Constitution of India

• The Constitution of India ensures equality, freedom, justice and dignity of all individuals and implicitly mandates an inclusive society for all, including persons with disabilities.
• The Constitution in the schedule of subjects lays direct responsibility of empowerment of disabled persons on the State governments. Therefore, the primary responsibility to empower the disabled rests with the State governments.
• Under Article 253 of the Constitution read with item No. 13 of the Union List, the Government of India enacted ‘The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995’, in an effort to ensure equal opportunities for persons with disabilities and their full participation in nation-building.

International conventions

• India is a signatory to the ‘Declaration on the Full Participation and Equality of People’ with Disabilities in the Asia-Pacific Region. India is also a signatory to the Biwako Millennium Framework working towards an inclusive, barrier free and rights-based society. India signed the UN Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities on 30th March, 2007, the day it opened for signature. India ratifies the UN Convention on 1st October, 2008.
• The “United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons (1983-92)” and of the “World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons”, the main theme of which is the development of societies in which disabled persons live and enjoy an equal share in the improvement of living conditions, resulting from social and economic development.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), to which India is a signatory, under Article 9 casts an obligation on all the signatory governments to take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas. These measures, which shall include the identification and elimination of obstacles and barriers to accessibility, shall apply to, inter-alia :

• Buildings, roads, transportation and other indoor and outdoor facilities, including schools, housing, medical facilities and workplaces;
• Information, communications and other services, including electronic services and emergency services.
• The Convention also mandates that all the Governments shall also take appropriate measures :
• To develop, promulgate and monitor the implementation of minimum standards and guidelines for the accessibility of facilities and services open or provided to the public;
• To ensure that private entities that offer facilities and services which are open or provided to the public take into account all aspects of accessibility for persons with disabilities;
• To provide training for stakeholders on accessibility issues facing persons with disabilities;
• To provide in buildings and other facilities open to the public signage in Braille and in easy to read and understand forms;
• To provide forms of live assistance and intermediaries, including guidelines, readers and professional sign language interpreters, to facilitate accessibility to buildings and other facilities open to the public;
• To promote other appropriate forms of assistance and support to persons with disabilities to ensure their access to information;
• To promote access for persons with disabilities to new information and communications technologies and systems, including the Internet;

Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for PwDs in Asia and Pacific

• Governments at the High Level Inter Governmental Meeting organized by the Govt. of Republic of Korea adopted the ministerial declaration and Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for PwDs in Asia and Pacific.  The Incheon Strategy provides the Asian and Pacific Region, and the world the first set of regionally agreed distinct – inclusive development goals.
• The Strategy comprises 10 goals, 27 targets and 62 indicators, which build on UNCRPD.  Goal No. 3 of the Incheon Strategy mentions that access to the physical environment, public transportation, knowledge, information and communication is a precondition for persons with disabilities to fulfill their rights in an inclusive society. 
• The accessibility of urban, rural and remote areas based on universal design increases safety and ease of use not only for persons with disabilities, but also for all other members of society.  Access audits are an important means of ensuring accessibility and must cover all stages of the process of planning, design, construction, maintenance and monitoring and evaluation.  Access to assistive devices and related support services is also a precondition for persons with disabilities to optimize their level of independence in daily life and live in dignity.  Ensuring the availability of assistive devices for those living in low-resource settings involves encouraging research, development, production, distribution and maintenance.

Policies

• Children with disabilities come under the purview of the ministry of social justice and empowerment.
• Some of the issues like prevention and curative aspects are dealt by the health ministry.
• However, no single ministry has taken the responsibility of meeting the holistic needs of CWDs.
• Disability continues to fall in the area of “social welfare”.
• Although efforts are on to bring it into the “rights” perspectives, the thinking process is dominated by the charity mode, while providing services for people with disabilities.
• As disability being state subject, each state have their own program for persons with disability, but none of the states are able to see in holistic needs of people with disabilities.
• Some states have been pro-active in increasing awareness among people with disabilities about commitments and entitlements (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and New Delhi) whereas others have lagged in implementing many of the basic entitlements enshrined in the PWD Act of 1995 (Bihar, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh).
• In Karnataka, disability welfare department introduced personnel at the panchayat like Village Rehabilitation Workers, and Multipurpose Rehabilitation Workers to meet the needs of people with disabilities in their respective jurisdictions.

