THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There exist numerous government-sponsored welfare schemes for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes communities. However, due to lack of awareness, most of the schemes seldom reach their intended beneficiaries.
Taking note of this, the state SC Development Department is now looking to set things right. This is why it is developing a mobile app which will provide members of the communities easy access to information on all government-sponsored welfare schemes and mode of application, thereby ending the egregious state of affairs.
“The app is devised as a hand-holding service for users. A major chunk of less privileged communities are ignorant of the various services offered by the government. The app will identify a person’s needs and guide him/her to the benefits he /she is entitled to,” said P M Ali Asgar Pasha, the director of the department.
The SC Development Department undertakes welfare programmes worth `1,300 crore a year, ranging from education assistance to medical help and housing schemes. Students and the unemployed are the target users of the app which will be launched in December. “The state has around seven lakh SC students. Constant monitoring is needed to ensure they do not drop out from school or college,” Pasha said.
A multi-pronged approach will be adopted to help unemployed youths. Their skills and talents will be assessed. Skill development programmes will be organised for eligible candidates. They will also be able to attend the recruitment programmes organised by the department.
Counsellors at the centralised monitoring cell which will come up in the SC Development Department headquarters will guide the app’s users. The department has identified two SC youth who were educated abroad, to lead the activities of the cell.
“The app will help us develop a database of members and monitor their progress. The monitoring cell will be in touch with intended beneficiaries until they get full use of the welfare scheme,” Pasha said. “After a year or so, the department can get its own progress card through the app. For example, we can, through the app, check the number of students or unemployed youth who received assistance and what their current status is,” he said.
The SC Development Department, which plans to send more students abroad for higher education, hopes the app will give a major boost to its interventions among students and job-seekers. Arrangements have also been made to train and get placement for 1,000 candidates in oil sector in the Gulf.