---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Disability News and Information Service <[email protected]> Date: 18 April 2011 17:58 Subject: M.S.J.E. pays Rs. 23.43 lakhs to N.A.L.S.A.R. for U.N.C.R.P.D. Country Report but still fails to submit it one year after the deadline!
*M.S.J.E. pays Rs. 23.43 lakhs to N.A.L.S.A.R. for U.N.C.R.P.D. Country Report but still fails to submit it one year after the deadline!* * * *D.N.I.S. News Network India: * India ratified U.N.C.R.P.D. in 2007. As per Article 35, India was supposed to have submitted its Country Report on its implementation and progress by May 2010. One year after the deadline, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (M.S.J.E.) still does not know by when it will ‘finalise the Report’. This no show even after having paid a huge amount of taxpayers’ money to N.A.L.S.A.R University for the task. The shocking facts: 1. M.S.J.E. outsourced its work on the Country Report to N.A.L.S.A.R. University and Dr. Amita Dhanda of the Centre for Disability Studies was supposed to have done it for them. 2. M.S.J.E. paid a whopping Rs. 23. 43 lakhs (some 50,000 USD) of tax payers’ hard earned money with nothing to show for it yet! 3. The original deadline for N.A.L.S.A.R. was September 30, 2010. 4. The revised deadline for N.A.L.S.A.R now is the end of April. M.S.J.E. till today has not been able to furnish even a draft of the Country Report that Dr. Dhanda was entrusted with. According to sources, N.A.L.S.A.R. has apparently not been able to get any information from the other concerned Ministries. Did the well seasoned bureaucrats of Shastri Bhawan did not realise that the progress report on U.N.C.R.P.D. would be a cross Ministerial job that an outside Consultant would not be able to do? Or did not Dr. Dhanda think of the obvious roadblocks before she took up the task with a deadline and at taxpayers’ expense? M.S.J.E. officials have not been able to give a clear deadline by when it is going to submit the Country Report to the C.R.P.D. Committee. The bureaucratic answer being ‘after finalization of the report’! Now, the hard questions: 1. Why did the M.S.J.E. entrust its work to a Consultant? 2. Why did it not think of setting up an Interministerial Committee for the task to ensure that the lack of information is not an impediment or an excuse? 3. Why is N.A.L.S.A.R. being given all Consultancies from drafting the new disability law, to drafting the Amendments to the National Trust Act to the Country Report, when obviously the Centre for Disability Studies at N.A.L.S.A.R. is ill – equipped to handle simultaneous work? 4. Who is accountable for the missed deadlines and India’s embarrassment in front of the international community? 5. Where is the accountability after spending such a huge amount on a Consultancy which failed to keep the deadline? Will M.S.J.E. or any concerned party be willing to give us the replies? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/MhaNewsViewsIndia?hl=en ------------- Affiliated Groups : MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY INDIA [email protected] Discussions on mental health law / policy / plan monitoring / human rights etc [email protected] India-specific news and views related to mental health [email protected] Information and support to carers of people with mental health issues [email protected] Mutual support and sharing of experiential knowledge, skills and social learning amongst peers