Similar program, are adopted in other states.

National Mental Health Policy

As per Census 2011, there are 15,05,624 mentally challenged persons in the country.

• The vision of the National Mental Health Policy is to promote mental health, prevent mental illness, enable recovery from mental illness, promote destigmatization and desegregation, and ensure socio-economic inclusion of persons affected by mental illness by providing accessible, affordable and quality health and social care to all persons through their life-span within a rights-based frame work.

Goals of the policy

• To reduce distress, disability, exclusion morbidity and premature mortality associated with mental health problems across life span of the person.
• To enhance understanding of the mental health in the country.
• To strengthen the leadership in the mental health sector at the national, state and district levels.

Objectives of the Policy

• To provide universal access to mental health care.
• To ensure respect for rights and protection from harm of persons with mental health problems.
• To reduce stigma associated with mental health problems.
• To progressively enhance financial allocation and improve utilisation for mental health promotion and care.
• To identify and address the social, biological and psychological determinants of mental health problems and to provide appropriate interventions.

National Policy For Persons with Disabilities, 2006

The Government of India formulated the National Policy for Persons with Disabilities in February 2006 which deals with Physical, Educational & Economic Rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. In addition the policy also focuses upon rehabilitation of women and children with disabilities, barrier free environment, social security, research etc.

The National Policy recognizes that Persons with Disabilities are valuable human resource for the country and seeks to create an environment that provides them equal opportunities, protection of their rights and full participation in society.

Focus of the policy

The focus of the policy is on the following

• Prevention of Disabilities
• Rehabilitation Measures - Rehabilitation measures can be classified into three distinct groups:
• Physical rehabilitation, which includes early detection and intervention, counseling & medical interventions and provision of aids & appliances. It will also include the development of rehabilitation professionals.
• Educational rehabilitation including vocational education and
• Economic rehabilitation for a dignified life in society.
• Women with disabilities -
• Children with Disabilities
• Barrier-free environment
• Issue of Disability Certificates -
• Social Security -
• Promotion of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) -
• Collection of regular information on Persons with Disabilities -
• Research -
• Sports, Recreation and Cultural life -

Responsibility for implementation

• The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment will be the nodal Ministry to coordinate all matters relating to the implementation of the Policy.
• An inter-ministerial body to coordinate matters relating to implementation of National Policy will be formed.

Institutions

Separate Department of Disability Affairs was carved out of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on May 12, 2012. The Department was renamed as Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) on 08.12.2014.

It has in initiated new programs like:

a. Accessible India Campaign
b. National Action Plan for PwDs
c. Skill council for PwDs

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has several institutes for different type of disabilities

Six institutes are-

• National Institute for the Visually Handicapped, Dehradun,
• National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped, Secunderabad,
• National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, Mumbai and
• National Institute for Orthopaedically Handicapped, Calcutta.
• The Institute for the Physically Handicapped, New Delhi and
• National Institute of Rehabilitation, Training and Research, Cuttack work as service centres for the handicapped with facilities for training Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Prosthetic Technicians, etc.
• Established 24 Special Employment Exchanges for Physically Handicapped and 50 Special Cells at the normal Employment Exchanges,
• The Ministry of Labour, New Delhi has set up seventeen Vocational Rehabilitation Centres (VRCs) in different States and Union Territories in the country for carrying out vocational assessment and evaluation of the handicapped prior to their job matching and placement. 
• Rural Rehabilitation Extension Centres (RRECs)
• At present, 11 Rural Rehabilitation Extension Centres (RREC) are also functioning at 5 selected VRCs to cater to the rehabilitation needs of the handicapped living in rural areas.
• The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation has also been providing aids and appliances to the handicapped. The Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation (ALIMCO), Kanpur, under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, is engaged in manufacturing artificial limbs, aids and appliances suiting different categories of handicapped.

