National Compendium of Policies, Programmes and Schemes for Persons with Disabilities 1 Contents Foreword _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 4 Preface _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5 Chapter 1: Andaman and Nicobar Islands ______________________________________________________________________ 7 Chapter 2: Andhra Pradesh_________________________________________________________________________________ 15 Chapter 3: Arunachal Pradesh ______________________________________________________________________________ 30 Chapter 4: Assam ________________________________________________________________________________________ 35 Chapter 5: Bihar _________________________________________________________________________________________ 48 Chapter 6: Chandigarh ____________________________________________________________________________________ 64 Chapter 7: Chhattisgarh ___________________________________________________________________________________ 71 Chapter 8: Dadra & Nagar Haveli ___________________________________________________________________________ 85 Chapter 9: Daman & Diu __________________________________________________________________________________ 92 Chapter 10: Goa _________________________________________________________________________________________ 97 Chapter 11: Gujarat _____________________________________________________________________________________ 114 Chapter 12: Haryana _____________________________________________________________________________________ 122 Chapter 13: Himachal Pradesh _____________________________________________________________________________ 132 Chapter 14: Jammu & Kashmir ____________________________________________________________________________ 140 Chapter 15: Jharkhand ___________________________________________________________________________________ 146 Chapter 16: Karnataka ___________________________________________________________________________________ 154 Chapter 17: Kerala ______________________________________________________________________________________ 162 Chapter 18: Lakshadweep ________________________________________________________________________________ 171 Chapter 19: Madhya Pradesh ______________________________________________________________________________ 176 Chapter 20: Maharashtra _________________________________________________________________________________ 190 Chapter 21: Manipur ____________________________________________________________________________________ 195 Chapter 22: Meghalaya __________________________________________________________________________________ 205 2 Chapter 23: Mizoram ____________________________________________________________________________________ 215 Chapter 25: National Capital Territory of Delhi _______________________________________________________________ 233 Chapter 26: Odisha ______________________________________________________________________________________ 252 Chapter 27: Puducherry __________________________________________________________________________________ 259 Chapter 28: Punjab ______________________________________________________________________________________ 276 Chapter 29: Rajasthan ___________________________________________________________________________________ 286 Chapter 30: Sikkim ______________________________________________________________________________________ 293 Chapter 31: Tamil Nadu __________________________________________________________________________________ 300 Chapter 32: Tripura _____________________________________________________________________________________ 336 Chapter 33: Uttar Pradesh ________________________________________________________________________________ 346 Chapter 34: Uttarakhand _________________________________________________________________________________ 356 Chapter 34: Uttarakhand _________________________________________________________________________________ 371 Chapter 35: West Bengal _________________________________________________________________________________ 386 List of Contributors _____________________________________________________________________________________ 426 3 Foreword 4 Preface ―How a society treats its disabled is the true measure of a civilization.‖ Chen Guangcheng India, one of the longest continuous civilizations in the world is also home to one of the largest populations of persons with disabilities. According to the 2011 census, around 2.21% of its population or around 26.8 million people have disabilities of some form or the other. While the country is developing rapidly, persons with disabilities are often left out of the process. Sometimes they are completely neglected from consideration and measures do not take into account their needs by virtue of being non inclusive. On other occasions, there may be special measures for some disadvantaged groups, but persons with disabilities may not be recognised as a separate group, with distinctive needs. Overall, there is a clichéd understanding about the needs and abilities of persons with disabilities limiting efforts made towards their progress. Even in cases where some effort has been made, information about these measures is not available to persons with disabilities and their family members, who are consequently unable to avail of them. Additionally, the insensitivity of rules/ schemes/ procedures/ persons makes it difficult for persons with disabilities to benefit from them. However, regardless of the reason, the fact remains that there is a huge gap in the communication of information from policy makers, administrators and law makers to persons with disabilities as well as their family members, organisations and other concerned groups and institutions. It is extremely important to bridge this information gap in order to enable persons with disabilities to participate equally in development. Better access to information will enable them to avail of schemes/provisions for their benefit and will consequently enable governments to assess whether they have made adequate provision in various domains as well as identify gaps which need to be addressed. Finally, accessibility of information will also facilitate the participation of government and persons with disabilities in implementation of measures and increase transparency and accountability. With five years having passed since India signed and ratified the UNCRPD, the time has come to make a concerted effort to check the status of creation and implementation of relevant policies needed to give effect to the human rights of persons with disabilities. When we began researching this area, we found that hardly any information was available online and in the rare cases where it was available, it was inadequate, outdated and inaccessible. Not only was there no single source of information; there was also little information available with individual states, let alone comprehensive information on their schemes and policies. The scraps of information that were available were largely outdated and were often in different languages. In addition, whatever little information was available online was in the form of scanned images which are inaccessible to persons with disabilities or those using assistive technology. 5 As an organisation deeply committed to accessibility for persons with disabilities from its inception in 2008, CIS undertook the task of compiling a comprehensive resource on disability related policies in India and thus the ―National Compendium of policies, programmes and schemes for persons with disabilities‖ was born. Given our grounding as a research organisation deeply involved in accessibility policy research both at the national and the international level and the trust and relationship we have built with other DPOs and policy makers, we have been well placed to do this research. We have widely used RTIs to elicit information from many states, though even this route proved to be unsuccessful in some places. We are grateful to the Hans Foundation, whose financial support made it possible for us to conduct this research over the past two years and publish this book. The office of the CCPD which showed great interest in this project and enabled collaboration, acted as a great stimulus to this endeavour. We have also been very fortunate to have the help of the Centre for Law and Policy Research (CLPR) as a research partner with interest and practical experience to work on this project and who helped bring the book to fruition in a timely manner. This book will help in assessing how much attention and care has been given to disability welfare in India and highlights the fact that most of the commitments which need to be fulfilled under the UNCRPD have not been implemented by most states. The primary audience is persons with disabilities, their families and care givers and DPOs, as well as policy makers at different levels to aid in implementation. 6 Chapter 1: Andaman and Nicobar Islands Performa for information on State Government schemes for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) 1. Name of State/UT: Andaman and Nicobar Islands 2. Details: Name: State Commissioner for Persons with Designation: Disabilities Address: Telephone/Fax/Mobile/E-mail/Website 3. Number/Name of Districts along with details: S. Name of Address of DC/DM Medical Authorities for Issuance of Disability Certificates No. District(s) with Telephone/Mobile & E-mail/Website Names & Contact Details(Telephone/Mobile/