The purpose of the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) is to ensure that the existing administrative set-up is modified in sync with the times, its chairman V.S. Achuthanandan has said.
Administrative changes desired by the people should be recommended by the commission for subsequent adoption by the government, he said at a public hearing held by the commission at the Town Hall here on Thursday.
The hearing was held to gather people’s opinion on welfare schemes and laws for migrant workers and senior citizens. Mr. Achuthanandan said that service from the government was people’s right, and that its denial amounted to denial of justice. “And, when equal justice is denied to a community or people, they get marginalised. The government has devised various schemes to bring the poor, Dalits, women, children, senior citizens, physically-challenged, adivasis, and transgender people to the social mainstream. If the benefits of such schemes do not reach the targeted sections, it should be examined and leakage, plugged,” he added.
Six sectors identified
“The commission has identified six sections — women, children, senior citizens, differently-abled, mentally-challenged, and inter-State workers — for assessing whether the benefits of welfare schemes meant for them have actually reached them. Suggestions and recommendations will be submitted to the government. The living conditions of inter-State workers, for instance, are pathetic. They also face cultural alienation. Their problems and concerns should be brought to the notice of mainstream society,” Mr. Achuthanandan observed.
Commission members C.P. Nair, Sheela Thomas, and Neela Gangadharan spoke at the meeting which witnessed active participation by members of senior citizens’ forums, inter-State workers, trade union representatives, and social workers.
