Denying allegations of unfairness in process of selection of participants for the 2015 Global IT Challenge for Youth with Disabilities, the Centre on Monday told the Delhi High Court that it has devised a mechanism for a national-level competition before sending nominations for the global event this year.
The Department of Empowerment of persons with disabilities, under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, told a bench headed by Chief Justice G. Rohini that it is mulling inviting nominations from all States and Union Territories for a national-level competition to select candidates for the event aimed at promoting IT education among persons with visual, hearing, locomotive and physical disabilities.
The event is being organised by the Korean Society for rehabilitation of persons with disabilities, the government of Korea in collaboration with UNESCAP in all Asian countries, and is held in all member countries on a rotational basis. The event is being held since 1992.
This year, the event is to be held in China.
The ministry was replying to allegations made in a petition filed by the National Platform for the rights of the Disabled through advocate Subhash Chandran K.R.
The petitioner contended that there has been no transparency in the selection process and for the 2015 event all four candidates were recommended by a Delhi-based NGO.
The 2015 event was held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Four youth in different categories — one each of visual, hearing, physical and developmental disability in the age-group of 15 to 24 years — participated from India.
The ministry denied the allegations and said that it was only in 2012 that Indian youth with disabilities participated in such events.
While the participation is always through the Ministry, in 2015, India received the invitation late and due to short period of time for finalisation of nominations, the Ministry picked all participants recommended by Amar Jyoti, a NGO working for the welfare of disabled persons.
It also stated that two of them won the super challenge award.
It said from now onward, all State and UTs have been requested to nominate two participants in each category by March 31, 2016. They have been advised to conduct State-level competitions before sending nominations.
After receiving nominations, the department will hold a national-level competition to finalise its selection for the competition.
A national-level competition will be held before sending nominations for the global event
