Dear friends Lets be cautious about the intention of the GOI in diluting the provisions of the existing PWD Act. The members of the draft committe will have to bear responsibility if any thing goes wrong since it is contemplated that the draft Act is going to restrict the reservations in promotions. Lets all aware. With regards Amruth Reddy
________________________________ From: Vaishnavi Jayakumar <jayakumar.vaishn...@gmail.com> To: mhareformin...@googlegroups.com; MHA digest <mhanewsviewsin...@googlegroups.com>; accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Sat, 12 February, 2011 9:53:59 AM Subject: [AI] Fwd: "WHAT IS THE HURRY?" ASKS THE MINISTER. EXTENDS STATE CONSULTATIONS' DEADLINE TO 10TH MARCH ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Disability News and Information Service India <dnis.in...@gmail.com> Date: 12 February 2011 01:15 Subject: "WHAT IS THE HURRY?" ASKS THE MINISTER. EXTENDS STATE CONSULTATIONS' DEADLINE TO 10TH MARCH To: secretar...@ncpedp.org Dear friends, As much as some people may dislike or hate us or the kind of work/advocacy/information dissemination that we do, tough luck, it does have an impact! The New Law Committee's efforts to rush the process and hold by & large meaningless consultations across the country, suffered a setback today when MSJE Minister, Mr. Mukul Wasnik himself stepped in and asked "What is the hurry?" For the last several days, Disabled Rights Group (DRG), National Disability Network (NDN) and many other friends like Rajiv Rajan in Tamil Nadu, Srinivasulu in Andhra Pradesh; Gautam Choudhary in West Bengal and Javed Ahmad Tak in Jammu & Kashmir had vehemently argued: (1) that the draft of the new disability rights law must be first translated into regional/state languages; (2) it should then be disseminated widely and people, especially grassroots level disabled people, must get enough time to be able to read the draft and understand it properly; and (3) only then the state level consultations should be allowed to take place. However, unfortunately, no one was willing to listen! The Committee wanted to rush the process and hold the so called state level consultations across the country, during the 12th to 22nd Feb. time period!! Left with no other choice, we had to label the process a "sham". It seems that our voice reached the right people. Earlier today (11.2.2011), a meeting was organised here in Delhi by the Committee to brief their 'facilitators' on how to conduct the process. They were give a copy of the latest draft law, the 9th February, 2011 version. Along with that an 'Executuve Summary' was prepared and given. The booklet is neatly/crisply labelled "Persons with Disabilities Act, 2011"!!! The Committee, their consultant and whosoever their newfound friends are seem to be so overwhelmed that they forgot (momentarily, I guess) the fine difference between a Draft, a Bill, and an Act. Elementary knowledge a Class 8th student should have: only when a proposed law, ie a Bill is passed by the Parliament, can it be called an Act. Secretary MSJE, Mr. KM Acharya who was there at this meeting tersely pointed out, "I don't know how you are calling it (draft law) an Act. It has to be a Bill. It will become an Act only after it is passed by the Parliament." He also supported our demand for the translation of the draft law: "No way can this process be considered complete unless it (draft law) is translated into the state languages," he said. After him, when Minister MSJE, Mr. Mukul Wasnik spoke, he made the following rather instructive remarks: "What is the hurry? Time is certainly not a constraint". "Whatever is done, it should be as close to perfection". "None should be left out to say that she/he had a view but did not get an opportunity". "Meaningful consultation will not be possible unless consultations take place through state languages so that the mass of people can contribute". AND, HERE IS THE GOOGLY CUM BOUNCER COMBINED: *"I am glad to see Civil Society to be so vibrant, aggressive, informed, and committed".* WELL, TRUE, EVEN I FOUND IT HARD TO BELIEVE WHEN I FIRST HEARD THIS. OBVIOUSLY, I WAS NOT THERE BUT NOT ONE BUT TWO FRIENDS WHO WERE THERE AT THIS MEETING AND TAKING NOTES HAVE REPORTED THIS AS WELL AS THE OTHER REMARKS. Kudos, Mukul Wasnik ji, for once I am truly impressed. I am glad you have taken things in your hands. I am happy you are taking a personal interest in the making of this new disability rights legislation. More power to you! Anyway, the long and short outcome of today's meeting is that the deadline for the consultations has been extended to 10th March. And, as reported before, the consultations will take place only after the latest draft (9th Feb. version) of the new law has been translated into state languages. The deadline for the filing of the reports is now 15th March, and after that the Committee will meet one more time on 23rd and 24th March. With best regards, Javed Abidi 11.2.2011 -- *Communication Unit: *National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) A -77, South Extension Part II New Delhi - 110 049, India Tel.: 91-11-26265647 / 26265648 Websites: www.ncpedp.org and www.dnis.org Get numbers right this time, help the census with correct disability info! Get numbers right this time, help the census with correct disability info!
