From the States

Providing aid

Saying that the coalition Government is committed to provide all possible assistance to the downtrodden and needy sections of the society, MLA Gandhi Nagar Constituency Raman Bhalla assured to help the underprivileged and provide them financial support.

The MLA was speaking after distributing cheques among 300 physically challenged beneficiaries who were provided cheques worth Rs 1200 each with effect from September 2006 to December 2006 amounting to Rs 3,60,000.

On the occasion former Deputy Mayor Rani Bloeria, Councilors Tilak Raj Gupta, P Sharma, Kulbushan Sharma Ch. Dawrika, Santosh Mahajan, Jaswant Singh, Rita Devi and Asha Devi, District Social Welfare Officer, Jammu Khalid Jahangir and Teshil Society Welfare Officer Champa Sharma besides prominent citizens were present.

Source: 300 physically challenged provided cheques. The Excelsior, Daily, Jammu 3 March 2007.

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CBSE Report Card – Failed!

A day ahead of the commencement of this year’s board examinations, if there’s anyone unprepared for the challenge ahead it is the Central Board of Secondary Education. At least as far as its preparations disabled-friendly are concerned.

The Class XII examinations get under the Class X students take their first test a day later, but the CBSE’s arrangements for the specially-abled candidates are unsatisfactory to say the least.

This year, a told of 1,127 physically-challenged student are expected to take the class XII and X board examination in the Delhi region.

At a recent press conference, Ashok Ganguly, the CBSE chairman, had rattled off a long list of facilities that the board will provide for these students. “After discussing the problems students which special needs face, we have made a number of arrangements for them,” Ganguly declared.

But the question is, how friendly is the actual examination process? Students with special needs require special treatment, how well are our board official prepared to attend to them? his answer: Barely.

The extent of their “friendliness” was limited to the usual facilities and concessions: permission to use an amanuensis (a ‘writer’ or person who writes down as a physically challenged candidate dictates answers), an additional 60 minutes to answer each paper and examination halls on the ground floor.

Most officials were not even aware of the problems these students face while taking the exams. They merely talked about was the academic relief that the board provides.

S.K. Chopra, joint secretary coordination, CBSE, said: “Physically-challenged students are given an option at the secondary level to opt for one language and any of the four electives, alternative questions are provided in lieu of questions having visual inputs for the blind and separate question papers in enlarged print etc.”

A few selected schools are designated as centers for special children with designated assistant superintendents. But whether these assistants are trained to handle the needs of special children n- the category includes dyslexics, hearing impaired, orthopaedically handicapped and spastics, besides, the visually-challenged is anybody’s guess.

“The needs of such children are not limited to just the question paper. What if they need to use the toilet or feel thirsty? Are these special centers equipped for their needs and are the invigilators trained to handle extreme situations considering special children have special needs?” questioned a teacher of specially-abled children.

“No, the invigilators might not be adequately trained but they try to do their best. We haven’t faced any extreme situation with these children in the past that we couldn’t handle,” Chopra countered.

However, CBSE officials, admitted that the CBSE has a long way to go on the disability front. “There’s no denying the fact that as things stand now, the CBSE hasn’t made much progress in terms of providing better facilities to students with special needs. Forget about trained invigilators, there are hardly any school buildings that are disabled-friendly.

Given such challengers they face, it can be well imagined how difficult it’s for a disabled student to score, forget scoring well!

Source: CBSE flunks Disability test. Today (Mon-Fri.), New Delhi 28 February 2007.

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But all is not bad…

Everything went smoothly for the special categories students on the first day of board examination of social science for class X. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had directed examination centres in the past to make sitting arrangements for physically challenged students on the ground floor.

For a dyslexic student from Central School in Nioda, Akanksha Kumari, invigilators were instructed to give extra time of an hour to complete the paper.

In Delhi region, 667 students of special category appeared for class board exams, including 201 blind candidates. The number of disabled students appearing for class XII board exams are 460, including 131 blind children.

The CBSE had marked six centres in the Capital for visually impaired students.
CBSE and India Council for Secondary Education made provisions for the usage of computers for blind candidates, easy accessibility to classrooms and time concession for physically challenged students.

