Centre for Internet and Society

Lakshadweep (Govt) Notifications

praskrishna — 2013-03-27T03:19:13Z

The following folder contains a series of notifications received by CIS from the Government of Lakshadweep recently.

The folder contains the following:

Guidelines for Functioning of KIOSKS for Encouraging Self Employment among Disabled Persons in the Islands, Lakshadweep.
Guidelines for Grant of Unemployment Allowance and Special Job to Persons with Disabilities.
Guidelines for Issuing Identity Card to Persons with Disabilities for Availing Government Benefits and Concessions.
Notification on Amendments in regard to Payment of Pension of Old Destitute Old-aged, Widows, Physically Disabled, Abandoned Ladies/Destitutes.
Notification on Setting up of District Disability Rehabilitation Centre at Kavaratti.
Notification for Constitution of a Local Level Committee for implementation of National Trusts Act, 1999.
Notification for Constitution of Lakshadweep State Executive Committee.
Notification for Constitution of Island Level Committee to Scrutinize, Certify and Recommend the Applications of Individuals/Voluntary Organizations related to Disability Section under the Chairmanship of Sub Divisional Officers/Deputy Collectors.
Notification for Constitution of a State Level Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Welfare) with Representatives of Concerned Department/Agencies to Co-ordinate and Monitor the Implementation of the National Programme for Rehabilitation for Persons with Disabilities in Lakshadweep.

Click to download the files (PDFs) received from the from the Government of Lakshadweep.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/lakshadweep-govt-notifications

National Resource Kit: The Lakshadweep Chapter (Call for Comments)

anandi — 2014-02-20T10:00:32Z

The National Resource Kit team is pleased to bring you its research on the state of laws, policies and programmes for persons with disabilities in the state of Lakshadweep.

The Department of Social Justice, Empowerment and Culture is responsible for welfare of persons with disabilities in Lakshadweep. The union territory has an estimated population of 1678 persons with disabilities in a total population of 64,429 people. Lakshadweep implements two schemes under Skill Development & Employment, three schemes under Social Security, Health, Rehabilitation & Recreation and has notified authorities for disability Certification and certifying Organisations & Individuals for Persons with Disabilities.

Click to download the full chapter (PDF, 187 Kb)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-lakshadweep-chapter-call-for-comments

National Resource Kit : The Meghalaya Chapter: Call for Comments

Manojna Yeluri — 2013-11-07T06:17:57Z

The National Resource Kit team is pleased to bring you its research on the state of laws, policies and programmes for persons with disabilities in the state of Meghalaya.

Note: The chapter is an early draft and will undergo subsequent modifications. We welcome comments and feedback from our readers.

Executive Summary

Meghalaya is one of the few north-eastern states, which has appointed a Commissioner for Disabilities. Most of the schemes and benefits given to persons with disabilities in Meghalaya are under centrally sponsored schemes. Very few schemes are initiated by the state government. Most of these schemes are in the fields of education and health and rehabilitation, and unfortunately one of the biggest lapses is that the state government has not yet identified jobs for persons with disabilities in the government sector and not provided for the mandatory 3 per cent reservation of jobs in the public sector for persons with disabilities.

Quick Statistics:

Capital: Shillong
Population: 29,64,007
Population of Persons with Disabilities: 1,00,000/- (approx)
Literacy: 75.48%
Department and Directorates:

The Social Welfare Department, Government of Meghalaya: This department provides services to persons with disabilities. Requirements for the welfare of the disabled people are taken into consideration including the type of disability, prevention, early detection and rehabilitation. The state has appointed a commissioner for disabilities as required under the Persons with Disabilities Act.

Legal Provisions

The state has not passed any special legislation for persons with disabilities but implements the provisions under the three central laws:

Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (Persons with Disabilities Act)
National Trust for Persons with Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999 (National Trust Act)
Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992

The schemes for persons with disabilities that are being implemented by the state are listed as under:

Employment

Currently there is no evidence that the state government has reserved 3 per cent of jobs for persons with disabilities in the government. The orders and notifications for reservations in government jobs show reservations made for various tribes and scheduled castes, but there is no reference to reservations for persons with disabilities.

