India has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) and

undertaken the duty to ensure and promote the full realization of all human rights and fundamental
freedoms for all Persons with Disabilities without discrimination of any type on the basis of disability.
In fulfilment of this international commitment and obligation, the country is obligated to enact
suitable legislation in furtherance of the rights recognized in the UN CRPD.

India enacted the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full
Participation) Act of 1995 in fulfilment of its commitment as a signatory to the Proclamation on the
Full Participation and Equality of People with Disabilities in the Asia Pacific Region. This legislation
has been on the statute book for almost 15 years and has been the basis of an empowering
jurisprudence for rights of disabled persons. Although the need to retain the empowering
jurisprudence is unequivocally acknowledged; it is also well recognized that the archived Persons
with Disabilities Act, 1995 does not incorporate many of the rights recognized in the UN CRPD.

Furthermore, the UN CRPD recognizes that disability is an evolving concept and that disability results
from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers
that prohibits their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. The
Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 on the other hand had provided for an impairment based
exhaustive definition of disability. As a result of that, persons with impairments not expressly
mentioned in the Act have often been denied the rights and entitlements recognized in the Act.

Therefore, It was proposed to repeal the extant legislation and replace it with a comprehensive law
which is in consonance with the UN CRPD and hence, The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill 2011
came into force.

The salient features of this legislation are as follows:

a. to guarantee equality and non-discrimination to each and every persons with disabilities;

b. to recognize legal identity of all persons with disabilities and make provision for support where
required to exercise such legal capacity;

c. to recognize the multiple and diverse kinds of discrimination faced by women with disabilities and
induct a gendered understanding in both the rights and the programmatic interventions;
d. to recognize the vulnerabilities of children with disabilities and ensure that they are treated on an
equal footing with other children;

e. to mandate active interventions for disabled persons who are elderly, confined to their homes,
abandoned and segregated or living in institutions and also those who need high support and care;

f. to establish National and State Disability Rights Authorities which facilitate the formulation of
policy for disabled persons and law with active participation of persons with disabilities; dismantle
structural discrimination prevalent against persons with disabilities and enforce due observance of
regulations promulgated under this Act for the protection, promotion and enjoyment of all rights
provided in this Act;

g. to provide specific civil and criminal sanctions for wrongful acts and omissions