“Dyslexic student can ask for writing answers in language of their choice, if parents request school authorities in class IX. Similarly blind candidates can ask for a scribe to write their answers besides having the provision of writing their answers in Braille script,” said CBSE councellor Mrs. Geetanjali Kumar.

Examination centres made arrangements for physically challenged students in classrooms located in ground level.

“For their convenience, we relocated two students in other classrooms as we were not told by their respective schools about disabled candidates. Five dyslexic students of our school were allowed to take an hour extra to write answers and a scribe was provided to a blind candidate,” said principal. Amity School, Noida, Mrs Mohina Dar.

Coming out cheerfully most of students said that the paper of social science was easy and they were able to complete it within given period of time. “I attempted all questions today and did not find any difficulty except few questions based on literary work of poet Amir Khusrau,” said a physically challenged student Sonu Kumar.

Source: CBSE gesture to physically challenged. The Statesman, Daily, New Delhi, 3 March 2007.

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Rail Budget: Friend or Foe

The Rail Budget brought some relief to the 70 million disabled in the country, with the announcement of special coaches for handicapped persons.

However, the budget presented by Rail minister Lalu Prasad Yadav touched lightly on other provisions for the disabled in the railway sector.

The Budget remained silent on the long-standing demands of the disabled persons for jobs in the Railways, better quality aids for disabled railway employees, standardization of railway travel concession certificate for all categories of disabilities, and adoption of a disabled friendly policy. “This year’s Rail Budget is some improvement over last year, where not a word was mentioned about ‘disability’,” the Disability Rights Group (DRG) said. The DRG has, meanwhile, decried any attempt by the rail ministry to confine disabled passengers in one coach. The Budget has announced that (special) SLRD and SRD coaches have been manufactured for the convenience of the handicapped, which are specially designed coaches equipped with wider doors, cushioned seats, more aisle passage and specially designed toilets for passengers on wheelchairs.

“Disabled persons are given a separate coach, which is generally at the fag end of the train. Logically, all coaches should have facilities for the disabled and handicapped, or at least one coach of every variety or class should be meant for the disabled people,” said Mr Javed Abidi, director of the Disability National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People.

Source: Physically challenged get special coaches. Deccan Chronicle, Daily, Hyderabad, 27 February 2007.

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Lalu Yadav’s Rail Budget

For passengers with disabilities, this year’s Rail Budget ranks as special.

In his Budget speech, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said the Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala would roll out special coaches for the disabled, to be attached to major trains “in a phased manner”.

“Even in air condoned coaches, 24 seats will be reserved for such passengers and there will be specially designed toilets. The Rail Coach Factory is in the process of rolling out 1,250 such coaches,” he said.

The special coaches have been designed with inputs form two designed with inputs from two members of NGO Samarthya - Sanjiv Sachdeva and Anjlee Agarwal, both wheelchair-bound.

“We are very happy because for the first time, such a commitment has been made in the Budget. This will definitely enhance the image of India and the railway globally,” In fact, the process for providing such coaches has already started. Two coaches of the first all-air-conditioned Garib Rath Express are disabled-friendly.

As for the design of these coaches, credit goes to Sachdeva and Agarwal.

“We had been in constant touch with railway engineers. On February 11, they sent us a bunch of design for final approval. We suggested a few minor changes but, overall, the design is just the way we had suggested in several earlier meetings,” Sachdev said.

In December last year, Samarthya had a brainstorming session with officials of the Research Designs and Standards Organisation of the Railways and submitted a detailed presentation. “The new coaches mentioned in the Budget are those,” said Agarwal.

Source: Budget was good news for the disabled. The Hindustan Times, Daily, New Delhi 28 February 2007.

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DDA pulls its lax ropes

If the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has its way, charitable trusts and societies found violating institutional land norms may soon end up in jail. The policy proposal, which only awaits the vice-chairman’s approval, makes it possible for the DDA to start criminal proceedings against violators.

Sources say, the policy not only makes it easier to initiate sealing action against institutions found violating norms but also allows the land agency to take back the land that was allotted and file criminal charges against the offending parties.