National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC)

• The National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC) has been set up by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India on 24th January 1997.
• The company is registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 as a Company not for profit.
• It is wholly owned by Government of India and has an authorised share capital of Rs. 400 crores (Rupees Four Hundred Crore only).
• The company is managed by Board of Directors nominated by Government of India.
• NHFDC functions as an Apex institution for channelising the funds to persons with disabilities through the State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) nominated by the State Government(s).
• provides financial assistance to the Divyangjan/Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan/PwDs) for their economic rehabilitation and provides number of skill development programmes to empower them to grow & sustain their enterprises.

Composite Regional Centre for Skill Development, Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has set up Composite Regional Centre for Persons with Disabilities in various states to provide both preventive and promotional aspects of rehabilitation like education, health, employment and vocational training, research and manpower development, rehabilitation for persons with disabilities etc.

These CRCs function as extended arms of the National Institutes (NIs).

Objectives of CRCs

• To serve as Resource Centre for rehabilitation and special education of persons with disabilities.
• To undertake human resource development by training rehabilitation professionals, village level workers, multi – rehabilitation workers and other functionaries in Govt. and non – Govt. sector, required for providing services to persons with disabilities.
• To undertake public education programs for creation of awareness in the parents and the community.
• To undertake designing, fabrication and fitment of aids and appliances.
• To undertake services of education and skill development leading to enhancement of opportunities for employment, rehabilitation, mobility communication recreation and integration in society.
• To undertake research and development with specific reference to needs of diverse group of people with disability, keeping in view the nature and severity of disability in the region.
• To develop strategies for delivery of rehabilitation services suitable to the sociocultural background of the region.
• To stimulate growth of services by encouraging and supporting voluntary organization, parent groups and self – help groups.
• To establish linkages with existing medical, educational and employment services, following the principles of community – based rehabilitation and offer extension services in the rural areas.

National Centre for the Promotion of Employment for Disabled Persons (NCPEDP)

• It is a non-profit organization Registered in 1996  and working as an interface between the Government, Industry, International Agencies, and the Voluntary Sector towards empowerment of persons with disabilities.
• It has successfully advocated several policy changes that have positively impacted the lives of people with disabilities, working across to encourage the employment of disabled people, increase public awareness on the issue of disability, empower disabled people with knowledge, information and opportunities, and ensure easy and convenient access to all public places, products, services and technologies.
• Headquartered in New Delhi, NCPEDP has a pan India presence through the National Disability Network (NDN) and NDN has members from majority States and Union Territories across the country.
• It helps in moving away from traditionally held views of charity by increasing their productivity .
• NCPEDP has also constituted the National Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (NCRPD) consisting of disability sector leaders and experts from across the country, that meets at regular intervals to discuss ongoing pertinent issues relevant to people with disabilities, and to plan a strategy to address the same.

Objectives of NCPEDP

• Encourage the employment of people with disabilities
• Increase public awareness on disability issues
• Empower people with disabilities through appropriate legislation
• Ensure public places are accessible to all

NCPEDP works on six core principles, also called the six pillars of the organization, namely

• Education
• Employment
• Accessibility
• Legislation/Policy
• Awareness/ Communication
• Youth

Legislations

The Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992,

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 is under implementation.

• A multi-sectoral collaborative approach, involving all the appropriate governments, i.e., ministries of the Central Government, the State Governments/UTs, Central/State undertakings, local authorities and other appropriate authorities is being followed in the implementation of various provisions of the Act.

"Disability" means-

• Blindness; Low vision; Leprosy-cured; Hearing impairment; Locomotor disability;
• Mental Retardation; Mental illness;

National trust for the welfare of persons with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities Act, 1999

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016

• The Act replaces the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.
• It fulfills the obligations to the United National Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), to which India is a signatory.  The Act came into force during December 2016.
• "Person with disability" means a person with long term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment which, in interaction with barriers, hinders his full and effective participation in society equally with others.
• "Person with benchmark disability" means a person with not less than forty per cent. of a specified disability where specified disability has not been defined in measurable terms and includes a person with disability where specified disability has been defined in measurable terms, as certified by the certifying authority.

The 21 disabilities covered are as follows.