Although the state has not provided reservation for persons with disabilities in government jobs, it has introduced the following schemes for vocational training, self-employment and for starting small businesses:

Vocational Training to Physically Handicapped for Self Employment Scheme: This Scheme provides financial assistance to NGOs for carrying out vocational training.
Uddyam Prabba: This is an interest subsidy scheme for self-employment. A person with disability who takes a loan from any bank or NHFDC can get interest subsidy of 5 per cent if he/ she is below poverty line (“BPL”) or 3 per cent otherwise on loan amount upto Rs. 1 lakh.
ARUNIM: Association for Rehabilitation under National Trust Initiative of Marketing has been launched to help persons with disabilities in product designing, production processes, packaging and marketing to enable them to be financially independent.
There are several centrally sponsored schemes for encouraging business and self-employment for persons with disabilities through loans and financial support under the following schemes:

National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation Schemes for Financing Projects
Self-Employment in Small Businesses
Assistance to Disabled Entrepreneurs
Assistance for Higher Studies, Professional Training
Assistance for Agricultural Activities
Scheme to Promote Manufacturing / Production of Assistive Devices for Disabled Persons
Assistance for Skills and Entrepreneurial Development Programmes
Schemes to promote Self-employment amongst Persons with Mental Retardation, Cerebral Palsy and Autism

Education

In the field of education, the state has provided schemes for scholarships, financial assistance, grant-in-aid, etc. These include schemes from the state government and some centrally sponsored schemes.

Scholarships and allowances: The state has enacted schemes to provide scholarships to students with disabilities in recognized schools, colleges, and institutions from nursery to post-graduate levels. The rates of scholarships vary according to the level of education and whether students are hostelites or day scholars. Reader allowance is also given to visually impaired students studying from class IX onwards. Awards are also given to meritorious disabled students. These awards provide for additional allowances to students per month.

Financial assistance to disabled students: This scheme provides financial assistance to disabled students for uniform grant, book grant, conveyance allowance and unempoyment allowance.

The Integrated Education of Disabled Children (I.E.D.C.) Scheme: This is a centrally sponsored scheme which provides educational opportunities for disabled children in common schools, to facilitate their retention in the school system and also to place in common schools, such children already placed in special schools after they acquire the communication and daily living skills at the functional level.

Grant-in-aid to Voluntary Organisations: This scheme provides financial assistance to voluntary organisations for maintenance of special schools and vocational training for persons with disabilities.

Aspiration Scheme under the National Trusts Act: This is an early intervention programme for school readiness. The scheme is to work with children of 0-6 years with developmental disabilities, to make them ready for mainstream and social schools. The activities carried out under this scheme are: awareness generation amongst parents of persons with disabilities, assessment and evaluation of children with disabilities, motivation and counselling to parents and families, training for daily living activities, pre-school skills – (pre-reading, pre-maths, etc.), Therapeutic services which includes physiotherapy / occupational therapy / speech / psychotherapy and psychiatric intervention, audio logical assessment and suitable referral, music drama / play therapy / pre-vocational training, facilitation in getting admission into special school and inclusive school and respite care services (for parents).

Gyan Prabba: A scholarship scheme for doing any employment oriented course after schooling. Under the scheme, a monthly scholarship of Rs. 700/- shall be paid for upto 1 year.

Samarti: This is a centrally sponsored scheme introduced for residential services – both short term (respite care) and long term (prolonged care). Activities in a Samarth centre would include early intervention, special education or integrated school, open school, pre-vocational and vocation training, employment oriented training, recreation, sports, etc. The facilities in the home would be available to both men and women on a 50-50 per cent basis and shall cover all the four disabilities under the National Trust.

Centrally sponsored schemes for the establishment and development of special schools.

Health & Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation Treatment for the Disabled Scheme: This scheme provides financial assistance to disabled persons who cannot afford to undergo treatment inside and outside state.

