Andhra Pradesh
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Minutes of the 26th PAB Meeting under ICPS held on 28th September, 2011 to discuss the Annual Financial Proposal of Andhra Pradesh. The twenty sixth meeting of the Project Approval Board (PAB) for ICPS was held under the Chairmanship of Secretary WCD, on 28th September, 2011 to consider the financial proposals for release of grants for 2011-12 to the State of Andhra Pradesh. List of participants is annexed. 2. At the outset, Chairman welcomed all the officers present and invited Special Chief Secretary, Dept. Of Women and Child Development, Andhra Pradesh to make a presentation on the perspective of the State with regard to Child Protection, progress so far and their financial proposal under ICPS. A copy of the presentation is at Annex – A. 3. The State informed that SPSU, SCPS, DCPS and SARA have been set up and are functional. Recruitment for all the sanctioned posts has been completed except for DCPU- Prakasham, where the Staff is expected to join shortly. It was informed that induction training for forty (40) staff in four districts has been completed for SCPS, SPSU, DCPUs (4) and SARA. It was impressed upon the State that it is important to use the Staff judiciously to identify children in difficult circumstances and vulnerable children such as out of school children, trafficked children, children of migrant population, etc. This data could be then used to plan and build mechanisms to rescue/protect and rehabilitate such children. They should also visit the Homes and actively coordinate with Child line and CWCs/JJBs. It was informed that situational analysis, resource directories and vulnerability mapping has been done in four districts namely Khammam, Krishna, Anantapur and Medak. A survey for Children in need of care and protection is ongoing in these districts and issues have been identified at the level of DCPU. The State is now preparing District Child Protection Plan for Vishakapatnam district in collaboration with Andhra University. The State has initiated a web-based child tracking system to monitor children in the Homes in the State, which is being piloted in Saidabad Children’s Home. A collaborative initiative has also begun with the GRP to help restore missing/found persons including women and children. The State is planning to provide old vehicles, modified to look child friendly, to 4 DCPUs for visiting bus/railway stations, temples, market places, etc. to identify 1 children on the street and if the initiative is a success, it would be implemented in other districts. 4. CWCs and JJBs have been set up in all 23 Districts and have also been trained. The CWCs are working well and pendency is low. PAB noted that number of ongoing cases in JJBs is very high and advised the State to get a review of the pending cases of JJBs done. The number of sittings may be increased if required, to speed up the process. 5. Institutional Care: The proposal for Government run Homes, under Institutional Care was discussed. There are 102 CCIs in the State. PAB noted that 18 out of 21 Homes run by Juvenile Welfare Department are underutilized. The quality of child care in Homes run by Juvenile Welfare Department is not upto the mark. The representative from the State responded that the Juvenile Welfare Department was earlier under the Police Department and these Homes have, thus, been maintained like jails. PAB advised the State that these Homes need to be overhauled completely and brought upto the standards prescribed in Juvenile Justice Act and Rules. The staff of these Homes should be sensitized for creating child friendly environment. The State was advised to rationalize these Homes in terms of manpower and capacity, through an appropriate Committee and the State would complete this exercise by March, 2012 and report to the Ministry. The State informed that 81 Homes run by WCD are optimally utilized and quality of child care is also good and as per JJ Act 2000. However, these homes require upgradation such as provision of modern kitchen facilities, etc. These should be planned and executed under ICPS. The State would send details of the works requested in each of these Homes. Inspection committees have not been set up for Homes; however, DCPU staff and CWCs/JJBs are inspecting the Homes regularly. The State was advised to set up the Inspection Committees prescribed in the JJ Rules expeditiously. Regarding imparting of education to children in the Homes, it was informed that out of about 800 children currently living in Children’s Homes run by Juvenile Welfare department, 400 children are receiving education through formal education system in schools. For out of school children, education through Open School and vocational training is being provided through State Board of Technical Education. The National Academy of Construction is providing