Facilities for Differently Abled Children in Schools

Facilities for Differently Abled Children in Schools

Ministry of Human Resource Development
Press Information Bureau, Government of India.

11-May, 2015

The Government of India is assisting States/UTs to implement the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) as a programme for universalising elementary education for all children in the 6-14 years age group. SSA provides Rs.3000/- per child per annum for the interventions related to education of children with special needs (CWSNs). The major interventions under SSA for the education of CWSNs are identification, functional and formal assessment, appropriate educational placement, preparation of Individualized Educational Plan, provision of free aids and appliances, transport and/or escort support, teacher training, appointment of resource teachers, therapeutical support and barrier free access.

As per Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) data 2013-14, 25.03 lakh CWSNs were reported to be enrolled in schools. Through home-based education, SSA has been able to cover 1.28 lakh CWSNs. 36 States/UTs have appointed 21,056 resource persons. 764 NGOs in 31 States are currently involved in the Inclusive Education (IE) programme under SSA. 2.60 lakh CWSNs were provided assistive devices through various modes in 2014-15. 82.33% schools have been made barrier-free. Besides, 14.82% schools have also been provided disabled friendly toilets. 53.60% teachers were imparted a specific 3-6 day orientation to Inclusive Education (IE). 1.26 lakh teachers were trained on how to undertake curricular adaptations in an inclusive classroom in 2014 -15. 42594 Braille books and 39283 large print books were given to the visually impaired children. Apart from this 1,43,211 CWSNs were provided transport support and 1,32,400 CWSNs were provided escort support. Therapeutical support was provided to 1,61,144 CWSNs, while surgical support was provided to 13,535 CWSNs under the SSA.

This information was given by the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Smt. Smriti Irani in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha question.

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Married Daughter of a Government Employee is entitled for Compassionate Appointment

Married Daughter of a Government Employee is entitled for Compassionate Appointment – Hon’ble Madras High Court

    Affirming a Single Judge’s ruling that that marriage alone need not necessarily disentitle a woman from claiming a Government job, as marriage is not a disqualification, a Division Bench of the Madras High Court has held that married daughter of a government employee is entitled to be considered for the job on compassionate grounds after the death of her father while in service subject to her fulfilling two requirements : one, she must obtain a no-objection certificate from other siblings and; two, she and her husband must give an undertaking that she will take care of other members of her parents’ family from her salary.

    “A married daughter is eligible for consideration, subject to submission of no-objection certificate of other members of the deceased’s family and also with an undertaking from her and her husband that she will take care of other members of the parents’ family,” said a division bench of the Court comprising of Justice Satish K Agnihotri and Justice M Venugopal recently, while dealing with a case of one Kayalvizhi whose father V Indarjith died while in service in the education department under the State Government.

    Kayalvizhi, who was the only daughter of Indarjith and happened to be married by the time he died in harness, then applied for appointment on compassionate grounds. When she was denied appointment, she approached the High court seeking reliefs. Citing a government order governing the issue, a single judge of the Madras High Court said she was entitled to be considered for the job. Her marriage alone need not necessarily disentitle her from claiming the job, as marriage is not a disqualification, the judge said.

    Assailing the order of the learned Single Judge, the Assistant Primary Education Officer in Anthiyur in Erode district had gone in appeal before the Division Bench.

    Ruling in favour of Kayalvizhi, the Division Bench relied on an earlier judgment of the Court in Kamatchi v. state of Tamil Nadu, wherein it had been held that even if there are other members in the family, the beneficiary could take a no-objection from them and stake her/his claim for appointment under compassionate grounds, and the GO issued by the State Government, which on its part, clearly said an NOC from the remaining members of the family, an undertaking from the beneficiary that he/she shall be helpful to her/his parents’ family and an assurance from the spouse of the beneficiary that he/she shall not cause hindrance to her/him in helping members of his/her parents’ family in future, should be fulfilled to become eligible for appointment.