Gharaunda Scheme: GHARAUNDA or Group Home and Rehabilitation Activities Under National Trust Act for Disabled Adults is a new scheme for providing life long shelter and care to persons with disabilities in group homes.

Sabyogi: It is a new and revamped scheme of caregivers training and deployment. A new training module has been designed and a system of training and deployment of caregivers has been provided for under the scheme.

Assistance to voluntary organizations: This is for the rehabilitation of leprosy-cured persons.

Assistance to organizations: This is for persons with cerebral palsy and mental retardation.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-kit-the-meghalaya-chapter-call-for-comments

West Bengal Notifications (OCR)

praskrishna — 2013-03-15T05:23:22Z

Find below the unedited scanned versions of the notifications received from various departments of West Bengal.

Click to download the files (Zip Folder, 3.05. Mb).

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/west-bengal-notifications.zip

West Bengal (Govt) Notifications

praskrishna — 2013-03-14T08:42:42Z

The following folder contains a series of notifications received by CIS from the Government of West Bengal recently.

Click to download the files (PDFs) received from the various state departments from the Government of West Bengal.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/west-bengal-govt-notifications

Information about Schemes for Disabled Persons in Haryana

praskrishna — 2013-03-14T05:47:25Z

Find below copies of the notifications received from the Government of Haryana regarding schemes and policies for persons with disabilities.

HARYANA GOVERNMENT

SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT HARYANA

No. GA.I SW. 71, Dated, Chandigarh

The Governor of Haryana is pleased to make the following rules for the administration of the two blind institutions; namely (i) Government Institute for the Blind, Panipat and (ii) Training Centre for the Adult Blind Sonipat . These rules shall come into operation with immediate effect.
The aim of these rules is to regulate the administration of the blind institutions referred above in order to provide maintenance, education and training to such of the blind children and adults who do not have adequate mans for the maintenance, Education or training so as to enable them to become self sufficient, The sanctioned capacity of each Home shall be 100 or such other number as may be fixed by Government from time to time.
(i) The following categories of persons shall be eligible for admission to these institutions:-
(a)   Blind children of the age group of 6-18 in the Government Institute for the Blind, Panipat, and
(b)   Adult blinds of the age group of 16-40 years in the Training Centre for the Adult Blind, at Sonepat.
Provided that the monthly income of parents of such boys/adults do not exceed RS. 500/- p.m where the income of a parents/guardian exceeds the prescribed limit, admission shall be allowed if the parents/guardians fare willing to pay maintenance charges of the boys at the rate of RS. 30/- p.m.
(ii)   Admission to these institutions shall be open to the persons belonging to the State of Haryana or those who have domiciled and have resided in the State for the past six months or over.
Application for admission to these Homes shall be submitted in form Annexure A’ by the father or guardian of the intending applicant which shall be accompanied with the following documents, to the Deputy Commissioners or S.D.O (Civil) or Tehsildars concerned. The requisite application from shall be obtainable fee of charge from any of the aforementioned authorities or the office of the Director, Social Welfare Haryana, Chandigarh.
(i)   A certificate from a Government Doctor stating that the applicant is blind within the meaning of the following definitions;
(ii)   Total absence of sight;
(iii)   Visual equity not exceeding 3/60 or 10/200 (Snellen) in the better eye with correcting lenses.
It shall be the responsibility of the Authorities mentioned in par 4 above to carry out detailed enquiries into the financial position of each applicant and into other particulars given in the application form. These authorities shall forward the application with their detailed recommendations to the Director, Social Welfare. The application received in the Social Welfare Directorate shall be registered.
The Director Social Welfare shall be the authority competent to Sanction or reject the request for admission on the basis of the recommendations made by the local officers mentioned in para 4 above or such other authority as the sanctioning authority may consider appropriate. Decision of the Director, Social Welfare shall be final.
The persons admitted into the Government institutions for Blind, Panipat shall be eligible for maintenance up to the age of 16 years or till they complete their education upto middle standard, which ever is earlier, while those admitted into the Training Centre for the Adult Blind, Sonepat shall eligible for maintenance/training for a period of 2 years form the date of their admission. Extension in the period of maintenance in the Tanning centre for the Adult Blind beyond the limit of 52 years shall be allowed six months by the Director, Social Welfare.
All those who are allowed admission to these Homes shall be provided with free food, care, education or training. Medical aid and other facilities as are essentially required. The maintenance chares which are presently Rs. 22.50 per menses per head can be reduced or increased according to prevailing conditions.
The amount of maintenance charges from the inmates whose parents/Guardians have a monthly income exceeding Rs. 500/- p.m. shall be recoverable as in Rule 3 above, each month is advance and the amount thus realized shall be credited into Government Treasury under the appropriate receipt head of account.
The inmates of the Government Institute for the Blind, Panipat, who after passing their Middle Standard Examination want to continue their studies in other local schools functioning in the State, will be granted a monthly scholarship of Rs. 70/ p.m. per head, to cover their educational, boarding and lodging expenses etc till they complete their education upto metric or Higher Secondary Part II, provided a student is below the age of 24 years.
The Director, Social Welfare, Haryana will be the authority competent to sanction or reject the request for scholarship . Decisions of the Director, Social Welfare, Haryana shall be final.
A scholarship shall normally be cancelled if the scholar fails to pass in an annual examination of if his/her progress continues to be unsatisfactory for a periods of one year in spite warning.
In the case of renewal of scholarship of the succeeding year, scholarship will be paid from the months following that for which the scholarship was paid during the previous academic year.
The scholarship will be available form the date of admission up to the months of annual final examination for the first academic year.
These rules have been framed in consultation with the Finance Department vide the U.O advice No. ____________________________________ dated__________________________.

