Annual Report - National Human Rights Commission

Rights of the Vulnerable
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iv)
Suitable fresh guidelines are to be issued for expeditious implementation of National
Action Plan;
v) Ministry of Finance should be approached for issuing necessary instructions to
Nationalized Banks for providing loans;
vi)
Details of release of funds and unspent balances are also to be provided to Ministry of
Social Justice & Empowerment; and
vii) Sanitation Councils are to be set up in the State Government.
10.14 During the period under report, the decisions taken in the last meeting held with the concerned
State Governments were followed up. The response from the States has not been very encouraging.
10.15 According to the information available with NHRC, the latest position with regard to
status of adoption of the Act by the States/UTs is as under:-
10.16 The States of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh
(its own Municipal Act), Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu,
Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttranchal, Punjab, Meghalaya and the UT of Andaman & Nicobar Islands
have already implemented the Central Act. The States of Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand,
Manipur, Rajasthan, West Bengal and the UTs of Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu,
Lakshadweep & Pondicherry have not adopted the Central Act. The States of Arunachal Pradesh,
NCT of Delhi, Goa, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and the UT of Chandigarh have informed that
they are manual scavenging free or they do not have dry latrines in their respective States/UTs.
10.17 A review meeting with the representatives of the nodal Ministries, the State Governments/
UT Administrations and the NGOs is scheduled to be held shortly.
C] Rights of the Elderly
(a) National Old Age Pension Scheme
10.18 The Commission is deeply concerned about the protection of rights of older persons. Earlier,
two rounds of discussions were held in the Commission with some representatives of Non-governmental
Organizations working for the rights of the older persons who made a number of suggestions in this
regard. In its meeting held on 08-03-2002, the Commission noted the details of the implementation of
the Old Age Pension Scheme by the Central and State Governments and desired that the matter may
be sent to Shri K. B. Saxena, IAS (Retd.), Former Advisor, Planning Commission for an in-depth
study and recommendations. The Secretariat of the Commission assisted Shri Saxena by making
available the source material and data base on the subject from various quarters, including the Ministry
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