    The Division Bench upheld Kayalvizhi’s rights in this regard subject  to her producing a NOC from members in her paternal family and an undertaking from her husband, and directed the authorities to consider her case for appointment within a period of four weeks.

Source: livelaw.in

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DoPT withholds info on CIC selection

DoPT withholds info on CIC selection

New Delhi: Department for Personnel and Training (DoPT), which is the nodal authority for handling RTI matters, has refused to furnish records related to appointment process of the Central Information Commission without citing any exemption clause for the same, which is mandatory as per CIC orders.
While refusing to furnish information, a Central Public Information Officer must cite either of the 10 sub clauses given in the section 8 of the RTI Act along with proper reasons justifying how the section is attracted.
The case related to an Odisha based RTI applicant Deba Prasad Sahoo who sought to know the information related to appointment of Chief Information Commissioner, a post which has been lying vacant since August 22, 2014 after the retirement of then incumbent Rajiv Mathur.

“The appointment of IC/CIC is under challenge in the High Court of Delhi and therefore, the document sought for cannot be provided at this stage,” R K Girdhar, the Central Public Information Officer for DoPT said.

Under Section 8 (1) (b) only that information can be withheld by a CPIO which has been expressly forbidden to be published by any court of law or tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court.

In a recent order, Information Commissioner Basant Seth had clarified “The mere pendency of arbitration proceedings is not sufficient justification by itself for withholding the information. The RTI Act provides no exemption from disclosure requirement for sub-judice matters”.

“The only exemption in sub-judice matters is regarding what has been expressly forbidden by a court or a tribunal and what may constitute contempt of court,” Seth said.

In his response dated May 5, 2015, Girdhar said the CPIO claimed that appointment of Chief Information Commissioner is being handled in file number 4/7/2014-IR.

On March 25, 2015 reply to a separate RTI activist Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra, Girdhar had claimed that the process for shortlisting of candidates, for the current phase of appointment to the post of Chief Information Commissioner/ Information Commissioners is not available in file numbers… 4/7/2014-IR.

PTI

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Railway Board has issued a letter regarding non cooperation of Railway Staff during Central Vigilance Commission.

Railway Board has issued a letter regarding non cooperation of Railway Staff during Central Vigilance Commission.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA/BHARAT SARKAR
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS/RAIL MANTRALAYA
(RAILWAY BOARD)

No.2014/V-1/VP/1/10

New Delhi, dt. 27.01.2015

The SDGMs ICVO’s
All Indian Railways

Zonal Railways have made references from time to time regarding non-cooperation by Railway staff during vigilance checks, thereby impeding the work of vigilance officials.

Preventive checks, carried out by vigilance organization, are mandated in order to monitor the working of the Railway organization. Investigating Inspectors of Vigilance organisation are empowered to call for documents, record statements and if need be, ask any railway official for assistance during the check.

Non-cooperation during the vigilance checks is viewed seriously and may also give rise to suspicion for helping the guilty get away. Instructions as laid down vide L.No.2010/V-l/PC/1/1 dated 09.07.2010 & No.2007/V-1/VP/1/9 dated 20.02.2008 are enclosed for ready reference. Hence all concerned officials may be sensitized to extend full cooperation during vigilance checks. It should be explained to them that it would be in their interests to disclose the cash and contents of their bags/wallets/pockets etc as and when required, so that any resistance on this account is not interpreted as non-cooperation.

This issues with the approval the competent authority.

Encl: as above.

(Vikas Purwar)
Director Vigilance [Mech.]
Railway Board

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRYOF RAILWAYS
RAILWAY BOARD

No.201 O/V-1/PC/1 /1

New Delhi, dated 09-07-2010

The General Managers
CR, ER, ECR, ECOR, NR, NCR, NER, NFR, NWR, SR, SCR, SER, SECR, SWR; WR, WCR, CLW, DLW, ICF, RCF, RWF, CORE, METRO & NF (Constn.)
Chief Administrative Officers
DLMW, COFMOW

The Directors,
IRICEN, IRISET & IRITM. IRIEEN; IRIMEE
Director General
ROSO and RSC

