Shri Swamy Paripoornananda Saraswati inaugurates national summit of and for divyangan
Author(s): City Air NewsSaksham 2018 -19 Annual Report being launched. Hyderabad, September 14, 2019: The India’s biggest ever meet on Disabled and NGOs who work on Divyangan is inaugurated today by Shri Swamy Paripoornananda Saraswati....
Hyderabad, September 14, 2019: The India’s biggest ever meet on Disabled and NGOs who work on Divyangan is inaugurated today by Shri Swamy Paripoornananda Saraswati.
Addressing the gathering immediately after he inaugurated it Swamy Paripoornananda said “I am a son to my father and mother to my mother”. My mother is visually impaired. She can’t see.
I used to cook for her. Take care of her as a girl child would do. I give her a bath, I change clothes, I drape saree for her. Even now when I visit her once a month, I cook for her, he shared and added that being visually impaired she delivered me.
Meenakshi my mother hails from Kerala. She picked up Telugu and became scholar. She is a Vidwan in Telugu. That is why I say Visually Impaired or fire that matter disabled are very well abled.
It is my good fortune that I was born to her.
The Summit is discussing Disability, Problems, and Challenges and will come out with policy directions and recommendations: Dr Santosh of Saksham, the organization behind Organizing the Summit
The National Summit and Exhibition of and for Divyangan is underway at Sharadhamam Shikshana Kendra, Bandlagua Jagir, and Hyderabad. It will conclude on September 15, Sunday.
Organized by Samdrushti, Kshamata Vikas Evam Anusandan (SKSHAM), a national organization with the base at Nagpur and operations in Hyderabad, this is the 10th Summit held annually and it is the first to be held in the state of Telangana.
Shri M Jagadeeshwar, Principal Secretary, Women and Child Welfare Department, Govt of TS; Dr Patola Sudarshan Reddy, Former Superintendent Niloufer Hospital and graced the Summit.
The Union Minister Dr. Thawar Chand Gehlot, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment in the NDA Government will be the chief guest at the closing of the Summit on September 15.
350 National delegates and successful disabled people and organizations work on Disability are chalking out the course of action for disability the Person with Disability (PWD), Disabled of our Country. At the end of the program the summit will come with policy directions and resolutions informed Dr. Santosh.
Speaking about Disability population Dr Santosh said, the number disabled population is under-reported. One of our major demand is to prevail on the Union Government that there is a pressing need to understand the numbers of the disabled in a fairly manner. Their census must be taken along with next Census survey, he told. We are planning to give a representation to NSSO--National Sample Survey Office as well as to the concerned Union Ministry, he added.
Further Dr Santhosh informed that they were planning to set up Disability Seva Kendra. These will be set up across India. To begin with, such centers will be set up in 150 districts. Centers will also come up in Telangana. These resource centers will connect the dots to address Disability issues. They connect the needy to the services. It will provide education, create awareness and provide knowledge about Disability schemes and services
They demanded that all the disabled in the country must be given a unique ID. Disabled are made to stand in queues to available facilities at Railways.
Another pressing need for the disabled in the country is though Parliament has passed the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (RPWD) But, many states are not implementing it. This bill also called the Disabilities Bill stipulates a jail term of up to two years and a maximum fine of Rs. 5 lakh for discriminating against differently-abled persons. Telangana and AP states are yet to implement this bill
But fortunately both the Telugu states are given the highest pension to the Disabled Rs.2000/- and 3000/- respectively in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. This pension paid is not uniform across states. It has to be uniform, he said.
Another demand the Summit is putting forth is that the 3 percent of the budget of Grampanchanyat, Municipality and Zillaparishad must be reserved for the disabled. But, that again is a non-starter. District Disability Rehabilitation Centre (DDRC) is non-functional. It must be made active
District Disability Rehabilitation Centre (DDRC) is an initiative by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India, to facilitate comprehensive services to Persons with Disabilities in the rural areas. These units have a group of rehabilitation professions Awareness Generation, Early Detection and Intervention, Provision / for providing services like identification of Persons with DisabilitiFitment, Follow-up and repairing of Assistive Devices, Therapeutic Services likes Passes and other concessions/ facilities for Persons with Disabi Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy etc., and facilitation of Disability Certificates, Bulities. DDRC’s is a joint venture of Central and State Governments where in Central government will establish, initiate, implement the centre for three years involving funding for manpower contingencies as well as required equipment and coordination. State Government will provide, furniture, monitoring and coordination of activities through District provision for rent-free, well connected building, basic infrastructure Management Team (DMT) Chaired by the District Collector and also the identification of implementing agency.
Though the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot announced that a scheme of ' a universal identity card for the disabled' was on the anvil and an agency had been finalized to issue them. The proposed card would also be linked to the Aaadhar card to help the disabled all over the country in a seamless fashion, But it is yet to see the light of the day. And they demanded that the Union government acts on it immediately.
SAKSHAM's National Executive Council (NEC-2019) Meet is also being held along with the Summit
The summit in Hyderabad is showcasing many success stories from across India through exhibition. And is deliberating on effective ways for disability management
Some of the speakers include Dr Dayalsingh Pawar, President Saksham All India Federation, New Delhi. He himself is a Visually Challenged. He runs a hostel for the Visually Challenged. The other speakers include: Subash Gupta, a visually challenged Banker. He helped 48 visually challenged get jobs in Banks. Govindarajan, another visually challenged and entrepreneur who runs a school for 1500 from Chennai will be addressing in the summit. Mallika Natraj, associated with International Special Olympics; Several IIT alumni who are entrepreneurs who produced some useful products for the disability community will also grace the Summit.