67 NGOS BLACKLISTED FOR POOR PERFORMANCE BY THE MINISTRY OF SOCIAL
JUSTICE & EMPOWERMENT
The Ministry of Social
Justice & Empowerment has blacklisted 67 NGOs for poor performance.
This was stated by the Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment
Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya while addressing the meeting of the Parliamentary
Consultative Committee of his Ministry here today. He said that
over 1.6 lakh students with disabilities are being provided vocational
and professional training with the support of the Ministry of
Social Justice & Empowerment. The Ministry in this connection
supports 644 institutions for running early intervention programmes,
special education programmes and vocational training programmes.
He said that more than 4.6 lakh children with disabilities have
been enrolled under the District Primary Education Programme in
271 districts in 24 states. The Minister said that 644 NGOs and
institutions have been assisted for running 350 special schools
and 140 vocational training centres during the last financial
year under the Scheme to Promote Voluntary Action for Persons
with Disabilities. Referring to the training of various kinds
of professionals in the area of disability, Dr. Jatiya said that
about 12 thousand special teachers /workers have been trained
so far under the National Programme of Bridge Course launched
in October 1998. He said that the government has formulated several
schemes and taken new initiatives specially for wider coverage
and holistic rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. Dr.
Jatiya said that the National Trust for the Welfare of Persons
with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities
has been engaged in providing support facilities to such persons
and their families. He said that the Trust has so far sanctioned
118 projects for training of care givers, day care centres and
residential programmes etc. in 17 states.
The Secretary, Ministry
of Social Justice and Empowerment Shri C. Gopal Reddy said that
the Ministry’s commitment towards empowering the persons with
disability is evident from the fact that the allocation for this
sector increased about three-fold since 1997-98 from Rs. 78 crore
to Rs. 272 crore in 2001-02.
Participating in
the meeting, the Members wanted that the procedure for obtaining
Disability Certificate should be simplified and the job reservation
for the disabled should be increased from the present 3% in accordance
with their population which constitutes 5%. It was pointed out
that 2% of them are persons suffering with mental disabilities
for whom reservation in jobs may not be possible. The Members
wanted that the Programmes of the Ministry for the disabled should
be widely publicised in rural areas where the awareness about
them is the least. They suggested that the electronic media should
be utilised for this purpose. The Members said that the concerned
elected representatives should be invited to the meetings of the
State and District Coordination Committees. Responding to the
Members’ demand for effective monitoring of NGOs’ performance,
Dr. Jatiya said the matter would be taken up with the state governments.
The Members of Parliament
Shri Ramji Lal Suman, Smt. A.K. Premajan, Shri Thomas Hansda,
Shri K.H. Muniyappa, Shri Kishan Lal Diler Shri Sukhdev Singh
Libra and Smt. Vanga Geetha and senior officials of the Ministry
participated in the meeting.
