Twenty Points Description
The Twenty Point Programme-2006 consists of 20 Points and 65 monitorable items. The details of each of the 20 Points included in the programme are as follows:-
Point no.1- Garibhi Hatao [Poverty Eradicaton] - The
eradication of poverty has been an integral component of the strategy for
economic development in India. High poverty levels are synonymous with poor
quality of life, deprivation of basic needs, poor health, malnutrition,
illiteracy and low human resource development. Providing employment is the most
important method of eradication poverty. Major employment generation programmes
being implemented in the rural areas have been included under this Point. The
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has come into existence for the
enhancement of livelihood security of the household in rural areas of the
country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in
every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do
unskilled manual work and for matters connected therewith of incidental
thereto. In addition, other employment generation scheme like “Swaranjayanti
Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY)” to deal with the rural poverty is included under
this Point. The scheme “Rural Business Hubs in Partnership with Panchayats”
aims at extension of fruits of economic liberalization to the rural areas of
the country through rural business hubs. The “Self help Groups” formed under
different schemes, have also been included. To deal with urban poverty
“Swaranjayanti Shehari Rojgar Yojana” has been indentified.
Point
no.2- Jan Shakti [Power to People] - With
a view to empowering the people and providing quick justice to them, items like
“Local Self Government (Panchayati Raj and Urban Local Bodies)”, which covers
(i) Activity Mapping for devolution of functions; (ii) Budget Flow of Funds’
and (iii) Assignment of functionaries, for devolution of functions by
Panchayats comes under this Point. “Quick and inexpensive justice”; and
“District Planning Committees” have also been included in this Point.
Point
no.3- Kisan Mitra [Support to Farmers] - Keeping in view the needs of the farmers,
the Point titled Kisan Mitra has been formulated with items like “Watershed
development”, “Marketing and infrastructural support to farmers”, “Irritation
facilities (including minor and micro irrigation) for agriculture”, “Credit to
farmers”, and “Distribution of Waste Land to the Landless”. The theme here is that
availability of water for agriculture through watershed development, minor and
micro irrigation projects will improve living standard of farmers. They will
also be supported through credit, marketing and infrastructural assistance.
Distribution of wasteland to the landless will also be monitored.
Point
no.4- Shramik Kalyan [Labour Welfare] - Rural Rural labourers are largely
unorganized. Many of them remain unemployed in the lean agricultural season,
particularly in unirrigated areas. Legitimate rights like minimum wages often
remain elusive to them. With a view to ensuring the welfare and well being of
all workers, particularly those in the unorganized sector, the items like
“Social Security for Agricultural and Unorganised Labour”, and “Minimum Wages Enforcement”
(including Farm Labour) have been included in this Point. With the objective of
withdrawing from and rehabilitating children working in identified hazardous
occupations and processes, there is a National Policy on Child labour. The item
“Prevention of Child Labour” has been kept in line with the objectives of the
Policy. A separate Cell for women labour was set up by the Government to pay
special attention to the problems of women labour, specifically to formulate
policies the seek to remove the handicaps under which women work and to
strengthen their position, to improve their wages and working conditions, to
enhance their skills and open up new avenues for better employment
opportunities for them. The item “Welfare of Woman Labour” has been included in
this Point to meet the aforesaid objective.
Point
no.5- Khadya Suraksha [Food Security] - For a medium-term Strategy for food and
nutrition security and to bring out improvements in the food storage
facilities, Khadya Suraksha includes items like “Food security: (i) Targeted
Distribution Systems (TPDS), (ii) Anthodhya Anna Yojana (AAY),(iii)
Establishing Grain banks in chronically food scarcity areas”. In order to make
TPDS more focused and targeted towards BPL populaton, te Government has restructured
the PDS. The AAY and establishment to Grain Banks aim at ensuring that the
poorer segments of the population get food security coverage.
