Pedestrian safety

Posted on August 23, 2011 by SRRF

Pedestrian safety

Pedestrians are always at risk on Indian roads, since often they have to share the road with motorists, simply because of the conditions of the pavement facilities. Elderly and children are particularly vulnerable while crossing the road due to vehicular traffic and lack of signals.

 

Gurgaon has become a major casualty in this regard. Last year between Rajiv Chowk and Kherki Duala 57 deaths have been reported, majority being pedestrians.

 

An annual publication “Roads Accidents in India 2009” brought out by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways presents a general overview of various causes of road accidents in India. The single most important factor responsible for accidents, fatalities and injuries is driver’s fault followed by other factors like fault of cyclist, fault of pedestrian, defect in  road condition, defect in condition of motor vehicle , weather conditions, etc. NHAI has also commissioned Road Safety audits on certain stretches.

 

However the n eed to make authorities aware of the lack / defects in policies for safety of pedestrians continues. In this regard SRRF is making several efforts. See our web-site, but we need partners to support us in this area.

____________________________________

Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044

 

 

 

Posted in Pedestrian safety | 1 Comment

Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2011

Posted on August 20, 2011 by SRRF

The Government introduced a bill seeking to prevent sexual abuse of children with provisions for stringent punishment for such offences in Rajya Sabha during the budget session. Till now, all such cases were being tried under the Indian Penal Code. The bill envisages a jail term up to seven years and a fine of Rs. 50,000 for such crimes.

Some of the salient features of the Bill are:

  • · The bill describes a child as individual below the age of 18
  • · One of the anomalies existing in present legislation is that a sexual act with children between the age of 16-18 is considered a crime, the proposed legislation recognizes the ground reality of early marriage and does not make it an offence if the consent of individual between 16-18 has been taken.
  • · To enhance speedy trials, the States will be required to designate a session court in each district to try offences under this bill.
  • · Till the proposed legislation aims at protecting children against offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment, pornography and provide for establishment of special courts for trial of such offences.
  • · Sexual assault also includes fondling the child in an inappropriate way which will invite a penalty of minimum three years in jail.
  • · Minimum 5 years punishment of penetrative sexual assault.
  • · If offence committed by police, security personnel, public servant, persons from educational institution, hospitals or children’s home than minimum punishment is 5 years prison which can be extended to 7 years.
  • · There is a special provision for abusing children for pornography or even possessing such material.

The bill is long overdue considering inadequacy and inappropriateness of archaic Indian Penal Code, however one is rather worried that considering less and less attention of legislators in formulating laws (amount of interruptions in the legislative houses have risen dramatically), if this much needed bill also does not fall on the wayside.

Please find Bill no. XIV of 2011 Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2011 as introduced in the Rajya Sabha at our website http://www.srr-foundation.org

____________________________________

Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.i
Posted in Human Rights | 4 Comments

Delhi Government to provide free healthcare to school children

Posted on August 17, 2011 by SRRF
The Delhi Government announced ‘’Chacha Nehru Sehat Yojana’’, the most ambitious scheme to provide free healthcare facilities to all the children of the city up to the age of 14 years. With implementation of the scheme Delhi will be the first state to provide 27 lakh school going children free medical care and compulsory medical check-up.

An initial corpus of `100 crore is proposed in the plan budget for the scheme. The scheme is entirely conceived by the government and will run fully on state funds.

The Women and Child Department is working on initial stage of the project which will cover government schools, MCD, NDMC and Delhi Cantonment Board schools. However, government has yet to fix the maximum limit of medical expenditure. While Delhi government has earmarked around `100 crores for this ambitious scheme, it is not clear what progress has been made on its implementation.

____________________________________

Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in
__._,_.___
Posted in Health | Comments Off on Delhi Government to provide free healthcare to school children

Forest Act to be amended to reduce tribal harassment

Posted on August 12, 2011 by SRRF

The Union Cabinet of India approved the amendments to the India Forest Act, 1927 to stop instances of unnecessary harassment and prosecution of forest dwellers and tribals for minor offences.  Besides, to restrain the arbitrary power of the forest official, a clause could be added to the Act according to which the forest official will have to consult and record the views of the gram sabha or village assembly before adjudging a person to have violated the law. The amendment to the Indian Forest Act was necessary because forest officers harassed tribals for minor issues like cutting grass or entering forest. Infact 90% of offences are under this category only.

The amendment to the Indian Forest Act raised the limit to which fines for relatively minor offences can be compounded from 50 rupees to 10000 rupees. Enacted in 1927, the law set the limit for compounding offences to 50 rupees.  At present, the low limit of 50 rupees was all easy to breach. It may help in curbing the encroachments on forest properties which harm the interests of tribals.

Besides the above, the Union ministry of Environment and Forests, asked state governments to declare bamboo as a ‘minor forest produce’ to help conserve bamboo forest and enable sustainable use and the management of this important resource. Bamboo is an important material used by tribals for their dwellings and many indigenous crafts and cottage industries.

____________________________________

Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
Posted in Environment | 1 Comment

Interest earned on FC money

Posted on August 12, 2011 by SRRF

Dear Sir,

When we receive grant for some specific program, it comes with a condition that any interest earned on the said grant should be treated as donor grant fund only. I have two queries on this:

1. Will the interest earned be treated as income for the year or added to un-utilized grant fund.
2. what is the best way of calculating the interest earned on each grant? We use monthly average method. Is this acceptable. B’coz, in one FCRA account, we use to have more than one donor fund and also donations.

