SPEECH OF SMT SONIA GANDHI

AT THE SEMINAR ORGANISED BY THE NATIONAL CENTRE

FOR PROMOTION OF

EMPLOYMENT OF DISABLED PEOPLE,

MUMBAI, MAY 6TH 1998

Mr Rajesh Shah,

Mr Anand Mahindra,

Mr Subodh Bhargava,

Mr V Krishnamurthy,

Ladies and Gentlemen

Just eight days ago, I had the opportunity of addressing the CII's Annual Session the focus of which was the economy.

Today, I am back with the CII on a subject of great social significance. Thank you for responding so positively to the request of the National Centre for the Promotion of Employment of Disabled People to help organise this seminar as a way of arousing public consciousness and spreading public awareness on the needs and the rights of the handicapped and the disabled who number over 60 million in our country.

Rajiv Gandhi believed firmly in the empowerment of the disabled. It was during his Prime Ministership that the Justice Baharul Islam Committee was set up to examine the problems of the disabled in a comprehensive manner. Among other things, this Committee recommended the passage of legislation to enshrine and protect the rights of disabled men, women and children.

The landmark Indian Disability Act, 1995 was finally notified in February 1996. This Act empowers the disabled with a right to demand for an enabling environment wherein they can enjoy protection of rights, equal opportunities and full participation in the developmental actiities of the country. But how many have even heard of this Act? Our immediate priority must be to enhance the awarness of this legislation and make the disabled conscious of their legitimate rights.

The Act also provides for incentives to employers at least 5% of whose work force is composed of persons with disabilities.

Titan Industries is a pioneer in this regard. In a similar interaction organised in Banglore last year we learnt that 5.55% of Titan's blue-collar work force is comprised of mobility-impaired, vision-impaired and hearing-impaired persons. And Titan has, in no way, suffered commercially.

But it is somewhat disheartening that even though over two years have elapsed since the passage of the Disability Act, no attempt has been made to translate the legislation into concrete policies and programmes that would provide a fillip to the employment of disabled people by the corporate sector.

I would urge the CII to take this up with the government. I know that the government takes you very seriously. Over the last seven years through my intimate invilvement with the activities of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation I have become painfully aware of the problems that the disabled face in our society. The Foundation has been working with a number of NGO's and voluntary organisations to provide assistance to the disabled.

Our experience has convinced me that the disabled do not want charity.

They want self-respect and dignity. They want an equal opportunity to become self-reliant. With a little assistance initially to bolster their self-confidence, they have shown themselves to be remarkably resilient and entrepreneurial. It is this spirit of enterprise that we must nurture and develop.

We have tried in our own modest way to mobilise support for the disabled in this manner. But we are acutely conscious of the fact that we have barely scratched the surface. The support of enlightened and progressive organisations like the CII gives us the confidence that we will be able to expand our activities in a meaningful and substantial manner.

I am sure that many of you have travelled to other parts of the world. What strikes the visitor most both in the USA, Europe and Japan is the special concern shown for the needs of the physically challenged. The design of vehicles, chairs, staircases, elevators, computers, telephones and a whole host of other products and services has been done keeping in mind their needs as well.

This is still at a very elementary stage in our country, although what has cought on in India is the STD-Public Call Office manned in many places by the disabled. Recently, a Professor from IIT Delhi demonstrated a computer that could be used by the blind. Dr. Abdul Kalam, the defence scientist who was awarded the Bharat Ratna this year, has been propagating the use of technologies from defence laboratories in creating more effective rehabilitation aids.

There are several socially-sensitive and conscious professionals here who have a number of innovative ideas to make the daily lives of the disabled less burdensome and more convenient. What these professionals lack is a mechanism to translate ideas into products and services that could then be multiplied on a large scale. These products could extend from computers to footware for leprosy-cured patients, from televisions with magnifying facilities to safety devices for use in agricultural machinery.

80% of our disabled population lives in rural areas but the bulk of available institutional and infrastructural facilites is to be found only in urban areas. The expansion of such facilities, particularly for children in rural India, is of paramount importance.

The National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation must emerge as the catalyst for this to happen. The Corporation must, in my view, work through NGO's voluntary organisations, cooperatives and the corporate sector. We will also need to deploy more mobile modes of diagnosis, and provision of rehabilitation aids and extension, apart from vocational training. I would like to make a special plea to the media that is represented here.

Our campaign for the rights of the disabled will not have its desired impact without your active support. I am aware that nothing excites the media more than politics and we have so much of it in our country. But issues of the handicapped and the disabled go beyond politics. These are basic social and human issues that all of us have to contend within a collective manner. The disabled can be made both stable and able.

Once again, I would like to express my thanks to the CII for joinin hands with the National Centre for the Promotion of Employment of Disabled People.

I see today's function not just as a one-shot affair but as the continuation of a fruitful partnership that will play an increasingly important role in assuring a better quality of life for the disabled.

Thank you

Jai Hind