
Curriculum in school to include right to services
Maharashtra Right to Public Services
(MRTPS) Act, aiming to increase awareness and enhance accessibility to the online services offered to the public by the state govt through its 'Aaple Sarkar' portal.
Similarly, the state plans to offer some govt services with home delivery.
The state will not only upgrade its portal to an advanced version soon, but will also launch a mobile app to make it convenient for the larger populace to access the services. State Chief Commissioner for RTS, Manu Kumar Srivastava, while interacting with citizens on Wednesday, said the govt was planning to introduce a chapter on the RTS Act in class 9 and 10 school textbooks, fostering civic awareness from a young age.
Moreover, the 'Sevadoot' model of home delivery of services, experimented with in Wardha, would be implemented for the larger populace of the state soon, he added.
Srivastava said the RTS platform was being made more accessible, with a mobile-friendly version and a dedicated app currently under development. He was replying to queries from citizens during an awareness programme held recently. Citizens complained that the portal did not accept their documents while uploading them, eventually making services inaccessible for a larger number of applicants. So far, the state has made available 1,027 services through the portal.
In the last 10 years of its existence, the platform Aaple Sarkar, which promotes the mandates under MRTPS Act, received over 18.89 crore applications, with 17.79 crore successfully disposed of
.
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Hindustan Times
10 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Maharashtra to amend child labour rules, allow hiring child artistes with riders
MUMBAI: The state government has decided to amend the Maharashtra Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Rules, 1997, and set up a taskforce in 36 districts to draw up a comprehensive action plan to rescue children employed illegally. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) (Amended) Act, 2016 prohibits the employment of children below 14 years in all occupations. The draft of the revised rules was issued on August 7, and suggestions and objections have been sought from citizens within the next 30 days, which will be presented to the labour department. The new rules are being framed after a gap of nearly 30 years. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) (Amended) Act, 2016 prohibits the employment of children below 14 years in all occupations. It also regulates the work of adolescents between 14-18 years in hazardous occupations and processes. The labour department also issued amended rules for children hired or employed illegally. 'A child may be allowed to work as an artiste subject to the certain conditions,' states the draft rules. While there are stipulated hours of work mandated in the draft, it underscores that production houses must obtain permission from the district collector before hiring the child. While screening films and programmes on television, a disclaimer must be added saying all measures were taken to protect the child during shooting. 'There is also a mandate to make proper arrangements to ensure there is no discontinuity in the child's academic lessons in school. Additionally, no child will be allowed to work consecutively for over 27 days,' said a senior officer from the state labour department. It is also the responsibility of the parents to set aside at least 20% of the child's earnings in a fixed deposit account in a nationalised bank in his/ her name, which will be credited to the child on attaining majority. 'This provision will ensure that the entire income of the child as an artiste will not be spent by their parents and guardians, and a portion of it will be saved for his future,' the official explained. The rule book also underscores that no child will be made to participate 'in any audio visual and sports activity including informal entertainment against his or her will and consent'. In a separate clause, the government has permitted only those children to work who need to support their families. However, to avoid their exploitation, they will be allowed to work only in family enterprises. In such cases, if a child remains absent from school consecutively for 30 days, the school's principal must report the matter to the nodal officer appointed by the district collector'. The government has also decided to set up a Child and Adolescent Rehabilitation Fund, where the amount from fines and penalties in cases of offences will be transferred to the victim once he/ she turns 18. 'Against each case the state government will also deposit ₹15,000, the interest on the total amount will be transferred to the victim's bank account after six months,' informed another official. The accused will be charged between ₹20,000 to ₹50,000 apart from imprisonment between six months to two years. Child rights activist Santosh Shinde termed the amended rules as 'insufficient'. 'The state government missed the opportunity to streamline the process of hiring children, especially those related to child artistes. The rules formulated are patchy, considering the need of the children employed in the film and TV industry. For instance, the government should have looked into the kind of language being used by children in the content shown on web series,' Shinde said. He added that the government 'has tried to emulate the model rules and didn't try to formulate rules according to our need as most of the content is made in Mumbai'.


The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
What are the challenges confronting the EC?
