After old age homes, now real estate offerings for differently abled Pune-based real estate developer Paranjape Schemes has launched a first-of-its-kind dedicated residential real estate project conceived, designed and developed for children with special needs and their families. Shashank Paranjape, MD, Paranjape Schemes, said children with autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome face several challenges in daily life. Their parent community has been reaching out to the company, urging them to replicate the senior living and assisted living concept for creating such homes. “There are some projects that go beyond brick and mortar and come with all heart and soul, and this is one of those projects,” Paranjape said. There are 18 million people in India suffering from autism, which is the third most common development disorder and every city in the country needs such a project, Paranjape added. What will be different is the shared facilities with a support centre with all kinds of facilities for therapy, intervention centres, day-care, vocational training, indoor and outdoor recreation centres, sensory gardens and pools that special kids need, all under one roof. Paranjape said they worked closely with the parent community, right from the concept, design, development and promotion of the project. The parents will play a key role in the management and operations of the homes and ensure that they serve the specific needs of their children. The company has also joined hands with members of Forum for Autism and Saad, a charitable trust, to form an association named Tarangan, which will look after the management and operations of Swaniketan. Paranjape said around 70 parents pre-booked homes even before they formally opened bookings. At all times, homes in the project will be sold to families with differently-abled child or adult. If parents pass away, the home will be sold and the proceeds put in a trust created in the child’s name. This will take care of the child’s living, medical and caretaker costs during the child’s lifetime. Children can move to a hostel that is part of the project and within the same campus when their parents are no longer with them. There have been other attempts to create inclusive housing in this segment. Chennai-based developer, Akshaya, and NGO Special Child Assistance Network (SCAN) and Vidya Sagar, which work on issues related to disability and advocate for rights for persons with disabilities, have joined hands for this initiative. This is part of Akshaya Today, a 21-acre mini-township at Kelambakkam. The homes to be managed by SCAN and Vidya Sagar will have co-living facilities for adults with special needs, a therapy centre, a vocational centre and supported employment options within the campus. In Delhi NCR, the Action For Autism (AFA) has set up Ananda for persons with autism spectrum conditions and developmental disabilities. AFA’s Ananda is a group home that offers long-term support when parents age or pass away and respite services for families who require a short stay for their children during times of medical situations in the family, travel or just to give adults a break from their families. Instead of leading devalued lives in soulless institutions or ending up on the streets, at Ananda, they live around a community with a family-like environment with training support and vocational activities. Coimbatore-based CovaiCare has homes for people with special needs located within their retirement community. They were the first to come up with the inclusive living model whereby people with disability (autism, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy) could live with their parents. On the demise of the parents, the CovaiCare Trust takes care of them and helps them live comfortably. Anita Iyer Narayan, diversity, inclusion and accessibility consultant and managing trustee of Ekansh, a non-profit organisation based in Pune working towards the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities, said more such homes were needed for adults with intellectual and physical challenges. “We receive several calls asking if there was some place for them. While moneyed people have a place to go, middle-class and poorer people struggle to find a secure decent home for their own,” Iyer said.
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In its consultation paper, Sebi has suggested that trustees of mutual funds should focus on market abuse by AMC, its employees and mis-selling by the AMC to increase the asset base.
Also, trustees should be responsible for fairness of fees and expenses charged by the AMC, compare its performance with peers and ensure that AMC’s sponsor is not getting any undue advantage.
In addition to the core areas, the trustees should be responsible for periodically reviewing the steps taken by AMCs for the folios which do not contain all KYC attributes with bank details.
Further, Sebi has suggested that trustees and their resource persons should independently evaluate the extent of compliance by AMC and not merely rely on AMC’s assurances.
To facilitate trustees’ supervision, AMCs should provide them with analytical information.
Presently, the trustees primarily rely on the AMCs for ensuring compliance with the applicable rules.
Under the rules, trustees hold the property of the mutual fund in trust for the benefit of the unitholders. The trustees appoint an AMC to float schemes for the mutual fund and manage the funds mobilised under various schemes, in accordance with the investment objectives.
“In view of the increasing scale and reach of the mutual fund industry, trustees’ role in respect of unitholders’ protection assumes even greater significance,” Sebi said on Friday.
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Over the past decade there has been a five-fold increase in the size of the mutual fund industry. The assets under management (AUM) has surged from Rs 7.93 lakh crore in November 2012 to Rs 39.89 lakh crore in December 2022.
To ensure that trustees devote time and attention to their core responsibilities, Sebi has suggested that for fulfilling other responsibilities, trustees may rely on professional firms such as audit firms, legal firms, merchant bankers for carrying out due diligence on their behalf.
The Sebi also listed some duties trustees can delegate to AMCs. This include ensuring that all systems are in place prior to the launch of any scheme by the AMC, and calculating any income in the mutual fund due to the fund and any income received in the mutual fund for unitholders.
The regulator has proposed to provide a one year time to existing trustees with board of trustee structure to convert into a trustee company, from governance point of view.
Presently, two structures for trustees are permitted — corporate and board of trustees structure. Moreover, there are a few mutual funds which have the board of trustees structure while the trustees of all other mutual funds have adopted the structure of a trustee company.
Considering the enhanced role of trustees over the period of time, Sebi has suggested to increase the minimum number of trustees to adequately perform their functions. Presently, the minimum number of trustees prescribed is four.
Also, it has been proposed that the chairperson of the trustee company should be an independent director.
Sebi has suggested that apart from the meeting of the audit committee of AMCs and trustees (which mostly comprises of independent directors), the board of AMCs and the board of trustees may be mandated to meet at least once a year to discuss the issues concerning the mutual funds.
The regulator proposed that the existing MF Regulations on AMC and its obligations may be amended to include additional clauses with respect to the obligations of the board of AMC.
The proposed amendment may include a clause which casts an obligation on the board of AMC to ensure that all the activities of the asset management company are in accordance with the provisions of these regulations.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sought comments from public till February 24 on these proposals.