W
hen Javed Abidi returned to Delhi after completing a journalism degree from the USA in 1989, he didn’t think it would be too difficult to get a job with a newspaper. “I came back with a chip on my shoulder because I had a fat degree, but for six months, I was jobless,” Abidi said. “I realised that employers were looking not at my qualifications, but at my wheelchair”. Disappointed, he started work as a freelance journalist instead, but said that he “noticed so many other things which were wrong with India and Delhi.” In 1992, Abidi decided to make a career shift and take the path of advocacy, becoming the head of the disability unit at the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. At the time, the disability rights movement, which had emerged in the 1980s, was gaining strength. The National Federation of the Blind was one of the first organisations to demand a separate, comprehensive law to protect the rights of disabled people. Delhi High Court lawyer SK Rungta, who is visually impaired, recalled that “On 16 March, 1980 – then the International Day of Persons with Disabilities – we took out a procession from our Paharganj office to the Prime Minister’s residence at Safdarjung Road that was lathi charged by the police. Later, the government apologised and accepted the need for such a legislation – at least in principle.” Rungta, who is NFB’s secretary, told us how over the next decade, he and his group negotiated
Legal barriers
neither employment nor education are possible without accessibility. But neither of the three is possible without law, and neither of the four is possible without awareness. Those five became [our] pillars.” In Delhi, litigation emerged as a significant tool to ensure that existing legal provisions were implemented. It began with the fundamentals: disability certificates, which are mandatory to claim legal benefits, and yet continue to be a bone of contention. In 2002, Delhi High Court lawyer Ashok Agarwal filed a PIL that resulted in a court order to several government hospitals to constitute medical boards for issuing certificates. The execution, however, has been far from simple due to unfixed standards: Agarwal is currently working on the case of a student selected for IIT, but denied admission due to conflicting results between his examination in Delhi and his home state, Bihar. Litigation has also been important in public sector employment for people with disabilities, who were promised a three percent reservation in this arena by the PWD Act. The Human Rights Law Network, which started a disability division in 2002, works through capacitybuilding training programmes, judicial colloquiums and PILs. In 2006, they filed a case on behalf of Sambhavana, an association of Delhi University lecturers, to question the lack of implementation of the three percent reservation in University employment. The High Court ordered DU and 82 affiliated colleges to ensure future recruitment and clear the backlog – resulting in the appointment of over 150 lecturers with disabilities since then. The terms of debate are different within the private sector. The PWD Act only requires the government to provide economic incen tives to private employers to ensure that at least five per cent of their staff comp rises disabled persons. Abidi recalled that NCPEDP’s early efforts to persuade the various industrial and commercial chambers were met with indifference. It was only
With the new Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill in the process of being drafted, Sonam Joshi traces the contours of disability rights. with the government, participated in several committees and organised public protests demanding access to education, reservation in employment and non-discrimination. However, the diverse nature of disabilities made for a dispersed activist movement. A significant shift began in 1993, with the foundation of the Disability Rights Group, one of India’s first cross-disability advocacy groups. The lobbying efforts of Abidi and seven other founders resulted in the passing of the Persons with Disabilities Act (PWD) in 1995, India’s first legislation to deal solely with the rights of people with disabilities. However, as activists soon discovered, implementation of the PWD Act and other laws was patchy at best; the law needed bolstering from non-profits and litigation. In 1996, the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation established the National Centre for the Promotion of Employment of Disabled People, currently headed by Abidi, to campaign for employment in the private sector. Yet, they soon understood that employment was closely intertwined with more basic issues. “Within the next one or two years, we realised that [employment] is not possible without education,” said Abidi. “Then we realised that
On 16 March, 1980 we took out a procession that was lathi charged by the police
“Today when I read the PWD Act, it seems to be seeped in charity,” Abidi said. “It is not as strong as it should be and it does not address the concerns of all people with disabilities.” The new bill makes a significant move from the “medical model” of disability to a social definition. This emphasis will likely be more pronounced, following the recommendations of the National Advisory Council, which review ed the bill recently. The shift implies that while physical impairment continues to be the basis for ascertaining disability, factors like gender, caste, geography and economic status also come into play. “All these issues will have to be given weightage when a person is certified,” Raturi said. “It has to be impairment-plus.” There have been dissenting opinions over the new Disabilities Bill, however. The NFB is critical of its vague nature: “The definition of disability is very broad and exhaus tive, which will be counter-productive for the severely disabled,” Rungta said. “Linking disabilities to socioeconomic parameters will bring in a lot of subjectivity, an element of arbitrariness in deciding who is disabled and who is not.” He argued that the bill vests too many responsibilities – formulating policies and their implementation, giving grants and administering funds – on proposed institutions like the National Disability Authority and the State Disability Rights Authority. Despite the debate, there is one clear change: disability rights are now more visible than ever before. Abidi recalled his early years in NCPEDP: “Whenever I used to meet people, they used to ask, ‘Where are disabled people? We don’t see them, except for beggars on the streets’,” he said. “So then we coined the other theory – unseen, unheard, unaccounted – that explains the paucity of legislations and resource allocation in this country. Today disability is on the radar screen of this nation, even it’s a small blip.”
in 2006 that the Confederation of Indian Industries recommended a Corporate Code on Disability. “The law does not mandate reservation in the private sector, as a result of which it gets away with a lot of freedom,” Rajiv Raturi, head of the disability division at HRLN said. “A Coca-Cola in America will employ disabled persons but a Coca-Cola in Delhi will not do so.” Raturi, who himself gave up a corporate job after an accident left him visually impaired, also pointed out that while the BPO and IT industry in Bengaluru has made an attempt, Delhi lacks similar initiatives. While individual efforts exist, like the Noida Deaf Society, which provides training and placement for disabled youth in companies, there’s no larger policy framework or adequate incentive for the private sector to employ more people with disabilities. If jobs for disabled people with education are scarce, there is barely any support for those living in poverty, despite attempts to extend the benefits of legal provisions to the urban poor. These attempts often start with the education system: Agarwal has been trying to get special educators in government and MCD primary schools and to have disabled children included in the 25 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections in Delhi’s private schools. While NGOs such as Astha in Giri Nagar and Viklang Sahara Samiti in Mongolpuri do good work, Raturi points to a deeper vacuum: “There is a huge requirement for poor disabled persons in slums to come together and start their own movement,” much like the active Viklang Manchas in many rural areas. Some of these concerns are tackled in the new Disabilities Bill, which addresses the limitations of the PWD Act and seeks to define disability in a more inclusive and holistic manner. One proposal for the Bill, which is currently being drafted, is to put existing Indian laws on par with the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which India signed in 2007.
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Astha Basti Vikas Kendra, Bal Mukund Khand, Giri Nagar, Kalkaji (2644-9026; www.asthaindia.in). Human Rights Law Network 576 Masjid Road, Jangpura (2437-4501; www.hrln.org/hrln/ delhi.html). m Jangpura National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People A-77 South Extension-II (2626-5647; www.ncpedp.org). National Federation of the Blind 2721 Chowk Sangtrashan, Paharganj (2355-0277). m Ramakrishna Ashram Marg Noida Deaf Society C-4/194 Sector 36, Noida (0120-4245061; www.noidadeafsociety.net). m Golf Course. Viklang Sahara Samiti Block-F-2/45, Mangolpuri (2791-3638; www.vssdngo.com).
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