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Social Welfare Department
Mandate
of the Department
(a) Functions, role and responsibilities
of the Department
Social Welfare Department both at the Centre and in the State have been created to attend to
social and individual disorganization
which need immediate attention and
prompt action. Social
and individual disorganization
lead to occurrence of problems
like crime and delinquency, vagrancy and beggary, prostitution,
destitution, Child Labour, atrocities
on women, trafficking of girl
child and women etc.
The Directorate of Social Welfare
was created by Govt. of Assam
in the year 1960.
The Directorate was made permanent
with effect from 20-09-1965
and a full fledged Social Welfare
Administrative Department was
created on 19th September 1991.
The role and
responsibilities of the Social
Welfare Department are destined
to witness a phenomenal expansion
in the coming years due to the
heightened social awareness
of the problems faced by children, women and physically
challenged persons.
This Department has the mandate
to ensure proper care of the
uncared, protection of the most
vulnerable sections of the society
and creation of an environment
which is conducive to the all
round development of children, women and physically challenged
persons both by taking the caring
and protective hands of the
Government to them and by giving
intensified fillip to the non-
government initiatives aimed
at reaching out to them.
Description
of the Organisational Structure
(i) Administrative
Department, Department of
Social Welfare, Govt. of Assam
The Secretary, Social Welfare
Department (Assam) is the Administrative
Head at the State Level and
its primary function is to exercise
powers and controls in carrying
out the policy decisions of Govt. in addition to overseeing the implementation
of all schemes and programs
of Social Welfare Department. The Secretary also exercises administrative
control on all officers and
staff of the Department.
(ii) Directorate, Directorate of Social Welfare, Govt. of Assam.
(a) Director,
Social Welfare, Assam functions
as the head of the Department and
exercises administrative control
over all District and Subordinate
offices and is also responsible
for implementation of all schemes, supervision, monitoring
and reporting the same to the
Social Welfare Department on
a regular basis.
(b) Below the Director are the Joint
Director, Deputy Director,
Programme Officers, Special
Officer Nutrition etc. whose functions are to
assist the Director in implementation of
schemes and programmes assigned.
(c) Other
Sub-Ordinate Offices
The Programme Officers in the
Division have jurisdiction over
2-5 districts and the Divisional
Programme Officers are overall
responsible for overseeing progress
of implementation of all the
schemes in their jurisdiction,
specially the ICDS scheme.
The District Social Welfare
officers exercise control over
scheme implementation in the
districts.
The Superintendent of
State Homes are primarily
responsible for management of
institutions meant for custodial
care of destitute children,
orphans, destitute women etc.
At the Block level the Child
Development Project Officer
of the ICDS Projects are responsible
for supervision and management
and implementation of ICDS Schemes.
Activities
of the Department
(i). The
Integrated Child Development
Services Scheme (ICDS) :
The ICDS Scheme was introduced
in the year 1975 on experimental
basis in the Duakuakhana Development
Block in Assam along with 32 other
blocks in the different states
of the country
The objectives
of the scheme are as follows:-
1. To improve the nutritional
and health status of children
below the age of six years and
pregnant and Lactating mothers.
2. To lay the foundation for
the proper psychological, physical
and social development of child.
3. To reduce the incidence
of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and
school dropouts.
4. To achieve effective co-ordination
of policy and implementation
among various departments to
promote child development.
5. To enhance the capability
of the mother to look after
the normal health and nutrition
needs of the child through proper
health and nutrition education.
(I ) Services
envisaged are as follows
(i) Supplementary nutrition
(ii) Immunization
(iii) Health checkup
(iv) Referral Services
(v ) Nutrition and Health Education
(vi) Early detection of child
hood disability
The scheme
is funded l00% by Govt. of India
excepting its nutrition component.
Cost of nutrition component
is shared on 50:50 basis. Govt.
of India has set forth norms
of expenditure item wise. At
present there arc 219 ICDS projects
in Assam, out of which 196 projects
are operational.
(ii) Kishorv
Sakti Yojana (K.S.Y ) :
Kishorv Sakti Yojana is implemented
as a component of K'DS Scheme.
The scheme was under implementation
in selected K'DS projects blocks
which are backward in all respects.
Govt. of India has of late. given
signal to expand K.S.Y. Scheme
to all the K'DS projects. Govt.
of India selected the scheme,
realizing the fact that adolescence
is a crucial phase in the life of a girl child and
it was felt necessary to address
the nutritional health and
educational aspects appropriately.
(iii) Supplementary Nutrition
Programme (S.N.P.) in ICDS :
Supplementary Nutrition Programme
(S.N.P.)is implemented in the
K'DS Project areas through
the network of Anganwadi Centers.
As per schematic pattern and
guidelines, set forth by Govt.
of India. the following category
of beneficiaries are required
to be covered in each Anganwadi
Centre.
(a) Children in the age group
6 month to 3 years (both malnourished
and severely mal-nourished)
(b) Children in the age group
3 years lo 6 years. (both malnourished
and severely mal-enriched)
(c) Pregnant Women and nursing
mothers.
(d) Adolescent girls.
