Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Pal Gurjar has said that the Centre is committed to the welfare of senior citizens and ‘divyangs’ (physically challenged).
The Minister distributed artificial aids like walking sticks, elbow crutches, wheelchairs, artificial dentures and spectacles to eligible senior citizens, under the Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojna, at VUDA Children Arena here on Saturday.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Gurjar said that the Centre was in the process of introducing ‘universal identity cards’ for the identification of divyangs all over India.
He said that a Bill was passed in Parliament to include 14 other disabilities in addition to the existing seven. The new Bill also increased the percentage of reservation in jobs for physically challenged from 3 to 4% and in education from 3 to 5%.
The Union Minister said that the 15,000 backlog vacancies under the physically challenged quota were filled in the last three years.
Special stadia
The Minister said that the Centre sanctioned three new special stadia, one each in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh for promoting sports among the physically challenged.
Earlier, Visakhapatnam MP K. Haribabu said that this was the first time in the country that three camps were held in Visakhapatnam, Araku and Vizianagaram and assisted devices worth ₹3.5 crore were being distributed to beneficiaries.
