NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, INDIA Cases Dealt by Investigation Division ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS Core Group of NGOs 2.48 In pursuance of Section 12 (i) of the Protection of Human Rights Act (PHRA), 1993, the Commission, right from its inception, has been encouraging the efforts of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and institutions working in the field of human rights. The Commission associates and partners with the reputed NGOs in various programmes and projects initiated by it in the area of human rights awareness. As awareness of human rights is an important factor in the better protection of human rights, there is greater scope of increasing interaction with the NGOs. In order to facilitate its interaction with the NGOs and civil society organizations, the Commission constituted a Core Group of NGOs on 17 July, 2001. The Group was last reconstituted on 16 September, 2011 with 11 Members only. The matter regarding reconstitution of the Core Group of NGOs is again under consideration of the Commission for giving wide representation of credible NGOs from diverse fields of human rights across the country. 2.49 Open House Discussion on ‘Rural Development and Human Rights: Interaction with Civil Society Organizations/NGOs’ on 27 February, 2019 i. 22 NHRC has been working to promote awareness of human rights issues at the ground level. Therefore the Commission decided to spread the human rights awareness focused on human rights issues, by organizing workshops and conducting field visits in selected districts of the States. The 28 districts, one from each State, has been selected from the commonality of the list of backward districts in India, getting “Backward Regions Grant Fund”, prepared by Ministry of Panchayati Raj and also endorsed by Planning Commission and the list of backward districts selected for the National Agricultural Innovation Project by ICAR. The grounds of selection are the percentage of illiteracy, percentage of SC and ANNUAL REPORT 2018-19