Sub : Cooperation with Vigilance team in discharge of its duty during conduct of preventive check.
Instances nave come to notice that during Preventive Checks conducted by teams from the Vigilance Directorate of Railway Board, full cooperation is not being extended by the officials of zonal Railways, for eliciting requisite information and collecting relevant documents, thereby, hampering smooth and effective working by the Vigilance officials

2. It may be mentioned that Investigating Inspectors of the Vigilance Directorate of Railway Board are authorized to enter any of the Railway offices, record statements of the officials concerned, who are expected to render them all possible assistance in the proper discharge of their official duties. They are also empowered to seize all relevant documents against issue of proper ‘Seizure Memo’.

3. As preventive checks are an effective way of monitoring the system, there is a need to extend full cooperation by the officials of the concerned Zonal Railways to the Vigilance team conducting the check, by providing them requisite information, documents etc. This will go a long way in strengthening the vigilance administration.

4. This letter supercedes Board’s letter No.2007N1/PC/1/1 dated 254.2007 (RBV No 04/2007)

(Vikas Purwar)
Director Vigilance (M)
Railway Board

Download Railway Board letter No.2014/V-1/VP/1/10 dated 27.01.2015

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Salary Accounts under Defence Salary Package – BPMS urges for extension to the Industrial / Non-Industrial Civilian Employees

SALARY ACCOUNTS UNDER DEFENCE SALARY PACKAGE (DSP)

ARMY/NAVY/AIR FORCE RASHTRIYA RIFLES (RR), ASSAM RIFLES AND GENERAL RESERVE ENGINEERING FORCE (BORDER ROADS ORGANISATION) GREF-BRO

Salary Accounts under Defence Salary Package offers many concessions in service charges for serving as well as retired Defence personnel of Army/ Navy/ Air Force/Indian Coast Guard/ Assam Rifles, as well as Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and GREF [Border Road Organization (BRO)] having their Salary/Pension accounts with SBI.

Available in four variants, namely Silver, Gold, Diamond and Platinum categorized on the rank of the personnel of Army, Navy ,Air Force, Assam Rifles, RR and GREF (Border Road Organization). PBORs are categorized in Silver Variant, Officers are categorized under Gold, Diamond and Platinum Variants.

Features of DSP

>> Convenience of Anywhere Banking at

• The largest network of more than 16,000 Core Banking Branches Extensive alternative channels.
• 53,000 plus ATMs of State Bank Group
• Free Internet Banking, Mobile Banking

>> Complete gamut of Banking Services including:-

• Unique Lifetime Account Number;
• Zero Balance Account facility with no penal charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance;
• Auto sweep (in & out) facility (on request)-Surplus amount in Savings bank account beyond threshold balance is transferred automatically into Term Deposits (multi option deposits) in multiple of Rs.1000/- and vice versa
• Free Personal Accident Insurance (Death) Cover to Primary Salary Package Account
• Free personalized Multi City Cheques
• Free Drafts*/RTGS*/NEFT*
• Free Core Power: Anywhere banking facility with the widest network of more than 16,000 branches. Free updating of pass-books at any branch
• Easy overdraft up to 2 months’ salary repayable within 6 months
• SMS Alerts
• Free Debit Cards
• Domestic cards for Silver Accounts, Gold Debit cards for Gold and
• Diamond Accounts and Platinum Debit Card for Platinum Accounts.
• Maximum daily withdrawal of Rs. 40,000 on Domestic Cards, Rs. 50,000 on Gold Cards and Rs. 1,00,000 on Platinum Cards.
• Various Personal loans like Home loan/ Auto loan/ Xpress Credit loan, etc. at attractive terms
• Demat facility, 3-in 1 Trading Account available
• Systematic Investment Plan in Mutual funds
• Range of other value added benefits

*Conditions apply

---

BPMS writes a letter to MoD for extension of facilities of Salary Accounts under DFS to the Defence Civilian Employees:-

BHARATIYA PRATIRAKSHA MAZDOOR SANGH

(AN ALL INDIA FEDERATION OF DEFENCE WORKERS)

(AN INDUSTRIAL UNIT OF B.M.S.)