a certificate course on masonry in Hyderabad and Vishakapatnam. In Observation Homes, volunteers from Rajiv Vidiya Mission have been deployed to teach children. Computers instructors have also been provided in each Home. 2 The State was informed that a Joint letter has been issued by Secretaries of Ministry of Human Resource Development and Ministry of Women and Child Development to develop convergence for education of children in the Homes. PAB advised the State to link vocational programmes with National Skill Development Programme and formalize the system for all Homes. The Chairman advised the State to ensure that every child should receive education through the formal education system and/or certified vocational training. The State was asked to send Home wise details of the education being imparted to the children for record. 6. Non - Institutional Care: It was informed that there are 23 Government run Specialized Adoption Agencies (SAAs), which are receiving grants under ICPS. 258 adoptions took place during 2010-11, out of which 253 were in-country adoptions and 5 were inter-country adoptions. PAB noted that number of inter-country adoptions is low and needed to be improved. It was noticed that the number of children in the SAAs was low and, perhaps, adoptable children were being housed in Children’s Homes in addition to SAAs. Data of all adoptable children should be uploaded in the child tracking option, so that they get an opportunity to find a loving family. The Chairman advised the State to make attempts to ensure that children with SAAs are adopted before the age of 2 years. It was mentioned by Special Chief Secretary that there are a large number of Special needs children in the State who do not get adopted quickly. CARA asked the State to send details of such children so that they could help in finding suitable families. It was mentioned by CARA that the details being received from the State by the NOC committee of CARA for inter-country adoption are not complete, which has been causing delay. State was asked to ensure that documentation is complete before proposals are sent to CARA. It was conveyed that Adoption Recommendatory Committee has not been formed yet and that is required to be done immediately. Assistant Director-CARA stated that SAA-wise adoption data from seven (7) SAAs is not being received by CARA to which representative of the State responded that some of these Homes are recently opened and the required data will be sent shortly. 7. It was noted by the PAB that the State has provided only Rs. 549.36 lakhs in their budget whereas, State share would actually be much higher and, thus, and release of second installment would be difficult. The State was advised to enhance the State allocation suitably. 3 8. Decisions taken by the Board: The following decisions were taken and approvals granted by PAB:- 8.1 SPSU, SCPS, SARA: PAB approved recurring grants for 12 months in the current financial year. PAB also approved Grant-in-aid for the proposed innovative project for current financial year. 8.2 DCPU: PAB approved recurring grants for 12 months for 22 DCPUs and 5 months for 1 DCPU in the current financial year. 8.3 ACA: On request of the State, recurring grants were approved up to 31/03/2012 after which the ACA would close down. 8.4 Institutional Care: PAB granted approvals for the following homes:- Maintenance grants to 21 existing Government run Homes run by Juvenile Welfare Department (9 Observation, 6 Children’s Homes, 3 Special and 3 Special-cum Children’s & Observation Homes)(list attached). PAB also accorded in-principle approval for upgradation of 21 Homes subject to details of work already done in the 6 homes for which grants had been provided in 2010-11, being furnished along with the rationalised proposal for Homes and a Home wise list of work proposed to be done now. PAB accorded in-principle approval for 14 additional Homes run by Juvenile Welfare Department. Grants would be released after the rationalization of other Homes in terms of manpower and capacity of Homes has been done and the requirement of these additional Homes is established. Maintenance grant to 81 Government run Children’s Homes for girls run by Women and Child Development Department [List attached]. PAB also accorded in-principle approval for Upgradation of 20 homes, which were not given grant earlier, subject to the State furnishing the list of Homes and details of proposed work. PAB approved construction of buildings for 7 existing Homes run by Women and Child Development Department (WCD) subject to State confirming that the estimates are based on approved work plan. State proposed construction of buildings for 3 additional existing Homes under JWD for which proposal has not been included by the State. PAB gave in-principle approval for these homes as well subject to receipt of proposal and details.