From reliable sources, I have obtained the following letter sent by
the
Chief Commissioner- Disabilities to the Hon'ble Prime Minister today
morning in light of the Cabinet Meeting, on the lathicharge and also
move
to bring in an ordinance. Worth reading...
Ref.No.01-9/CCD/2011 Dated: 28th February,
2014
Respected Prime Minister
I am the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities appointed by
your
government. I am writing to you because of certain recent
developments,
which could cause both national and international embarrassment to the
country and therefore your personal intervention is necessary.
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment introduced the Rights to
Persons with Disabilities Bill 2014 in the Rajya Sabha in January. The
Bill
was introduced in fulfilment of our international commitment to bring
the
Indian law in conformity with the United Nations Convention on the
Rights
of Persons with Disabilities which India has since ratified. A large
number
of disability rights activists found the Bill to fail on the CRPD
standard
and consequently the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha referred the Bill
to
a
House Committee.
Subsequently, a number of rumours started to float that the government
intends to bring the Bill in the shape of an ordinance, which was
problematic because disability rights is not an unoccupied legislative
field. The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection
of
Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 already controls the area. If
the
Bill of 2014 is promulgated as Ordinance, it cannot become operable
unless
the Act of 1995 is repealed. The Act of 1995 has empowered a series of
individuals, bodies and authorities to implement the statute; all these
entities would become dysfunctional if the Act of 1995 is repealed but
there would be no time to establish and render functional the new
authorities because an ordinance can remain operable for a maximum
period
of seven and a half months without obtaining parliamentary approval.
The
enactment of the Bill through the Ordinance route will obtain no
benefit
to
the 13 new impairments, which the Government intends to include in the
Ordinance; but would create an enforcement vacuum even for the
disabilities
already included in the 1995 Act.
I have also come to know that the government is not planning to
promulgate
the Disability Bill of 2014 as an Ordinance but is planning to
promulgate
an Ordinance for the limited purpose of amending the Persons with
Disabilities Act of 1995 by including impairments which have been long
excluded from the benefit of the law. This amendment of the definition
of
disability in the Act of 1995 will be supported by the entire
disability
community.
However since no statement has been issued by the government on the
substantive content of the Ordinance that is to be promulgated and
the
enactment of Bill as Ordinance would cause irreparable harm to persons
with
disabilities, they have been agitating against the Ordinance in the
length
and breadth of the country. Some of them I am given to understand were
injured in police lathi charge whist agitating outside the AICC and the
Congress Vice-President's office. Whilst the Indian media has not
covered
the occurrence (except The Hindu dated 28.02.2014), it has been widely
covered in the social media and I am receiving innumerable calls and
e-mails from colleagues outside the country as to how a country which
has
ratified the CRPD can so deal with its persons with disabilities.
In the circumstances, I am writing to urge your office to issue a
statement
that the proposed Ordinance only aims to amend the Act of 1995 and not
to
enact the Disability Rights Bill of 2014. This statement from your
office
will restore peace and assuage the tempers of a highly agitated
community
and also give out a clear message to the international community that
India
is totally sworn to its international commitments.
I am sir, the first person with disability who has been appointed as
the
Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities and am committed to
the
cause both personally and officially. I would be more than willing to
brief
you in person in the matter, if I am granted an appointment.
With warm regards,
Yours Sincerely,
( P .K. Pincha )
Shri Manmohan Singh
Hon'ble Prime Minister of India,
South Block, Raisina Hill,
*New Delhi - 110 011*
Copy to: Hon'ble Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of
India, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi-110001
--
Warm regards,
Subhash Chandra Vashishth
Mobile: +91 (11) 9811125521
Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to. Consider
environment!
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..
