Ice write up. Regards, Srinivasu Chakravarthula | @csrinivasu Sent from my iPhone
> On 16-Mar-2017, at 23:28, avinash shahi <shahi88avin...@gmail.com> wrote: > > My notes from the seminar: “challenges in the implementation of the > RPD Act” 2016 organised by the office of Chief Commissioner of Persons > with Disabilities > Date: 16th March 2017 > Venue: Bharatiya Pravasi Kendra Chanakyapuri > Inaugural session > > Speaker: SK Prasad gave an overview of the seminar. > Speaker: Joint Sec and chairperson of National Trust Mr Mukesh Jain > Mr Jain: “though the audience is not very big, but the all sitting > here have the capacity to change the sector manifold”. > Mr Jain: disability does not reside within individuals but it exists > in the society. > Mr Jain: there are 3 kind of challenges to implement the RPWD Act. 1. > Substantive challenges: how to make intervention at the ground level. > Healthcare, education and employment fall under substantive > challenges. > Mr Jain: disability policy should not be the afterthought, it should > be built in all the policies. > Challenge II: structural challenges > Mr Jain: how to make all people with disabilities aware about the > provisions under the RPWD Act. If we are able to achieve this, > majority of our challenges will go away. > Mr Jain: 2.68 crores people with disabilities are not sitting only in > Delhi and Mumbai, they are their in the villages and making them > aware about their rights should be the key. > Mr Jain: if we are to bring accessibility, we will have to train, > municipal workers, and the other stakeholders such as SP, DSP and the > Majistrates. > Mr Jain: removal of prejudice against PWDS. Publick employers should > be made aware of the skills of PWDS. > Mr Jain: procedural challenge: all state CCPD offices should become > the centre for the monitoring and coordinating of the schemes. > > Speaker: KK Pandey (CCPD) > Mr Pandey: though the numbers comprising of state commissioners, NGO > representatives government officials and the researchers are less but > we should not forget you are the seed which will germinate and bring > out the necessary change required in the country. > Mr Pandey: In Maharashtra, Gulab Ray Maharaj was the one blind > ‘divyang’ who wrote 150 books thousand years ago. > Mr Pandey: ‘Divyang’s have always contributed for the nation. They are > not burdens what they need an opportunity. Of late science has won > over disability. Anyone can become ‘divyang’ so we all should be aware > about its challenges. > Mr Pandey: In the last 2 and a half years, the government of India has > organized more than 4 thousand equipment distribution camps and moore > than 6 lakhs ‘divyang’ have got benefited. The government had to incur > around Rs 4 crore for this initiative. > Mr Pandey: We are now moving from the charity approach to the rights approach. > Mr Pandey: the government wants to implement the RPWD Act on the > Ambedkar Jayanti on 14th April 2017. Remember the PWDA 1995 took 3 > years to see its rules notified. You can thus see the commitment of > the Modi Government. > Mr Pandey: There is no fixed format in the disability sector. Its > evolving and we have to remain vigilance. Its not a sector where trade > union operates. We have to find solution with consensus in the sector. > Mr Pandey: There is need to give opportunity to all ‘divyangjan’ of > the country. I end here Thank you. > > Speaker: N S kang Secretary DEPWD > Mr Kang: The government and the civil society need to work in tendom > to see that the law is implemented effectively. > Mr Kang: on the 10th of March we put the draft of the rules on our > website, please send suggestions. Send us your objections soon so that > we could publish the rules on 14th on April on the occasion of > Ambedkar Jayanti. > Mr Kang: the larger challenge is to how we make disabled people aware > about their entitlements envisaged under the legislation. > Mr Kang: in the last 2 years, we have sceen great change in the > attitude of peoplw towards PWDs which is encouraging. We should carry > on the momentum. We are determined to ensure equal status for the > people with disabilities. > Avinash: We break for tea now. We are heading towards the lift which > is Braille-embedded. The people have now started networking. Some NGO > representatives are looking desperate to meet government officials. > They have to show their credentials. My friend Yogesh and Me both > totally blind have found a table and one of the CCPD Office officials > has instructed her colleagues to take care of our tea