Volume 4 Issue 14

Feature

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  N.R.E.G.A. – Work for all, but none for the disabled!
  The Government of India passed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (N.R.E.G.A.), in September 2005. It provides legal guarantee of a hundred days of employment in a financial year to adult members of a rural household. In this undoubtedly most ambitious programme to address rural poverty and empower the rural poor, the Government has once again failed to consider the most vulnerable population of disabled people says Chitra S. Shankar.

Interview

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  “For us, the C.C.C. is as good as non-existent”: Vandana Bedi
  Vandana Bedi is a well known name in the Indian disability sector. She was Executive Director of Spastics Society of Northern India (now called A.A.D.I.) for many years, before she quit that to become an independent Consultant and Trainer in the area of Disability & Development. For some time now she has been a member of the Central Executive Committee (C.E.C.) - the supposedly highest body to execute decisions taken by the Central Coordination Committee (C.C.C.) as per the Disability Act. She shares her views regarding the role and effectiveness of the C.E.C., in an interview to Chitra S. Shankar.

News

• Memorandum known as Delhi Declaration submitted to P.M.
  D.N.I.S. News Network - A two-day ‘National Consultation on N.R.E.G.S. & Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities’ was recently organised by Leonard Cheshire International (L.C.I.), Handicap International, Poorest Areas Civil Society Programme and Department for International Development (D.F.I.D.), in New Delhi. At the end of the Consultation, the house resolved to submit a Memorandum known as Delhi Declaration to the Prime Minister of India for perusal and positive action. The following is the text.
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  “Mental illness will not be removed from Disability Act”: Subbulakshmi Jegadeesan
  D.N.I.S. News Network – Allaying fears of psychiatrists, Union Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment Subbalakshmi Jagadeesan assured that mental illness would not be removed from the Disability Act, 1995, and that the Centre was keen on support reaching the people suffering from this disability.
• New Code of Conduct to encourage firms to employ disabled people in Sri Lanka
  D.N.I.S. News Network – Sri Lanka’s main employers’ body has come up with a new Code of Conduct as part of its efforts to encourage companies to employ disabled people. The voluntary Code, containing guidelines to employers for hiring and retaining disabled people, was recently launched by the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (E.F.C.).
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  Haryana, a role model for inclusive education
  D.N.I.S. News Network – Haryana aims to start a model inclusive school in each and every block in the state so that children with special needs do not have to travel long distances to study. It has already set an example for other states by including 28,445 children with special needs into the Integrated Education Programme under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan.
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  Student develops ‘Braille Face’ for the visually impaired
  D.N.I.S. News Network – Seventeen-year-old Satvir Singh, a student from J.P.M. Senior Secondary School, has developed a new software called Braille Face, which has given a ray of hope to thousands of visually impaired students. The software translates the braille command into the Devnagri script. He is the first student to have written his C.B.S.E. Class X exam in Hindi using a computer.
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  Family insurance scheme for disability caused due to mishap
  D.N.I.S. News Network – The Haryana Government recently launched a family insurance scheme for residents of the state, which provides cover to victims in case of accident or injury resulting in physical disability.
• Haryana Government enhances unemployment allowance for the disabled
  D.N.I.S. News Network – The Haryana Government has decided to raise the unemployment allowance by almost three times, for educated people with not less than 70 per cent physical disability.
• D.U. to bring M.A. application fee for blind on par with S.C./S.T.s
  D.N.I.S. News Network – There’s good news for blind candidates applying for the Delhi University (D.U.) M.A. programme, starting this year. The University is considering a cut in the M.A. application fee for blind students.
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  D.U. to strive for ‘inclusive’ campus; Ropes in N.G.O. to conduct access audit
  D.N.I.S. News Service – Delhi University (D.U.) seems to be trying to reform its ways, by giving a thought to the thousands of disabled students left out of the educational system for the simple reason that the University is absolutely inaccessible in every sense of the word, and the apathetic attitude of the concerned authorities.
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  Sensors implanted in brain help paralysed man use thoughts to move cursor
  D.N.I.S. News Network - In a major breakthrough, a paralysed man with a sensor implanted in his brain was able to control a computer, a television set and a robot with the help of his thoughts. The scientists involved in the experiment say these results offer hope that in future, people with spinal cord injuries, Lou Gehrig’s disease or other conditions that impair movement may be able to communicate or better control their world.