Recently, India ratified the UN Convention on Persons with Disabilities and the Marrakesh treaty to provide accessibility of books to visually impaired persons. Thus the current decision of the GST Council to tax disability appliances at the rate of 5% may further marginalise the community. Already the 2.1% disabled population is largely disadvantaged and under-represented in all quarters of government. Most of them reside in the rural areas where they don’t have access to basic education and health facilities. As a result, they are often neglected and seen as a burden by family members. This act of increasing taxation on appliances will further hit them. It is time that the government focussed on providing disabled-friendly infrastructure and policies to bring everyone into the mainstream and addressed the issue of stigmatisation (“Fighting an old battle”, June 29).
Gagan Pratap Singh,
Noida, Uttar Pradesh