I. Physical disability

Locomotor disability -

• "leprosy cured person"
• "cerebral palsy"
• "Dwarfism"
• "Muscular dystrophy"
• "Acid attack victims"

Visual impairment

• "Blindness"
• "Low-vision"

Hearing Impairment

• "Deaf"
• "Hard of hearing"
• "Speech and language disability"

II. Intellectual Disability-

• "Specific learning disabilities"
• "Autism spectrum disorder"

III. Mental behaviour

IV. Disability caused due to

Chronic neurological conditions, such as

• "Multiple sclerosis"
• "Parkinson's disease"

Blood disorder

• "Haemophilia"
• "Thalassemia"
• "Sickle cell disease"

V. Multiple Disabilities

VI. Any other category as may be notified by the Central Government

Rights and entitlements

• Responsibility has been cast upon the appropriate governments to take effective measures to ensure that the persons with disabilities enjoy their rights equally with others.
• Additional benefits such as reservation in higher education (not less than 5%), government jobs (not less than 4 %), reservation in allocation of land, poverty alleviation schemes (5% allotment) etc. have been provided for persons with benchmark disabilities and those with high support needs.
• Every child with benchmark disability between the age group of 6 and 18 years shall have the right to free education.
• Government funded educational institutions as well as the government recognized institutions will have to provide inclusive education to the children with disabilities.
• For strengthening the Prime Minister's Accessible India Campaign, stress has been given to ensure accessibility in public buildings (both Government and private) in a prescribed time-frame.

Guardianship

• The Act provides for grant of guardianship by District Court under which there will be joint decision – making between the guardian and the persons with disabilities.

Establishment of Authorities

• Broad based Central & State Advisory Boards on Disability are to be set up to serve as apex policy making bodies at the Central and State level.
• Office of Chief Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities has been strengthened who will now be assisted by 2 Commissioners and an Advisory Committee comprising of not more than 11 members drawn from experts in various disabilities.
• Similarly, the office of State Commissioners of Disabilities has been strengthened who will be assisted by an Advisory Committee comprising of not more than 5 members drawn from experts in various disabilities.
• The Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities and the State Commissioners will act as regulatory bodies and Grievance Redressal agencies and also monitor implementation of the Act.
• District level committees will be constituted by the State Governments to address local concerns of PwDs. Details of their constitution and the functions of such committees would be prescribed by the State Governments in the rules.
• Creation of National and State Fund will be created to provide financial support to the persons with disabilities. The existing National Fund for Persons with Disabilities and the Trust Fund for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities will be subsumed with the National Fund.

Penalties for offences

• The Act provides for penalties for offences committed against persons with disabilities and also violation of the provisions of the new law.
• Any person who violates provisions of the Act, or any rule or regulation made under it, shall be punishable with imprisonment up to six months and/ or a fine of Rs 10,000, or both. For any subsequent violation, imprisonment of up to two years and/or a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs five lakh can be awarded.
• Whoever intentionally insults or intimidates a person with disability, or sexually exploits a woman or child with disability, shall be punishable with imprisonment between six months to five years and fine.
• Special Courts will be designated in each district to handle cases concerning violation of rights of PwDs.

Programmes

Vocational rehabilitation programme

Enabling them to participate in the economic activities.

• The methodology adopted by the programme is also in accordance with the “Resolutions” and “Recommendations” adopted by the UNO and in particular those of the International Labour Organization.
• The VRCs operate a system of selective placement, matching the skills, abilities and aptitude of the handicapped to the demand for a particular job on the basis of local demands.
• The Centres also arrange the shop floor training in industry outside the Centres where STWs are not attached to them.
• The MESA (Micro-Computer Evaluation and Screening Assessment) system developed by U.K. can be adopted to evaluate the residual capacities of the handicapped at the VRCs for enabling the Centres to fit in the handicapped into real work situation after their training.

Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme

• The umbrella Central Sector Scheme of this Ministry called the "Scheme to Promote Voluntary Action for Persons with Disabilities" was revised w.e.f. 01.04.2003 and was renamed as the "Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS)". However, while revision of the scheme took place in 2003, the cost norms of 1999 had remained unchanged.
• The revision of the cost norms has become imperative to compensate for the price rise. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Industrial workers has risen by 38% from 1999 to 2007. It has been decided to revise the cost norms for honoraria, recurring items and nonrecurring items of expenditure. The scheme has also been revised to the extent that there has been widening of the scope of the model projects.