The story so far: At a press conference on August 7, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission (EC) of massive electoral roll manipulations in Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in Karnataka. Mr. Gandhi's presser capped a series of allegations of deliberate voter roll discrepancies by the EC beginning with the Maharashtra Assembly polls. This, coupled with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, which is under judicial scrutiny, has put the poll body in the eye of a storm. What is the mandate of the EC? The Election Commission of India is a permanent constitutional body. The Constitution has vested in the EC the superintendence, direction and control of the entire process for conduct of elections to Parliament and the legislature of every State, and to the offices of President and Vice-President of India. Originally, the commission only had a Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). It was expanded to include two Election Commissioners (ECs). Why has there been a controversy about the appointment process? Parliament passed a new law governing appointments to the EC, namely the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023. In accordance with the new law, the ECs are selected by a three-member selection committee, comprising the Prime Minister, a Union Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The Opposition had objected to this, saying the committee gave little room for dissent as the Prime Minister and the Union Minister are part of the government and could rule 2:1 in favour of their candidate. Why is the EC's role in the spotlight? Last year, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance had alleged that lakhs of new voters had been added to Maharashtra's electoral rolls in the time period between the Lok Sabha polls in May and the Assembly elections in October. The Congress had made the same allegations about Haryana, and later the Aam Aadmi Party alleged that voter rolls were tweaked in Delhi before Assembly polls. Even as the EC was grappling with these claims, CEC Gyanesh Kumar announced the SIR in Bihar which aims at cleaning up electoral rolls. The EC said the SIR exercise will be carried out across the country. At his press conference, Mr. Gandhi alleged large-scale discrepancies in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment under the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka which he claimed helped the BJP win the seat. Mr. Gandhi said his party had carried out an investigation which spanned over six months before reaching this conclusion. He claimed that the voter list had manipulated entries, including duplicate voters, invalid addresses, and bulk registrations of votes at single locations. Following this, Mr. Gandhi reiterated his demand for machine readable voter rolls to be provided to all political parties for proper verification. The EC stated it has not been providing machine readable or 'text-searchable' voter lists for concerns over cyber-security. The Supreme Court (SC) had upheld it in a petition filed by former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath in 2018. When was a revision announced in Bihar? On June 24, the EC ordered a SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, barely five months before the Assembly elections. As per the SIR orders, every voter in Bihar who had not been listed in the 2003 voter rolls would have to submit documents proving their date and place of birth to determine whether they were Indian citizens. Those born after 1987 would also have to submit proof of their parents' date and place of birth. However, after the completion of the first phase of the SIR exercise, the EC released a draft electoral roll on August 1, which saw a drop in the number of voters in Bihar by 65 lakh. There were 7.89 crore voters registered in the 2025 electoral list before the SIR exercise; after the recount, it slid to 7.24 crore electors. The EC said that most of these 65 lakh 'missing' voters have died; are registered in two locations; have migrated out of Bihar; or are untraceable. Civil society organisations, Opposition parties as well as NGOs approached the Supreme Court challenging the SIR process. What has the SC directed EC to do? In an interim order on August 14, the Supreme Court directed the EC to publish an enumerated, booth-wise list of the 65 lakh electors not included in the draft roll. A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi instructed the EC to provide reasons for the deletion — death, migration, untraceability, duplicate registrations — against each name. The court also asked EC to accept Aadhaar as proof of identity for an elector to include his or her name in the rolls. 'That it has taken the Supreme Court to nudge the EC towards following basic norms of natural justice and fairness in the Bihar SIR exercise reflects poorly on an organisation which takes pride in collecting and counting every last vote. While errors can creep into voter lists over time, the answer to that is not mass disenfranchisement as the EC is attempting,' said Alok Kumar Prasanna, Advocate and Co-Founder of Vidhi Centre for Public Policy. What about migrant voters? Migrant voters still have to return to the place where they are on the rolls to vote. This is a huge cost and depresses turnout, notes Mr. Prasanna. 'There is no simple solution to this currently. The solution will have to be cheap, secure and transparent to work. Solutions which work in richer societies and for richer migrants will not work for poor migrants from States like Bihar,' he added. What has been the political fallout? After Mr. Gandhi's press conference, the Opposition upped the ante and tried to hold a march from Parliament to the Election Commission headquarters. They courted arrest when stopped. The ongoing monsoon session of Parliament has also been virtually paralysed over demands for a discussion on the Bihar SIR. The government has, however, not conceded to the Opposition's demand. The issue has brought Opposition parties together and protests are likely to continue when Parliament reconvenes on August 18. 'To protect the voters of this country and democracy whatever has to be done we will do,' Rashtriya Janata Dal Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha told The Hindu.

The Hindu
3 hours ago
- The Hindu
Farmers to lay siege to Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on August 20
Members of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Karnataka State Sugarcane Growers' Association will lay siege to the Vidhana Soudha on August 20, seeking the implementation of their long-pending demands. At a press conference here on Saturday, H. Bhagyaraj, president of the sugarcane growers' association, said that farmers will also hold a 'satyagraha' at Freedom Park in Bengaluru. Though the country celebrated Independence Day on August 15,there was little for farmers to celebrate as the government had failed to ensure scientific pricing for agricultural produce, he said. Mr. Bhagyaraj said that the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for 2025-26 should be fixed at ₹4,500 per ton, and harvesting and transportation costs must be borne by the sugar factories. The farmers also expressed concern that the weighing scales are not scientifically calibrated, as a result of which they suffer losses. This should be avoided by installing the weighing scales in front of the factories so that the farmers can monitor the process as well, they said. Mr. Bhagyaraj pointed out that the factories owed dues to the tune of ₹950 crores to sugarcane farmers, and added that this should be cleared immediately. Drawing attention to the shortage of fertilizers, the association said that the issue has been politicised by both the State and the Centre, and that it was the responsibility of the governments to ensure the availability of fertilizers and its smooth distribution. The authorities were urged to crack down on traders creating artificial scarcity by hoarding fertilizer stocks or selling them at a price higher than the rates fixed by the government. Mr. Bhagyaraj urged the government to implement the Mekedatu project without further delay, and blamed the Centre and the State for failing to expedite the works. The farmers stated that banks tend to insist on CIBIL scores before releasing agricultural loans, and hence urged the government to change the policy and delink CIBIL scores from farm loans. Any delay in repayment of loan due to crop failure or vagaries of nature has a negative bearing on the CIBIL score and affects the farmers, the association said. Drawing attention to the low penetration of crop insurance among farmers, the association said that the policy and insurance schemes should be tweaked to make a particular land of the farmer concerned as the unit area of insurance. When the unit area for crop insurance is too large, individual farmers suffer because damage to their crops may be overlooked and their claims rejected, if conditions in other parts of the area are considered normal, it added. Other demands included immediate release of ₹1,000 crore by way of incentives which is pending for dairy farmers, establishment of crop and milk procurement centres at the gram panchayat level, rescinding the Land Reforms Act and APMC (Amendment) Act, implementation of the recommendations of M.S. Swaminathan Committee, a law ensuring statutory guarantee of Minimum Support Price for farmers' produce, etc.