---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Santosh Kumar Rungta <[email protected]> Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2014 17:33:24 +0530 Subject: To: Dipendra Manocha <[email protected]>, J L Kaul <[email protected]>, "A.K. Mittal 2" <[email protected]>, rajive raturi <[email protected]>, K Ramkrishna <[email protected]>, Javed Abidi <[email protected]>, [email protected], Amba Salelkar <[email protected]>
To All the friends and activists in Disability sector, Dear colleagues, As one of the activists in the sector like you all I am sending this mail to apprise you with the development on the issue of Bill on the rights of persons with disabilities and also would like to share some of the concerns which every committed activist in the disability sector needs to pounder and decide for himself and herself the future of disability movement. To begin with may I draw your attention to the fact that some activists and particularly DRG activists campaigned for introduction and passage of the Bill on the rights of persons with disabilities without even caring to know its contents. This probably is the most damaging part of the activisms where advocacy is undertaken around such an important issue viz. legislation on the rights of persons with disabilities without knowing its contents beyond the comprehension of any prudent person. On the other hand my organization did not approve of this approach and instead started its efforts to obtain a copy of the Bill as approved by the Cabinet before taking the position. As soon as I could obtained a copy of the Bill as approved by the Cabinet and took a position that this Bill in its present form should not be introduced. I also simultaneously decided to initiate an indefinite agitation against this Bill and wrote a detailed letter to the then Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment along with suggestions for change in the Bill. I also circulated this letter along with the suggestions to all of you through mail. After its circulation among you all, Ms. Shyamala on behalf of DRG contacted us through Mr. Dipendra Minocha and a meeting was arranged in which it was decided that the Bill in the present form was not acceptable and a decision was taken to formulate amendments to the Bill for submission to the Govt. It is in this backdrop that a joint forum was formed and I made my substantial contribution in finalizing the amendments to be submitted collectively on behalf of the joint forum. Since my organization (NFB) had already given a call of indefinite agitation from 28.1.14, it was agreed that while NFB will continue with its announced agitation, the amendments to be suggested will be common. It was also agreed that the Forum was to work on the principle of collective leadership and also on the principle of transparency. On the first day of National Federation of the Blind's agitation we would called by Mr. Kapil Sibbal, Hon'ble Law Minister and this was communicated through Mr. Muralidharan representing NPRD to Mr. Javed and Ms. Shyamala but only Mr. Muralidharan turned up. However, I reported the deliberations that took place in the meeting with Hon'ble Law Minister who assured us to look into the issues afresh and even to refer the matter for opinion of Attorney General wherever required. Thereafter we also had a meeting on the next day of agitation with Secretary and Joint Secretary of Department of Disability Affairs wherein it was agreed that the amendments suggested will be considered and also that when the Bill will be introduced and referred to the standing Committee, the amendments suggested by us and accepted by the Govt. will be submitted to the Standing Committee as official amendments. This also was shared with everyone including the constituents of Joint Forum. Thereafter a press conference was organized on behalf of joint Forum and it was agreed that press statement draft of which was agreed upon will be circulated among the members and nobody will read the same. It was further agreed that representatives of different organizations will speak on the agreed issues. However, giving a go bye to this agreed arrangement, Mr. Javed started with giving a background and reading the statement as if he was leading the Forum. Not only this, he also summarized to reinforce that he was the leader of the Forum which arrangement was never agreed upon. The principle of transparency and collective leadership was also given a go bye when Mr. Javed and Ms. Shyamala went to meet Rahul Gandhi without inviting others and represented to him that they were the representators of the joint Forum. The story of self imposition of leadership, betrayal and violation of principles of transparency does not end here. The march organized on 3.2.14 at India Gate was a clear example of dishonesty and betrayal by the self imposed leaders. Mr. Javed and Ms. Shyamala disappeared from the spot without letting us know about any meeting with any leader or bureaucrat and did not come back until 1.15 p.m. Later it was revealed that they discussed the amendments submitted on behalf of joint forum as the leaders of joint forum and gave their agreement to the Govt. position with regard to the amendments without even sharing with anyone leave aside consolidating anyone. To our great surprise, it was learnt that they press for introduction and passage of the Bill even by compromising agreed non-negotiables. I have been able to find out that the non-negotiables on the issue of non discrimination section, reservation in promotion and even on the suggested formulation on legal capacity have been compromised. To put the blind sector to further dis-advantage they have also agreed to allow the Bill to be passed without the definition of low vision which is stated to be notified at a later stage. This is complete betrayal . The situation as on today is as follows:- The Bill is listed for introduction without amendments and in its current form before the Rajya Sabha for 5.2.2014 and Govt. claims to bring the official amendments later. This Govt. position cannot be understood as the amendments have not yet been approved by the Cabinet and thereafter how the official amendments will be brought is not understandable. There is an eminent danger that if the opposition does not rescue us, the Bill could be passed in its current form in which the entire responsibility will rest on the self styled leader/ leaders who have betrayal the disability community in the name of unity. I think that no one in the disability sector who is committed and who keeps her or her egos and interests aside for achieving the larger objective of protecting the rights of persons with disabilities, an allow this to happen and cannot make this subservient to such a self claimed leader. Let me assure you that our agitation against the Bill in the current form will continue and we will not allow its passage at any cost without proper amendments taking into consideration the interests of all disabilities. I would like you all to reflect an answer within yourself the following in the light of above situation: a) Can a activist be pardoned for undertaking campaign for the passage of the Bill without knowing its contents which will have a large implication on different disabilities? b) Can such an activist claim to be the leader and representative of a disability sector? c) Who is responsible for the introduction of such a flawed Bill and how a person responsible for the damage caused by introduction of a flawed bill by the Govt., can claimed the leadership of the sector? d) What matters more- an individual leadership or the interests of the disability sector. e) What is the wayout from this existing critical situation where Govt. has already notified the introduction of a flawed Bill and where the amendments are yet to be finalized and approved by the Cabinet. f) Should political affiliation of an individual overtake the interest of disability? g) In the name of unity of disability sector, should an individual or an organization be allowed to play with the sentiments of disabled for the self imposition of leadership. I leave you all with these thoughts so that you may individually or collectively workout your future strategy. With regards S.K. Rungta -- Ajay Arora phd research scholar Centre for the Study of Law and Governance JNU Nelson Mandela Marg New Delhi India Time to meet up again! Register for AccessIndia Convention 2014: http://accessindia.org.in/harish/convention.htm 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. 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