Volume 8 Issue 8

Feature

• Implementing C.R.P.D.: The Politics of Reform
  The second Workshop on Monitoring the Implementation of C.R.P.D. again highlighted some of the excellent work being done by disability rights activists and leaders in India. Disabled activists with different kinds of disabilities represented their constituencies and mulled on how to make C.R.P.D. come alive in their lives in a real sense. The Workshop, however, brought to the fore the extents to which disabled persons are deprived of their rights at the grassroots level in India. Shilpi Ganguly of D.N.I.S., who participated in the Workshop, underscores the long road ahead before C.R.P.D. becomes a reality for the last person with disability in the country.

Interview

• “The government’s commitment towards people with disabilities needs to reflect clearly in budgets”
  The increasing inclusion of persons with disabilities in the policies and policy-making processes of the government has been much talked about, especially with many disabled people being on the Steering Committees of the Planning Commission for the upcoming 12th Five Year Plan. But what about their inclusion in the budget? The Union and State Budgets 2012-13 are round the corner. Will they give adequate attention to disability? How can we make these financial instruments more responsive to the disability sector within the rubric of the social sector? Shilpi Ganguly of D.N.I.S. poses these questions to Subrat Das, Executive Director, Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (C.B.G.A.) to get his perspective on how to make the budgets truly inclusive.

News

• Javed Abidi elected as Chairperson of D.P.I.
  At the 8th Disabled People’s International (D.P.I.) World Assembly in Durban, Javed Abidi was elected as the Chairperson of D.P.I. for next four years
• 12th Plan Steering Committees: A major breakthrough for the disability sector
  D.N.I.S. News Network, India: In what is a major step forward in the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the development projects of the country, disabled persons and/or experts representing them have been inducted in many of the Steering Committees formed by the Planning Commission for the 12th Five-Year Plan.
• The 13th N.C.P.E.D.P. – Shell Helen Keller Awards 2011 announced
  D.N.I.S. News Network, India: The jury of the N.C.P.E.D.P. – Shell Helen Keller Awards, which is in its 13th year, has announced the list of awardees in all three categories.
• N.A.C. to look into the proposed new disability rights law
  D.N.I.S. News Network, India: The National Advisory Council (N.A.C.) has recently constituted a Working Group of its Members dealing with the subject of Social Protection, with Harsh Mander as the Convener. One of the issues of concern taken up by the Group is the draft of the proposed Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2011.
• Coordination-cum-Monitoring Committee formed for I.S.L.R.T.C.
  D.N.I.S. News Network, India: The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (M.S.J.E.) had been dragging its feet on the formation of the Coordination-cum-Monitoring Committee for the Indian Sign Language Research & Training Centre (I.S.L.R.T.C.) that was established as an autonomous Centre of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (I.G.N.O.U.), New Delhi on project basis for five years.
• Stakeholders’ Report for the U.P.R.
  D.N.I.S. News Network, India: The second Universal Periodic Review (U.P.R.), which is a peer review system by the Member States of the Human Rights Council (H.R.C.), is due for India in 2012 and the civil society has been very active in the preparation of the Stakeholders’ Report. The last date for the submission of the report to the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (O.H.C.H.R.) is November 28, 2011.
• Discriminatory law denies equal rights to hearing impaired girl
  D.N.I.S. News Network, India: Sometimes one is forced to wonder if the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (C.R.P.D.) has only been ratified in name when the reality of the grassroots in India comes to light. One such incidence is the rejection of the candidature of a speech and hearing impaired woman, T. Kavitha, who wanted to contest elections to the local bodies in Tamil Nadu from Navamaal Kapper village in Villupuram district.
• M.H.A.D.A. rapped for not using the right definition of disability
  D.N.I.S. News Network, India: The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (M.H.A.D.A.) has come under fire for delaying the amending of its rules to enhance housing quota for persons with disabilities. The Bombay High Court has directed the State Government to ensure that the definition of disability used by M.H.A.D.A. conforms to the one used in the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995.
• Report on setting up of the institute on universal design awaited
  D.N.I.S. News Network, India: A Task Force that was set up by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (M.S.J.E.) to work out the details of the proposed National Centre for Universal Design and Barrier Free Environment (N.C.U.D.B.E.) is still in the process of preparing a report on the project.
• A children’s festival with a message
  D.N.I.S. News Network, India: Swabhiman, a Disability Information and Resource Centre established in 2001 and a member of the National Disability Network, has been trying to create an equitable society for persons with disabilities since its inception. As always, it marked Children’s Day with the Anjali National Children’s Festival.