From the States

Bangalore

Chennai

Admission denied to a Challenged Girl!

The Karnataka High Court has dismissed a petition by a physically challenged candidate, who claimed that she was not allotted a seat in a professional college under the quota for students with disabilities.

In her petition, Aishwarya S. Karishankari, a native of Bagalkota, said that the State Government had issued a notification on February 28, 2006, inviting applications for the common entrance test (CET) for admissions to professional courses such as engineering and medicine. She said that the test was conducted for those applying for the Government quota in engineering colleges and that she had also appeared for the examination.

Further, she claimed on the basis of a certificate saying that Ms, Aishwarya was physically challenged, which was issued on June 18, 2006, by the district surgeon of Bagalkota Hospital that she was entitled for a Government seat under the physically challenged quota.

On June 26, counseling for seats started at the CET Cell. Although the process began with allotment of seats for the physically challenged, Aishwarya was told that she was not eligible for a seat under the quota. She alleged that of the 129 seats reserved for the physically challenged, only 62 seats had been filled up while the remaining had been transferred to the general category.

She urged the court to direct the authorities to reserve for her a seat under the physically challenged category. The Government contended that a doctor was present at the CET Cell where the counseling process was conducted and he would have to certify her degree of handicap.

This is only one of the numerous cases wherein the rights of a disabled have been violated. The dismissal of Aishwarya's plea reflects clearly the extent to which the privileges accorded to the disabled are being infringed and denied by the authorities. This case is a wake up call for the society to take arms to protect the rights of our disabled citizens!

Source: Physically challenged girl's plea dismissed. The Hindu, Delhi, 20 July 2006.

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Endeavoring to help the Disabled

Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment has stated that a helpline for disabled persons launched recently in Mumbai and Delhi will be extended to other states soon.

Further, participating in a consultative meeting on proposed amendments to the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 for the southern states, in Chennai, she said the process for issuing disability certificates should be simplified. It is imperative for disabled children to receive their certificates before they leave the school," the Minister said.

The state government should allocate at least one day in a week for issuing the certificates. In Tamil Nadu, the certificates are issued every Tuesday. All places also needed to become barrier-free with local bodies amending their by-laws to ensure this.

The government was endeavoring to implement the three percent reservation for persons with disabilities, besides trying to ensure that the benefits of local-made and therefore cost-effective modern equipment reached more people.

Tamil Nadu Social Welfare Minister Poongothai emphasized the need to focus on prevention of disabilities, especially those caused by negligence. Better care was needed for those disabled in disasters- natural or manmade. The government would strive hard for the life of the disabled.

She appealed to NGOs to maintain a database which access to international loans and aid and also help in formulating preventive measures.

Some of the suggestions that came up in the meeting attended by NGOs and officials included the need for a helpline for the mentally ill, need for special schools to be considered separate from other schools and a need for a mechanism to oversee the functioning of related committees.

A timeframe for implementation of various aspects of the Act, especially barrier-free public spaces and greater emphasis and expenditure on prevention, were other major points.

A suggestion was also made to make jobs identified as suitable for the disabled to be available executively for them as opposed to three percent reservation among those jobs.

Source: Helpline for disabled soon. Indian Express, Chennai, 19 July 2006.

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