Interview
Volume 4 Issue 14 - July 15, 2006
“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

1. Who are the members of the C.E.C.?
The Secretary of the Ministry of
Social Justice & Empowerment (M.S.J.E.) is the Chairperson. Other members
include the Joint Secretary, M.S.J.E., Director, M.S.J.E., Joint Secretaries
from various other ministries such as Labour, Rural
Development, Finance, Human Resource Development (H.R.D.), etc., and the Chief
Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities.
Apart from these, there are five
representatives from N.G.O.s. I am one of them.
The Chairpersons of the National Trust and Rehabilitation Council of India
(R.C.I.) are also invited members of this Committee.
2. The Disability
Act mandates that the C.E.C should have maximum representation from people
with disabilities. How many members in the present Committee are disabled
people?
The Chairperson of R.C.I. is the
only disabled person. I have raised this issue again and again in every meeting.
Bhushan Punani is from
the vision impaired side, one lady represents the hearing impaired, and theres
one gentleman from
As far as I know, there are only
four people, whereas the Disability Act stipulates that there should be five
people from the N.G.O. sector. The fifth person is missing. Certain sectors
such as Mental Health are not represented.
3. Could you tell
us what exactly is the role of the C.E.C.?
As
per the Disability Act, the role of the C.E.C. is to implement the decisions
taken by the C.C.C. It has to work out ways to implement those decisions.
But in actual fact, we are not at all clear about our role. We had raised
this question a number of times, which has also been minuted.
We had stressed that there was a need to clearly define the role of the C.E.C.
members.
According
to the Disability Act, we are supposed to see the C.C.C. minutes to understand
what has been discussed in their meetings, so we can take that into consideration
when we take our decisions.
4. Have any of the
C.C.C. decisions been carried out by you till date? If yes, what are they?
The problem is we do not even know
what they are doing, or what their decisions are. We have never been told
as to when the C.C.C. meetings are held or what decisions are taken. So for
us, the C.C.C. is as good as non-existent.
5. In your interview
to D.N.I.S. in 2003, you had said that in the twelfth meeting of the C.E.C.,
the then Chairman B. S. Baswan had decided that
the next meeting would begin by reading the Minutes of the C.C.C. Has this
decision been implemented?
When we raised the issue at the
twelfth meeting, Baswan had said that the next meeting
would start by reading the C.C.C. Minutes. Unfortunately, when the next meeting
was held, there was a new Chairman. Ever since, other members from N.G.O.s have also raised this issue, but we have never seen
the light of the C.C.C. Minutes till date.
Once, the current Secretary even
told us not to worry about the Minutes of the C.C.C. meetings as he was a
member, and was therefore doing things according to decisions taken by the
C.C.C.
6. As per the Disability Act, you are supposed
to meet at least once in three months. Is that happening?
Earlier, we used to have only one
or two meetings (in a year). In the last two years, the situation has improved
and we have had three meetings in a year, though not four, as stipulated by
the Act.
7. Have these meetings
been productive? Are there any specific areas that the C.E.C. has impacted?
I would say that the last two or
three meetings have been productive in some ways, though I still feel there
is no structure or system to it. A national committee, set up to give policy
guidelines for implementation of the Disability Act, needs to formulate a
framework based on the Act. We need to have some strategy for implementation
and monitoring, and a feedback mechanism. But there is absolutely no system.
In spite of all this, I would say
that something has been achieved, even if it is only in terms of moving one
small step ahead. In the last meeting, for the first time, the room was full.
We have been stressing that there should be representatives at the Joint Secretary
level. Till now this rule has not been followed, but at least there were representatives,
probably from all concerned ministries. What more, they were also participating
in the dialogue. Earlier, the few who turned up used to be absolutely quiet,
walking in totally unprepared. So this is a positive change.
In the last meeting, the members
were given the document on implementation of National Policy for Persons with
Disabilities. Under this, they have suggested action points for all ministries/departments.
We suggested that this be circulated so that everyone could respond to it.
The officials said they will not circulate it, but could give it on request
to N.G.O.s or other interested people.
A lot of discussion has taken place
in the area of education and employment, and some directives have gone to
H.R.D. and Labour Ministries.
8.
The M.S.J.E has suddenly come up with its own set of suggested
amendments to the Disability Act, well before the given deadline seeking suggestions
from the larger disability sector and other stakeholders. What is your view?
We had stated in the last meeting
that people from all over India are interested in giving suggestions for amendments,
and that some of them have already sent letters to the M.S.J.E. and more are
to follow, requesting extension of time. We also said that we should wait
for the final draft of the U.N. Convention. We requested the Ministry to extend
the time by six months or a year. The Chairperson then clearly said that they
would postpone the deadline (of July 31) by six months.
The trend in the government till
now has been that of holding consultations - mainly due to pressure from the
disability sector - most of the time as a mere formality. They do their own
work, and only suggestions that match with their own modifications are taken
into consideration. Based on our Right to Information, when they finally bring
out the draft amendments, we need to question the process. And Im sure that
as C.E.C. members, it is our responsibility to bring up this issue in the
next meeting.
9. In your earlier interview, you had said that
in the twelfth meeting of the C.E.C., sections 41 and 67 of the Disability
Act had been discussed. Has there been any progress regarding these?
These issues have been brought up
in consequent meetings. No concrete action has been taken regarding insurance
and social security scheme. The incentives issue had also come up strongly.
But its again at the discussion level, and no concrete measure has been taken.
In this regard, we also once mentioned that the disability sector had worked
out some draft incentives and presented it to the Finance Ministry. But they
say that the private sector is not agreeing and that the discussion is still
going on.
In education, on issues such as
training of regular teachers and inclusive education, the officials say they
will interact with the H.R.D. Ministry and see what they can do. That process
has also started, but they are not yet talking about shifting education completely
to the H.R.D. Ministry. I think that they are still not open to the idea.
10.
Would you say the C.E.C. is functioning in a proactive manner, or is it a
reactive body? Ultimately, are you satisfied with the functioning of the Committee?
It is functioning more like a reactive
body, in an unorganised manner. So it is not performing to its maximum potential
in its productive role. There is a lot of room for improvement.
I am definitely not satisfied with the functioning of the Committee. We have a long way to go. But I would say that the disability sector must keep up the pressure because this is bringing about small changes in the functioning of the C.E.C.
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Features
Interview
- “For us, the C.C.C. is as good as non-existent”: Vandana Bedi
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