and snacks > requirements. On my table, I happen to meet one woman who has a son > who has multiple disabilities. She sstrikes a conversation: ‘Hi’, I > responded Hellow! We discussed inclusive schooling and debated the > prose and cons. Then we are meeting the State CCPD of Nagaland, who > informes us that as per 2011 Census, in Nagaland there are only 29 > thousand six hundred children have disabilities. He lamented that his > office is clubbed with the social welfare department, and fund > scarcity is the huge problem. We are done with tea. > > Next Session: panel Discussion “challenges in the grievance redressal > under RPD Act > > Mr Dhariwal (former Deputy CCPD chairs the session > Speaker: Mr Mukesh Jain (JS DEPWD) > Mr Jain: CCPD should not only address a grievance of a particular > complant, but it should also recommend that similar violation doesn’t > take place in other establishments. > Speaker: Uma Tuli former CCPD > MRs Tuli: When I was CCPD people were fearful of my power. > Mr Tuli: not only CCPD, but the civil society, media and the > educational institutions need to join hands to oversee that less > violation of the provisions occur. > Mrs Tuli: once I organized a seminar and invited parliamentarians to > participate. We invited people with disabilities to show their skills. > There was a visually challenged typist and he took dictation and wrote > a flowless letter. Then one of the MPS instantly stood up and said: > “I’ll fire my current secretary and hire him” the house resonates with > huge applause! > Mrs Tuli: the stage and the dius where we are sitting is inaccessible. > No wheelchair could come on the stage. Then one officials rebuffs Mrs > Tuli: “madam, the door on your back is rolling one which enables > wheelchair come aboard on the dius…” > Next Speaker: PK Pinchaw (former CCPD) > Mr Pinnchaw: This Act seeks to amplify the civil and political rights of PWDS. > Mr Pinchaw: If I am Divyang, then trust me you all are divyang. > Including the minister and the other government officials. > Mr Pinchaw: The powers of CCPD and the State CCPDS have been widened > under the Act. But the quality enhancement of the powers of the CCPD > and the State CCPDS have not been enhanced. > Mr Pinchaw: section75(B) CCPD instead of consulting advisory body > should have discretionary powers to take suuomotive decisions. > Next speaker: Mr SK Rungta > Mr Rungta: Before I talk about the challenges, I want to talk about > some facts from the history. We need to think about how the challenges > before CCPD different in the RPD Bill than they had in the PWDA 1995 > act. The difference is that in the RPD Act we have 3 commissioners and > one advisory committee. > Mr Rungta: The word Recommendation in the Act is problematic. And You > have gone ahead and said that the government department may inform > whether it wants to accept the recommendation or not within stipulated > time. That’s over. > Mr Rungta: there is another problem, if any publick servant commits an > offence then one needs to take sanction. What is this if not > cercomvention. > Mr Rungta: There is no clarity about what role an advisory committee will > play. > Mr Rungta: There is a need to mainstreaming of grievance redressal > cell with other laws such as labour laws. Why it was not done in the > Act if could be done under the rules. > > Next Speaker: AK Awasthi (JT Sec CCPD) > Mr Awasthi: rules will continue to be amended. Beyond 14th April th > day when we are likely to publish. > Mr Awassthi: One information: today Election Commission has launched > the website where there is a separate column for the registration of > different types of disabilities. > Mr Awasthi: The Centre is formulating the rules but the key is when > different states create rules and notify. We may also prepare model > draft once we are done with publishing of rules for the Central > Government Department. > Next Speaker: Sara Varghese (CBM) > Mrs Varghese: I’ve been asked to speak here cause we work at the > grassroot through our partners. > Mrs Varghese: we need to create awareness at all levels. > Mrs Varghese: we will have to think that how we can coordinate > discussion amongst different types of disabilities. > Mrs Varghese: people with disabilities should be included in the > disaster management preparedness programmes. > Mrs Varghese: the basic principle of the disability movement ‘Nothing > about us without us’ is there in this room. But how many committees at > the village and the district levels have PWDs on the committees roles. > Next Speaker: Mr Dhariwal Former Deputy CCPD > Mr Dhariwal: creating of funds in the states is a challenge. The > Central government provides funding to the DEPWD but what about states > where separate disability department is non-existent in the majority > of states. We need to organize one conference with the Chief Ministers > of all the states where Prime Minister appeals them to take up the > fund creation challenge seriously. > > We break for lunch now. > networking beguns. I’m hearing numbers being exchanged. Now I happen > to meet one of the employee with disability in the CCPD Office. She is > a woman who has locomotor disability. She shares her agony of > inaccessible bus-stops in Delhi. My friend Yogesh soon heard Prof > Dayal sir voice and alerts me “dayal sir is also here” we exchanged > pleasantries. The food is very tasty indeed. The pure Punjabi-Delhi > cuisine. We were served food on the table by the caterers. The CCPD > Office seemed to be mindful of the fact that blind guys need attendant > and they took care of it. We are done with lunch and tummy is full. > Lets go back to the seminar hall where next session is about to take > off. > > Next session: on the same issue continues > Speaker: Dr Anil Aneja EOC head DU > Mr Aneja: the first challenge which I see as a hurdle is section 3(3) > which deals with discrimination. > Mr Aneja: there are certain clauses in the act which offer escape > route to the government from not abiding by the law in true spirit. > Mr Aneja: Unfortunately, in the section32 under the act, There has no > clear guidelines available to implement 5 per cent reservation in the > higher educational institutions. The provision for providing assistive > tools to pWDs in higher education is not envisaged under the act. > Mr Rungta who’s chairing the session responds to Dr Aneja. > Mr Rungta: We are fighting for the section 3(3) to be more stronger as > far as protection of PWDS from discrimination. > Next Speaker: Mr Subhash Vashishth > Mr Vashishth: Unless you invoke the law it doesn’t work. > Mr Vashishth: Section4 The positive interpretations and provisions of > older laws and judgment should be retained. > Mr Vashishth: Section 3(5)Reasonable accommodation is not properly > defined for the each type of disabled category. > Mr Vashishth: perhaps the government alone can’t bring transformation > in the lives of pWDs. > Mr Vashishth: the Office of CCPD has undue responsibility in the Act > but it lacks shortage of staf and resources. The situation at the > state level is more pathetic. > Mr Vashishth: The promotion aspect should be taken > care of. The career growth of employees with disabilities should not > be obstructed due to unavailability of assistive tools. > Mr Vashisht: the insurance should not be only for employees with disabilities. > Mr Vashisht: the law doesn’t incorporate the responsibility of private > schools which is disturbing. > Mr Vashisht: section 34 is only restricted to identified disabled > categories. What about those disabled categories who are related to > blood-related disorders. They have nothing in the law. > Let me give some of my observations > Avinash: I’m skipping some of the speakers cause they are just celling > their NGOs through PPTs and their points are of no relevance to the > seminar theme. Sorry, My discretion, since its my nnotes; no? > Few important details to note: No deaf representatives no sighn > language interpretation. And the seminar is of national character, > they say. > No woman with disability among the speakers in the entire seminar. No > SC/ST/religious minorities speakers on the dius. Sorry, the > sociological analyses is needed cause it’s a national seminar! > > Next Speaker: Prof Gaba from IGNOU > Mr Gaba: I don’t think we will be able to provide justice to all 21 > categories of disabled people in the coming 100 years. > > Next speaker SK Mishra IGNOU > Mr Mishra: I searched the whole act and found the mentioning of the > word ‘university’ only at two places. Sohigher education has been > neglected and it should find special mentioning in the rules. > Mr Mishra: we have two model universities in the disability sector. > RambhatraCharya University in Chitrikut in 2001 and Shakuntala Mishra > Rehabilitation University in Lucknow 2008. > > Mr Mishra: the 11 five year plan made provision for setting up of > disability studies in the universities and twelve plan proposed to > provide incentives to disabled pupil and faculty. And it also proposed > to provide funding to universities to be disabled-friendly. > Mr Mishra: The IGNOU has the enrolment of around 10 thousand students > with disabilities. Avinash: Very interesting figure indeed. > Mr Mishra: our reading materials are accessible to all distant students. > Mr Mishra: the biggest challenge for imparting the distance education > is the lack of regional study centres equipped with > disability-sensitive model. > > Next Speaker: Satender Singh GTB Hospital > Dr Singh: Neither I’m divyang nor mr Awasthi, but we have different > outlook to view our problems. The ramp leading to the stage is too > uneven that one employee of the CCPD Office wanted to give flower-pot > to one of the speakers but couldn’t climb. The ‘accessible toilet’ on > the second floor has no light inside. > Mr Singh: In the Budget 2017-18 nowhere the Finance Minister talked > about the RPD Bill. From where the money will flow to implement the > Act? > Mr Sinngh: as per ‘sugamya Bharat Abhiyan’ We should have achieved > A1/A2 stations around 1081 stations should have been accessible by > now. But where are we, go to New Delhi Railway Station you would not > find a lift. > Mr Singh: The allocation for the promotion of sports among disabled > has been slashed to 0.4 crores from last year’s Rs 4 crore. It all > happened when disabled players won medals in the Paralympics and the > Twenty WC cricket cup for the blind. > Mr Singh: the clubbing of different types of disabilities in the > reservation bracket will lead to infighting among the different > groupings. > > AAH! The speakers have eaten time for the next session which was open > session and we didn’t get the opportunity to listen the state > commissioners who have travelled from different parts of the country > to share their challenges which they encounter on the ground. And We > also can’t ask questions. Perhaps this has become the norm in > government-sponsored seminars where speakers tactically eat out time > and leave no scope for the audience and the observers. Anyway, Mr > Gehlot the Minister will grace the occasion in the final session. > > The final session Valedictory > > Mr Gehlot MSJE is gonna address the audience. > Mr Gehlot: A human being’s life is always better if we are in student > mode. Learning is a continuum craving. > Mr Gehlot: we are not keeping with the pace in the disability > empowerment and need to step our efforts to catch up with the develop > world. > Mr Gehlot: our culture our tradition have been of vasudhev > kutumbhakun; but are we really inclusive for the ‘divyang’? lets > introspect. Lets shun the attitude of contempt towards the ‘divyang’. > Mr Gehlot: we are planning to provide universal identity card to the > ‘divyang’. The card will be valid throughout the country. > Mr Gehlot: New announcement: from 1st April 2017, we will start > coaching classes for children with disabilities in the country. > Mr Gehlot: general people keep complaining, why are you giving this > reservation to the disabled. Where will we go? opportunities are > limited in the publick sector. > Mr Gehlot: I was in Scotland recently where representatives of 65 > countries came to the conference, and I am elated to inform you they > have acknowledged in their speeches the efforts being taken by the > Modi Government for the empowerment of the PWDs. > Mr Gehlot: in the last two and a half years we have organized more > than 4 thousand 7 hundred publick camps and distributed equipments. > Mr Gehlot: I’m happy to see those disabled who were dependent upon > their parants now take care of their families. This is the spirit > which encourage us. > > Friends, that’s the end of the seminar. I however would like to > mention that They don’t realize the fact that democracy is a system > where regimes get changes. that there were many speakers from our > community who were very opportunistic. What they say in rallies or on > Access India they actually sound opposite in front of the minister. I > need not to name, I know they will mind their behavior. I can also > sing song of the government but sorry this doesn’t suit my vocation > and profession. I am not into NGO business, I’m a pure academician and > works for the entire nation. I know the power of democracy and can’t > give in before the wave which is too temporary. > > > -- > Avinash Shahi > Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU > > > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of > mobile phones / Tabs on: > http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ > > To unsubscribe send a message to > accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