Point no.6- Subke Liya Aawas [Housing for All] - The Government is
committed to a comprehensive programme for Urban renewal and to a massive
expansion of housing in towns and cities and also housing for weaker section in
rural area. The Point Subke Liya Aawas has the items “Rural Housing-Indira
Aawas Yojana”, and “EWS/LIG Housing in Urban areas”. The Indira Awaas Yojana is
to provide houses to the houseless poor in rural areas. Under this scheme,
assistance is provide houses tot eh houseless poor in rural areas. Under this
scheme, assistance is provided for new construction or for upgradation of
houses for rural houseless BPL families. To deal with the problem of houses for
economically weaker sections and low income groups in urban areas, the item
“EWS/LIG Houses in Urban areas” has been included.
Point no.7- Shudh Peya Jal [Clean Drinking Water] - Providing
drinking water to all households in urban and rural areas and augmenting
availability of drinking water sources is priority Government Policy. The items
“Swajaldhara” and “Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme” in rural areas and
“Accelerated Urban Water Supply Programme” in urban areas have been included in
this Point. The main objectives of these programmes are to provide safe
drinking water to all villages, assisting local communities to maintain sources
of sare drinking water in good condition , and giving special attention for
water supply to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
Point no.8- Jan-Jan Ka Swasthya [Health for All] - Improvement in
the health condition of the population is an essential element of human
resource development and of a better quality of life. Government is taking a
multi-pronged approach in this vital sector through preventive, promotive and
curative measures along with clean drinking water and proper sanitation. It is
a fact that productivity has a direct link with health, and increases as health
care improves. Keeping this in view, Jan-Jan Ka Swasthya has the items “Control
and Prevention of major diseases like (a) HIV/AIDS (b) TB (c) Malaria (d)
Leprosy (e) Blindness”, “National Rural Health Mission”, “Immunisation of
Children”, “Sanitation Programme in Rural and Urban areas”, “Institutional
Delivery”, “Prevention of Female Foeticide”, “Supplementary nutrition for
Mothers and Children”, and “Two Child norm”.
Point no.9- Sabke Liye Shiksha [Education for All] - Education is
one of the priorities for human development and is essential for the country’s
economic growth. The major indicators of socio-economic development viz., the
growth rate of the economy, birth rate, death rate, infant mortality rate and
literacy rate are all interconnected. The literacy rate has been the major
determinant of the other indicators. Efforts are on to eradicate illiteracy in
the 15-35 age group and to provide Universal Elementary Education for children
upto 14 years. To ensure that nobody is denied education because he or she is
poor, and also to increase literacy, Sabke Liye Shikhsa emphasises items like
“Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)” and “Mid Day Meal Scheme- Compulsory Elementary
Education”. The SSA is a partnership programme between the Central and State
Government, which seeks to improve the performance of the school system through
a community-based approach, with specific focus on the provision of quality
education. The Mid-Day Meal scheme is the largest school nutrition programme in
the world. The main objective of the programme is to improve the nutritional
status of children.
Point no.10- Anusuchit Jaati, Jan Jaati, Alp-Sankhyak evam Anya Pichhra Varg
Kalyan [Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes,Minorities and OBCs] - The
Government has given priority to protection of SCs,STs, Minorities and OBCs,
safeguarding their interests and ensuring socio-economic justice to them. The
Prime Minister’s New 15-Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities, has come
into existence recently with the objectives of enhancing opportunities for
education, ensuring an equitable share in economic activities and employment,
improving their conditions of living and prevention of communal disharmony and
violence. To ensure the above, items like “SC families assisted”,
“Rehabilitation of Scavengers”, “ST families assisted”, “Rights of Forest
dwellers-Owners of minor forest produce”, “Primitive Tribal Group”, “No
alienation of Tribal lands”, and “Implementation of Panchayats (Extension to
Scheduled Areas) Act [PESA]”, “Welfare of Minorities”, “Professional education
among all minority communities”, and “Reservation of OBCs in Education and
Employment” have been included for monitoring under this Point.
