GeM is an e market for different goods and services procured by Government Organizations / Departments / PSUs. It facilitates online procurement of common use Goods & Services required by various Government Organizations / Departments / PSUs. GeM aims to enhance transparency, efficiency, and speed in public procurement. It provides the tools of e-bidding, reverse e-auction and demand aggregation to facilitate the government users, achieve the best value for their money. The purchases through GeM by Government users have been authorised and made mandatory by Ministry of Finance by adding a new Rule No. 149 in the General Financial Rules, 2017.

The mission of GeM is to:

• Institute a unified procurement policy to encourage behavioural change and derive reform.
  
• Establish a lean, dynamic organization capable of continuous innovation and market driven decision making.
  
• Build an easy to use, fully automated platform to ensure transparency and efficiency in procurement.
  
• Demonstrate commitment to delivering value by ensuring right quality at right price.
  
• Create a sustainable ecosystem covering all stakeholders and driving inclusive development in India.

Special provisions are also provided in support of women only enterprises and enterprises run by members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. GeM provides a platform for economic growth of SC/ST communities.

NIOS is "Open School" to cater to the needs of a heterogeneous group of learners up to pre-degree level. It was started as a project with in-built flexibilities by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in 1979. In 1986, the National Policy on Education suggested strengthening of Open School System for extending open learning facilities in a phased manner at secondary level all over the country as an independent system with its own curriculum and examination leading to certification.

Consequently, the Ministry of Education (MOE) , Government of India set up the National Open School (NOS) in November 1989. The pilot project of CBSE on Open School was amalgamated with NOS. Through a Resolution (No. F.5-24/90 Sch.3 dated 14 September 1990 published in the Gazette of India on 20 October 1990), the National Open School (NOS) was vested with the authority to register, examine and certify students registered with it up to pre-degree level courses. In July 2002, the Ministry of Education (MOE) amended the nomenclature of the organisation from the National Open School (NOS) to the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) with a mission to provide relevant continuing education at school stage, up to pre-degree level through Open Learning system to prioritized client groups as an alternative to formal system, in pursuance of the normative national policy documents and in response to the need assessments of the people, and through it to make its share of contribution:

• To universalisation of education
• To greater equity and justice in society, and
• To the evolution of a learning society.

What does NIOS do?

The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) provides opportunities to interested learners by making available the following Courses/Programmes of Study through open and distance learning (ODL) mode.

• Open Basic Education (OBE) Programme for 14+ years age group, adolescents and adults at A, B and C levels that are equivalent to classes III, V and VIII of the formal school system
• Secondary Education Course
• Senior Secondary Education Course
• Vocational Education Courses/Programmes
• Life Enrichment Programmes
  

Envisages schooling by providing a learning continuum based on graded curriculum ensuring quality of education for children, neo-literates, school drop-outs/left-outs and NFE completers.

For implementation of OBE programme, the NIOS has partnership with about 853 Agencies providing facilities at their study centres. It is a sort of academic input relationship with partnering agencies. The NIOS provides resource support (such as adaptation of NIOS model curricula, study materials, joint certification, orientation of Resource Persons and popularisation of OBE) to the voluntary agencies and Zila Saksharta Samities (ZSSs) etc., for implementation of its OBE programme.

At the Secondary and Senior Secondary levels, NIOS provides flexibility in the choice of subjects/courses, pace of learning, and transfer of credits from CBSE, some Board of School Education and State Open Schools to enable learner's continuation. A learner is extended as many as nine chances to appear in public examinations spread over a period of five years. The credits gained are accumulated till the learner clears required credits for certification. The learning strategies include; learning through printed self-instructional material, audio and video programmes, participating in personal contact programme (PCP), and Tutor Marked Assignments (TMA). Enrichment is also provided to the learners through the half yearly magazine "Open Learning". The Study Material is made available in English, Hindi and Urdu mediums. The On-Demand Examination System (ODES) is in operation at Secondary and Senior Secondary stage. NIOS offers 28 subject in eight mediums (Hindi, English, Urdu, Marathi, Telugu, Gujarati, Malayalam and Odia) for Secondary Examinations and 28 subjects in Hindi, English,  Urdu, Bengali and Odia mediums for Senior Secondary Examinations. Besides these, NIOS has provision of offering Vocational subjects in combination with Academic subjects at secondary stage and 20 vocational subjects in combination with Academic subjects at Senior Seondary level.

Acknowledging the fact that the young entrepreneurs will be the wealth of the nation, the learner friendly Vocational Education programmes of NIOS provide excellent prospects for the learners. It offers Vocational Education programmes in different areas such as Agriculture, Business and Commerce, Engineering and Technology, Health and Paramedical, Home Science and Hospitality Management, Teacher Training, Computer and IT related sectors, Life Enrichment Programmes and General Services. Knowledge, skills and qualities of entrepreneurship have been made essential components in curricula for Vocational Education with emphasis on practical and on the job training in related industrial units.

