The
state government on Saturday decided to continue the provision of free
uniforms to students with disability studying in special schools and
initiate steps for providing travel concessions to Persons With
Disabilities (PWDs) in the urban areas.
Chief
minister Naveen Patnaik while reviewing the welfare programmes for the
PWDs at the State Secretariat here, directed the women and child
development department to continue providing four pairs of free uniforms
to each student of the special schools.
Required
fund for the uniforms will be provided to each student at a time in a
year out of the Bhima Bhoi Bhinnakhyama Samarthy Abhiyan (BBSA) and the
Chief Ministers’ Relief Fund, sources said.
The
chief minister also asked the authorities to ensure provision of more
loan assistance with Differential Rate of Interest (DRI) to the PWDs to
make them self-reliant. Besides, a decision was taken to initiate steps
for providing travel concession to the disabled persons in the urban
areas.
Source informed the state government
had introduced the innovative BBSA scheme, a single window system, to
provide all assistances, including the minimum entitlements to PWDs.
Samarthy Sibirs are being organised under the BBSA for identification of
the PWDs and distribution of minimum entitlements.
So far, as many as 2.8 lakh PWDs have been registered by organising 621 Sibirs.
As
many as 83,000 PWDs have been issued income certificates, 68,000 bus
passes and 80,000 have been provided with Re1-a-kg rice.
While
2.18 lakh PWDs are given monthly pension, 14,970 disabled students are
being given scholarship to undertake higher study under the Banishree
scheme.
Besides, in order to facilitate
the PWDs get employment as well as self–employment, one special ITI has
been established at Baranga, sources said.
According
official sources, the number of PWDs per lakh population in Odisha stood
at 3,295 in 2011. About 50 per cent of PWDs have disability in movement
and about a quarter have disability in sight.
The
disability in hearing, speech and mind constitutes 20 per cent, 5 per
cent and 9 per cent of the total disabled population, respectively.
Source : India Education Diary , 28th April 2013
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