WELFARE PROGRAMMES
THE economic and social aspects of a plan of development are closely interconnected.Several of the social programmes in the Third Plan have been outlined in earlier Chapters. This Chapter is devoted to the consideration of three important welfare programmes, namely, those relating to social welfare, prohibition and rehabilitation of displaced persons.
2. Development over the past decade of social welfare activities as an integral part of the first and Second Plans has a significance which extends beyond the range of services established or the extent of resources utilised. They express the concern of the community for the welfare of its many vulnerable sections and emphasise an essential value in national development. In drawing large numbers of voluntary workers, specially women, into the, field of creative social service, the community is itself enriched and strengthened. Inevitably, extension in a field of activity as varied and dispersed as social welfare brings its own problems, and these call for systematic review from time to time of what has been achieved and of the measures needed to improve the quality of walfare services. Moreover, with the establishment of democratic institutions at the district and block level, the manner in which the voluntary organisations might fulfil the tasks assigned to them will need further consideration.
3. The social welfare programmes, which have been implemented by voluntary organisations with the assistance of the Central and State Governments, include, amongst others, welfare extension projects undertaken by the Central and State Social Welfare Boards, programmes relating to social defence, social and moral hygiene and after-care services and other welfare programmes. Welfare services are directed in particular towards sections of the community which need special care and protection. In developing them, the object is to replace individual and haphazard relief. and charity by organised and sustained activity for education, welfare and rehabilitation undertaken with the general support of the community. Increasingly, instead of being merely institutional, welfare services will have to be community and family-oriented. Preventive services will continue to play an important role. Mental hygiene services like student and youth counselling, child guidance clinics and marriage counselling deserve special emphasis. As these, services develop, greater need is felt for trained personnel. With large numbers of voluntary organisations employing paid personnel, it is also essential to standardise their training and to establish suitable norms for salaries and other terms and conditions of service. There is also greater need for providing orientation and training for voluntary welfare workers.
4. A variety of welfare services have been developed in recent years through financial support provided by the Central and State Governments. After each phase of development, adequate arrangements have to be made for the continuance of the new services on a permanent basis. The resources provided under the Third Plan are being utilised both for expanding the existing welfare services and for assisting voluntary organisations to continue those already established. To this extent, development of new services tends to be limited. In the interest of future development it will be desirable to distinguish between arrangements required to enable voluntary organisations to maintain the services: already established and the resources provided for new development. Vountary organisations can be encouraged through financial assistance to promote needed welfare services in areas where, they do not exist and also to initiate new welfare services not hitherto undertaken.
5. A stage has reached in the development of welfare services when, for the better utilisation of the available resources and improvement in the quality of the services offered, it is essential that the various Government agencies concerned, both at the Centre and in the States, should achieve a larger measure of coordination among themselves. This would avoid duplication and overlapping in considering requests, providing assistance for similar purposes, and parallel approach on the part of voluntary organisation to more than one Government agency. At the same time, it is essential that voluntary organisations themselves should develop along specialised lines, each selecting a limited area of activity in which its workers gain experience and intimate knowledge of problems.
6. In its very nature, progress in social welfare is difficult to measure. Its true tests are the numbers of voluntary workers who participate in social welfare activities and the response from each local community towards the solution of its social problems. Whatever the shortcomings-and there are bound to be many in so difficult a field-the record of work over the past decade has been in many ways outstanding. About 6000 voluntary welfare organisations in different parts of the country have been assisted by the, Central and State Social Welfare Boards. Of these, about 2900 were engaged in work for the welfare of women and about 2400 in work relating specially to child welfare. In the course of the Second Plan,
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assistance amounting to about Rs. 2.6 crores was given to more than 3700 voluntary welfare organisations. Among others, activities for which the Central and State Social Welfare Boards have been responsible are the establishment of 75 urban community centres, 21 production units to assist women to supplement their incomes, and 42 night shelters in urban areas. A large number of adult women were enabled through condensed courses to attain the minimum educational qualifications necessary for further vocational training and em- ployment. An important step was taken during the First Plan with the setting up of welfare extension projects, each serving some 25 villages, and providing maternity and child health services, craft classes, social education for women and care of children through bal- wadis. These projects, along with 134 more established during the Second Plan, have now been made over to mahila mandals with financial assistance from the Central Social Welfare Board. In addition, 337 welfare extension projects were established during the Second Plan in coordination with the community development programme, resources being obtained in part from the Central Social Welfare Board and in part from State Governments and the community development block budgets.