—

Thanks & Regards

Pragya
Team Leader-Accounts

Villgro Innovations Foundation
III Floor, IIT Madras Research Park Building
Kanagam Road, Taramani,
(Behind TIDEL Park),
Chennai – 600 113

Posted in FCRA, TAX, LEGAL | 8 Comments

Efforts needed to bring more property deals under the registration net

Posted on August 11, 2011 by SRRF

While talking of black money often focus is at money stashed abroad, one must recognize that the biggest source of black money in India is the real estate sector. This fact has been further supported in a survey undertaken by KPMG, a consultancy organization, where a large number of respondents have stated that this is perhaps one sector which promotes large amount of corruption.

One of the main factor which promotes this perception is perhaps involvement of cash transactions in the sector. However several reputed organizations involvement in the sector has brought some transparency to the sector. Tata Housing MD claimed that they do not indulge in any cash transactions. He also stated that after introduction of S 80IB under the Income Tax Act, cash transactions have reduced significantly.

Yet another aspect which enhances black money in the real estate sector is the non-registration of the real-estate deals. One of the major contributing factor towards the same is high Stamp Duty.

Stamp duty is a property tax, to be paid in almost every deal at a prescribed rate on the transaction value or calculations based on circle rate, whichever is higher. It varies from state to state. This particular tax varies from one state to another around 4% in Mumbai, 13% in Kerala, 6% in Haryana and 8% in Uttar Pradesh. Most of the states charge around 6-8%. At present, stamp duty is charged from developers at the time of registering the land and again from consumers during the possession of flats.

A number of persons have been asking that the Stamp Duty rates be reduced, to help enhance registration of properties. The argument is that bringing down rates will not result in losses, since more properties will come under the registration net. It may be added that even Prime Minister has stated the same, however considering Stamp Duty is a state tax one is not sure if his statement would have any impact on rationalization of the Stamp Duty.
____________________________________

Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in

Posted in Governance Reforms | 2 Comments

Performance Incentives for Central Staff

Posted on August 6, 2011 by SRRF

Centre is all set to bring in a Performance Related Incentive System (PRIS) for its employees. The system devised & tested by IIM, Ahemdabad allows any employee to receive cash incentives if s/he gets a performance rating of 70% or more as per Results Framework document. Secretaries / Joint secretaries will receive the incentive based on overall performance of their Departments, while others will be evaluated on individual performance. Around 62 ministries and departments have implemented the system of evaluating the performance. These departments have also installed bio-metric systems to improve punctuality.

The Govt asked various departments to make savings by cutting costs and would allow upto 15% to be paid as incentives. Thus not putting any additional burden on the Govt. finances. The scheme has been approved by a Committee of Secretaries, appointed for the purpose and is likely to be implemented effective 2012-13.

____________________________________
Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in

Posted in Governance Reforms | Comments Off on Performance Incentives for Central Staff

Payment Gateway

Posted on August 5, 2011 by SRRF

At our organisation we are exploring the option of initiating a payment gateway.Would appreciate pointers for choosing an appropriate vendor.

Who are the most popular vendors among NGOs.

Are there any special concessions that we could negotiate from the vendors?

Also in case one receives foreign funds ( by individuals) through the payment gateway then what are the points to be kept in mind.

Look forward to understanding the subject.

Regards

Anupama Kalra
Executive Director
United Way of Delhi

H-171 (First Floor),
Sector-63,Noida 201301, India
http://www.uwdelhi.org/

Posted in FCRA, TAX, LEGAL | 7 Comments

Pay Pal accounts and e-LS international a/cs

Posted on August 5, 2011 by SRRF

Dear Sir,

Your workshop on DTC & FCRA is very useful and gave an intro to the amendments in both. I attended the workshop in Chennai and thankful to you for making the day 100% useful.

Now many online international platforms are willing to mobilise donations for the ngos and transferring the foreign exchange to us. While some transfer the money to our bank accounts, few others talk of Pay pal accounts and e-LS international accounts for fund transfers. Is this legal? Can you kindly clarify the same.

With regards
—
F. Beatrice Vanaja,
Chief Administrative Officer,

New Life,

No: 7,3rd Cross, 5th Main Road, Srinivasanagar,

Land Mark:Next to Bishop heber College, Puthur,

TRICHIRAPPALLI-620017.

Phone: Office: 91-431-2782726

Fax: 91-431-2770199

Posted in FCRA, TAX, LEGAL | 1 Comment

Government prepared SOP for tracking the missing children

Posted on August 2, 2011 by SRRF

Delhi government has recently taken a decision in forming Missing Person Squad (MPS) under the Crime Branch of the city police to search the missing children. It has also submitted a 14-page Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to Delhi high court.

Government response has come on direction given by the court for rehabilitating the missing children. Several organizations had filed a petition to the high court on Delhi policies failure to trace a large number of children who go missing from the capital every day and very few of them are traced by the police. Children are largely trafficked and used for child labour.

The court also taking note of the fact that school struck off names of the missing children. It has directed the education department to issue a circular for all the schools that this should not be done and the children can continue their school after being rescued.

SRRF dialogue has number of members who are working for missing children. Some of them can contribute to the discussion by bringing out the ground realities.
____________________________________
Socio Research & Reform Foundation
(A Non Government Organisation)
512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi – 110008
Tele/Fax: +91-11-25821088, 25817157, 25722044
e-mail: socio-research@sma.net.in

Posted in Human Rights | Comments Off on Government prepared SOP for tracking the missing children