News

Volume 8 Issue 8 - November 15, 2011

12th Plan Steering Committees: A major breakthrough for the disability sector

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: In what is a major step forward in the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the development projects of the country, disabled persons and/or experts representing them have been inducted in many of the Steering Committees formed by the Planning Commission for the 12th Five-Year Plan.

Apart from the Steering Committee on ‘Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and Social Welfare Groups’, which specifically deals with disability related issues, as many as 11 Steering Committees have invited people from the disability sector to be a part of the planning process. This is a highly positive development in treating disability as a cross-cutting issue, instead of an isolated one.

The experts or persons with disabilities who are members of various Steering Committees include:

1. Meenakshi B. from Vidya Sagar and Nidhi Jalan from Action for Abilities Development & Inclusion (A.A.D.I.) for the Steering Committee on Health.
2. Manvi Jalan from A.A.D.I. and Dr. Shanti Auluck from Muskaan for Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (A.Y.U.S.H.).
3. Shivani Gupta of AccessAbility for Urban Development and Management.
4. Dr. Anita Ghai for Women’s Agency and Child Rights.
5. Dipendra Manocha from DAISY Consortium for Science and Technology.
6. Madhu Grover from A.A.D.I. and Sanjeev Sachdeva of Sanjeevani for Transport Sector.
7. Pradeep Raj from Association for Disabled People for Youth Affairs and Sports.
8. Nisha Singh from Delhi University and Dr. Anita Ghai for Higher and Technical Education.
9. Renu Singh from Young Lives India for Secondary and Vocational Education.
10. Dr. Divya Jalan from A.A.D.I. for Elementary Education and Literacy.
11. Rama Chari of Diversity and Equal Opportunity Centre (D.E.O.C.), for Labour, Employment and Skill Development.

The Steering Committee on Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and Social Welfare Groups includes Javed Abidi of National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (N.C.P.E.D.P.), A. S. Narayanan from National Association of Deaf (N.A.D.) and G. Syamala from A.A.D.I., among others as representatives from the disability sector.