From the States

Dynamic decision to include more categories

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, ordered the formation of a technical committee to recommend guidelines to haemophelia, thalessemia and sickle cell anaemia patients in to the physically challenged category. As a result such patients can avail of special benefits provided to physically challenged people.

The meeting was attended by Health Minister: Vimal Mundada, Medical Education Minister: Suresh Shetty, Medial Education Secretary: A M Khan, Higher and Technical Education Secretary: Joyce Shankaran, Health Secretary: Vijay Singh; and Director of Health Service: Dr Prakash Dokle.

At the meeting, Deshmukh said he would also request the Government to include such patients in the physically handicapped category across the country.

Explaining the workings of the technical committee, Dr Prakash Doke said, “The committee will decide the criteria by which patients could be classified as physically handicapped. The standards and recommendations will then be sent to the Central government.”

In the interim, the Chief Minister said, he had also asked vice-chancellors and chancellors of Universities in the state to consider giving college students, with such disorders, an exemption from the compulsory 75 per cent attendance rule.

“These children have to miss school due to treatment of their ailments. They are often barred from giving exams due to low attendance. This is a technical glitch and should not be a hindrance to students anymore,” added Mundada.

Source: CM: Expand the list of disabled. Indian Express, Daily, Mumbai. 1 October 2006.

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Disabled friendly coaches finally!

In March 2007, around 30-40 special coaches for the disabled will roll out from the rail coach factory in Kapurthala. Their unique feature: the design inputs have come from the disabled themselves.

Earlier this year, the railways decided to lend a patient ear to the problems the disabled face on a regular train ride. A team comprising 10 disabled persons from Delhi’s NGO ‘Samarthya’ carried out what is called an ‘ access audit’ of the existing facilities.

What did they find? “There was no space in the toilet for a wheelchair to move; the sinks were placed higher than required and even embarking and disembarking from the coaches was difficult for wheelchairs due to the absence of ramps, ” said Sanjeev Sachdeva, director, ‘Samarthya’.

The team then put forward detailed suggestions to the Rail Designs Standard Organization (RDSO) regarding structural changes needed in the fresh batch of coaches. “Now, the new coaches are being manufactured according to their recommendations,” said Northern Railways Chief Public Relations Officer, Rajiv Saxena.

‘Samarthya’ had presented graphic designs to the railways, prepared keeping in mind the best practices followed in developed countries. “These inputs made sure our new coaches are on par with the global standard,” a senior northern railway official said. Apart from change in design, the “user inputs” had asked for two, vital alterations. One, the coaches should be painted in blue and yellow. Second, they should be placed somewhere in the middle for better accessibility. “Japan’s bullet train has coach number 11, which is universally known as the blue and yellow compartment for the disabled. We told the railways that the Indian coaches must have distinctive identity like that ”.

In a phased manner, the new coaches will be fitted to 95 mail and express trains. “That pretty much takes care of almost all long distance trains in the country,” Saxena said. Work is on to make the coaches reserved for the disabled as well, and by 2010, many air-conditioned coaches might be rolled out as well.

The railways already have around 1,159 dedicated, disabled-friendly coaches, carved out of the space meant for parcel vans.

Source: Disabled put railways on the right track. The Hindustan Times, Daily, New Delhi, 29 September 2006.

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Government warming up to the needs and rights of the disabled

Himachal Pradesh government has started the process to clear the job backlog of handicapped in government departments, where three per cent reservation was being provided through special employment cells.

At a meeting of the state level, coordination committee for persons with disabilities, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh claimed that the government was making efforts to generate employment avenues for the handicapped in all sections.

The government, he said, was committed to provide and project the interests of the disabled persons and empower them with the necessary skills. Yet he emphasized the need to change the attitude of the able-bodied persons of society and to adopt a cooperative attitude towards the problems of the disabled. The handicapped persons required to be provided ample self-employment avenues, he said.

The Chief Minister also added that all the departments, boards and corporations needed to make concerted efforts to achieve the objective. He claimed that those in the government were being looked after well and given convenient postings to help them perform their duties.

The Chief Minister said that to supplement the efforts. AIR would soon start a radio programme, ‘Doctor on Call ’, to suggest remedies for the various problems faced by the handicapped.

Source: Disabled’s job backlog to be cleared in HP. Indian Express, Daily, Chandigarh, 28 September 2006.

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