A Hurried Disabilities Bill Will Serve No Purpose

A Hurried Disabilities Bill Will Serve No Purpose

Let us not hurriedly enact a retrograde legislation for all disabilities, which would be impossible to amend for the next 25 years. In order to correct the injustice of exclusion, let us not create an equality of oppression.

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha to universal criticism and till now, 16 amendments have been circulated to members of the upper House in an effort to save the Bill. The objective of the legislation was stated as "a Bill to give effect to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" (UN CRPD). Hence it must be in consonance with the requirements of the Convention to fulfill its primary purpose. The CRPD mandates an absolute prohibition on discrimination on grounds of disability, but this Bill permits discrimination provided it is to achieve any legitimate aim, in clear violation of the CRPD!

The CRPD prohibits deprivation of liberty on grounds of disability. The Bill cleverly inserts one word to change the guarantee altogether: it says that no person shall be deprived of his or her personal liberty only on grounds of disability. This formulation was rejected while drafting the CRPD since it permits the deprivation of liberty when a person with disability is destitute or considered to be 'dangerous'. For thousands, the addition of 'only' could mean being forced to live in institutions for the rest of their lives.

The other core CRPD principle that remains to be examined is the right to exercise legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life. Presently scores of laws disqualify persons with disabilities from marrying, inheriting, voting, etc. The CRPD seeks to offset disqualifications imposed upon people with intellectual, psychosocial and developmental disabilities by recognising their right to live their lives according to their will and preference.

However, the 2014 Bill did not even mention the right to legal capacity. In the amendment, legal capacity has been recognised as an obligation of the government, not a right of persons with disabilities. If the government fails to ensure legal capacity, then the person with disabilities can do nothing but bemoan the poor implementation of Indian laws. Consequently, entitlement of reservations in jobs becomes meaningless for persons with disabilities. If it were possible to make things worse, section 110 of the legislation states categorically that the Bill will not override any existing laws, which means all discriminatory laws will continue to be valid!

However, despite the many flaws in the Bill, people with the newly-included disabilities are pressing for its enactment because these disabilities have been waiting for inclusion in the Act since 1999 and feel they cannot wait any more. This grievance is undeniably genuine. The correct way to address this concern would be to amend the Act of 1995, whether by Act or ordinance to include the long-excluded disabilities.

Let us not hurriedly enact a retrograde legislation for all disabilities, which would be impossible to amend for the next 25 years. In order to correct the injustice of exclusion, let us not create an equality of oppression.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/A-hurried-disabilities-Bill-will-serve-no-purpose/articleshow/30579944.cms

Nalsar University Disapproves of New Disability Law of India

Nalsar University Disapproves of New Disability Law

Says bill suffers from 'legal infirmities'

The Nalsar University of Law here has distanced itself from the new Disability Rights Bill approved by the Cabinet last month saying it suffers from “glaring legal infirmities”.

The university had served as a consultant to the committee appointed by the Union Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry in 2010 to draft the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2013.

Vice-Chancellor Faizan Mustafa said the bill was a complete “volte-face” from the one originally drafted after consulting various organisations across the country working for the rights of persons with disability.

“The bill has brought back the erstwhile concept of offering only some ‘identified posts’ to the disabled which restricts their employment opportunities. After a long struggle, the National Federation of the Blind got the Supreme Court to rule that reservations would apply to all posts. But, this bill has brought back the concept of identified posts for disabled which clearly steers away from the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disability,” the vice-chancellor said.

Due to the ‘incoherence of vision’ in the bill, Nalsar has decided to distance itself from the present form of the legislation. It has also urged the Centre to return to the original draft finalised after a wide consultative process.

The university believes that excessive powers vested with the guardians of the disabled persons will only result in lifelong slavery under the thrall of a powerful guardian.

“The right to take one’s own decision to do what makes one happy is integral to personhood. However, this right is routinely denied to persons especially suffering from intellectual, psycho-social and development disabilities,” he said.

The Cabinet cleared the disability law, raising the reservation for Persons with Disabilities (PWD) from 3 per cent to 5 per cent. The disabled will get the benefit at all government educational institutions and jobs. Titled the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2013, the new law will replace the archaic PWD Bill of 1995.

Till now, the reservation for the disabled was only 3 per cent in the ratio of 1 per cent each for the physically, visually and hearing-impaired

Source :            http://www.deccanherald.com/content/382755/nalsar-university-disapproves-disability-law.html