Four years of effort that went into the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill
approved by the Cabinet last week might be completely wasted with
Parliament being adjourned sine die. The adjournment has put paid to the
hopes of the disabled people that the bill would be tabled in the Rajya
Sabha. Disability rights activists protested outside Shastri Bhawan on
Thursday against the lack of political will to see the bill through.
Four years of effort that went into the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill approved by the Cabinet last week might be completely wasted with Parliament being adjourned sine die.
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The ministry of social justice and empowerment and its department of disability affairs in particular had hurried the bill over to the Rajya Sabha following Cabinet approval on December 12 and had asked for a waiver of the five-day notice needed for an item to be listed on the agenda. The waiver needed a push from the ministry of parliamentary affairs, which did not come in time for the bill to be tabled before the adjournment.
"We are anguished over the manner in which the political class has once again treated us. For them, the 70 million Indians with disabilities are not a vote bank. The bill is nothing but a piece of paper unless it is tabled in the Rajya Sabha. If elections are announced tomorrow, the bill will be consigned to the rubbish bin after all the effort that has gone into drafting and redrafting the bill and consultations and the sending of the bill to the various ministries and state governments," said Javed Abidi, convenor of the Disabilty Rights Group that staged a dharna on Thursday.
As with the Lokpal Bill, if the Congress and Opposition come together and show some political will, the bill can be tabled and even passed when Parliament reconvenes early next year for the vote-on-account, he added.
Activists plan to meet political leaders from both Congress and Opposition, especially the BJP, and seek their assurance that they will come together on this non-political issue and ensure that the work of the last four years is not wasted.
The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act was first passed in 1995. After India ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), in 2009, it was decided that a new bill had to replace the old one to provide progressive and forward looking dimensions. The work on the draft started in April 2010 with a committee being constituted todraft the new bill.
Source : TOI , 20th December 2013
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