Objectives

The objectives of the scheme are:

• To create an enabling environment to ensure equal opportunities, equity, social justice and empowerment of persons with disabilities.
• To encourage voluntary action for ensuring effective implementation of the People with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities and Protection of Rights) Act of 1995.

Approach and Strategy

The approach of this Scheme is to provide financial assistance to voluntary organizations to make available the whole range of services necessary for rehabilitation of persons with disabilities including early intervention, development of daily living skills, education, skill-development oriented towards employability, training and awareness generation. With a view to inclusion of persons with disabilities in the mainstream of society and actualizing their potential, the thrust would be on education and training programmes. In order to achieve the objectives of the scheme the key strategies will be as follows:

• To enhance educational opportunities at all levels and in all forms and enlarge the scope of vocational and professional opportunities, income generation and gainful occupations.
• To support all such measures as may be necessary for promoting formal as well as nonformal employment and placement opportunities.
• To implement outreach and comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation programmes in urban and rural environments.
• To support manpower development activities to train required personnel at different levels for all programmes/ projects/activities for persons with disabilities.
• To support the development, publication and dissemination of information, documentation and training materials.
• To set up well equipped resource centres at different levels. To promote and support the development of self-help groups, parent organizations and independent living.
• To encourage coordination, cooperation and networking and multi-sectoral linkages.
• To support people with disabilities in projects which are environment friendly and ecopromotive.
• To support construction and maintenance of buildings, provision of furniture and fixtures and installation and maintenance of machinery and equipment.
• To establish and support facilities for sport, recreation, leisure-time activities, excursions, creative and performing arts, cultural and socially inclusive activities.
• To support and acilitate the availability of appropriate housing, homes and hostel facilities.
• To support the conduct of surveys and other forms of epidemiological studies.
• To promote research in various development areas, innovative strategies, assistive devices and enabling technologies and support production of such devices ensuring quality control.
• To support effort to ensure protection of human, civil and consumer rights of persons with disabilities.
• To support legal literacy, including legal counseling, legal aid and analysis and evaluation of existing laws.
• To support such other measures, which may meet the needs of the persons with disability and fulfill the obligations as prescribed in the People with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities and Protection of Rights) Act of 1995.

Grants-in-aid to NGOs

• To facilitate delivery of various services to persons with disabilities by voluntary organizations, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is administering DDRS scheme and providing grants-in-aid to NGOs

Economic Schemes

1. Divyangjan Swavalamban Yojna; The main objective of the Scheme is to assist the needy disabled persons by providing concessional loan for economic and overall empowerment.

2. Vishesh Microfinance Yojana: To provide prompt and need based finance for the target group and activities at reasonable rate of interest throughNBFC- MFI, Section-8-MFI, and NGO-MFI, SHG Federations, state Government Missions and other state level organizations to pursue small/micro business and developmental activities.

3. Educational loan : Any Indian Citizen with 40% or more disability is eligible to apply for education loan under NHFDC schemes through the Implementing Agencies.

Education

DISHA (Early Intervention and School Readiness Scheme)

• This is an early intervention and school readiness scheme for children in the age group of 0-10 years with the four disabilities covered under the National Trust Act and aims at setting up Disha Centres for early intervention for Person with Disability (PwD) through therapies, trainings and providing support to family members. There should be a Special Educator or Early Intervention Therapist, Physiotherapist or Occupational Therapist and Counsellor for PwD along with Caregiver and Ayas in the centre.

Integrated  education for disabled children

• The scheme of Integrated Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) was launched in 1974 to provide educational opportunities for disabled children in the general school system so as to facilitate their retention and integration in the system.
• Under the scheme 100 per cent financial assistance is provided for education of disabled children which includes assistance towards books and stationery uniforms, transport allowance, readers allowance for blind children, escort allowance for severely handicapped children, boarding and lodging charges for disabled children residing in hostels.

Identity

National Awards for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities

• Empowerment of persons with disabilities is an inter-disciplinary process, covering various aspects namely, prevention, early detection, intervention, education, vocational training, rehabilitation and social integration etc. Apart from resources, it requires dedicated efforts of persons and institutions involved in the process of empowerment. In order to recognise their effort and encourage others to strive to achieve excellence in this field, the National Awards for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities are being awarded every year.