Sd/-
Secretary to Government, Haryana. Social Welfare Department.

DIRECTORATE OF SOCIAL WELFARE,
HARYANA, NOTIFICATION

No. 1971 /DDSW-GA-II/71 The Governor of Haryana is pleased make the following rules namely “Scholarships to the physically handicapped” which will come into force wit effect from Ist April, 1968. These rules are incorporating the amendments made from time to time and shall be applicable throughout the State of Haryana.

DEFINITIONS

The blind are those who suffer from the following conditions:-

The Blind

a) Total absence of sight.

b) Visual acuity not exceeding 3/60 to 10/200 (Sheller ) in the better eye with correcting.

The Deaf

The deaf are those in whom the sense of hearing is on functional for the ordinary purpose in life.

The Orthopaedically Handicapped

The orthopaedically handicapped are those who have a physical defect or deformity which cause an interference with the normal functioning of the bones, muscles and joints.

2. AIMS AND OBJECTS

The main purpose of these scholarships is to assist physically handicapped persons to secure such edu.cation, technical or professional training as would enable them to earn a living and become useful member or Society.

3. SUBJECT OF SCHOLARSHIPS

a) The Blind students upto the age of 20 years shall be eligible for scholarships for general education upto Metric/Higher Secondary.
b) The deaf. The Dear students upto the age of 20 years shall be eligible for scholarships for general education upto Metric/Higher Secondary.
c) The Orthopaedically Handicapped. The Orthopaedically Handicapped students upto the age of 20 years shall be eligible for scholarships upto Matric/ Higher Secondary stage. For further education the stipends are granted by the Government of India, Department of Social Welfare. The rate of Scholarships will be as under:-

4. Rate of Scholarships pear month.

Category of

1.8.72
Handicapped

Existing rates
Upto From High/ Pri- 5^th to Higher marry Middle Secondary
(From standard Ist to 4^th Class)

Revised rates w.e.f
Upto from High/ Primary 5^th Higher (From Middle Secondary Ist to Stand Classes. 4^th Class.)

i) Deaf & Dumb	Rs.35/-	Rs. 40/-	Rs. 45	40/-	45/-	50/-
ii) Orthopaedically handicapped	Rs.35/-	Rs. 40/-	Rs. 50/-	40/-	45/-	50/-
iii) Blind	Rs. 35/-	Rs. 50/-	Rs.70/-	45/-	55/-	75/-

Note:- There is no school for deaf & Dumb in Haryana State, the scholarships shall be paid to such students who shall received education in the schools/ institutions outside the Haryana State.

