Volume 3 Issue 21

Feature

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  Disabled people worst-hit and least attended in Kashmir quake: Report
  
  Kashmir earthquake clearly demonstrates how people with disabilities end up as the worst victims of disasters, due to neglect in all phases of post-disaster initiatives of rescue, relief and rehabilitation, argues Parvinder Singh on the basis of a fact-finding report on the quake by Disabled Peoples' International and National Disability Network.

Interview

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  The Disaster Management Bill-2005 is terrible: Dunu Roy
  

  The Disaster Management Bill-2005 is terrible. It is against the very principles of disaster management and ignores vulnerabilities, including people with disabilities, says Dunu Roy, disaster management expert and Director of the Delhi-based N.G.O. Hazards Centre, in conversation with Parvinder Singh.

News

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  Braille-enabled E.V.M.s in two constituencies, hardly any ramps in Bihar polls
  
  With the first and second phase of elections over and two more to go in Bihar, the issue of barrier-free polling booths is still not being taken up seriously after more than a year of the Supreme Court Order on the issue.
• N.C.P.E.D.P. presents its recommendations to make Master Plan Delhi–2021 disabled-friendly
  
  In a promising development for the disability sector, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (N.C.P.E.D.P.) was invited by the Delhi Development Authority to present its criticisms/suggestions to make the Draft Master Plan Delhi-2021 (M.P.D.) disabled-friendly.
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  Sikkim to get its first Disability Law Unit
  
  A State-level Workshop on Disability and Law was held in Sikkim to sensitise disability organisations, activists and legal community to the rights of disabled people, during which a plan was mooted for the setting up of a Disability Law Unit at Spastics Society of Sikkim (S.S.S.).
• Supreme Court issues notice to Union Government on Mental Health Act
  
  In a significant move, the Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Union Government seeking a submission in the next two months on the implementation of the Mental Health Act 1987.
• H.C. gives Goa Government six months to frame a disability policy
  
  In a continuing success for the struggle of the disability sector in Goa, the Panjim Bench of Bombay High Court has ordered the State Government to frame a State Policy for Persons with Disability within the next six months to address the problems faced by people with disabilities.
• Largest ever international conference on disability rights takes place in Bangkok
  
  Basic human rights for disabled people were the focus of a two-day International Conference held in Bangkok from 17 to 18 October involving participants from almost 80 countries.
• Engineering student with vision impairment braves odds to follow his dreams
  
  Yet another instance has come to light that exemplifies how prejudices and lack of concern for disability rights continue to make life difficult for students with disabilities when they try and brave the competitive world of higher professional education in the country.
• National Conference held on empowering livelihoods
  
  The National Conference organised by Poorest Areas Civil Society (P.A.C.S.) from 24 to 26 October 2005 in New Delhi with the focus on empowering livelihoods, took up for deliberations on women empowerment, employment generation, opportunities through Self-Help Groups (S.H.G.), people living on the margins of society, disability, and other related issues.
• Disabled people from poorest section demonstrate in front of Supreme Court
  
  In a desperate act of defiance, disabled people from the poorest section of the society, who are forced to beg on streets to survive, staged a sit-in protest in front of the Supreme Court on 26 October to draw attention of the nation's policy makers towards their demands for a decent life.
• Unemployment allowance to vision impaired in Haryana hiked
  
  Haryana Government has hiked the unemployment allowance for people with vision impairment, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced this while promising to implement the three per cent reservation for people with disabilities in the state government jobs.
• Students with vision impairment break new ground with “Braille Face” software
  
  Two students with vision impairment have created a software, Braille Face, that promises to provide freedom to vision impaired students to answer their examination papers without the help of a writer.
• Demands of students with disabilities ignored during J.N.U. Students' Union elections
  
  Despite being known internationally for its high academic standards, Jawaharlal Nehru University's student's representatives appear to be untouched by the demands of 60 fellow students with disabilities. This is the message one gets at least from the University's recently concluded Students' Union elections.