My Sunday note: Tarun Vijay: hope of ‘Nomination of disabled in the Rajya Sabha’
I went to my childhood school the (Blind Relief Association) today. And enjoyed sumptuous Sambar with Chole (one of the most cherished dishes in the school) for decades. The occasion was the annual fest of the Aanand Singh Smarak Khel Smiti (an NGO in Delhi working for the blind people since 1997). They organize various academic/cultural competitions every year for the school-going blind children. Today the ceremony was held to honor the winners of 2015. The chief guest was the newly appointed Chief Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities (Dr Kamlesh Kumar Pandey). And the guest of honor was Rajya Sabha MP (Mr Tarun Vijay). The ‘Gandhi Hall’ of the school was jam-packed. The reason was obvious, the function was followed by a Kavi Sammelan where most of the Kavis were blind; who came from the different parts of the country. Mr Shiv Shankar Upadhaya from Bihar, Mr Aqbar raj from (Khandva MP), Mr Swedeshi Khiladi from (Mathura UP), Mis Shikha Dube (the youngest female kavitri from Diwas MP) and a host of Delhi-based other senior kavis. I wish the organisers should upload the Kavi Sammelan on the youtube. All kavis truly enthralled the audience from their excellent verses. Now let me turn to the substantive part of the function which is the purpose of this share. The CCPD Dr Kamlesh kumar Pandey, whom I listened for the first time, addressed the gathering for more than 10 minutes. And to my pleasant surprise, Dr Pandey is a man of substance. Within a week of his stint, he has delivered an Yorker in the court of different ministries to submit a corrigendum detailing category-wise data of employed disabled people. And the deadline is 10 February 2016. This order was delivered in the wake of a petition filed by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) India seeking justice for blind people who are the least employed among all 3 categories across the ministries/department. out of the 35 departments, 21 were represented by the secretaries/joint-secretaries in the Court of the CCPD. Mr Santosh Kumar Rungta, (General Secretary of the NFB) provided factual data of the two departments including the Defence Ministry which discriminated against the blind. It all happened on the first day of his joining the office. Not only this, The Chief Commissioner also informed the gathering that on the bases of recent media reports, he has taken a suo motive action by seeking report from the National Carrier for the discrimination against Prof Anita Ghi at the Delhi airport. Though it was not covered by the print media however the Rajya Sabha television reported it. He also informed the gathering that today on the report published in the Dainak Jagran about Grp brutally beating up blind travellers in UP he has asked the NIVH to file a Fir against the Railway officer since travelling students belong to the institution. He also informed us about his long association with Saksham (Akhil Bhartiyye Viklang Kalyaan Sangh. He has worked on the grassroot and one can hope his tenure could prove very productive for the sector. As a researcher, what captivated me the most was the speech given by Mr Tarun Vijay (the BJP MP in the Rajya Sabha. Though it is a common knowledge that Politicians love to make promises and announcements to forget them later, however what Mr Tarun Vijay promised is exemplary. He told the gathering that in the upcoming Budget session, he will suggest in the parliament that the President of India should nominate one disabled person in the Rajya Sabha and the number of nominated persons should go up to 13. As he uttered these unexpected words, the ‘Gandhi Hall’ erupted in to jubilation and The crowd enjoyed the moment and maxicon wave ‘Tarun Vijay Zindabad Zindabad’ echoed all around. I hope that Mr Tarun Vijay must have sensed the deep frustration and agony of the million disabled people’s who are in desperate search of their voice in the ‘temple of justice’. However I wonder if his colleagues think the same? Whatever be the future, this Sunday 7 Feb 2016 was spent in the same school where sumptuous food, cricket and old friends made my day. -- 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. 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