(RECOGNISED BY MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, GOVT. OF INDIA)

CENTRAL OFFICE: 2-A, NAVEEN MARKET, KANPUR – 208001, PH & FAX : (0512) 2332222

REF: BPMS / MOD / 186 (8/1/R)

Dated: 09.05.2015

To,
The Secretary,
Govt of India, Min of Defence,
South Block, DHQ PO,
New Delhi – 110011

Subject: Extension of facilities of Salary Accounts under Defence Salary Package to the Industrial / Non-Industrial Civilian Employees.

Respected Sir,

With due regards, your attention is invited to Section 6. of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 which stipulates that all wages shall be paid in current coins or currency notes or in both provided that the employer may after obtaining the written authorisation of the employed person, pay him the wage, either by cheque or by crediting the wages in his bank account.

It is worth to mention here that the Head of Departments / Head of Offices of the defence installations under Army, Air Force, Navy, DDP, DRDO etc. have successfully convinced all the industrial & non-industrial civilian employees to draw their wages in bank account and has got the salary account opened in nationalized bank including State Bank of India,

Further, State Bank of India grants some privileges/facilities to the holders of salary accounts under Defence Salary Package, which are mentioned in annexure of this letter. But it is painful to note that the same benefit is not being extended to civilian employees of the same defence installation.

Therefore, you are requested to take necessary action so that the industrial / non-industrial civilian employees of defence installations may also get the benefits of Salary Accounts under Defence Salary Package.

Thanking you.
Sincerely yours

Annexed: As mentioned

(MUKESH SINGH)

Secretary/BPMS

Member, JCM-ll Level Council (MOD)

Source: http://bpms.org.in/documents/salary-fqb1.pdf

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Review of compassionate appointment cases regarding: Clarification by Ministry of Defence

Review of compassionate appointment cases regarding: Clarification by Ministry of Defence

No. 19(4)/2015/D(Lab)
Government of India
Ministry of Defence

New Delhi, the 30.4.2015.

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Review of compassionate appointment cases regarding.

The undersigned is directed to invite attention to this Ministry’s OM No.19(3)/2013/D(Lab) dated 18.11.2014 vide which all administrative/authorities were requested to strictly comply the instructions contained in Para 8 of DoP&T OM No. 14014/02/2012-Estt(D) dated 16.1.2013 regarding withdrawal of three years time limit and Sl.No. 38-43 of FAQ issued vide DoP&T OM No. 14014/02/2012-Estt(D) dated 30.5.2013.

2. An issue has been raised by Bhartiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh (BPMS) informing that the Line Directorates/Units of Army HQrs are not considering the compassionate appointment cases in true spirit of the guidelines issued by DoP&T and the requests for compassionate appointment are being rejected on the plea that as per policy once three consecutive chances had been considered, the Case is considered to be closed and cannot be opened.

3. As per the new guidelines on compassionate appointment, any application for compassionate appointment is to be considered without any time limit and decision taken on merit in each case.

4. Regarding re-opening of old cases which were closed on completion of three years time limit as per the earlier policy of DoP&T, it may be noted that the DoP&T vide their OM dated 30.5.2013 have clarified that the closed cases can be reopened provided tat the cases were closed due to non-availability of vacancies during the 3 year time period. However these cases may be considered as per the criteria mentiOned in Sl.No. 32 & 39 of FAQ dated 30.5.2013. Such cases should not be opened merely because the time limit has been waived off. In this regard DoP&T have further clarified that the cases which have been closed for not being found suitable under the criteria for compassionate appointments, need not to be opened irrespective of thewaiver of time limit.

