{"id":13412,"date":"2017-12-18T15:58:14","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T10:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=13412"},"modified":"2017-12-18T16:49:45","modified_gmt":"2017-12-18T11:19:45","slug":"sc-makes-sure-that-public-infrastructure-is-friendly-for-the-differently-abled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/sc-makes-sure-that-public-infrastructure-is-friendly-for-the-differently-abled\/","title":{"rendered":"Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act: A critical analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><u>Context:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In the context of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, the Supreme Court has come out with a series of directions to ensure that <strong>public infrastructure is accessible to differently-abled persons<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>What is the \u201cRights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016\u201d?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>After Rajya Sabha, on 16<sup>th<\/sup> December, 2016, the Lok Sabha passed &#8220;The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill &#8211; 2016&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li>The Bill <strong>replaces the existing PwD Act, 1995<\/strong>, which was enacted 21 years back.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>The salient features of the &#8220;The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill &#8211; 2016&#8221; are:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Addition in types of disability: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Disability has been defined based on an <strong>evolving and dynamic concept<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The types of disabilities have been <strong>increased from existing 7 to 21<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The Central Government will have the <strong>power to add more types of disabilities<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Education:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Every child with benchmark disability will get\u00a0free<strong>\u00a0education from 6 to 18 years of the age.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Reservation:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Reservation to the differently abled person in the education and government jobs has been <strong>increased from 3% to 4%.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Infrastructure: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An important distinguishing feature of the 2016 Act is that it <strong>provides for time limits<\/strong> within which <strong>existing infrastructure and premises should be made disabled friendly<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The obligations laid down in the Act are <strong>mandatory for both government and private establishments. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Fund:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Creation of <strong>National and State Fund <\/strong>will be created to provide financial support to the persons with disabilities.<\/li>\n<li>The existing National Fund for Persons with Disabilities and the Trust Fund for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities will be <strong>subsumed with the National Fund<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Grant of guardianship:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Bill provides for <strong>grant of guardianship by District Court,<\/strong> under which there will be joint decision, making between the guardian and the persons with disabilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Strict enforcement: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Special Courts will be designated<\/strong> in each district to handle cases concerning violation of rights of PwDs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Persons with benchmark disabilities:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Additional benefits such as reservation in higher education, government jobs, reservation in allocation of land, poverty alleviation schemes etc. have been provided for <strong>persons with benchmark disabilities and those with high support needs<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>The 21 disabilities are given below:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Blindness<\/li>\n<li>Low-vision<\/li>\n<li>Leprosy Cured persons<\/li>\n<li>Hearing Impairment (deaf and hard of hearing)<\/li>\n<li>Locomotor Disability<\/li>\n<li>Dwarfism<\/li>\n<li>Intellectual Disability<\/li>\n<li>Mental Illness<\/li>\n<li>Autism Spectrum Disorder<\/li>\n<li>Cerebral Palsy<\/li>\n<li>Muscular Dystrophy<\/li>\n<li>Chronic Neurological conditions<\/li>\n<li>Specific Learning Disabilities<\/li>\n<li>Multiple Sclerosis<\/li>\n<li>Speech and Language disability<\/li>\n<li>Thalassemia<\/li>\n<li>Hemophilia<\/li>\n<li>Sickle Cell disease<\/li>\n<li>Multiple Disabilities including deaf blindness<\/li>\n<li>Acid Attack victim<\/li>\n<li>Parkinson&#8217;s disease<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>What was \u201cThe Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995\u201d?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995\u00a0was enacted in 1995.<\/li>\n<li>It was enacted to give <strong>effect to the Proclamation on the Full Participation and Equality of the People with Disability in the Asian &amp; Pacific Region<\/strong> (Beiijing 1992).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>The aims and objectives of the Act were:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To <strong>spell out the responsibility of the state<\/strong> towards the prevention of disabilities, protection of rights, provision of medical care, education, training, employment and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities;<\/li>\n<li>to <strong>create a barrier free environment<\/strong> for person with disabilities in the sharing of development benefits, vis-a \u2013vis non disabled persons;<\/li>\n<li>to <strong>counteract any situation of abuse<\/strong> and <strong>exploitation of persons with disabilities<\/strong>; and<\/li>\n<li>to <strong>make special provision of the integration of persons<\/strong> with disabilities into the social mainstream.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Where has the PwD Act, 1995 possibly lagged for which The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill \u2013 2016 has been introduced? <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Absence of protection against discrimination: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The new &#8220;The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill &#8211; 2016&#8221; empowers the right to equality, preservation of dignity and personal liberty which was absent in the PwD Act, 1995.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Limitation in types of disability: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Disability being a dynamic concept needed an expansion in its types; the former act had incorporated only seven types of disability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Absence of benchmark disabilities:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The 1995 Act had no special provision for persons with benchmark disabilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Limited social security:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The 1995 Act\u2019s focus on social security was limited to financial assistance and insurance coverage-community participation.<\/li>\n<li>The recreational approaches were ignored.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Gender specific clauses:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gender specific clauses make the new Act gender sensitive, a significant development over the 1995 Act.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Weak enforcement: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Penal provisions for violating the provisions of the 1995 Act was weak.<\/li>\n<li>Also the Officer of Chief Commissioner and State Commissioner for PwDs was not vested with enough strength and power.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>What is the strategy of the Supreme Court in the context of public infrastructure accessibility to differently-abled persons? <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Supreme Court directed states to identify <strong>10 most important cities or towns. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It also orders <strong>complete the accessibility audit of 50 per cent of government buildings<\/strong> at these places by February 28, 2018.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>retrofitting work<\/strong> would be completed by December 2019.<\/li>\n<li>Regarding <strong>Central government buildings<\/strong>, the bench said that the work be completed by August next year.<\/li>\n<li>The court also directed the government to <strong>lay down a plan giving dates by which this task would be undertaken <\/strong>and asked it to furnish the same before it within three months.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Conclusion:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It becomes the duty of the <strong>Union, states as well as Union Territories<\/strong> to take up the matter<strong>. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is also important to ensure that all <strong>government buses are disabled friendly<\/strong> in accordance with the harmonized guidelines.<\/li>\n<li>Lastly, the <strong>citizens of the country<\/strong> should not leave any stone unturned to make the lives of the differently abledones much easier.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: In the context of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, the Supreme Court has come out with a series of directions to ensure that public infrastructure is accessible to differently-abled persons. What is the \u201cRights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016\u201d? After Rajya Sabha, on 16th December, 2016, the Lok Sabha passed &#8220;The Rights&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/sc-makes-sure-that-public-infrastructure-is-friendly-for-the-differently-abled\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act: A critical analysis<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":8657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-editorials","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/supreme-court_7f9c8246-c2c5-11e6-913d-826c0833a15d.jpg?fit=1008%2C508&ssl=1","views":{"total":5,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1698446596},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}