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(GIST OF YOJANA) Empowering Divyangjan

[May-2022]

Empowering Divyangjan

Introduction:

The Prime Minister coined the term “Divyangjan” to address persons with disabilities, with a view to change the social attitudae towards them and recognise their potential. Under his leadership, the issues related to Divyangjans have been put at the forefront of Government initiatives.

Steps taken by the government:

Government enacted the path-breaking legislation, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 which came into force on 19 April 2017. This law is one of the best examples of inclusiveness, which broadens the horizon of rights and entitlements of persons with disabilities, besides providing adequate safeguards for protecting these rights.
This Rights guarantee equality, protection from cruelty, exploitation and violence, the right to live with family and community, access to justice, accessibility to voting, legal capacity, etc. They also mandate the Government to take measures to promote health, education, skill development, and employment opportunities for PwDs and to create an environment for participation of PwDs in sports, recreation, and cultural activities. Reservation in scats has been increased from 3% to 5% for persons with benchmark disabilities (i.e. disability of 40% or more), whereas reservation in the Government /Government-aided higher educational institutions has been increased from 3% to 4% under the said Act.
The Department of Personnel and Training being the nodal Department on recruitment matters in Central Government establishments issued a circular in January 2018 for implementation of the provision of reservation in government jobs. The Government has also initiated a special recruitment drive for persons with disabilities in Central Government establishments and more than 14,000 vacancies have been filled up, out of about 15,700 reported vacancies.
The New Education Policy 2020 is in tune with the provisions of the RPwD Act, 2016 and has the ingredients for inclusive education. The Policy is expected to ensure barrier-free access to education for children with disabilities.
The Government has also set up the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre in Delhi to promote the use of sign language and also to develop human resources in the field. The institute has so far developed about 10,000 sign language expressions of various words and phrases which provide a reference point for various users and have become a boon for the deaf community.
The institute has also signed an MoU with NCERT for converting the school curriculum of Class I to XII into Indian sign language. The institute has already developed a Sign Language version of the curriculum of Class I to V.
Further, the entire NCERT syllabus can now be accessed by students with disabilities through a smartphone application with accessibility features.
An increase in the incidence of psychosocial disabilities (mental illness) has been a cause of concern globally. According to World Health Organization (WHO) Report, 2019, one out of four persons in the world will be affected by mental illness at some part in their lives.

Constitutional provision:

Though relief to the disabled is a State subject by virtue of Entry 9 of the State list, the Central Government through its schemes and programmes has been supplementing the efforts of the States/UTs in this regard. One of the flagship schemes of the Department is the Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/Fitting of Aids and Appliances (ADIP) scheme, under which aids and assistive devices are distributed to Divyangjan to improve their mobility so that, apart from carrying out daily living activates independently, they can also go to work and earn a living.
The Government recognises the role of non-Governmental organisations in promoting awareness about the rights of PwDs and their rehabilitation and integration into society. DEPwD through its flagship scheme namely, Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme has been supporting the NGOs to ran various projects such as special education with residential facilities for children with hearing, visual, intellectual disabilities, their vocational training, etc.
Although, framing policies and programmes is significant from the perspective of providing a framework for inclusion and empowerment of PwDs, strengthening institutional arrangement for execution of these programmes is equally important. The Department has Centres nine which National are spread Institutes across and28 21 States/UTs. Composite While Regional each of the National Institutes works with respect to a specific category of disability, the Composite Regional Centres are providing PwDs.
The rehabilitation Department services is continuously across working all categories towards of strengthening the rehabilitation these sector institutions as well for as capacity development in of research the array in the of field. rehabilitation services enhancing besides the promoting outreach

Conclusion:

We feel that the goal of having a truly inclusive society alone without cannot be the achieved active participation through Government of all stakeholders initiatives including NGOs, PwD associations, academic bodies and civil from society all of them organisations. In our journey We appreciate of the empowerment the cooperation of PwDs. We are committed to working towards the vision of an Inclusive India.