Context
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Pradhan Mantri Samajik Utthan evam Rozgar Adharit Jankalyan (PM-SURAJ) portal virtually, aimed at providing credit support to entrepreneurs from disadvantaged sections of society. Additionally, PM Modi distributed Ayushman Health Cards and Personal Protective Equipment to Safai Mitras under the National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) scheme. These initiatives underscore the government’s commitment to promoting entrepreneurship and ensuring healthcare access for vulnerable communities.
Relevance:
GS II: Government policies and Interventions
Dimensions of the Article:
- Pradhan Mantri Samajik Utthan evam Rozgar Adharit Jankalyan (PM-SURAJ) Portal
- NAMASTE Scheme
Pradhan Mantri Samajik Utthan evam Rozgar Adharit Jankalyan (PM-SURAJ) Portal
- The PM-SURAJ portal serves as a centralized platform where individuals from disadvantaged segments of society can apply for and track the progress of various loan and credit schemes available to them.
- This initiative aims to provide financial assistance directly to beneficiaries, eliminating intermediaries and commissions, with a focus on uplifting the most marginalized sections of society.
Implementing Agency:
- Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and its associated departments are responsible for the implementation of the PM-SURAJ portal.
Previous Efforts:
- In pursuit of the goal of achieving Viksit Bharat by 2047, it’s imperative to ensure that essential facilities, such as gas connections, bank accounts, and toilets, are accessible to Dalits, backward classes, deprived communities, and tribals.
- The government has intensified efforts to empower Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities, doubling the assistance provided to them over the last decade.
- Significant allocations, amounting to almost Rs. 1.6 lakh crore, have been made for the welfare of the SC community in the current fiscal year.
Additional measures include:
- Reservation of 27% seats for OBCs in the all-India quota of medical seats.
- Enhanced opportunities for OBC students in NEET examinations.
- Support through the National Overseas Scholarship for underprivileged students pursuing Master’s and PhD degrees abroad.
- Recognizing the entrepreneurial potential among Dalits, the government has launched the Ambedkar Social Innovation and Incubation Mission to foster innovation and entrepreneurship within this community.
NAMASTE Scheme
- Namaste is a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) as a joint initiative of the MoSJE and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
- NAMASTE envisages safety and dignity of sanitation workers in urban India by creating an enabling ecosystem that recognizes sanitation workers as one of the key contributors in operations and maintenance of sanitation infrastructure thereby providing sustainable livelihood and enhancing their occupational safety through capacity building and improved access to safety gear and machines.
- Ensure safety and dignity of sanitation workers in urban India and providing sustainable livelihood and enhancing their occupational safety through capacity building and improved access to safety gear and machines.
- NAMASTE would also aim at providing access to alternative livelihoods support and entitlements to reduce the vulnerabilities of sanitation workers and enable them to access self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities and break the intergenerationality in sanitation work.
- In addition, NAMASTE would bring about a behavior change amongst citizens towards sanitation workers and enhance demand for safe sanitation services.
Five hundred cities (converging with AMRUT cities) will be taken up under this phase of NAMASTE. The list of cities will be notified at an appropriate time. The category of cities that will be eligible are given below:
- All Cities and Towns with a population of over one lakh with notified Municipalities, including Cantonment Boards (Civilian areas),
- All Capital Cities/Towns of States/ Union Territories (UTs), not covered in 4(i),
- Ten Cities from hill states, islands and tourist destinations (not more than one from each State).
NAMASTE aims to achieve the following outcomes:
- Zero fatalities in sanitation work in India
- All sanitation work is performed by skilled workers
- No sanitation workers come in direct contact with human faecal matter
- Sanitation workers are collectivized into SHGs and are empowered to run sanitation enterprises
- All Sewer and Septic tank sanitation workers (SSWs) have access to alternative livelihoods
- Strengthened supervisory and monitoring systems at national, state and ULB levels to ensure enforcement and monitoring of safe sanitation work
- Increased awareness amongst sanitation services seekers (individuals and institutions) to seek services from registered and skilled sanitation workers
-Source: The Hindu, PIB
