MUCH OF DISABILITY IN INDIA IS RELATED TO POVERTY, SAYS DR. JATIYA
The Union Minister
of Social Justice and Empowerment, Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya has
said that corelation between poverty and disability is so significant
that proportion of disabled persons amongst the poor is more than
double that amongst the non-poor. Therefore, much of the disability
in India is seen to be related to poverty. Dr. Jatiya said this
while inaugurating a National Workshop on "Identifying diability
issues related to poverty reduction", sponsored by Asian
Deveopment Bank, here today.
Elaborating
further, the Minister said that disability in children often starts
in the womb or at the time of birth. Malnutrition of mothers and
infants is an important cause. So are poor birth practices, unattended
deliveries and ignorance about prevention of disability, particularly
through immunization against common diseases. The Minister further
stated that other causes of disability that occur in the later
years rtelated to life-style diseases, like diabetes, accidents,
etc. However, in recent years, we have achieved dramatic success
in prevention of some kinds of disability. The pulse polio campaign
is a case in point. The incidence of polio is now very low and
we hope to eradicate it completely very soon. The blindness prevention
programme for cataract removal has helped persons in the older
age group. Also, we are tackling leprosy that is endemic in some
parts of the country.
However, India
has done much by way of legislation. In 1995, we enacted the Persons
with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and
Full Participation) Act, 1995 which addresses issues relating
to prevention of disability, identification, early intervention,
rehabilitation services, special education and vocational training
programmes, incentives for employment to persons with disabilities,
reservation in government and semi-government jobs and in educational
institutions and put in place a grievance redressal mechanism
for handling complaints regarding non-implementation of the Act.
The National Trust for the welfare of persons with Autism, Cerebral
Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999
addresses the issues of concern to the parents and guardians of
persons with severe disabilities who are unable to care for themselves,
he added.
The
Minister further stated that as a step towards economic empowerment,
3% of funds in all poverty alleviation programmes is earmarked
for persons with disabilities. Unfortunately, utilization, particularly
in rural areas, is far below this level. We have to address the
causes behind the lower coverage and work towards improvement.
Persons with disabilities in urban and rural areas need to organize
themselves into support and self-help groups. This will give them
a voice when they demand their share in the fruits of development
as well as access to public facilities and services.
The Minister, however,
stressed that the issues relating to girls and women with disabilities
need to be particularly focused on. The disabled persons generally
get marginalized within their families as well as communities
and girls and women with disability get even worse treatment.
The elderly persons in India constitute around 36% of the persons
with disabilities. Fortunately, our cultural situation is such
that almost all of them can look to the support of their families
for taking care of them, economically and socially.