Unique Disability ID

• "Unique ID for Persons with Disabilities” project is an initiative of Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Government of India. It aims at building a holistic end-to-end integrated system for Issuance of Universal ID & Disability Certificates for Person with Disabilities with their identification and disability details.

About UDID

• The UDID project is being implemented with a view of creating a National Database for PwDs, and to issue a Unique Disability Identity Card (UDID) to each person with disabilities.

Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan)

• The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has conceptualised the “Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan)” as a nation-wide flagship campaign for achieving universal accessibility that will enable persons with disabilities to gain access for equal opportunity and live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life in an inclusive society. The campaign targets at enhancing the accessibility of built environment, transport system and Information & communication eco-System.

Components of Accessible India Campaign

• Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) has the following three important components
• Built Environment Accessibility
• Transportation System Accessibility
• Information and Communication Eco-System Accessibility

Strategies to be followed

• A multi-pronged strategy will be adopted for the campaign with key components as (a) leadership endorsements of the campaign, (b) mass awareness, (c) capacity building through workshops, (d) interventions (legal frame-work, technology solutions, resource generation, etc. and (e) leverage corporate sector efforts in a Public-Private Partnership.
• Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities will sign MOU with State to support spreading awareness about accessibility and help create accessible buildings, accessible transport and accessible websites etc.

Proposed milestones

Under the campaign,

• Atleast 50% of all the government buildings of National Capital and all the State capitals will be made fully accessible for persons with disabilities by July 2018.
• Conducting audit of 50% of government buildings and converting them into fully accessible buildings in 10 most important cities / towns of all the States (July 2019).
• All the international airports in the country and railway stations of A1, A & B categories will be made fully accessible by July 2016.
• Conducting accessibility audit of all the domestic airports and converting them into fully accessible airports(March 2018).
• Ensuring that A1,A & B categories of railway stations in the country are converted into fully accessible railway stations (July 2016).
• Ensuring that 50% of railway stations in the country are converted into fully accessible railway stations (March 2018).
• Ensuring that 25% of Government owned public transport carriers in the country are converted into fully accessible carriers (March 2018).
• Conducting accessibility audit of 50% of all government (both Central and State Governments) websites and converting them into fully accessible websites (March 2017).
• Ensuring that at least 50% of all public documents issued by the Central Government and the State Governments meet accessibility standards (March 2018).
• Developing and adoption of national standards on captioning and sign-language interpretation in consultation with National media authorities. (July 2016)
• Ensuring that 25% of all public television programmes aired by government channels meet these standards.(March 2018)

Inclusiveness and Accessibility Index

• The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, GoI in collaboration with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have introduced an index, to measure inclusiveness and accessibility of PwDs across different kinds of organisations.
• The composite index is split into two independent sub-indices that separately measure inclusiveness, and accessibility (I&A). The Inclusiveness and Accessibility Index (I&A Index) is not a substitute for the legal obligations that exist under national or international regulatory regimes. It aims at assessing the current stage of inclusiveness and accessibility of PwDs in an organisation and also acts as a guide for taking progressive steps to increase support, inclusiveness and accessibility towards persons / employees with disabilities.

The details of the sub indices are as follows.

Inclusive and Accessibility Index

Inclusive policies and Organizational Culture

• Equal opportunity and Top Management Commitment
• Organizational Policies and Culture.
• Corporate Social Responsibility.
• Inclusiveness of the Supply Chain

Inclusive Employment

• Percentage with Employees with Disabilities
• Career Growth
• Penetration of Employees with Disabilities across Functions
• Types of Disabilities Accommodated

Awareness and Adaptations

• Workplace adaptations
• Awareness and Sensitization Programmes
• Grievance Redress
• Social Inclusion

National Trust Fund for Empowerment of Persons With Disabilities

The National Trust is an autonomous organization of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, set up under the “National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities” Act (Act 44 of 1999).

The objectives of the National Trust in particular are :

• to enable and empower persons with disability to live as independently and as fully as possible within and as close to their community as possible;
• to facilitate the realisation of equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation of persons with disability;
• to extend support to its registered organisations to provide need based services; and
• to evolve procedures for appointments of guardians and trustees for persons with disabilities.

