What is the DEPwD for?
- A separate Department of Disability Affairs was carved out of the Ministry of Social justice & Empowerment in 2012.
- The Department was renamed as Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities in 2014.
- The Department acts as a nodal agency for matters pertaining to disability and persons with disabilities.
- It is primarily entrusted with the task of empowerment of person with disabilities (PwDs) to build an inclusive society.
- It works to ensure equal opportunities for their growth and development to lead productive, safe and dignified life.
- Towards this end, the department undertakes the following measures -
- Physical rehabilitation - includes early detection and intervention counselling, medical rehabilitation and assistance in procuring appropriate aids and appliances
- Educational rehabilitation including vocational education
- Economic rehabilitation and social empowerment
- Developing rehabilitation professionals/personnel
- Improving internal efficiency/responsiveness/service delivery
- Advocating empowerment of PwDs through awareness generation among different sections of the society
What are the key schemes and initiatives?
- Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/Fitting of Aids and Appliances (ADIP) Scheme - More than 1400 ADIP Camps were organized and more than 2.4 lakh Divyangjan were provided Aids Assistive Devices in 2018.
- A Mega Distribution Camp was organized at Gwalior for distribution of Aids & Assistive devices to the Divyangjan and Senior Citizens.
- It was done through ALIMCO (Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India), a CPSE under the Ministry.
- Accessible India Campaign (AIC) - The aim is to create universal accessibility for Persons with Disabilities in Built Environment, Transport, and ICT ecosystem.
- So far, Access Audit of more than 1600 buildings in 50 cities has been completed by the auditors.
- Accessibility provisions have been made in airports, railway stations, public transport buses, public websites, etc.
- 100 Accessible websites of various State Government/UTs were launched as part of Accessible India Campaign.
- Unique Disability Identification (UDID) Project - The Department has the UDID project to create national database for PwDs.
- This is to issue Unique Disability ID (UDID) Card along with disability certificate.
- Once the project covers all persons with disabilities, UDID Card will be made mandatory for availing various government benefits.
What are the major activities/achievements over the year?
- 17-member Blind Cricket World Cup winning Indian Team was felicitated and presented with a cash award.
- The first and second meeting of the Central Advisory Board on disability was held.
- The Board deliberated on important policy issues such as inclusive education, implementation of Rights of Persons With Disabilities (RPWD) Act, Accessible India Campaign (AIC), etc.
- The National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities launched the 'Inclusive India Initiative'.
- The objective is to work for the inclusion of Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
- First Indian Sign Language Dictionary of 3000 words developed by Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC), New Delhi was launched.
- ISL dictionary consists of various categories of words such as legal terms, medical terms, academic terms, technical terms and daily use words.
- The Department organized the ‘1st Sensitization Meeting of Stakeholders to make Delhi a Model Accessible City’.
- The Department coordinates the meeting of all key stakeholders, sensitize them about the legal mandates and would hold supervisory role in this entire journey.
- The Department organized a meeting with the Scientists of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation (ALIMCO).
- It was on the issue of commercialization of various technological interventions developed by DST for the benefits of PwDs.
- A National workshop on Skill Development for Persons with Disabilities was held.
- Various core issues relating to promoting skill development for Persons with Disabilities, Skill curriculum design, participation of industry and experts were deliberated upon in the meeting.
- A National Conference was organised to create awareness about important components of revised scheme of District Disability Rehabilitation Centres (DDRC).
- DDRCs provide comprehensive services to PwDs and facilitate creation of infrastructure and capacity building at the district level for awareness generation, rehabilitation, training of rehabilitation professionals.
- A National Workshop on Physical and Mental Disabilities in the light of Global Best Practices in Care, Rehabilitation and Research was held.
- The outcome of the workshop will support protocol development in the service deliveries and encourage adaptation of global best practices in Indian context.
- A three day international event of the “Global IT challenge for Youth with Disabilities, 2018” was hosted by the Department.
- Youth with disabilities from 18 countries participated in the event. India won three medals in the event.
- An MoU has been signed between the Government of Australia and the Government of India for cooperation in the disability sector.
Source: PIB