Last year, a DDA survey identified numerous plots allotted to organizations, at highly subsidized rates, that had been entirely sub-let for commercial purpose. While the DDA norms allow land given to such organizations to be further let out, not more that 25 per cent of the premises cab be sub-let, and only to non-profit bodies. However, the plots identified by the survey had been turned into commercial centres.

“These plots were allotted at nominal prices to the trusts and NGOs for a specific activity. But we found that most were overrun by commercial offices that were paying huge rents,” said a senior DDA official. In fact, in November last, the DDA sealed eight properties in the Quitab Institutional Area for violating building bye-laws. These included high-profile organizations and a prominent media house.

A DDA official said, “In many cases, we found that the ownership of the trust has changed, which makes it difficult to initiate action, though we know the plot is being used commercially.”

The modus operandi, according to sources, is simple: the new owners become members of the management or board of directors. Thereafter, the premises are rented out to anyone willing to pay the exorbitant rents.

For instance, a plot in Okhla was allotted to a charitable society for mentally retarded children several years ago. In its last survey though, the DDA found 80 per cent of the DDA found 80 per cent of the built-up area was being used by a law school and a commercial concern. “The only space earmarked for mentally retarded children was a negligible 20 percent,” the official added. 

The Qutab Institutional Area is not the only area under DDA’s surveillance. The land authority is also thinking for taking action against plots currently occupied by Haldiram, Vishal Megamart and IndiaBulls in the Mohan Co-operative Estate.

Source: The trust stops here. Today (Mon-Fri.), 28 February 2007.

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Finance Minister brings smiles to faces

After a car accident confined Shivani Gupta to a wheelchair 15 years ago, her job prospects dimmed. Rejected for a job as a hotel telephone operator, Gupta went on to study “inclusive environment” at the University of Reading in the UK. Now, Gupta works as a consultant with the ITC Welcomgroup, and audits properties across the country to ensure they are accessible to the disabled.

Employers such as ITC would benefit from the Union Budget presented for extending job opportunities to people with disabilities. Under a programme outlined by finance minister P. Chidambaram, if an employer offers jobs to the physically challenged, the government will reimburse the employer’s contribution for the first three years of the Employees provident Fund and Employees State Insurance. The salary limit will be set at Rs 25,000 per month. The government hopes to create some one lakh jobs, at annul estimated cost between Rs 150 crore and Rs 450 crore. Chidambaram has committed Rs 1,800 crore.

The extension of benefits marks the first time since the Persons of Disabilities Act, 1995, which ensured equal opportunity for the group- that the government has explicitly encouraged the organized sector to employ the country’s disabled, estimated at some 70 million people.

The allocation, according to social activist Javed Abidi, comes like a “breath of fresh air”. As executive director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People, Abidi has been fighting to get the physically challenged included in the National Sample Survey, a Collection of Socio-Economic statistics used to formulate public policy. He also has demanded access ramps in historical monuments.

Employment data for India’s disabled tells a grim story. The rate of employment of the physically challenged is as low as 0.05% among multinational companies and 1.2% in the private sector. The public sector fares slightly better at 0.5%.

Last year, the Confederation of India Industry, an umbrella of 6,000 companies, enacted a Corporate Code on Disability Policy for members to agree on Committing 1% of jobs to the disabled. Only about 50 members have committed to meet the target.

As ITC consultant, Gupta knows the daily impediments well. She advises hotels on how to be more disabled friendly, earning Rs 22,500 per project. ITC employs 42 men and women with impairments ranging from hearing to speech defects.

In 1977, the government reserved 3% of jobs for the physically challenged, but only in so-called C and D categories, meant for menial jobs. The 1995 law allowed a handicapped person to apply foe senior post in the bureaucracy. Abidi remembers sitting outside the residence of former finance minister Yashwant Sinha to urge him to the disabled. “It was totally appalling that year,” says Aidi.

“He reduced import duty for butter but forgot to reduce the same on aids and appliances for the handicapped

Source: Exemptions on EPF, insurance will boots job opportunities. Mint Daily, New Delhi, 2 March 2007.

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