By IANS,
New Delhi : India’s apex human rights panel Friday pointed out various shortcomings in several of United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) flagship schemes, terming their status “precarious”.
In its Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights, submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said its monitoring of human rights in 28 representative districts across India and field visits found that none of the flagship programmes function well.
It said though members of 55 million households were given work under the ambitious Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, they, on average, received half the wages guaranteed under the scheme.
According to a study by NHRC, 60 percent of the annual budget for supplementary nutrition was being diverted.
“Over 90 percent of the workforce is in the unorganized sector, has no access to social security, is particularly vulnerable in the cities, and is therefore driven into permanent debt, often leading to conditions of bonded labour,” said the review.
It also pointed out shortcomings in the comprehensive implementation of Indira Awas Yojana, set up to provide rural housing.