House panel flags ‘casual approach’ of government over setting up disability centres

Source: The post is based on the article “House panel flags ‘casual approach’ of government over setting up disability centres” published in The Hindu on 14th December 2022

What is the News?

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment has released a report on the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.

What are the key findings of the report?

Firstly, only 55-60 District Disability Rehabilitation Centres(DDRC) have been made functional so far out of the targeted 269 in designated districts. This shows the government’s “somewhat casual” approach to completing its task. 

Secondly, the government was yet to set up dedicated sports training facilities for persons with disabilities(Divyangjan). This is despite the government’s promise of setting up five such facilities in 2014-15.

Thirdly, the government should publicize and make serious efforts to cover as many students as possible under the pre-matriculation, post-matriculation and top-class scholarship schemes for persons with disabilities. In 2021-22, only 16,000 students were paid against 25,000 slots for pre-matric scholarships.

What are District Disability Rehabilitation Centres(DDRC)?

District Disability Rehabilitation Centre(DDRC) is an initiative by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Aim: To facilitate comprehensive services to Persons with Disabilities in rural areas.  

Services provided: These centers have a group of rehabilitation professionals for providing services like identification of Persons with Disabilities, Awareness Generation, Early Detection, and repairing of Assistive Devices among others.

Setup by: DDRC is a joint venture of Central and State Governments wherein Central Government will establish, initiate, implement the centre for three years involving funding for manpower contingencies as well as required equipment and coordination.  

The State Government will provide provisions for rent-free, well-connected building, monitoring.

Managed by: These centres are run jointly by District Management Team headed by DM/Collector and a reputed NGO (Usually the Indian Red Cross Society).