7. During the Second Plan, a total outlay of about Rs. 15 crores have been incurred on social welfare. Among the main development programmes may be mentioned welfare extension projects and the assistance given to voluntary organisations by the Central Social Welfare Board, (about Rs. 10 crores), social defence, social and moral hygiene and aftercare services, and welfare schemes of State Govern- ments (about Rs. 5 crores). Under the programme for social defence, social and moral hygiene and aftercare services 327 institutions have been established and 128 probation and welfare officers have been appointed.
8. In the Third Plan, provision has been made for programmes involving a total outlay of Rs. 28 crores-Rs. 16 crores at the Centre and Rs. 12 crores in the States. The programmes of the Central Social Welfare Board, including assistance to voluntary organisations and welfare extension projects, envisage a total outlay of Rs. 12 crores. In addition, schemes for child welfare and pre-primary education with a provision of Rs. 3 crores have been included, under 'Education'. Other schemes to be implemented under social welfare relate to urban community welfare projects, training research and surveys, social defence and aftercare and the setting tip of a Central Bureau of Correctional Administration. It is also proposed to make a small beginning in the direction of assisting certain categories of persons without any means of livelihood or support-the physically handicapped, old persons unable to work, women and children.
9. The following are the principal programmes to be undertaken by the Central and State Social Welfare Boards during the Third Plan :
(1) grants to about 6000 voluntary organisations;
(2) assistance to mahila mandals to provide services at about 1700 centres in the welfare extension projects entrusted to them;
(3) continuance of welfare extension projects coordinated with the community development programmes for a tuft period of five years;
(4) socioeconomic programme for women;
(5) condensed courses of training for adult women to enable them to take up vocational training and employment;
(6) urban welfare projects;
(7) night shelters;
(8) holiday homes for children; and
(9) social welfare administration and technical guidance to aided institutions.
Considerable emphasis is being placed in the Third Plan on child welfare programmes. In addition to continuing work initiated during the Second Plan, it is proposed to take up in each State and Union Territory at least one pilot project in child welfare on the basis of complete coordination in services provided by medical and public health, education, social welfare and other agencies. It is hoped that these pilot projects will suggest ways of securing the integrated functioning of different services, many of which already exist. It is also proposed to undertake pre-school education schemes and a training programme for child welfare workers (balsevikas). This training Programme forms part of a. scheme for improving existing child welfare centres (balwadis) and opening new ones.
10. In the programme for social defence, priority is given to schemes for the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency, social and moral hygiene and suppression of immoral traffic in women and girls. It is proposed to begin a systematic attack on the problem of beggary. In developing probation and aftercare services. it should be ensured that women and children are specially assisted. To deal with the problem of commercialised prostitution, the Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act was passed in 1956. In pursuance of this Act, the necessary institutions for the custody, training and rehabilitation of the women and girls affected are being established. In the course of the Second Plan, 10 protective homes, 16 rescue homes and 70 reception centres have been established. Additional centres will be set up in the Third Plan. Apart from setting up these centres, it is important to consider how the present programme for social defence could be worked even more effectively and the lines along which the community and the family could participate more fully in the work of rehabilitating women and girls.
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11. Exports have been made during the Second Plan to deal with the problems of juvenile delinquency. Among the new institutions established are 40 remand homes, 17 certified schools and 5 borstal schools. Several States already have special legislation dealing with children, but there are varying provisions regarding the age limit and the categories of juvenile offenders. With the passing of the Children's Act of 1960, which applies to Union Territories, it is suggested that, on essential matters, there should be uniformity throughout the country. In dealing with juvenile delinquency and victims of commercialised prostitution and immoral traffic, probation officers have an important role. In the Second Plan their number was increased by 100 to a total of 304. In the Third Plan, it is proposed to appoint 112 more probation officers.
12. Beggary is an age-old social evil which has been allowed to continue far too long and, apart from the demoralisation it causes, is a source of discredit to the country. The problem has been studied in several places and it is important that States and local bodies should now endeavour to deal with it effectively. in the first instance, beggary should be eradicated from large cities, places, of pilgrimage and tourist centres. Broadly, beggars fall into four groups namely (a) child beggars, (b) those who are diseased, disabled, infirm or aged, (c) ablebodied and professional exploiters. and (d) religious mendicants.,
13. The problem of child beggars should be first isolated as children who take to begging are often victims of gangs of exploiters. There should be special police units for dealing with juveniles, including vagrants, delinquent children and children in the pre- delinquent stage. The Indian Penal Code provides for severe punish- ment of persons found guilty of exploiting children for anti-social purposes and kidnapping or maiming children for the purpose of begging. Children's Acts also provide for protection against exploitation of children for anti-social purposes, including beggary. Thus, the necessary legislation already exists, and the main task now is to ensure its effective enforcement.
