New schemes for persons with disabilities sought

Sangareddy: “Education for all the disabled and jobs for all the disabled are the only ways by which we could ensure dignity for them,” said GN Nagaraj, All India Vice-President, National Platform for Rights of the Disabled (NPRD), in an exclusive interview with The Hans India, on the concluding day of the two-day State level conference of the five-year-old organisation, which was held in Sangareddy on Sunday and Monday.

“It was only after the movements launched by NPRD that Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 came into force. The new Act has certain pitfalls, but we will strive to ensure that the fruits of the Act reach every disabled person living in every nook and cranny of our country,” he asserted.

He stressed on the urgency in formulating comprehensive schemes by the Central government for the disabled persons as per the Act brought-in by them, without which the new Act would be of no use.

Talking about ensuring education for the disabled students, he said that lack of funding by State governments in almost all States across the country and failure of the governments in providing facilities, infrastructure, aids and appliances have become a major hurdle for the progress of the disabled students.

He said that talking computers, talking mobile phones and such technology, if provided to the disabled students, could have a liberating effect on them- especially for the disabled girl students.

He emphasised on the need to make all textbooks and suggested reading materials of all subjects be converted into formats which can be accessed by visually challenged students and that technology could be mobilized and research could be conducted as per the 2016 Act, so that people with disabilities could get quality education on par with the so-called normal students.

He also demanded immediate reconstruction of dilapidated hostel building for the disabled girl students studying at Koti Women’s College and hoped the State government would construct disabled-friendly hostels in all degree and PG colleges across the State.

He said that every high school educated disabled person in the country could get a job to lead a life with dignity, if the 4 per cent reservation for the disabled was implemented properly. Failing to do so, he felt that it would become the responsibility of the government to give monthly maintenance allowance or unemployment benefit of Rs 3,000 for persons with 40 per cent disability and Rs 5000 for persons with 70 per cent disability.

“If disabled people in villages could be given an opportunity to manufacture notebooks, account books, files and if those products could be supplied to village-level and mandal-level institutions and offices to make use of them, even the uneducated disabled people could develop socio-economically.

All that the government has to do is to pass a half-page order to make it happen. Banks will start giving loans to these small businessmen and entrepreneurs from the disabled community will start emerging. That needs some political will,” he opined.