India has the largest handicapped people, specially-abled persons’ body demands representation in Parliament and improving their conditions
By MM Special Correspondents
New Delhi: Ahead of the forthcoming general elections, specially-abled (physically handicapped) persons also made several demands including giving two tickets to specially-abled persons by each political party in for contesting elections and representation in the parliament and state assemblies. India has the largest number of specially-abled persons in the world but a lot still needs to be done for their betterment.
Addressing the media here at the Press club of India today, Bhartiya Divyang Sangathan (Indian Specially-Abled Organization) president Amit Kumar said we want to draw the attention of the government towards the travails and plights of Divyangs.
The government has ensured that people with disabilities being called ‘Divyang’ which has certainly given them some respect but people with disabilities are not treated equally in society, he lamented. There is still a lot to be done to change the perception of the society towards Divyangs,” he added.
According to the 2011 Census, there are 30 million people in the country with physical disabilities and around 120 million family members dependent on them.
“The previous governments have launched many schemes for improving the lives of the specially-challenged people but most of them have been remained on the paper only, while the present government has also done a lot of goods for them but there’s still a lots of needs to be done,” Kumar said.
“Divyang people have shown tremendous skills and character and have even performed better than the normal beings because God gifts them with an extra sense or strength when some part of their body gets dysfunctional”, he added.
Now Divyangs are getting technical aids like electronic sticks for the blind, hearing equipment for the deaf, study materials in Braille, smartphones, acupressure machines, and motor vehicles but there is still many things needed.
He also pointed out that Divyangs and their dependents are a solid vote bank and can play a significant in the elections. Demanding representation for them in Parliament and assemblies, he said nobody is there to raise specially-abled people’s problems and issues in legislative bodies
Making a host of demands, Kumar said pension must be given to the Divyang people depending upon the degree of disability. The seats vacated by a Divyang must be awarded to the skilled Divyang candidate. Their education from primary to graduation must be made free, free transport and free medical facilities. They should also get concessions on air travels as well. Every political party must reserve two seats to the Diyang people while distributing election tickets so that Divyangs get representation in the legislation as well.
It is worth to mention here that Amit Kumar is a successful businessman who comes from a humble background. He was conferred with the Unilever Entrepreneurship Programme Award in 2006 and Symbiosis University has felicitated him in 2009 for his management and direction skills. He was also honoured by RMIT University, Vietnam, for his thesis on the relationship between a company’s top leadership and employees. In 2016, he prepared an Ayurvedic product named ‘Hero Mix’ to help the people quit smoking and consuming tobacco.