14. Beggars in the second group who are diseased, disabled, infirm or aged, should be taken care of in residential institutions run by voluntary welfare organisations. Besides, assistance from State Governments and local bodies and support from the community, these organisations could be assisted in a small way from the special fund referred to in the Chapter on Labour Policy, under which it is proposed to make a beginning by way of relief and assistance for three groups of persons-the physically handicapped, old persons unable to work, women and children.
15. Able-bodied beggars should be rounded up and sent to work camps to be organised at the sites of various projects. Rehabilitation programmes in small industries and agriculture should also be organised for them. Begging by able-bodied persons should be a public offence.
16. Religious mendicants constitute a varied group and at the present stage it would be desirable to approach their problems through organisations like the Bharat Sadhu Samaj and others.
17. It would be desirable to undertake Central legislation for the control and eradication of beggary and vagrancy.
18. In recent years there has been progress in developing special services and facilities for physically and mentally handicapped persons, specially those who are blind, deaf and dumb, and those who are orthopaedically handicapped and mentally deficient. For each category, the primary object of the services provided for these groups should be to enable them to rehabilitate themselves through work. Since many persons in these groups come from rural areas, where traditionally the community readily provides a measure of help, it would be desirable to give a rural bias to the training and rehabili- tation programmes for these groups. Facilities for enabling handicapped persons to find work have been provided at a few employment exchanges. Local bodies and voluntary organisations are already playing a significant role in serving handicapped persons. Their services should be further developed along the following lines :
(a) teaching handicapped persons in their homes;
(b) providing work in the homes or in the neighbourhood for those not able to move;
(c) providing recreational facilities for the handicapped, the aged and the infirm; and
(d) providing assistance by way of special aids.
During the period of training for new employment, there should be provision for financial assistance, stipends, etc.
19. Urban community development has immense potentialities for bringing about social and environmental change in urban communities despite their hetrogenous character. The success of this programme will depend by and large on the extent of self-help evinced by the people, the role of the official being essentially to supplement voluntary efforts. There is a large scope in this field of work for voluntary organisations and the Lok Karya Kshetra, and Corporations and municipalities could make fuller use of their services. A few pioneering experiments tackling successfully difficult urban condi- tions through schemes of urban community development involving people's support, initiative and their mobilisation have been already taken in hand.
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PROHIBITION 20. In March 1956, the Lok Sabha passed the following resolution :
"This House is of opinion that Prohibition should be regarded as an integral part of the Second Five Year Plan and recommends that the Planning Commission should formulate the necessary programme to bring about nation-wide Prohibition speedily and effectively."
In pursuance of this resolution, a number of recommendations were made in the Second Five Year Plan. It was pointed out that prohibition had already been accepted as a Directive Principle in the Constitution and there was need to adopt a common national approach towards it. State Governments should draw up their won phased programmes along lines broadly agreed for the country as a whole and there should be provision for constant review and assessment. As a first step, it was suggested that advertisements and public inducements relating to drink should be discontinued and drinking in public premises (hotels, hostels, restaurants, clubs, etc.), and at public receptions should be stopped. A series of other steps to be taken subsequently were also suggested. These were-
(1) progressive reduction in the number of liquor shops both in rural and urban areas;
(2) closing of liquor shops for an increasing number of days during the week;
(3) reduction of quantities supplied to liquor shops;
(4) progressive reduction in the strength of in India. distilled liquor produced by distilleries
(5) closing of shops in and near specified industrial and other development project areas;
(6) removal of shops to places away from the main streets and-living quarters in town and villages;
(7) taking active steps to encourage and promote the production of cheap and healthy soft drinks;
(8) assistance of voluntary agencies in orga- nising recreation centres; and
(9) inclusion of prohibition as an item of constructive work in community development areas and in social welfare extension projects.
Action has been taken in a number of States on the suggestions mentioned above, but for the country as a whole, progress has been slow.
21. The Second Plan recommended the setting up a Central Committee to review the progress of prohibition programmes, to coordinate activities in different States and to keep in touch with their practical problems. It was also proposed that Prohibition Boards and district prohibition committees should be set up in the States and there should be Administrators of Prohibition to implement the programme. The Ministry of Home Affairs constituted a Central Committee which met towards the end of 1960.