Forwarded message
--------------------------------------------------
Case.No.9/1104/12-13
Dated: 22nd January, 2013
To
The Cabinet Secretary,
Cabinet Secretariat,
Govt. of India,
Rashtrapati Bhawan,
New Delhi - 110 004
Subject: Regarding making all Government websites accessible to
citizens/persons with disabilities.
Reference: News item published in The Hindustan Times dated 22nd January,
2013.
Sir,
In inviting your attention to the subject and reference
captioned above, I am directed to state as under:-
1. That the Chief Commissioner for Persons with
Disabilities, Department of Disability Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice &
Empowerment, Govt. of India has taken suo-moto cognizance of the
inaccessible status of most of the Government websites on the basis of a
news item published in the Hindustan Times dated 22nd January, 2013 (copy
enclosed for ready reference).
2. That it appears that most of the Government websites are
inaccessible to citizens/persons with disabilities with the result that
citizens/persons with disabilities are unable to access useful information
which is available to others.
3. That the office of the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India,
appreciating the need and urgency of making all Government websites
accessible to all citizens/persons with disabilities is understood to have
passed an order about three years back recommending that all Government
websites be made accessible to the disabled.
4. The National Informatics Centre (NIC), Govt. of India
had also issued guidelines that all Government websites should conform to
the international accessibility standards, the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.
5. That it appears that despite the order by the PMO, and
despite the guidelines issued by NIC, most of the Ministries/Departments
have done virtually nothing to make all Government websites accessible to
the citizens/persons with disabilities.
In the above view of the matter, the Chief Commissioner for
Persons with Disabilities has advised as follows:-
(a) That the Cabinet Secretary may be pleased to issue
directives to all the Ministries/Departments to make all Government websites
accessible to citizens/persons with disabilities within a defined time
frame.
(b) That action taken in the matter may be intimated to this
Court/office within 30 days from the date of this communication.
Yours faithfully,
( S.S. Sinha )
Dy. Chief Commissioner
Copy to:
1. Director-General, National Informatics Centre, A-Block,
CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003
2. The Hindustan Times, HT Media Ltd., Hindustan Times
House, 18-20, K.G. Marg, New Delhi-110001
Encl.: As stated above.
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