Progress hasn't helped the disadvantaged, PM admits

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday bemoaned the fact that "adequate sensitivity and understanding" had not been shown to disadvantaged groups in the country and urged for a change in mindset to make them "equal partners in our development processes".

"Unfortunately, it cannot be said that we have shown adequate sensitivity and understanding that are required to deal with the special problems of these disadvantaged groups," Singh said while inaugurating the state welfare ministers' conference here.

"Progress has been made, but this progress falls far below expectations and far below the needs of our country. They are and should be considered as equal partners in our development processes."

"The root of the problem of exclusion from the national mainstream lies in social prejudices and associated discrimination," said Singh.

"What can we do to become a more humane and socially progressive society and thereby a more developed society? It appears to me we can begin by changing a mindset that sees people of disadvantage not as a productive national resource that they are but as a marginal section of society at the fringes of our policy establishment," he said.

In the prime minister's reckoning, the foremost task of state governments was to provide physical security so that atrocities against Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and senior citizens that continues with disturbing regularity, come down.

"It is shocking that the conviction rate for cases of atrocities against SC/STs is less than 30 percent, against the average of 42 percent for all cognizable offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC)."

"The state governments therefore need to give more attention to this important issue. Court cases should be pursued diligently and on priority basis," he maintained.

Key welfare schemes, said Manmohan Singh, needed to be stepped up especially with drought being reported in many areas of the country that has hit weaker sections.

"We therefore need to step up monitoring and implementation of key welfare schemes like NREG programme, Annapurna programme, old age pension scheme which target the weaker sections, and it is our duty to ensure that these sections receive their proportionate share of these benefits," he said.

This year, he said, the government was proposing to take up a new scheme, called Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) for integrated development of 1,000 villages, each having more than 50 percent SC population, that aims at development schemes in villages.

With India being a signatory of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), Manmohan Singh emphasised that the statute casts obligations on all signatories towards enforcement of various rights of persons with disabilities.

"We propose therefore to comprehensively amend the Persons with Disabilities Act, in consultation with state governments and all stakeholders, so as to bring it in line with our obligations under the UN Convention."

Accessibility, too, he pointed out was a major issue for persons with disabilities.

"I would urge that our educational and healthcare institutions, our government offices, our banks and other places with public dealings ought to be made more user friendly and accessible to the disadvantaged persons," he said.

"Small steps like building ramps or designating officers to facilitate their work can go a long way in this direction."