In order to upscale and place the Open Vocational Education Programme on a sound pedestal, NIOS is seeking collaboration with leading organizations in different educational development sectors like Industries, Medicines, IT etc. Within the overall provisions of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF-2005), NIOS has brought out a significant documnet titled "Vocational Educaiton and Training: A Framework on Curriculum Imparatives with a Foucs on Knowledge Acquisition and Skills Development: Initiative through Open and Distance Learning". It is hoped that this document with prove useful as the basis for preparing a well deliberated Programme of Action (POA) for implementation of Vocational Education Programmes through ODL.

The NIOS programmes pay special attention towards requirements of the first generation learners, physically, mentally and visually challenged learners and candidates from disadvantaged sections of the society.

How does NIOS Function?

NIOS operates through a network of five Departments, 23 Regional Centres, two Sub Regional Centres, two NIOS Cells, and more than 7400 Study Centres (AIs/AVIs) spread all over the country and abroad. NIOS is the largest Open Schooling system in the world with cumulative enrolment of 4.13 million (during last 5 years).

The Government of Puducherry, through the Adi Dravidar Welfare and Scheduled Tribes Welfare Department, is implementing various welfare schemes for the upliftment of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. In continuation of these efforts, a new scheme title: “Mudhalvarin Pudhumai Penn Scheme for Subsidy towards Purchase of e-Scooters by the Working Women and College-going Female Students, 2025” is now introduced for further empowering SC/ST women and their families.

Under this scheme, eligible women belonging to the Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribe communities will be provided a subsidy of 75% of the cost of the e-scooter or Rs.1,00,000/-, whichever is less.

How to Apply:

Applications are available at the Department on all working days. The filled-in application, along with all the required supporting documents, must be submitted to the Department.

Eligibility Criteria:

Women applicants must satisfy the following conditions:

1. Must belong to the Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribe community.
2. Must be a native or resident of Puducherry Union Territory for at least 5 years continuous residence.
3. Family annual income should not exceed Rs.8,00,000 per annum.
4. The applicant must have completed minimum of 18 years of age and maximum 40 years of age.
5. Only one woman from a family can avail this benefit once in her lifetime.
6. Applicants receiving financial assistance for prolonged disease or benefits under the e-auto subsidy scheme are not eligible.
7. Must possess a valid MC-WOG / MC-WG driving license issued by the competent authority.
8. Must not have availed a similar subsidy from any other State or Central scheme.
9. For Students: Minimum eligibility marks (in last completed examination): 75% in Class XII (for UG Students), 60% in UG (for PG Students), 60% in PG (for PhD students), the percentage in marks or its equivalent CGPA.
   For working women: Must produce valid proof of employment such as e-Shram card, salary slip, employer certificate, bank statement showing regular deposits, street vendor licence, EPF/ESi record, etc.

Eligible candidates are encouraged to apply and make use of this valuable opportunity. For further details, please contact the Department during office hours.

SWAYAM is a programme initiated by Government of India and designed to achieve the three cardinal principles of Education Policy viz., access, equity and quality. The objective of this effort is to take the best teaching learning resources to all, including the most disadvantaged. SWAYAM seeks to bridge the digital divide for students who have hitherto remained untouched by the digital revolution and have not been able to join the mainstream of the knowledge economy.

This is done through a platform that facilitates hosting of all the courses, taught in classrooms from Class 9 till post-graduation to be accessed by anyone, anywhere at any time. All the courses are interactive, prepared by the best teachers in the country and are available, free of cost to any learner. More than 1,000 specially chosen faculty and teachers from across the country have participated in preparing these courses.

The courses hosted on SWAYAM are in 4 quadrants – (1) video lecture, (2) specially prepared reading material that can be downloaded/printed (3) self-assessment tests through tests and quizzes and (4) an online discussion forum for clearing the doubts. Steps have been taken to enrich the learning experience by using audio-video and multi-media and state of the art pedagogy / technology.

Courses delivered through SWAYAM are available free of cost to the learners, however learners wanting a SWAYAM certificate should register for the final proctored exams that come at a fee and attend in-person at designated centres on specified dates. Eligibility for the certificate will be announced on the course page and learners will get certificates only if this criteria is matched. Universities/colleges approving credit transfer for these courses can use the marks/certificate obtained in these courses for the same.

https://swayam.gov.in/

Welcome to this new Parivrajaka Foundation (PF) Member Portal for mutual collaboration. Saathi Portal is a place where the member belonging to the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (community of Parivrajaka Foundation) can meet and interact with each other and contribute towards mutual development. You can actively participate in collective development by contributing towards education, good health, social upliftment, cultural preservation and wealth.

With this portal members will be able to receive information about various activities of Parivrajaka Foundation like 

• new events planned, 
• new member joining, 
• notices, 
• circulars, etc.

Additionally, this website uses software CoOp which can be downloaded from https://parivrajaka.in/category/coop/This software is available for free for all those who are running NGOs, Social Organization, Association of Persons, Trade Unions for their day-to-day activities and mutual collaboration.