Survey of disabled in Rajasthan *Jaipur:* The state government is carrying out a survey on physically and mentally challenged persons for the first time. Under the new provisions, mentally ill patients — even those suffering from severe depression — would also be included in the category. Those identified, will be eligible to avail benefits under the provisions of Disability Act, after their scrutiny and certification.
A communiqué, directing all the district collectors, to make preparations was sent from the office of chief secretary to all the districts recently. Besides mental illness, six other categories—blindness, low vision, leprosy-cured, hearing impairment, locomotor disability and mental retardation—would be included in the survey as per the new provisions. "We have already drawn the modalities for the survey which is being carried out for the first time in Rajasthan. Special training and orientation programmes will soon be conducted all over the state for those to be involved in carrying out the survey, which will help them identify the disabled in accordance with the provisions," said Aditi Mehta principal secretary department of social justice and empowerment. Those identified as mentally ill by the surveyors would be scrutinised by the team of medical experts and would be later given a disability certificate. The training for the programme would begin from September 30 following which survey would be carried in the months of November and December all across the state. *According to a rough estimate, the number physically and mentally challenged persons could have reached up to 18 lakh by now in the state. In fact the question on disability was first included in the 2001 census schedule following suggestions from the ministries of social justice and empowerment and planning and programme implementation as well as non-government organisations. Subsequent census had placed Rajasthan on sixth position in terms of number of disabled persons present.* Voice your thoughts in the blog to discuss the Rights of persons with disability bill at: http://www.accessindia.org.in/harish/blog.htm 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
