Neglect & disrespect crippling India's disabled, Govt yet to make proper census
LEELA MENON

KOCHI, MARCH 1: The government's policy for the handicapped is itself handicapped. In fact India has the largest number of disabled in the world, constituting 6 per cent of the population, yet they are the most neglected lot.

This becomes clear from the fact that the country has done precious little about the two Bills which could transform their pathetic lives. India is yet to make even a proper census of the disabled.

The 1981 census had covered only the totally crippled, the deaf and the dumb, putting the figure of the disabled at 0.16 per cent, excluding those with partial disability.

The National Trust Bill for Disabled has been in limbo since 1993. The report of the Amendment Committee of Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995 has also been coldstoraged. This Act includes low-vision, leprosy, deafness, locomotor disability mental retardation and mental illness.

The amendment seeks to include autism, cerebral palsy, haemophilia, multiple disability, thalassemia and even speech impairment. The Act also seems to provide 3 per cent reservation in government-aided institutions for people with 40 per cent disabilities, though jobs which they can handle is yet to be identified. Only 3,500 of India's disabled seven million find jobs annually.

Says N R Menon, well-known social worker who is paralysed below his waist and who conducts the Master Coaching Board for parallel college students: ``I had been to the Philippines and Australia as a speaker in international seminars. I was a student for a short-term course in Rome. Nowhere had I experienced such indifference, such insult to human dignity and self-respect of the disabled as in my own motherland -- from officials, from banks, from the corporation. It is all-pervasive.''

Menon has a declared physical impediment of 50 per cent, yet he has defied Fate to complete his thesis for Ph D and has a glowing track record in social work. He has crafted a team of the socially committed to impart value education in schools.

``For the last 15 years, I have been a committed social worker and a voluntary blood donor, winning two medals for the same. With no financial help from any source whatsoever and within my limited income from self-employment as a teacher, I have been silently serving humanity through service projects. Yet, even I carry no credibility with banks or command respect from those who count. If my experience is this bad, this hopeless, how can a citizen with lesser advantages hope for a fair deal?'' he asks bitterly.

``Earlier, Maruti used to manufacture special vehicles for the handicapped, completely hand-operated and also gave a rebate in excise duty for them. It had given the disabled mobility and confidence, but now Maruti has stopped manufacture of such vehicles. Banks do not have any preferential scheme to sanction house loans. The housing finance agencies also do not have any such scheme, except HUDCO which just offers a meagre cut in processing fee. Why shouldn't banks give some help when even costly collateral is offered?'' Menon asks.

``On Gandhi Jayanthi Day last year, State Bank of India had offered aids for Disabled through all its branches but most of its branches were ignorant of the scheme, which turned out to be non-existent.''

The handicapped also wonder why there should not be some relaxation in the rule that income tax returns be shown in the case of self-employed handicapped persons. Returns may not be filed because the current income may be below taxable limit but future income as rent expected from building yet to be completed can also be considered as reliable evidence of income and assets for sanctioning loans. As also character of the borrower, which is never considered.

Nor are the handicapped given any consideration in soft loans for buying computers, even if repayment is assured. Their behaviour and response is full of contempt and indifference, Menon feels.

Says Ramachandran, a handicapped graduate: ``I am 36 years old, and I am yet to find a job. I am married and have a child. I subsist on giving tuition. Promises and policies exist only on paper.''

Ramachandran had registered with the Vocational Rehabilitation Centre for the Handicapped at Nalanchira in 1986. He had applied for the special recruitment for Railways held in 1996 and 1998. He was not even called for interview. Though he got a temporary job as a cashier in the Electricity Board, he was not appointed. Instead, he was asked to approach the chief minister who did not even reply to his complaint voiced through Asianet television's `Ask the CM'.

Rehabilitation means medical or physical correction, restoration, therapy, training, job placement, evaluation and concessions. Facilities offered for them include dealership in PSUs and oil companies, free bus passes, exemptions from road tax, age relaxation up to 10 years for posts in Group C and D in nationalised banks, etc. None of these has been translated into reality. In bank interviews no deaf win as they cannot hear the typewriter bell when a line is complete.

There are 32 lakh handicapped in Kerala. Unless they give bribe they cannot even get a certificate of disability. The less the bribe, the less the disability. If disability is 40 per cent and income is less than Rs 6,000 annually, they are eligible for a pension of Rs 110 which will not ``ensure them even a tea and a `vada' a day.''

Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.