5. In view of the above, all the Service HQrs/lower formations are requested to follow the DoP&T’s above guidelines in letter and spirit. They may not reject any application for compassionate appointment simply on the ground that it had already been considered thrice unless it was rejected due to lack of merit/not found suitable under the criteria for compassionate appointments. If the compassionate appointment could not be granted due to non-availability of vacancies at that time, any fresh application, received now should be re-considered after adjudging his penurious condition on the basis of the family’s latest financial/economic condition, number of dependents of the family as on date, latest marital status of dependents etc in the light of the existing guidelines of DoP&T on the subject.

sd/-
(Biswajit Guha)
Under Secretary(Lab)

Source: http://bpms.org.in/documents/compassionate-appointment-weq5.pdf

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Revision of rates for serving of refreshments during meetings: Finance Ministry Order

Revision of rates for serving of refreshments during meetings: Finance Ministry Order

 

The Finance Ministry has revised the rates for serving of refreshment during meetings (i) Banquet rates for meeting with foreign entities (2) Official meetings/seminars/conferences.

 

Revision of Banquet rates for serving of refreshment during meetings with foreign entities: Finance Ministry OM

No. 7(3)/E-Coord/2013

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Expenditure

Dated the 6th May, 2015

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Economy in expenditure - serving of refreshments during meetings etc.

The undersigned is directed to refer to the Department of Expenditure O.M. No. 7(1)/E.Coord/2014 dated 29-10-2014 on the subject mentioned above whereby a ban has been imposed on holding meetings and conferences at Five Star Hotels except in case of bi-lateral / multi-lateral official engagements which are held at the level of Minister-in-Charge or Administrative Secretary with Foreign Governments or International Bodies of which India is a Member.

 

2. A number of references from various Ministries are being received where in view of the nature / level of international engagements as also availability of venue for such meetings, official engagements are proposed in Five Star Hotels and such meetings include extension of hospitality in the form of Lunch / Dinner etc.

 

3. In this context, it has been decided to extend rates as fixed by MEA for Lunch Dinner as follows:-

BANQUET RATES
Function	Rates
Buffet lunch	Rs.950
Buffet Dinner	Rs.950
Sit down lunch	Rs.950
Sit down dinner	Rs.1050
Cocktail	Rs.575

4. The Administrative Secretary in consultation with the Financial Advisor would need to exercise utmost discretion and ensure that the above ceiling is adhered to keeping in View the austerity instructions contained in Department of Expenditure OM No. 7(1)/E.Coord/2014 dated 29-10-2014 and Cabinet Secretary’s DC. No. 213/1/2/2015-CA.IV dated 11-02-2015 for strict compliance.

5. This issues with the approval of Secretary (Expenditure).

[N. Radhakrishnan]

Director

Revision of Rates for serving refreshment/working lunch during meetings/seminars/conferences etc: Finance Ministry OM

No. 7(3)/E-Coord/2013

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Expenditure

 

North Block, New Delhi

Dated the 6th May, 2015

 

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Economy in expenditure - serving of refreshments during meetings etc.

 

The undersigned is directed to refer to the Department of Expenditure OM. No. 7(2)E-Coord/03 dated 25.3.2004 on the subject mentioned above whereby the ceiling of Rs. 150/- per head was fixed for serving refreshment/working lunch during meetings/seminars/conferences.

 

2. A number of proposals have been received from various Ministries/Departments seeking relaxation of the above ceiling.

 

3. The matter has been re-examined and it has been decided to revise the ceiling of Rs. 150/- per head for serving refreshments/working lunch during meetings/seminars/conferences etc. in the following manner:

 

S.No.	Item	Ceiling (Rs.)
1.	Tea+Snacks	Rs.200/-
2.	High Tea	Rs.500/-
3.	Lunch/Dinner	Rs.750/-

4. The Administrative Secretary in consultation with the Financial ’Advisor would need to exercise utmost discretion While deciding expenditure on above account keeping in mind economy in expenditure and adherence of financial rules/norms/propriety.

 

5. This issues with the approval of Secretary (Expenditure).

[N. Radhakrishnan]

Director

Click here to download Original Order by Finance Ministry

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