Din in Parliament hits disability bill

New Delhi: The proposed Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014 could not come up for a discussion on Monday following disruptions in Parliament.

The bill has been in the limbo for long. In April 2010, the then government had constituted a committee to draft a new disability rights legislation keeping in mind India’s commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

Four years later, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014, was tabled in the Rajya Sabha. However, two years on, there has been no headway in this regard.

“On December 2, the eve of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the entire country was looking at the Rajya Sabha in hopeful anticipation. It would have been an unprecedented gift for our brothers and sisters with disabilities had the Bill been passed. That did not happen. Our honourable Parliamentarians let politics triumph over the lives of millions of persons with disabilities — one of the most marginalised sections — an integral part of the “people of this country” that they claim to represent. Today, the minister of social justice & empowerment tried to speak over the noise and move the Bill for consideration and passage, but Opposition members did not relent,” said Javed Abidi, chairperson at Disabled People’s International.

In its new avtar, the draft Bill proposes to expand the list of disabilities from seven to 21 and an increase in job reservation for persons with disabilities from 3 per cent to 5 per cent, among others.

The government, for the first time, has also added disabilities/disabled persons like speech and language disability and specific learning disability, acid attack victims, thalassemia, haemophilia and sickle cell disease.

The types of disabilities that have been increased from existing seven to 21 - with further powers to the Central government to add more types of disabilities - include blindness, low-vision, leprosy cured persons, hearing impairment (deaf and hard of hearing), locomotor disability, dwarfism, intellectual disability, mental illness, autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, chronic neurological conditions, specific learning disabilities, multiple sclerosis, speech and language disability, thalassemia, haemophilia, sickle, cell disease, multiple disabilities, acid attack victim, parkinson’s disease.

The proposed bill was cleared by the Cabinet last Wednesday.