In the News

Need for special schools in residential areas

Nine–year–old Ankit loves to paint and write but he hardly gets any time. He is autistic and the special school he goes to is hours away from home.

Poonam, a parent says travelling for more than four hours to school everyday is taking toll on her son's health. But she feels helpless. The main problem is that he feels tired and it takes too much time. She further added that people do not understand that these kids are like any other children. And they are also not very social. So there is a need to provide them with a school in a residential area,

The gap is widening. There are very few special needs schools within residential colonies in the capital.

And those that are, such as Tammanna, have had to fight for a place.

Shama Chona, Founder, Tammanna School for Special Needs. said that she was taken to court by the D–block residents in Vasant Vihar at that time, They said that they refused to have a school for 'lunatics' in their posh locality. But LM Singhvi at the time supported her decision and said that a school was a school, no matter whom it was for.

Even educators have to travel the distance. The school for children with autism in Jasola Vihar is on the fringes of the city, an isolation that is not just physical.

Indrani Basu, Special Needs Educator said that there are not enough special needs schools in the community. Autism affects one in 150 persons, which is a huge number in the population which cannot be ignored,

And the important thing is that these special schools need to be located in neighborhood, as this is where awareness about the condition amongst residents would actually begin.

Although there are many countries that have recognized disability as a social issue, and not a medical one, in India, disability is still seen as a stigma.

With present statistics seemingly underestimating the number of disabled in the country, there is an urgent need for civil society to integrate the disabled into mainstream society, instead of alienating them further.

Source: Prerna Suri, NDTV, New Delhi, Tuesday, February 19, 2008
(http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080041766&ch=2/19/2008%2010:00:00%20PM)

Top

Facilities not reaching the masses

The disabled in India comprise only 1.5 percent of the total beneficiaries of various poverty alleviation and welfare schemes, government figures reveal. Statistics tell the tale of neglect, of how the benefits of many government schemes don't percolate to the people with disabilities.

Though statutory provisions of the People with Disabilities Act 1995 entitles the 20 million disabled in the country – as per Census 2001 – to share three percent of benefits of any poverty alleviation schemes, the number is exactly half of that.

As per government figures, the number of beneficiaries of different poverty alleviation schemes account for less than 1.5 percent of the total beneficiaries, an abysmally low figure.

The government's Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities noticed the huge gap between the benefits of government schemes and the disabled while studying beneficiaries of different centrally sponsored poverty alleviation schemes.

According to Javed Abidi of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), as many as 70 percent of PWDs (persons with disabilities) in India live in rural areas and 50 percent of them are extremely poor. He further said that this is a very liberal estimation. One should know disability leads to poverty and vice–versa,

Manoj Kumar, Chief commissioner for persons with disabilities under the Ministry of Social justice and Empowerment, said that in 2006–07 up to January, there were only 8,374 PWDs among the 895,236 beneficiaries of the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), a ministry for rural development scheme to provide houses to the houseless.

He further added that even the percentage of funds utilization on welfare activities for PWDs in ministries like rural development, housing and poverty alleviation and human resource development varied from 0.37 percent to 1.07 percent in 2006–07,.

The number of PWD beneficiaries in the government's flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme was only 167,934 against nearly 16 million beneficiaries as of January 2007.

In the case of the Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) for rural employment, there were only 7,498 PWD beneficiaries.

These programmes along with the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) are specifically aimed at helping out people living below the poverty line (BPL) in the country, accounting for over 22 percent of the total population.

The SGRY too appears to be out of the reach of PWDs. Only 1,540 PWDs benefited from the scheme up to January in the 2006–07 fiscal as against a total of 417,801 beneficiaries.

Abidi blames the government's insensitivity for the situation. He said that there is hardly any move to make the disabled aware of their rights to have share in the government schemes. They ask us if they can get work under the NREG scheme,

According to Abidi, the number of disabled is also far more than 20 million. Their numbers have gone up to 60 million at least. It could even be much higher than that

Veena Chhotray, secretary, ministry of social justice and empowerment, said that the benefits of the schemes reach the people including PWDs has always been a challenge for the government. The disabled people do benefit from welfare schemes, but there is certainly a scope for improvement.

Officials feel that there is need to sensitize states and government organizations.

Source: Disabled deprived of government aid, Indo–Asian News Service, New Delhi, 21 February 2008.

Top

New solution for the Leprosy–cured

It is the first programme of its kind in Shimla in which the problems of lepers were discussed at length and their solutions were also suggested. Dr Rajiv Bindal, Health Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Suresh Bhardwaj, local MLA and J S Rana, Deputy Commissioner of Shimla were not only receptive to the suggestions, but they readily agreed to provide a permanent solution to the problems of local lepers. The programme was organized by Manas Kalyan Bahuddeshiya Society (MKBS) – an NGO, working for the welfare of the lepers for the last three years. It distributed blankets and woolens to the lepers who were braving sub zero temperature of Shimla. More than thirty lepers, apart from many other people, were present in the function.

The Health Minister appreciated the efforts of the NGO and said that the BJP government in the vibrant leadership of Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal was committed to work for the cause of the downtrodden, poor and the disabled. The outcome of the function was that the government would make all efforts to rehabilitate the local lepers so that they could live their life in a healthy atmosphere with all human dignity.

Ganesh Datt, patron of MKBS, while welcoming the chief guest Dr Bindal, guest of honour Suresh Bhardwaj and J S Rana, DC Shimla, said that his organization was running its welfare activities without taking any aid from the government. It included tree plantation, drug de–addiction camps and voluntary blood donation camps. Sonia Vats, general secretary, appraised the achievements of the society in past three years. She said that MKBS would further strengthen its work with the help of society and expand it in some new areas.

Ajai Srivastava, Chairman, Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Studies, H P, said that the lepers living in Down Dale Phagli area were required to be rehabilitated immediately. He said that lack of sanitation, toilets, drinking water and a pucca structure to live in were the major problems of lepers. Their children were deprived of education due to social stigma associated with leprosy. He also shared his many personal experiences with the audience in this regard and made an appeal to the government and the people to come forward to solve the problems of this most disadvantaged class of the society.

Suresh Bhardwaj, MLA, said he was ready to make all efforts for the total empowerment of leper community of the area. He appealed to the people, particularly the social activists to join hands with the administration in this noble cause as the government alone can not do all work in the society. Bhardwaj reminded that in early 90s when he was an MLA, he had got prepared a rehabilitation plan for the lepers. But after the dismissal of the then Shanta Kumar government, no progress could be made.

J S Rana, DC, promised that if a good proposal came for the rehabilitation, he would help in providing land for the cause.

Dr Rajiv Bindal appreciated the efforts of MKBS and said the role of the voluntary organization was very important in the society. According to him, Prof Dhumal's government was the govt of common man and this was reflecting from its every action. He said the government would spare no stone unturned in preparing and executing rehabilitation plan for the lepers.

He directed the DC to take an initiative in consultation with the department of social justice and empowerment so that the needful could be done immediately. He distributed the blankets to them. Tarsem Bharti, President, All India SC, ST Mahasangh, announced that his organization would bear all the expenses of two leper families for the next five years. S N Joshi, a well known writer and a former bureaucrat, expressed the need to make a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for the lepers. State BJP Secretary H N Kashyap, President of State Mahila Morcha Rupa Sharma and many other dignitaries were also present in the function.

Source: Ajai Srivastava, Lepers of Shimla to be rehabilitated. Himvani, Shimla, 17 February 2008.

Top