Disabled meet calls
for making discrimination punishable
A three-day national conference of National
Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) concluded here on Sunday evening
with a call for amendments to Article 14 and 19 of the Indian Constitution to
make it disabled-friendly.
“Rights of the disabled are not mentioned
anywhere in the Constitution. Discrimination against the disabled should be
made a punishable act in the country. The Union government needs to ensure
better education, employment, food and healthcare service to the disabled,”
said Kanthi Ganguly, national convener of NPRD and former Sports Minister of
West Bengal.
The rights of people with disabilities can
only be protected if the Constitution was amended to include punitive action
for discrimination against them, he said.
According to CPI (M) politburo member Brinda
Karat, who took part in the proceedings spread across three days, the
organisation has no affiliation to any political party and was formed as a
joint platform of disabled persons from 14 States. The platform has over 3 lakh
members and it strives to ensure equal justice for the disabled,’’ she said.
Listing out the discriminations to which the
disabled people were subjected to, Ms. Karat said even the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities Bill was not passed so far by Parliament though its draft was
prepared long back.
“There is no scope for tokenism here. We need
solid steps to ensure changes in the social mindset towards people with
disabilities. This change will not happen until you put down a law that
penalises those who discriminate,’’ she said.
Putting the struggle for the rights of the
disabled in context with policies that seek to cut welfare subsidies, she said
at the core of the programme was the demand for State intervention. “It makes
sense and logic that all disabled persons must have BPL cards. Every disabled
person should have the right to free healthcare, education and food,” she said.
According to NPRD assistant secretary P.
Muraleedharan, people with disabilities were often at the mercy of the system,
which required them to run from one department to another for various services
or entitlements. “There should be a universal card so that people with
disabilities do not have to go to a separate place for railways passes, bus or
transit passes, educational services, or jobs,” he said.
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