Point no.11- Mahila Kalyan [Women Welfare] - Societal development
is related to the rights of women, and their needs and interests are fully
protected. Gender equality represented by equal opportunities for women in all
spheres of activity will lead to women’s empowerment. The Government has been
implementing various schemes for the socio-economic advancement and development
of women in the country. To promote gender equality and empower women on the
socioeconomic front, the Point titled Mahila Kalyan with items like “Financial
assistance for women welfare”, and “Improved participation of women in (a)
Panchayats (b) Municipalities (c) State Legislature and (d) Parliament” will be
monitored.
Point no.12- Bal Kalyan [Child Welfare] - To ensure the welfare of
children, this Point has the items “Universalisation of ICDS Scheme”, and
“Functional Anganwadis”. The ICDS is one of the world’s largest programmes for
early childhood development. ICDS is the foremost symbol of India’s commitment
to her children- India’s response to the challenge of providing pre-school
education learning capacity and mortality, on the other. The Scheme provides an
integrated approach for converging basic services through community-based
workers and helpers. The services are provided at a centre called the
‘Anganwadi’.
Point no.13- Yuva Vikas [Youth Development] - The Youth are the
hope and future of our country. They constitute about 30 percent of the
population. Lack of proper employment opportunities, limited educational
facilities, growing strength of divisive and separatist forces, breakdown of the
traditional Indian values system and lure of western culture are some of the
major problems of youth today. With a view to giving emphasis on the
development of the youth in the country the Point titled Yuva Vikas has items
like “Sport for all in Rural and Urban Areas”, “Rashtriya Sadbhavana Yojana”,
and “National Service Scheme”, which will be monitored.
Point no.14- Basti Sudhar [Improvement of Slums] - Urban slums,
particularly in the big cities of our country, are the picture of human misery
and degradation. Urbanization is an inevitable phenomenon of modernization and
economic development. Slums grow as a result of structural inequities in the
development of the urban sector. Due to the high price of land and housing and
low purchasing power, the urban poor are forced to join the existing slums for
cheap shelter of to occupy any vacant land/areas wherever available in the
city. With a view to paying particular attention to the needs of slum dwellers
the Point titled Basti Sudhar will monitor number of Urban poor families
assisted under the seven point charter viz. land tenure, housing at affordable
cost, water,sanitation,health,education and social security.
Point no.15- Paryavaran Sanrakshan evam Van Vridhi [Enivironment Protection
and Afforestation] - Ensuring environmental sustainability alongwith
the development process through social mobilization and participation of people
at all levels, is an important focus of our development strategy. Strict
environment laws, efficient regulatory agencies and proper enforcement are
vital for the protection of the environment. Public participation is
particularly important for environmental sustainability. In this area, mass
media has a big role to play. Keeping this in view, the items like
“Afforestation (a) Area covered under plantation on public and forest lands,
(b) Number of seedling planted on public and forest lands” have been included
under this Point. In addition, the schemes like National River Conservation
Plan and National Lake Conservation Plan have also been included under the item
“Prevention of pollution of rivers and water bodies”. Further an item namely
“Solid and Liquid waste management in rural and urban areas” has also been
included under this Point.
Point no.16- Samajik Suraksha [Social Security] - With a view to
providing social security to the weaker sections of society, this Point has the
items, “Rehabilitation of handicapped and Orphans”, and “Welfare of aged”. A
National Policy for Person with Disabilities has been formulated by the Government.
The Policy focuses on the prevention of disabilities and physical and economic
rehabilitation measures for disable persons. It also addresses the problems of
women and children with disabilities. The Government has also introduced a
scheme of assistance to Homes for Children to promote in-Country Adoption with
the main objective of regulating adoption within the country. The population of
older person in India is increasing at a fast pace. Because of the general
improvement in the health care facilities over the years, there has been a
continuous increase in life expectancy. More and more people are now living
longer. As such, India has a large percentage of aging population. The
Government has announced the National Policy for Older Person (NPOP) with the
main objective to encourage families to take care of their older family
members. The item “Welfare of Aged” has been included under this Point to meet
this objective.
