Hopes for the 2003 Budget

Among the benefits for the disabled persons from middle-income group families that have been proposed by a cross-section of experts are tax incentives for not just parents but also to individuals and corporates, who contribute for nominated beneficiaries with disability towards family savings and gift annuities.

And while activists in the sector has been lobbying intensely for exemption of custom duty in the manufacture of hearing aids, wheelchairs and other appliances, the disability sector as a whole is looking forward to the Union Budget with optimism.

Some modifications have been proposed in the Jeevan Aadhar scheme of the Life Insurance Corporation of India. Besides bifurcating life insurance from the annuity stages, parents above 60 years will become eligible for buying annuities by depositing lump sum amounts, if proposals in this regard are accepted by Jaswant Singh.

Ironically, the Jeevan Aadhar scheme comes into operation only for mentally retarded persons with less than 50 IQ. Parents of children with autism and cerebral palsy feel that it needs to be broadened to include all IQ levels.

Good tidings for children with disabilities, The Hindu, 21 February 2003, New Delhi