Unhappy with the government's “failure” to honour the promises made for persons with disability under the 11th Five Year Plan, the Disabled Rights Group has demanded that it implement at least those decisions that can be achieved in the remaining period of the Plan.
The group will register its protest in front of the Planning Commission office on Friday, when the first meeting of the steering committee on ‘empowerment of persons with disabilities' for the formulation of the 12th Plan will take place.
“It took the Indian disability sector 50 long years to be finally recognised by the policymakers in the planning processes. Otherwise, why was disability not there in the first 10 Five Year Plans of the nation,” Javed Abidi, convenor of the group, said.
“We are sure the memories of 2006, when thousands of disabled people landed on the streets of Delhi demanding to be included in the 11th Plan, are still fresh in our minds. It was a result of the united resilience and perseverance of the disability sector that we finally got an amazing chapter on disability in the 11th Plan [2007-2012],” he told journalists here.
“It is nothing short of a tragedy that four years after the Plan came into force nothing substantial has been achieved. But there is still time to accomplish several of the mandates of the 11th Plan only if the government is to sit up and take notice,” Mr. Abidi said.
Most of the decisions — such as the one to set up a disability unit in the University Grants Commission, the All-India Council for Technical Education and the Central universities or to have each Ministry adopt a disability policy — did not even need any monetary investment from the government. “The question is why were these not done in the past four years and why cannot they be done now, before the 11th Plan period ends,” Mr. Abidi said. “Let us not forget that the decisions in the 11th Plan have been approved by the Prime Minister twice: first, in his capacity as chairperson of the Planning Commission, and then as the head of the Cabinet. The 11th Plan is not some ordinary government paper; it has a certain sanctity that we all should and we all must realise.”
A working group and a steering committee on ‘empowerment of persons with disabilities' have been constituted for the formulation of the 12th Five Year Plan. “It all appears very hollow! We cannot possibly talk about the 12th Plan without making the government accountable for what it has committed in the 11th Plan. And what more can you put in the 12th Plan if the basic foundation as laid down in the 11th Plan has not been fulfilled,” Mr. Abidi said.
