Vulnerable Sections: Person with Disability (PwD)

Vulnerable Section: Person with Disability (PwD)

Vulnerable Sections 

1. Child
2. Old Age
3. Transgender
4. Person with disability

Person with Disability (PwD) 

• Concept
• Statistics
• Issues/problems faced by PwDs
• Way forward
• PwD Act

Statistics 

• According to the census 2011, 2.21% of the population of India are PwD.
• According to the Council of Social Development report -
• 56% of disabled are men.
• 70% of the disabled are living in rural areas.
• With respect to child with disability (CwD), one third (⅓) of them are out of the school (or never attend school).
• 55% of PwDs are illiterate.

• Who are Persons with Disability (PwDs)?

Disability refers to the lack of ability to perform an activity which is considered normal for others.

It is a negatively connotated term. Therefore, it should be replaced with the term 'differently abled'.

Differently abled person - A differently abled person is disabled not because they are mentally or physically impaired but due to the inherent nature of the society which stigmatised and ostracised PwDs.

The term disabled is significant because it draws attention to the fact that it is the public perception of the disabled which denies them access to opportunities for social and economic development.

So, a disabled person has -

• Limited access to education
• Limited access to skill development
• Limited access to formal job opportunity, etc

Thus. all these factors might lead the disabled person towards Poverty. And thus the vicious cycle of Poverty and Disability started.

Poverty → 

• Lack of access to safe neighbourhood
• Lack of access to sanitation, Hygiene, safe drinking water, etc
• Lack of access to qualitative health care
• More vulnerable to occupational health hazards, etc.

All these might lead to Disability.

Question for practice 

'Disability is as social as it is physical'. Discuss the statement in the context of Indian Society.

Issues with respect to Person with disability (PwD) 

1. Ambiguity with respect to the definition of PwD.
2. Lack of access to credible data.
3. Under reporting of PwD due to stigma associated especially with respect to mental disability.
4. Lack of infrastructure with respect to health, transportation, technology, etc.
5. Lack of effective policy making due to limited problems of PwD.
6. Lack of representation of PwD in key policy making positions.
7. Suffer from the 'Triple jeopardy'
1. Disability
2. Social Stigma
3. Poverty
8. It is viewed only as a medical problem rather than a social problem but this perception is not available with the people.
9. The public perception is that 'it is the retribution of past karma from which there is no respite'.

Way forward 

1. More stringent norms for ensuring accountability and responsibility with respect to implementation of policies.
2. Proper identification of beneficiaries through social mapping and credible data collection.
3. Promote inclusive education without labelling.
4. Create inclusive infrastructure
• For example - FICCI has come out with accessibility index to study how accessible the organisations are with respect to PwD.
5. Incentive should be provided to private employer to recruit PwD.
6. Focus should be on self employment.
7. Early identification and intervention to reduce the incidences of disability.
8. Provide aids and adoptive technologies at the subsidised rate.
9. Destigmatization of mental disability through awareness generation.
10. Give political voices to PwD.
11. Create institute for training professional care taker following NSDA (National Skill Development Authority) guidelines.
12. Provision for spending some part of CSR for vocational training and infrastructural creation vis-à-vis PwD.

Provisions of PwD Act 

1. The act is in line with UNCRPwD (United Nation Convention on the Rights of Person with Disability) and aims to encourage establishment to have PwD friendly workplace.
2. The act defines 'Disability' and the number of disabilities under this act was increased from 7 to 21. The act also empowers the central government to add more disability.
3. The act also defines 'Discrimination' wrt PwDs as distinction, exclusion, restriction on the basis of disability is not allowed with respect to civil, political, economical and cultural rights.
4. The concept of benchmark disability was introduced (at least 40% disability under this act).
5. Reservation under this act in higher educational institutions (5%) and in government jobs (4%).
6. The act also provides reservation of 5% to PwDs in allocation of land and poverty alleviation schemes.
7. There was a special provision for the child and the act provides Right to education for CwDs of the age group 6 to 18 years.
8. The act provides for the establishment of Central and State advisory body to serve as the apex body for policy formulation and implementation.
9. The act also provides for the penalties and imprisonment for the offences against the PwD.
10. It has also brought private establishment under its ambit.
11. It provides for the establishment of National and State level fund for the financial support.
12. There was a provision of special courts (at the district level) with respect to the violation of rights of PwD.
• Imprisonment - upto 6 months and/or fine of ₹10,000.
• Subsequent offence - imprisonment of 2 years and/or fine of ₹50,000 to ₹5 Lakh.
• In case of insult/molestation - imprisonment of 6 months to 5 years and/or fine

Question for practice 

Globalisation is a double edged sword which on one hand ensures economic growth but on the other hand assaults national sovereignty, erode local culture and threatens economic and social stability. Critically examine the statement.

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Notes on other subjects 

Ancient History

Medieval History

Modern History

Art & Culture

Polity

Geography

International Relations

Society

Optional Subject 

Public Administration

Note - This is my Vision IAS Notes (Vision IAS Class Notes) and Ashutosh Pandey Sir's Public Administration Class notes. I've also added some of the information on my own. 

Hope! It will help you to achieve your dream of getting selected in Civil Services Examination 👍