores have been spent under the ADIP scheme covering 9.97 lakhs beneficiaries through 6459 camps across the country. In last 4 years, persons with more than 80 per cent disabilities have been given 5693 motorized tricycle. The budgetary support for 2018-19 is Rs.220 crore.
1662 buildings have been audited and Rs. 160.3 lakhs have been released for 613 buildings under Accessible India Campaign. All 34 international airports and 48 domestic airports have been made accessible.