Disability rights activist and National Committee on Rights of Persons with Disabilities & National Disability Network member Diethono Nakhro has alleged that Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) website did not comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and hence completely inaccessible to persons with disability.
In a letter to NPSC secretary, Nakhro said as per the 51st Annual Report of the commission tabled in Legislative Assembly last year and as reported in The Morung Express on December 19, 2017, it was the first public service commission in India to successfully implement fully online application and payment of fee for civil service (preliminary) examination under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP).
While congratulating the commission for its stride towards application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for delivering services, making it more convenient for citizens, he said he was constrained to point out that its website did not comply with WCAG and thus completely inaccessible to persons with disability.
Pointing out that a look at the website http://www.npsc.co.in/ showed that it was not WCAG compliant, Nakhro said the information and services being provided at the website could not be accessed by people with various disabilities, which was “discrimination and completely unacceptable”.
He urged the secretary to take immediate corrective action in this regard and ensure that the NPSC website provided equal access to all, including persons with disability.
The rights activist pointed out that India had ratified the United National Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, wherein under Article 9 it was critical to make ICT accessible to people with disabilities. He added that the new Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 had also come into force on April 19, 2017, wherein it was laid down in Chapter VIII Section 42 that the appropriate government would take measures to ensure that (i) all contents available in audio, print and electronic media were in accessible format; (ii) persons with disabilities had access to electronic media by providing audio description, sign language interpretation and close captioning.
In addition, the government had launched the Accessible India (Sugamya Bharat) campaign wherein the government had set a target to make 50% of all government websites accessible by 2019, while 50% of the documents published online also needed to be made accessible, the letter pointed out.