Point no.17- Grameen Sadak [ Rural Roads] - The president of India,
in his address to Parliament on 25th February, 2005, announced a major plan for
rebuilding rural India called Bharat Nirman. The Government has identified
Rural Roads as one of the six components of Bharat Nirman and has set a goal to
provide connectivity to all villages with a population of 1000 (500 in the case
of hilly or tribal areas) with an all weather road by 2009 through the Pradhan
Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). The item Grameen Sadak (Rural Roads) has been
added with a view to give highest priority to the development and expansion of
Rural Roads, as through connectivity, the fruits of development can reach the
rural areas.
Point no.18- XVIII. Grameen Oirja [Energization of Rural Areas] - In
meeting basic energy needs, rural areas lag behind their urban counterparts
both in Terms of quantum and quality. Bio-fuels, such as firewood, dung cakes
and agricultural residues continue to constitute the main sources of energy in
these areas. To meet the energy requirement of rural areas, besides supply of
conventional electricity, non-conventional energy sources like bi-gas and solar
systems hold the key to the energization of remote villages. To provide energy
to rural areas, items like “Bio-diesel Production”, “Rajiv Gandhi Grameen
Vidyutikaran Yojana”,“Renewable Energy”, “Energizing Pump Sets”,“Supply of
Electricity “, and “Supply of Kerosene and LPG” have been included under this
Point. To promote the use of Bio-diesel which besides, being eco-friendly also
reduces the burden on import of petroleum products, the Government is
concentrating towards development of Bio-fuel. The National Mission on
Bio-diesel with special focus on plantation of Jatropha curcas has been
recently launched by the Government. The Indian scientific establishment has
been working on the development of various renewable energy systems. The
Government supports a boards-spectrum programme covering the entire range of
new and renewable energy. The programme seeks to supplement conventional power
through wind, small hydro and biomass power; reach renewable energy to remote
rural areas for cooking and lighting and encourage use of renewable energy in
urban, industrial and commercial applications; and develop alternate fuels,
i.e. hydrogen, synthetic fuel and bio-fuel systems/devices for stationery, portable
and transport applications. The item “Renewable Energy” has been kept to meet
these objectives. The National Electricity Policy has been notified. The Policy
aims at accelerated development of the power sector, providing supply of
electricity to all areas and protecting interests of consumers and other
stakeholders. The salient features of the policy are Access to Electricity and
Availability of Power. The items “Supply of Electricity” addresses these
issues. With a view to address the energy needs the item “Supply of Kerosene
and LPG” has been kept. The distribution of Kerosene under the Public
Distribution System (PDS) is through State Government and this item needs to be
monitored especially for poor familes.
Point no.19- Pichhara Kshetra Vikas [Development of Backward Areas] - With
a view to develop the backward areas in the country, the item titled “Backward
Regions Grant Fund” has been kept under this Point for monitoring. The Backward
Regions Grant Fund is designed to redress regional imbalances in development
through the medium of Panchayati Raj Institutions. It aims to converge, through
supplementary infrastructure and capacity building, substantial development
inflows into 250 selected districts through a well coordinated effort at integrated
development. This programme will integrate multiple programmes that are in
operation in the district and therefore address backwardness through a
combination of resources that flow to the district. The fund itself will
provide financial resources for filling of critical gaps, capacity building of
local bodies, and enhsting professional support for local bodies for
implementation, planning and monitoring their plans.
Point no.20- e-Shasan [IT enabled e-Governance] - The Government
has recently approved the National e-Government Plan (NeGP) consisting of key
Components including Common Core & Support Infrastructure and several
Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) to be implemented at the Central, State and Local
Government levels. The NeGP aims at improving delivery of Government services
to citizens and business. The vision of NeGP is to Make all Government services
accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery
outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency & reliability of such services
at affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man. With a view
to facilitate realization of this vision, the Point titled e-Shasan (IT enabled
e-Government ) with e-government projects at the Central and State Government
level and Panchayats and Municipalities level has been included.