NATIONAL POLICY FOR OLDER PERSONS
- NPOP was announced in January, 1999, with the primary objective viz., to encourage individuals to make provision for their own as well as their spouse’s old age; to encourage families to take care of their older family members and to enable and support voluntary and non-governmental organisations to supplement the care provided by the family etc.
NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR OLDER PERSONS (NCOP)
- The Government has re-constituted National Council for Older Persons (NCOP) to advise and aid the Government on developing policies and programmes for older persons.
- It provides feedback to the Government on the implementation of the National Policy on Older Persons and the specific initiatives for older persons.
- The NCOP is the highest body to advise and coordinate with the Government in the formulation and implementation of policy and programmes for the welfare of the aged.
INTEGRATED PROGRAMME FOR OLDER PERSONS
- Under this scheme, financial assistance upto 90% of the project cost is provided to NGOs for establishing and maintaining old age homes, day care centers, Mobile Medicare Units and to provide non-institutional services to older persons.
WELFARE MEASURES FOR THE MINORITIES
- Five religious communities viz Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) have been notified as minorities as per provisions under the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act, 1992.
- These five communities constitute about 47% of the country’s population.
- The Ministry of Minority Affairs was created in 2006 to ensure a focused approach to the issues relating to the minorities and to play a pivotal role in the overall policy planning, coordination, evaluation and review of the regulatory and development programme for the benefit of the minority com munities.
- The Ministry is also responsible for the administration and implementation of the: (i) National Commission for Minorities Act 1992 (ii) Wakf Act 1995 and (iii) Durgah Khwaja Saheb Act 1955.
PM’s NEW 15-POINT PROGRAMME FOR THE WELFARE OF MINORITIES
- The Prime Minister’s New 15-Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities was announced in 2006.
- The objectives of the programme are: (a) Enhancing opportunities for education, (b) Ensuring an equitable share for minorities in economic activities and employment, through existing and new schemes, enhanced credit support for self-employment and recruitment to State and Central Government jobs, (c) Improving the conditions of living of minorities by ensuring an appropriate share for them in infrastructure development schemes etc.
- It also provides that, wherever possible, 15% of physical targets and financial outlays under various schemes should be marked for minorities.
SACHAR COMMITTEE REPORT
- A High Level Committee, constituted under the Chairmanship of Justice (Retired) Rajinder Sachar to gather data information for preparation of a comprehensive report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community of India submitted its report in 2006.
- The Government took several decisions on the recommendations of the Sachar Committee. Some of them are:
- All public sector banks have been directed to open more branches in districts having a substantial minority population.
- A multi-pronged strategy to address the educational backwardness of the Muslim community has been adopted.
- An expert group constituted to study and recommend the structure and functions of an Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC), submitted its report on 13th March, 2008. The concept of diversity index has been subsumed in the EOC.
- The Waqf (Amendment) Bill has come into force, from 1st November, 2013.
- The Government has incorporated National Waqf Development Corporation (NAWADCO) with an authorized capital ofRs.500 crore.
- A National Data Bank, to compile data on the various socio-economic and basic amenities parameters for socio-religious communities, has been set up in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI).