Disabilities under NTA

The National Trust works for the welfare of persons with any of the following four disabilities

• Autism
• Cerebral Palsy
• Mental Retardation
• Multiple Disabilities

Overview of Schemes

• DISHA (Early Intervention and School Readiness Scheme) :This is an early intervention and school readiness scheme for children in the age group of 0-10 years with the four disabilities covered under the National Trust Act and aims at setting up Disha Centres for early intervention for Person with Disability (PwD) through therapies, trainings and providing support to family members.
• VIKAAS (Day Care) :This is a Day care scheme, primarily to expand the range of opportunities available to a person with disability for enhancing interpersonal and vocational skills as they are on a transition to higher age groups. The centre will also offer care giving support to Person with Disability (PwD) during the time the PwD is in the Vikaas centre.

In addition it also helps in supporting family members of the PwDs with disabilities covered under the National Trust Act to get some time during the day to fulfil other responsibilities.

• SAMARTH (Respite Care) :The objective of Samarth scheme is to provide respite home for orphans or abandoned, families in crisis and also for Persons with Disabilities (PwD) from BPL & LIG families including destitute with at least one of the four disabilities covered under the National Trust Act. It also aims at creating opportunities for family members to get respite time in order to fulfil other responsibilities. This scheme aims at setting up Samarth Centres for providing group home facility for all age groups with adequate and quality care service with acceptable living standards including provision of basic medical care from professional doctors.
• GHARAUNDA (Group Home for Adults): The objective of Gharaunda scheme is to provide an assured home and minimum quality of care services throughout the life of the person with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities with adequate and quality care service with acceptable living standards including provision of basic medical care from professional doctors. Gharaunda Centre should provide vocational activities, pre-vocational activities and assistance for further training.
• NIRAMAYA (Health Insurance Scheme): The objective of Niramaya scheme is to provide affordable Health Insurance to persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities. All enrolled beneficiaries will get a health insurance cover of up to Rs. 1.0 lakh as defined in the chart OPD treatment including the medicines, pathology, diagnostic tests, etc,
• SAHYOGI (Caregiver training scheme): This scheme aims at setting up Caregiver Cells (CGCs) to provide training and create a skilled workforce of caregivers to provide adequate and nurturing care for Person with Disabilities (PwD) and their families who require it. It also seeks to provide parents an opportunity to get trained in caregiving if they so desire. This scheme will provide a choice of training through two levels of courses primary and advanced to allow it to create caregivers suited to work both with People with Disabilities (PwDs) families and other institutions catering to the needs of the PwDs (NGOs, work centres etc.).
• PRERNA (Marketing Assistance) :Prerna is the marketing assistance scheme of National Trust with an objective to create viable and widespread channels for sale of products and services produced by Person with disability (PwD) covered under National Trust Act. This scheme aims at providing funds to participate in events such as exhibitions, melas, fairs, etc. to sell the products made by PwDs.
•  SAMBHAV (Aids and Assisted Devices) : This is a scheme to setup additional resource centres, one each in each city of the country with population greater than 5 million (As per 2011 census), to collate and collect the Aids, software and other form of assistive devices developed with a provision of display and demonstration of the devices. The scheme also includes maintaining information, pertaining to aids and assistive devices present at Sambhav centre, on National Trust website.
• BADHTE KADAM (Awareness and Community Interaction) : This scheme shall support Registered Organisations (RO) of The National Trust to carry out activities that focus on increasing the awareness of The National Trust disabilities. Aims of scheme to create community awareness, sensitisation, social integration and mainstreaming of Persons with Disabilities.

Challenges in disability sector in India

There are several unmet challenges, which need to be addressed among disability sector in India.

• Need for dignified life for people with disabilities.
• Need to remove attitudinal barriers among communities and provide rehabilitation.
• Need to improve infrastructures in mainstream schools to make them disabled friendly and train teachers for optimal support.
• Need to converge between various departments providing services
• Need for national harmonization of disability welfare program.
• Need to give executive powers and necessary resources to the commissioner of disabilities for effective implementation and safeguarding rights.
• Need for promoting and monitoring mechanisms for service outreach below district level.
• Need to improve effective collaborations between Government and NGO to avoid duplications.
• Need to adopt to a down to top approach in policy design.
• Need to improve community participation programs.