Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Madhya Pradesh does not have any specific policy for comprehensive development of the Divyangs. To protect the rights and ensure a dignified livelihood to the differently abled people, the social justice department is working on a draft policy.
Sources in the directorate of social justice department said currently only Punjab and Kerala have their own ‘Divyang’ policies and their policies will form the base of our draft policy. Efforts will be made to incorporate the best practices of Divyang policy of the two states.
The Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis ,which has been tasked with drafting the policy, has sent a rough draft to the directorate, however, authorities are not pleased.
“We are not satisfied with the rough draft prepared by Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis.We are going to ask it to rework on the draft policy,” said a senior officer of the directorate.
“We want involvement of all the departments in the policy in ensuring various facilities to the Divyang people. We want to work more to safeguard the rights of Divyangs. It is for the first time that the Divyang policy is being prepared in the state,” he elaborated.
An officer of the institute, who is engaged in drafting the policy, said that the parents and disabled child are left in a lurch as their relatives start maintaining a distance from them. The policy would take care of many such issues, he said, adding that special focus is being given on education of children with special needs.
The draft policy is also mulling over making sign language compulsory in schools so that anyone (in future) can understand the sign language of Divyang. The draft also envisages research on Braille language.
“We are working on the Divyang policy and it is part of the work plan of the social justice department.”
Sonali Vayankar PS (social justice dept)
