Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS)

Introduction

The Government of India has decided to introduce a new Central Sector “Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers” (SRMS) as a national priority.

Objective of the Scheme:

The objective of the scheme is to assist the remaining 342468 number of scavengers which are yet to be rehabilitated in a time bound manner by March-2009. State-wise remaining number of Scavengers based as per the data available with the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment may be seen in Annexure-A.

Eligibility:

Scavengers and their dependents, irrespective of their income, who are yet to be provided assistance for rehabilitation, under any scheme of Government of India/State Governments will be eligible for assistance.

Definition of Scavenger:

A “Scavenger” means one who is partially or wholly engaged in the obnoxious and inhuman occupation of manually removing night soil and filth”.

The “dependent of Scavengers is one who is a member  of their family or is dependent on them irrespective of the fact whether they are partially or wholly engaged in the said occupation.  Each individual scavenger and his/her children who are of 18 years of age and above, who are not employed (other than scavengers) will be identified and rehabilitated”.

Components of the Scheme:

·        Under the scheme, the identified scavengers and their dependents will be provided subsidy & loan for undertaking self employment ventures

·        The beneficiaries will also be provided training upto one year for skill development.

·        The credit will be provided by the banks, which will charge interest from the beneficiaries at the rates prescribed under the scheme.

·        Beneficiaries will be allowed to avail second and subsequent loan from banks if required, without capital subsidy and interest subsidy and other grants under the scheme.

Kinds of loan:

Both Micro Financing (Upto Rs.25000/-) and Term Loan (Upto Rs.5.00 lac) will be provided at concessional rates of interest. Micro financing will also be done through self help groups (SHGs) and reputed Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs).

Kinds of Schemes:

·        The beneficiaries are free to select any viable  income generating self employment project.

·        Given below is the indicative list of projects, which are usually selected by the beneficiaries which are sustainable and have a good potential or regular income: -

Rates of Interest:

The rate of interest chargeable from the beneficiaries will be as follows: -

Period of Repayment:

The period of repayment loan will be three years for projects upto Rs.25,000/- and five years for projects above Rs.25,000/-

Moratorium Period:

The moratorium period to start the repayment of loan will be six months.

Implementation Period:

The State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) would distribute the funds received from NSKFDC or any other identified agency at apex level within a period of three months to the beneficiaries.

Training with Stipent:

Since the scavengers will be rehabilitated in non-traditional professions, they will require training to acquire new skills and entrepreneurship capabilities. This can be given by government agencies/institutes was well as by reputed specialized training agencies. Synergies with selected industries/business establishment would be encouraged for facilitating gainful employment of the trainees. The average training cost has been taken as Rs.14,000/- per beneficiary, which includes provision for training fee, kits and stipend to trainees.

Publicity/Awareness camps:

Awareness Camps will be undertaken by SCAs in the basties of Scavenger with a view to awareness generation at all levels to ensure the optimum benefit reaches to the beneficiaries in the shortest possible time.

Interest Subsidy to the banks:

1.      NSKFDC or any other  identified agency at the apex level, will provide interest subsidy to the banks through its State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) or any other identified agency at the State level, for the difference between the interest chargeable by banks and the interest to be charged from the beneficiaries under the scheme.

2.      Where the rate of interest chargeable by the banks on loans will be higher than the rates prescribed in the scheme, interest subsidy to the extent of the difference will be given to the banks and this will be administered by NSKFDC/other agencies identified by the Ministry.

Credit Linked Capital Subsidy:

Credit linked capital subsidy will be provided upfront to the beneficiaries in a scaled manner:

(a) For projects costing upto Rs.25000/-                 - @ 50% of the project cost.

(b) For project costing morethan Rs.25000/-            - @ 25% of the project cost, with a  minimum of Rs.12,500/- and maximum of Rs.20,000/-

Monitoring and Evaluation:

The progress of implementation will be monitored by NSKFDC and other apex level agencies, identified for the purpose. The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis may, in accordance with its term of reference, review the implementation of programmes and schemes, social and economic rehabilitation of the manual scavengers. The scheme will be concurrently evaluated by an independent agency.

ANNEXURE-A

Action Taken by NSKFDC under SRMS with SCAs

1. Letter to MDs of all the State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) on 09.06.2005 requesting for furnishing of action plan for total rehabilitation of manual scavengers.

