Nagaland State Disability Forum (NSDF) has demanded that the State government should fully implement Rights of Persons With Disabilities (RPWD) Act, which was passed by Parliament in December 2016 and came into force in April 2017.
Addressing a press conference at Gethsamene Eatery, Duncan Basti here on Thursday, forum president Kezhaleto Zecho mentioned that all States and Union Territories were supposed to implement RPWD Act within six months of its adoption, He however said Nagaland had adopted rules only on August 16, 2018 and re-notified on February 21, 2020.
And as the government had re-notified the Act, he explained that NSDF wanted to ensure that all provisions in RPWD Act and Nagaland State Disability Rules (NSDR) were implemented in every government department.
The provisions include 4% job reservation (as notified on August 13, 2019), 5% reservation in poverty alleviation schemes, adequate resources, proper budget allocation and enough manpower to run the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (SCPD) office properly, pension for deserving persons with disabilities and State government to provide its share of pension to deserving candidates, inclusiveness of education, medical rehabilitation for PWDs, social employment exchange, etc.
The NSDF president said the mentioned agendas were the most important requirements of RPWD Act and demanded that these must be implemented fully by the State government at the earliest.
He alleged that though there were 29,631 persons with disabilities (PWDs) as per 2011 census in the State, only a handful were receiving the pension, adding that the census was also not very much satisfactory.
He pointed out that while a disabled person in Nagaland received only Rs 200 every month, States like Meghalaya, Sikkim and Mizoram provided a monthly pension of Rs 500, Rs 1,000 and 350 respectively. Delhi, on the other hand, provided Rs 2500, he added.
The Centre had sanctioned a pension of Rs 200 for PWDs every month, to which the States and Union Territories were mandated to contribute their share.
The NSDF president urged the State government to provide pension to all deserving PWDs and not a select handful, while demanding that all government educational institutions should adopt specific measures for children with or without disability to help them learn and study together. He called for adapting teaching and learning methods to meet the learning needs of children with disabilities.
The Act mandates that every child with disability must be admitted to these schools without any discrimination, and also ensure that children are able to study in these schools. Efforts must also be made to make campus and other facilities accessible by the disabled students, while various other modifications needed to be made in line with individual requirements of children.
The NSDF president further appealed to the government to sensitise teachers on how to handle students with disabilities and also provide barrier-free education.
He said some private educational institutions like Christian Higher Secondary School and St Mary’s School in Dimapur, Cherry Blossom School and G Rio Higher Secondary School at Kohima and Cornerstone Higher Secondary School at Zunheboto had been providing barrier-free education.
Zecho requested the State government to set up District Disability Rehabilitation Centres and Special Employment Exchange offices in every district.
Formed in 2014, NSDF – a State level disabled people’s organisation – has been continuously fighting and taking up issues of the disabled and advocating their rights with the State government and also organising disability awareness programmes across the State since its inception.
The forum has also urged churches to observe third Sunday of November as Disability Sunday, as notified by Nagaland Baptist Church Council, by organising programmes or awareness campaigns related to disability.