(iv) ICDS Training ( UDISHA)
: ICDS Training Programme
project UDISHA was launched
in the year 1999 for a period
of five years and later it was
extended up to 31st March 2006.
The main objectives of the programme
is to be impart job refresher
and orientation training to
the ICDS functionaries. The
training curriculum and methodology
are designed for skill development
of functionaries as well as
to enable them to acquire knowledge
of various aspects of Child
Development Works.
(v) Sawayamsidha: The
Sawayamsidha is an integrated
Scheme for Women's empowerment formally launched in
2001 replacing the erstwhile
India Mahila Yojana and the Mahila Sambridhi Yojana.
The programme is based on the
formation of Women Self Help
Groups (SHGs) and enable the
SHGs take up schemes and programmes
for the social and economic empowerment
of women.
The long term objective of the
programme is to bring about
all round empowerment of women
by ensuring their direct access
to and control over, resources
through a sustained process
of mobilization and convergence
of all the ongoing sectoral
programmes of Govt. and other
agencies.
In Assam, Sawayamsidha Scheme
is under implementation in 24
Nos. ICDS projects blocks 240O
SHGs have since been constituted
covering 58,500 women. About
1173 Nos. of SHGs are in nursing
stage.
(vi) Nutrition Programme
for Adolescent Girls (N.P.A.G.-Pilot
Project): Nutrition Programme
for Adolescent Girls, a Pilot
project, introduced in the year
2002-2003 with 100% Additional
Central Assistance ( A.C.A.)
aiming to :
1. Improve Nutritional and health
status adolescent girls.
2. Provide nutrition and health
education to the beneficiaries.
3. Empower adolescent girls
through increased awareness
to take better care of their
personal health and nutrition
needs.
The scheme is implemented through
the A.W. Centres of the district
identified for the propose. In Assam, Kokrajhar
and Karbi-Anglong districts have
been selected for implementation
of the scheme.
The adolescent girls of the
community will be weighed and
those found below the body weight
less than 35 Kgs. will be given
full food @6 Kgs per month for
three months consecutively.
The process of weighing will
continue four times in a year
and thus on the basis of the
body weight as mentioned above,
issuance of live rice will continue
for three months.
(vii) Handicapped
Sector:
(a) Govt. H.D.S. Deaf and Dumb
School, Guwahati provides special
education facilities to Deaf
and Dumb Students, both boys
and Girls up to H.S.L.C. Standard.
Teachers are trained with required
skills and methods specifically
devised for teaching this category
of disabled students. The school
has hostel facilities with intake
capacity of 250 students.
(b) Blind School, Jorhat provides
special education facilities
to the Blind students (both boys
and girls) up to H.S.L.C. standard. Teachers are trained in Braille
method for imparting education
to blind students. There is
hostel facility and intake
capacity is 150 students.
(c) Blind School, Basistha,
Guwahati is an institution which
caters to the educational need
of blinds students. In this
school too the educational curricular
is up to H.S.L.C standard and
teachers are trained in Braille
method. The intake capacity
is 100 students and the school
is residential.
(d)The
Blind School run by N.G.Os:
NGOs running schools
for sightless and mentally retarded
students receive
recurring Grants-in-Aid from
Social Welfare Department.
(e) Scholarship/Stipend
to Physically Handicapped Students:
Physically handicapped students
who are pursuing studies in
the special institutions of
the Deptt. institutions run
by N.G.O's and also general
schools and colleges are offered
stipend.
(f) Braille Press:
A Braille press has been established
at Basistha, Guwahati caters
to the need of Braille text
books for sightless students
of the state.
(g) School For Hearing
Impaired:
The School for
Hearing Impaired was established
at Jorhat in the year 1996.
Intake capacity of students
is 50 .
(h) Sheltered work-shop
for Blind, Nagaon:
The sheltered workshop for
Blind Nagaon offers training
facilities to blind persons
in different trades so as to
make them skillfully capable
to make an independent living.
(viii) National
programme for Rehabilitation
Persons with Disabilities (N.P.R.P.D)
Scheme:
The National Programme
for Rehabilitation Persons with
Disabilities mooted by Govt.
of India as a state sector scheme
has been introduced in Assam
in the year 2000-2001.
The
scheme was funded by the Govt.
of India by releasing additional
Central Assistance till 2002-2003.
The
aim and objective of the scheme
is to provide clinical facilities
to disabled persons, training and needed rehabilitations
services to persons with disabilities
through an extensive network
of facilitating centres from
State Level to Village level.
The four R.R.Cs are located
at Assam Medical College, Dibrugarh,
Silchar Medical College, M.M.C.
Guwahati and Civil Hospital, Goalpara.
(ix) Health
care for the aged Scheme:
The scheme was introduced in
the year 2004-05. Primary objectives
of the scheme is to take
care of the people who have
attained above 70 years of age
and who need care. Financial
Assistance is provided to aged
people to enable them to purchase
medicine.
(x) Mukhya
Mantrir Jibon Jyoti Bima Achoni:
Government of Assam has decided
to continue the implementation
of Mukhyamantrir Jibon Jyoti
Bima Achoni w.e.f. 25th August.
2006 and Social Welfare Department
was assigned to implement
this.
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