Context:
Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment distributes PPE Kits and Ayushman Cards to Sewer and Septic Tank Workers under NAMASTE Scheme.
NAMASTE Scheme:
- Stands for National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem.
- Objective – To ensure safety and dignity of sanitation workers in urban India and providing sustainable livelihood to these workers.
- Launched in – 2022 as a Central Sector Scheme.
- Ministry – Joint initiative of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
- Implementing agency – National Safai Karamchari Financial Development Corporation (NSKFDC)
- Duration – FY 2023-24 to 2025-26 (3 years).
- Target Group – Sewer & septic tank workers (SSWs), and waste-pickers (added in 2024).
- Aims –
- Zero fatalities in sanitation work in India
- All sanitation work is performed by skilled workers
- No sanitation workers come in direct contact with human faecal matter
- Sanitation workers are collectivized into SHGs and are empowered to run sanitation enterprises
- All Sewer and Septic tank sanitation workers (SSWs) have access to alternative livelihoods
Components of the Scheme:
- Extending Insurance Scheme Benefits – Workers and their families will be covered under the Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).
- Livelihood Assistance – These workers and their dependants will be given counselling on available livelihood choices and an opportunity to acquire alternative skills, if they so desire.
- They may choose to continue working in the sanitation sector, thereby becoming eligible for receiving capacity building training.
- Alternatively, the worker may choose to explore an alternative livelihood option or an entrepreneurial venture.
- Saturation with Social Security Schemes’ benefits – Identified workers and their family members will receive extended benefits of all the social security schemes.
- Capital Subsidies – The scheme will include capital subsidies of up to ₹5 lakh on sanitation machinery costing up to ₹15 lakh and interest subsidies on loans.
- Training and Stipend – The scheme also provides for training the workers in the use of these machines, during which time a stipend of up to ₹3,000 per month will be provided.
Source: TH
Previous Year Question
‘Rashtriya Garima Abhiyaan’ is a national campaign to
[UPSC Civil Service Exam – 2016 Prelims]
(a) rehabilitate the homeless and destitute persons and provide them with suitable sources of livelihood
(b) release the sex workers from their practice and provide them with alternative sources of livelihood
(c) eradicate the practice of manual scavenging and rehabilitate the manual scavengers
(d) release the bonded labourers from their bondage and rehabilitate them
Answer: (c)