curent affairs

Until the 1970s, most of the people who suffered from any kind of disability were considered as outcasts from the mainstream society and were looked down upon. To put it bluntly, though it may sound politically incorrect, any disabled person was treated like dirt in Indian society. Most of these people were either seen as beggars or in better cases they were associated with the field of music. Even the system thought of them as a liability; these people were considered to be of little use to society and hence their concerns were severely disregarded. Many people thought of disability as the result of someone’s previous life’s sins and thus held them responsible for their present condition. This absurdity led to various forms of injustices in India.

In contrast, things were changing rapidly and drastically in the Western countries at this time. In the West, the disability rights movement had gained momentum in the 1950s, and by the 1970s it had begun challenging governments with a much greater force. In India, such demands had only started to emerge. Even in Western societies, people suffering from disability were not exactly treated as they should have been. The world was still only 30 years removed from Adolf Hitler’s attempt to eliminate the disabled population in Germany, due to his belief was that disabled persons were of no economic use.

In the West, things started to change after World War II, when thousands of soldiers returning home were left with several kinds of disabilities. These soldiers became an initial source of the DRM and they even saw some success in getting their rights, mainly because these soldiers were considered heroes of the war and thus their demands garnered immense public support.

No such thing happened in India. Most offers of assistance from Indian society toward its disabled population were viewed as charity rather than providing legitimate rights to PWD. Even the families associated with a disabled person were looked down upon and scrutinized in many ways by their relatives and neighbors. In many cases, this led to families disowning their disabled family members; disabled children were all too often left in orphanages. A severe kind of “shame” was associated with disability.

baba amte and leprosy

The government had recognized the need for such legislation in 1980. But since the legislative power regarding disability was kept on the State List, the matter could not be pursued. However, Article 253 of the Constitution of India enables the Parliament to override the federal distribution of powers and to give effect to a treaty entered with a foreign power or an international body, even if the matter of legislation relates to an entry in the State List. With the signing of the Proclamation of Equality and Full Participation of People with Disabilities in the Asian and Pacific Region, the PWD Act was enacted by Parliament in 1995.

The PWD Act was focused more on rights. The substantive provisions of the Act relate to prevention and early detection, education, employment, affirmative action, non-discrimination/barrier free access, research and manpower development, and institutions for persons with severe disabilities. After the PWD ACT, 1995 was enforced, a 3 percent reservation (comprising 1 percent reservation each for those with locomotor disability, hearing disability, and visual disability) was offered to the PWD category in educational institutions and government services.