Nalsar VC: Faizan MustafaNalsar Hyderabad has called on politicians to scrap the cabinet draft of the Disability Rights Bill that was leaked to activists in late January 2014, and which undoes much of the positive proposals put forward in the original committee's codification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that India ratified in 2007. http://www.legallyindia.com/201402054315/Constitutional-law/nalsar-calls-to-scrap-disability-rights-bill How did we get here? The government has had a positive obligation to bring Indian disability laws in line with our international obligations, and set up a committee of government officials, representatives of states, persons with disabilities and other experts, to draft a law detailing the rights and entitlements of persons with disabilities.
An urgent need was felt for the law, since it has been noted that general statements of rights, are often not extended in substance to persons with disabilities (such as the right to vote, which is thwarted by issues of accessibility and disqualification). The hope was for the law to intervene to make fundamental rights realisable for persons with disabilities. The committee in question drafted a law in consultation with civil society and the disability sector, published the draft law in 14 Indian languages (and Braille) and traversed the nation for consultations in all states. Once the final draft was created in 2011 [link (PDF)], the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment took over. The Ministry published a diluted draft in 2012 [link (PDF)]. Rushing an empty bill for political points Since then, the struggle has been to have it passed in Parliament. On January 22 2014, with general elections just round the corner, a draft was leaked from the Ministry of Law; the draft bears no resemblance to the legislation that had been painstakingly put together by the stakeholders in 2011. This draft has, to date, not been made public by the Government, which is seeking to pass it now, before the Lok Sabha's term ends, without debate or consultation, as an obviously politically expedient measure. The draft runs counter to the very ethos of the UN CRPD. It is an empty articulation of rights, without any concrete obligations or remedies, that would do gross disservice to the millions of persons with disabilities across the country who are clamouring for the enactment of the law that they participated in the making of, not the one that is likely to be passed, shrouded in secrecy. Scrap the Bill! It makes mincemeat of the rights and entitlements of persons with disabilities and kills hopes and aspirations of a progressive law to replace the existing 1995 Act which is not in conformity with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability. Why are we asking for the Bill to be scrapped? Breach of Trust The 2013 Cabinet-approved Bill bears no resemblance to the draft that was created through consultations with civil society in fourteen Indian languages (and Braille) across all States. -- Avinash Shahi M.Phil Research Scholar Centre for The Study of Law and Governance Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi India Time to meet up again! Register for AccessIndia Convention 2014: http://accessindia.org.in/harish/convention.htm 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..
