Dear Mr. Gajwani / Editorial Team of Economic Times, I am a corporate lawyer with blindness, and I invite your attention to an article published in Economic Times: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/urban-development-ministry-frames-accessibility-guidelines-for-buildings/articleshow/50159164.cms
An article on the similar lines was published in Times of India approximately two days before the date of this e-mail. The news items incorrectly state that the ministry concerned has prepared guidelines on the captioned subject, whereas the correct position as on date is that the ministry has issued a draft for public consultation on which comments are due by 7 January 2016. For your reference, the draft is here: http://moud.gov.in/sites/upload_files/moud/files/Harmonised_Guidelines_Draft.pdf A ministry release put up on the website for inviting comments is here: http://moud.gov.in/sites/upload_files/moud/files/pdf/HG_guideline.pdf You may recollect, long back I had e-mailed you about inaccessibility of Times Group mobile apps and websites, and your educated VP Mr. Punit happily replied that they will embed screen reader facility in their application without realising the economics involved and without putting any brain on the issue. Leaving everything aside, I want your editors to furnish a clarifications as to how and what level of quality check was done before these news items were published, and why appropriate action should not be taken for inaccurate reporting among others. Your team can reach out to me on: +91-9892622230 or respond to this e-mail. I am also copying Access India (a mailing list on disability and blindness related issues of approximately 2600 subscribers which include organizations too), for sending similar e-mails if this kind of journalism is not acceptable to them. Appreciate your team's response within seven working days from the date of this e-mail. Regards, Amar Jain Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
