People with Disabilities in India: From Commitment to Outcomes

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7.13 The survey also asked about awareness of specific entitlements under the Act. While awareness of specific entitlements was significantly higher than of the Act itself, it remained low for most benefits, with well less than half of PWD households aware of entitlements. (Figure 7.1) A second important observation is that awareness was substantially higher in TN than UP, and for some entitlements such as disability certificates and subsidized credit. Perhaps the most striking finding is that over 80 percent of PWD households in UP were not aware of the process of certification as a PWD, which is the key threshold requirement for access to nearly all others. 185 However, the TN findings (and work in Gujarat) suggest that there is considerable variation across states on the issue, with the relative strength of civil society and NGOs important. Awareness of entitlements under PWD Act is also low, though with strong state variation Figure 7.1: Share of PWD HHs not aware of entitlements Figure *.*: Share of PWD HHs not aware of entitlements Transport subsidy Job reservation Education stipend Employ exchange Subsidy on credit Aids/appliances TN UP Food ration PWD benefit PWD certificate Source: UP and TN Village Survey (2005). 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 7.14 The above findings are supported by evidence from states such as Orissa which have also found low awareness of the PWD Act entitlements among a range of civil society and public sector actors. 186 The findings point not only to a general need for raising awareness of the rights of PWD (and suggest that greater reliance on non-governmental channels of information dissemination may be worth considering), but also the need for more focused information outreach to the core target group of PWD households themselves. % (b) Recent developments in disability policy: 7.15 (i) National Policy on PWD: In 2005, the MoSJE developed a draft National Policy for Persons with Disabilities. This was approved by the national Cabinet in February 2006 and is available on the Ministry website. 187 Overall, the Policy follows the structure of the PWD Act. Several observations can be made: • the policy represents progress in policy terms on some shortcomings of the PWD Act. These include: (i) greater recognition of the role of NGOs and CBOs in service delivery and policy for PWD, including the need for more consolidated information on NGO activities, increased efforts to address regional imbalances in disability NGO coverage, etc; (ii) a more elaborated approach to education of CWD (though the core issue of who decides where a CWD does to school remains unclear); (iii) a clearer acknowledgement of the role of media in 185 More evidence is needed from other states. In contrast to UP, around 71 percent of persons with disabilities in Gujarat were found to have disability certificates in rural and urban areas (Handicap Internationall and Unnati, 2004). 186 See Swabhiman (2004). 187 http://socialjustice.nic.in/disabled/welcome.htm. -129-
awareness raising about disability issues; and (iv) acknowledgement of significant issues in collection of statistics on PWD (though the draft offers no strategy for how disability statistics can be improved). • the Policy often repeats general commitments of the PWD Act, though remains more general on concrete strategies for implementing them. This major shortcoming is not for want of insight into the shortcomings of current policy and practice. For example, the POlicy sets out succinctly the reasons why the current disability certification process has not functioned well. However, in terms of the forward-looking agenda, its merely urges state Governments to adopt “simple, transparent and client-friendly procedures”. There is no strategy for how the situation might be improved. This is one example, but such lack of concrete strategies is found in many parts of the document. This is not true in all areas (e.g. health strategies are outlined in somewhat more detail). However, overall there is very limited sense in the Policy that even GoI’s own assessments indicate serious implementation problems. Simply reiterating the general commitments of the PWD Act is unlikely to be sufficient to reinvigorate the disability sector. • there remains limited reference to the role of PWD themselves in policy development, implementation and monitoring and evaluation. DPOs are not mentioned in the Policy, nor are PWD themselves. Rather, they remain agents who interact with the public policy and delivery systems either through public agencies or at best NGOs. While the Policy notes that “PWD are an important resource for the country, and seeks to create an environment that provides them with equal opportunities, protection of their rights and full participation in society”, this critical insight is not reflected in the main Policy. • there remains no strategy for integrating disability concerns into the work of PRIs. While the importance of PRIs is acknowledged, this remains an under-developed element of the Policy given the increased importance of PRIs in many areas of service delivery. 7.16 (ii) Education policy: An important point to note at the national level is that policy has progressed significantly in some areas since the PWD Act. In particular, in the area of education, policy towards inclusion of CWD into mainstream education has become increasingly clear in recent years, and the policy statement of the MHRD in 2005 represents a more robust and concrete commitment to realizing the right to education of CWD. This is discussed in detail in Chapter 4. 7.17 (iii) State policies on disability: An additional aspect of disability policy that has remained relatively neglected is development of state-level disability policies. To date, the only states that have draft disability policies are Chhattisgarh and Karnataka, though Maharashtra has a state level Action Plan for implementing its commitments to PWD. The draft Karnataka policy for the most part mirrors the structure and major provisions of the PWD Act. For the most part, it is a state-specific endorsement of various initiatives for promotion of rights of PWD. In a number of cases, it repeats the PWD Act entitlements and commitments, and repeats general instructions to frame relevant schemes (e.g. reservation in poverty alleviation programmes; education). In others, the general commitments of the Act are put in a more state-specific context (e.g. health). In still others, there is more specific guidance on circumstances in which PWD should avail commitments under the Act (e.g. exemptions on property tax for PWD). For the most part, however, the draft state policy does not provide much more specific commitments or implementation guidance than the Act itself. 7.18 In contrast, the Chhattisgarh draft state policy – the Comprehensive Disability Policy Framework for Chhattisgarh – can be considered “best practice” within India, and could provide a model for future national and state-level policy development. The Policy provides -130-
