The government will conduct a survey to find out the number of disabled people in the state. It will also provide unique identification number and certificate so that they can avail all the benefits.
Ajay Singh, deputy director, social justice and empowerment department was speaking at a state-level conference on Mainstreaming Disability in Development’ organised by CUTS International in partnership with Sightsavers on Thursday. The programme was attended by representatives from civil society organisations, educational institutes and media.
The main objective of the conference was to sensitise and build the capacity of the participants on the issue and selecting the governmental and non-governmental organisations to work with them on the issue.
Prasanna Pincha, special rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission ( NHRC), New Delhi said persons with disabilities are more worried about social exclusion and impairments from family and society than their physical disability.
He spoke about the key provisions of United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ( UNCRPD) and illustrated that the treaty has revolutionised the development paradigm and initiatives for disabled people and highlighted three-fold significance of the treaty.
The consultation marked the beginning of new project Mainstreaming Disability in Development’ which CUTS will be implementing in partnership with Sightsavers, along with selected governmental and non-governmental organisations in Rajasthan.
Ketan Kothari, programme officer, Sightsavers, Mumbai said the issue of disability is still not in the priority list of Government and Civil Society. He mentioned that people with disabilities are not organised and homogenous and they are very thinly sporadic and segregated on several lines. So politicians do not consider them as a consolidated vote bank, he said.
George Cheriyan, director, CUTS International said the debate on mainstreaming disability in development gained a momentum as a result of adoption of UNCPRD, one of core international human rights instruments, which came to force from May 3, 2008. He emphasised on the need of involvement of major civil society organisations who are working in the development sector to take up the issue of mainstreaming disability in the state.
Prabhat Sinha, programme manager, Sightsavers talked of linking the issue of disability and millennium development goals and said the goals cannot be achieved unless this most marginalised section of people with disabilities are properly taken care, empowered and mainstreamed.
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