News

Volume 9 Issue 1 - March 15, 2012

Department on Disability Affairs announced!

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: The 11th Five Year Plan is ending on a high note for the disability sector! In her address to the Parliament at the beginning of the Budget Session, Her Excellency, the President of India announced the setting up of a separate Department of Disability Affairs. This will mean upgrading the current ‘Disability Division’ of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (M.S.J.E.) to the status of a full-fledged Department.

This announcement comes close on the heels of a letter written by National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (N.C.P.E.D.P.) to the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh on March 2, 2012, urging for a formal announcement to be made on the setting up of a separate Department of Disability Affairs. This letter followed an earlier one written to the Prime Minister in August 2011 on the same issue, which has led to this demand of the disability sector finally materialising.

The Department of Disability Affairs is proposed to be set up for greater focus on addressing issues confronting persons with disabilities. Disabled Rights Group (D.R.G.) has termed it a dream come true and huge feather in the cap of D.R.G., which has been persistently advocating for this for the last several years.