2. Reminder – Letter to MDs of the all State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) on 05.07.2005 for furnishing of National Action Plan.

3. D.O Letter to MDs of all the State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) on 03.08.2005 requesting for workout an action plan for rehabilitation of remaining manual scavengers & formulation of project proposals.

4. D.O Letter to MDs of all the State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) on 28.10.2005 requesting for furnishing the project proposals & action plan for rehabilitation of manual scavengers.

5. Reminder - D.O Letter to MDs of all the State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) on 20.12.2005 for furnishing the project proposals & action plan for rehabilitation of manual scavengers.

6. D.O Letter to MDs of the State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) on 02.02.2006 for furnishing the project proposals & action plan for rehabilitation of manual scavengers.

7. Letter to Chief Secretaries of States for rehabilitation of remaining manual scavengers & for furnishing of action plan on 01.05.2006

8. D.O. Letters to MDs of all the State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) on 02.11.2006 for furnishing of detailed information with their profile like Name, Age, Sex, Address, Father’s Name, Educational Qualification, other qualification etc.

9. Letters to Chief Secretaries of the States on 11.12.2006 and copies to Secretary, Social Welfare Department & MDs of the SCAs to furnish the list of Scavengers with their profile such as Name, Age, Sex, Address, Father’s Name, Educational Qualification, other qualification etc    

10.  Organized of Secretaries of Social Welfare Department /Managing Directors of 12 States on 19.02.2007 at New Delhi wherein all the States/SCAs  were requested for preparation of training modules and furnish the person/district wise list of remaining manual scavengers alongwith their Name, Sex, Age, Father’s Name, Address, Educational Qualification, trade/course for training/scheme/projects.
11.  A letter to MDs of all the 10 allotted SCAs  have been sent requesting to furnish the person wise list alongwith their detailed profile

12.  A workshop on ‘Capacity Building’ was organized at Jaipur on 02.02.2007 with the assistance of Rajasthan SC & ST Finance & Development Cooperative Corpn. Ltd., (RSCFDC) wherein the SCA was requested to tie up with the training institutes and arrange to furnish the training modules alongwith the person wise list of identified manual scavengers. 

13. NSKFDC has taken up the matter of imparting training under SRMS personally with Tamilnadu Adi Dravidar Housing & Development Corpn. Ltd. (TAHDCO).  As a result, the SCA has provided the training proposal for Rs.99.50 lacs for imparting training to 1000 manual scavengers and a demand for release of funds of Rs.34.40 lacs towards subsidy component under different projects and the same has been released by NSKFDC on 30.03.2007.

14. A meeting was held with MD, Mahatama Phule Backward Class Devp. Corp. Ltd. (MPBCDC) and the officers of the Social Welfare Department/Local Bodies at Mumbai & Pune wherein the matter of furnishing of the list of identified Scavengers alongwith training modules under SRMS were requested to be sent to NSKFDC.  MD, MPBCDC has assured that the training institutes would be tied up immediately and the training modules for imparting training for 200 persons of Pune District would be sent to NSKFDC, shortly.

15. A meeting was held with the officers of NSIC at New Delhi and the modalities for imparting training to manual scavengers through NSIC were discussed.  As a result, the representatives of NSIC, Gujarat Safai Kamdar Vikas Nigam (GSKVN) and NSKFDC has visited Rajkot (Gujarat) and held meeting with local bodies & the representatives of the target group.  The NSIC has enrolled provisionally 120 applicants for imparting training under various trades/courses.  The NSIC has assured that the training for said persons would be started in the month of April 2007. 
16.  NSKFDC has taken up the matter for imparting training under SRMS with MD, Madhya Pradesh SC Finance & Development Corp., (MPSCFDC).  As a result, the SCA has furnished a proposal for imparting training to 520 applicants with a cost of Rs.72.80 lacs under different trades/courses. A sum of Rs.36.40 lacs has been released to MPSCFDC by NSKFDC on 30.03.2007 to start the training programme.
17. NSKFDC has submitted the training modules under various trades/courses prepared by National Small Industrial Corporation (NSIC) & Centre for Entrepreneurship Development Madhya Pradesh (CEDMAP) to the Ministry for kind consideration and approval.