CIVIL SERVICES CLUB

Current Affairs 100

CSFC - 2023
Civil Services Foundation Course

Accessible India Campaign and PwDs

Relevance: For Prelims: Government Schemes, Acts and International

Agreements related to the issue; For Mains: GS-1- Social Empowerment,
Urbanization related problems and remedies; GS-2- Welfare Schemes for the
vulnerable section of the population; GS-3- Inclusive Growth

Why in news?
 Recently, the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment provided
data that almost half the State and Union Territory government buildings
identified during access audits in 2016-2017 have been made accessible,
while only around 8% of public buses are fully accessible under the
Accessible India campaign, which is scheduled to end in June 2022.
 Data provided by the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry to the
Rajya Sabha showed that 48.5% of the State/Union Territory government
buildings had been made accessible, as against the target of 50%.
 While all 35 international airports and all 709 A1, A and B category
railway stations had accessibility features, only 8.73% of government-
owned buses were fully accessible, as against the target of 25%. Of the
1.41 lakh buses, 30% were “partially accessible”,

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What is Accessible India Campaign

 Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) is a nation-wide
campaign for achieving universal accessibility for Persons with
Disabilities (PwDs) being implemented by the Department of
Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities under the Ministry of Social
Justice & Empowerment.
 The campaign was launched in 2015 with the goal of making selected
government buildings, transportation and websites accessible for persons
with disabilities by March 2018. The deadline was then extended to
March 2020 and then again to June 2022.
 It has three important verticals of implementation-
o the Build Environment (Measures should be undertaken to
eliminate obstacles and barriers to indoor and outdoor facilities
including schools, medical facilities, and workplaces. These would
include all public spaces such as roads, footpaths, parks and
gardens etc.);
o the Transportation Sector (It includes enhancing proportion of
accessible airports, accessible railway stations and accessible
public transport for PwDs); and
o the ICT Ecosystem (Enhancing proportion of usable and accessible
public documents and websites, enhancing the pool of sign
language interpreters, enhancing sign language interpretation of
daily public TV programmes such as news).
 The vision of Accessible India Campaign is to create a barrier free
environment for independent, safe and dignified living of Persons with
Disabilities. The Vision statement declares: “Accessible India.
Empowered India.”

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Key Facts related to PwDs (Divyang) in India

 As per the Census 2011, the differently-abled population in India is 26.8
million, which is 2.21 % of the total population.
 Over 18 million of PwDs reside in the rural settings and 8.1 million in the
urban settings.
 The percentage of men with disabilities is 2.41% as against 2.01% in
women.
 According to the Census 2011, 27% of disabled children between ages 5-
19 had never attended an educational institution.
 73.6% of persons living with disabilities in India are outside the labour
force.
 Those with mental disabilities and women with disabilities and those in
rural areas are most neglected as per an ILO report.

Steps taken by the Government apart from Accessible India Campaign

 Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities

(Divyangjans): A separate Department of Disability Affairs was
established for welfare and empowerment of the PwDs.
 National Policy for Persons with Disabilities 2006: Aims to create an
environment that provides equal opportunities for protection of their
rights and full participation in society.
 Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme: To create an enabling
environment to ensure equal opportunities, equity, social justice and
empowerment of PwDs.
 Assistance to Disabled persons for purchasing / fitting of aids /
appliances scheme: To assist the needy disabled persons in procuring
durable, sophisticated and scientifically manufactured, modern,
standard aids and appliances.

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 Mobile Aided Note Identifier (MANI): It is a mobile application for

aiding visually impaired persons to identify the denomination of Indian
Banknotes. It has been developed by the Reserve Bank of India.
 Accessible elections: ECI has implemented several measures to make a
conducive environment for PwDs to cast their vote.
o Example: Braille signage on the Ballot Unit of EVM, entering
polling stations without waiting in the queue, or facility granted to
take wheelchairs inside polling stations.
 India signed the UN Convention on Protection and Promotion of the
Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities: It puts an obligation
through its Article 9 to take appropriate measures to ensure PwDs access
to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and
communications, etc.
 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.
 Guidelines for digital education for children with disabilities: Covid
19 has impacted education of children with disabilities, for e.g. – half of
the NCERT books available on DIKSHA platform were not accessible for
visually impaired children.
o Recently, the education ministry has laid down new guidelines for
producing digital education resources for children with disabilities.
 Rights of PwDs Act, 2016: key provisions of this Act include-
o Widened scope - The types of disabilities have been increased from
7 to 21.
o Education - Right to free education.
o Reservation in higher education - 5% reservation in seats.
o Accessibility - accessibility in public buildings (both Government
and private).

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o Reservation in Jobs - 4% reservation in Government jobs, except

some (IPS, Army).
o Financial support - Creation of National and State Funds.
o Penalties- for offences committed against PwDs.
o Special Courts - to handle cases concerning violation of rights of
PwDs.
 Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for PwDs in Asia and
Pacific
o Governments at the High Level Inter Governmental Meeting
organized by the Republic of Korea adopted the ministerial
declaration and Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for
PwDs in Asia and Pacific.
o The Incheon Strategy provides the Asian and Pacific Region, and
the world the first set of regionally agreed distinct and inclusive
development goals.

Problems in effective implementation

 Accurate identification of the disabled population, because people tend to
hide their disability to avoid facing social stigma.
 Beyond Census statistics, there is a lack of appropriately disaggregated
data for PwDs generated at regular intervals.
 Suboptimal implementation: The implementation of the Schemes for
Transgender Persons is suboptimal.
 Disability related issues require multi-sectoral action, which has been
difficult to achieve in practice
 Absence of institutional architecture and policy framework.

Way Forward
 Provide access to adequate food, water, shelter, clothing and health care
through the provision of income, family and community support and self-
help.

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 Ensure employment generation for PwDs including job fairs.

 Ensure access to appropriate educational and training programmes.
 Provide them Quality Vocational Training with high employability.
 Awareness about universal accessibility by creating an enabling and
barrier-free environment.

Conclusion
 India is committed to ensure welfare and social justice for the PwDs.
 It has initiated several measures to enable a conducive environment for
PwDs to realise their true potential.
 Empowerment of PWDs is also fruitful for India as the World Bank
estimated that leaving PwDs outside the economy translates into a
foregone GDP of about 5% to 7%.

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