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PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN INDIA:
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Abbreviations and Acronyms ADL ANM
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Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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Figure 5.3: Employment rates of PWD
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Box 5.4: A Jobs Fair Bringing Emplo
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NGOs, both quantitative and qualita
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Out of school rates for CWD are hig
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needs to respond more proactively t
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government strategies for promoting
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Safety Net Schemes 33. Safety nets
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40. In early 2006, a National Polic
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should move to implement the Act’
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54. Addressing current and future p
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disability SHGs, which has been sho
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have comparative advantage is putti
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extent of individual functioning du
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converting income into well-being o
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21. In light of the challenges that
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not be explained by this. The major
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Table 1.2: Disability Prevalence ra
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The share of disability impact due
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• It is also important to recall
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1.17. A second issue with obvious i
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Figure 1.9: Employment rates of PWD
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Box 1.2: Census questions on disabi
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Box 2.1: Disability in Indian mytho
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• overall, there is low acceptanc
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Table 2.2: Positive perceptions of
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different areas, as for example the
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governmental sectors drive home the
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Box 2.4: Raising awareness and chan
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• onset of mental disabilities is
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3.9. Locomotor disability is the ca
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B. Prevention of Disability 3.15. A
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3.20. The NBCP, like other vertical
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almost three times more likely to h
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PWDs. The scheme operates in 11 cen
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Figure 3.4: Proportion of disabled
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Table 3.11: Type of Service Accesse
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Urban 1.46 North 1.40 South 1.10 Ea
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Box 3.1: WHO’s “Ten Question Pl
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3.51. (f) Financial barriers to acc
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including for road accidents, and e
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A. Indian and International Policy
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4.9. A specific feature of SSA is a
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• significant gender differential
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Out of school rates for CWD are hig
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Only around 5 percent of children w
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4.30. (b) Financial performance of
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only factor contributing to both po
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The numbers of CWD identified by SS
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IE training options. The impacts of
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part of the authorities to increase
Page 107 and 108: well beyond the needs of CWD alone.
Page 109 and 110: performance in the schooling system
Page 111 and 112: DLROs has contributed to West Benga
Page 113 and 114: CHAPTER 5: EMPLOYMENT OF PERSONS WI
Page 115 and 116: atios, while others such as J&K, Bi
Page 117 and 118: Figure 5.8: Employment rates over t
Page 119 and 120: • the relative wages of PWD to no
Page 121 and 122: of age and disability status. Multi
Page 123 and 124: 5.23. For males in the survey, a de
Page 125 and 126: equirement of specific post identif
Page 127 and 128: 5.34. Nonetheless, there has been u
Page 129 and 130: consistent with survey findings. Na
Page 131 and 132: exchanges are in any event servicin
Page 133 and 134: Source: NHFDC website reporting cum
Page 135 and 136: Box 5.5: Good practice in NGO skill
Page 137 and 138: D. Conclusions and recommendations
Page 139 and 140: is set. In the case of SGSY, the gu
Page 141 and 142: Table 6.2: States/UTs with unemploy
Page 143 and 144: Table 6.4: Coverage of disability s
Page 145 and 146: Table 6.6: Contributions and benefi
Page 147 and 148: 6.24. Easily the largest scheme for
Page 149 and 150: 6.35. While the design of the insur
Page 151 and 152: people. The transfer under NOAPS wa
Page 153 and 154: 7.4 (a) The Persons with Disabiliti
Page 155 and 156: 7.8 (ii) Sectoral policy issues in
Page 157: • in the area of education, the p
Page 161 and 162: more formal institutions in disabil
Page 163 and 164: 7.28 There is little detailed analy
Page 165 and 166: Table 7.2: Institutions providing b
Page 167 and 168: systematically related to the numbe
Page 169 and 170: • collaboration between NGOs and
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Page 173 and 174: CHAPTER 8: ACCESS FOR PEOPLE WITH D
Page 175 and 176: Box 8.1: International and regional
Page 177 and 178: The comparison of institutional arr
Page 179 and 180: laudable, there are concerns that m
Page 181 and 182: ANNEX 1: COMPARING THE INCOMPARABLE
Page 183 and 184: of prevalence estimates across the
Page 185 and 186: person will be treated as having
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