News

Volume 7 Issue 6 - March 15, 2010

Chief Minister champions the rights of disabled people

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: Nothing could be better for disabled people in Tamil Nadu than having a sensitised and sympathetic leader at the helm of state affairs. Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi’s continued support towards disability issues rang loud and clear in a recent statement where he invoked the mandates of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (U.N.C.R.P.D.) and called upon the central government to secure benefits for disabled people.

Karunanidhi said that his government would approach the centre for the enactment of a legislation to secure benefits for disabled people under U.N.C.R.P.D. The string of benefits to be taken up with the central government for disabled people include: 3 percent reservation in parliament and state legislatures; reservation in employment and education; creation of a separate ministry for disabled people; scholarships to be given in schools; door-to-door census of disabled people; and providing of a 15-digit electronic I.D. card to disabled people that will enable them to avail all benefits and schemes entitled to them.

Understanding the implications of U.N.C.R.P.D., Karunanidhi is confident that the centre will pay attention. He said that since India is a signatory to the U.N. Act and the seventh country to ratify, it makes it binding on the centre to oblige.