As many as 84 prisoners of the Thane Central Jail have received certificates for completing various skill development programmes, aimed at reintegrating them into society, officials said on Monday, reported news agency PTI.
In addition, a female inmate was also specially felicitated during the event on Sunday for completing her Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree, marking a significant achievement in her rehabilitation journey, they said.
The initiative, implemented by the prison administration, will bring about positive changes in the lives of the prisoners and the rehabilitation process will be more effective, Atulchandra Kulkarni, member of the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT), Mumbai, said at the event, reported PTI.
Kulkani, who was the chief guest at the event, encouraged the inmates to make use of the opportunities provided to them during incarceration.
“The skills and certificates acquired through this training will help you to reintegrate into society,” he told the prisoners, reported PTI.
The training programmes covered a wide range of skills, including bakery production, decorative wall painting, computer training, two-wheeler repair, embroidery, and beauty care.
Such programmes not only empower inmates with employable skills, but also instill confidence to start afresh after their release, jail officials said, reported PTI.
Maharashtra to launch one portal for all schemes, detailed databases being prepared: Officials
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government is preparing to launch a portal that will allow citizens to know about all government schemes available to them on the basis of caste, community, gender, income and other criteria across departments, officials said on Sunday.
The user acceptance test of the portal is in its final stage, a senior Indian Administrative Service official involved in the project told PTI.
“We have collected 22 different types of databases of people, including adults and children, and combined them into five core databases. We applied 140 different parameters such as gender, caste, disability, income certificates, geography and social status. Once the portal is open, a person can enter details and find all schemes applicable across departments,” he explained.
At present, people have to approach multiple departments to know about available schemes, the official said.
He said the consolidated database will also help the state administration in planning and budgeting.
“When the government wants to launch a scheme, it usually conducts a detailed survey of potential beneficiaries. With this database, the planning department can directly access the numbers without repeated surveys. That will also help the finance department in budget allocation,” the official told PTI.
A finance and planning department official said the system will support direct benefit transfer (DBT) more effectively, especially when there is an increasing trend of transferring funds directly into bank accounts of beneficiaries.
The portal, backed by dynamic data, will expand this reach, she said.
(With inputs from PTI)
