Lok Sabha Question No. 322 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-04
Subject: SARTHIE 1.0
Ministry: SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT
Asked by: Shri Mukeshkumar Chandrakaant Dalal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT LOK SABRA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.322 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.02.2025

SARTHIE 1.0

## 322. SHRI MUKESHKUMAR CHANDRAKAANT DALAL:

## Will the Minister of SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has launched the SARTHIE 1.0 initiative to raise awareness and provide legal support for the most vulnerable sections of society;
- (b) whether the Government has collaborated with the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) to expand outreach of social welfare schemes and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the steps taken under this initiative to empower marginalized communities, including Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes and Transgender Persons;
- (d) whether the SARTHIE 1.0 initiative aligns with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and if so, the goals being addressed; and
- (e) whether there is any plan to conduct awareness camps at the grassroots level in collaboration with State and District Legal Services Authorities to promote legal literacy and social justice?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT (SHRI RAMDAS ATHAWALE)

(a) to (e): SARTHIE 1.0 campaign is a joint initiative of the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India (DoSJE) and the National Legal Services Authority, India (NALSA). It is aimed at empowering marginalized and vulnerable individuals of the society including Scheduled Castes (SCs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Transgender Persons, Senior Citizens, Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), sanitation workers, waste pickers, victims of substance abuse, and persons engaged in the act of begging, through a combination of awareness programs and legal assistance, to avail benefits and entitlements guaranteed by social welfare legislations and other enactments as well as administrative programmes of the Government. The initiative seeks to bridge the awareness gap among these groups regarding their legal rights, welfare entitlements, and government schemes.

The initiative is designed to 'empower' individuals through 'awareness' and 'assistance', in order to achieve a dynamic balance of social, educational and economic empowerment of the vulnerable, disadvantaged and marginalized sections of society. The activities undertaken under this campaign shall act as a platform for disseminating vital information on social welfare schemes and policies, assisting individuals in accessing benetits and entitlements and exchanging good practices, in both urban and rural populations.

The campaign is aimed at furthering the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the United Nations in 2015. In particular it seeks to further Goal 1 which calls upon countries to end poverty in all its forms everywhere, and in particular Target 1.3 which is aimed at implementing nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all. It also seeks to further Goal 10 which calls upon countries to reduce inequality within and mong countries, and in particular Target 10.4 which calls for adoption of policies, especiall iscal, wage and social protection policies, and progressively achieve greater equality

NALSA's existing nationwide network in States, districts and talukas, will facilitate the organising of awareness camps & seminars to increase awareness amongst the marginalised and vulnerable sections of society.

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