5. CONDITIONS.

A)      The candidate applying for scholarships under this scheme shall be resident of Haryana State and shall be blind, dear or orthopaedically handicapped as defined in rule I.
B)   Scholars selected for a scholarship under this scheme shall not be on receipt of assistance from any other Voluntary or State / Central source either in cash or by way of free board or lodging. Exemptions from fees shall not, however, be taking into account. Before the amount of scholarships is actually released, the father/guardians will have to be furnished a certificate in the prescribed form (Appendix A) duly attested by Gazetted Officer in the State or Central Government or by a first Class Magistrate.
C)   Scholarships under this scheme shall be tenable to any educational institutions recognized or approved by the State Governments or affiliated to a University. No scholarship under this scheme shall be awarded for study outside the State.
D) The Government will have the power to relax the conditions of grant of scholarships where it considers that a particular rule operates harshly upon a student in any way.

6. APPLICATIONS.

A) Applications shall be invited by the Director, Social Welfare Haryana, through announcements in the press. All applications should be made in the prescribed form (Appendix) B( ) and should reach the Director, Social Welfare, Haryana, by the date prescribed.
B) Preference shall be given to candidate who are already studying in recognised education institutions. The applications should be forwarded through the Heads of the Institutions in which the candidate is studying.

7. DOCUMENTS TO ACCOMPANY EACH APPLICATION
Every application shall be accompanied by the following documents.

a) MEDICAL CERTIFICATE.
A certificate that he applicant is blind, deaf or orthopaedically handicapped within the manning of the definition given in the rules from a registered medical practioner. If an applicant is selected, he shall be required to produce a Medical Certificate ( Appendix C-I, C-II, C-III) from a Government or private eye specialist, E.N.T. Specialist or orthopaedic surgeon as the case may be.

b) INCOME CERTIFICATE
A certificate in from Appendix upto from a Revenue officer not below the rank of Naib Tehsildar or any other officer of equivalent status, or an affidavit attested by first Class Magistrate or a certificate from a Gazetted Officer indicating the monthly income of both the parents or guardians of the scholar. The rate of scholarship from the various income groups is under:-

Income of both parents /guardians	Rate of scholarship
Upto Rs. 500/- P.M.	Full Rate
Between Rs. 501/- to 750/- P.M.	Two third rate (2/3)
Between Rs. 751/- to Rs. 1,000/-	Half Rate (1/2)

No. scholarship shall be paid to a candidate in case the monthly combined monthly income of this/ her parents/ guardians exceeds Rs. 1,000/

c ) EVIDENCE OF AGE

Any of the following shall be accepted as an evidence of age.

CERTIFICATE FROM

I) The Head of the educational institution last attended.

II) a gazetted officer.

III) a member of the State legislature, or

IV) an affidavit attested by a First Calls Magistrate.

Note:- At the time of applying for the grant of scholarship for the first time the Medical Certificate will be required and thereafter no Medical Certificate will be required for the subsequent years.

8. AWARDS
A) All application shall be considered by the Social Welfare Directorate. The orders of the Director, Social Welfare, regarding the grant of scholarships or rejection or suspension, through final, shall be subject to appeal to the Government.
B) Every selected scholar shall be informed of the duration for which he has been awarded a scholarship. The scholarships shall normally be available for the completion of Matric/ Higher Secondary Education subject to the availability of funds and to the scholars satisfactory conduct and progress.

9. PAYMENT
The Scholarship will be available from the month of admission upto the month of annual /final examination for the first academic year.

PROVIDED THAT:-

I) If a scholar joins an institution on or before the 20^th day of a month full scholarship money will be paid to him/ her for that month. But if he/ she joins the institution after the 20^th day of the month, no scholarship money will be paid to him/ her for that month.
II) In the case of renewal of scholarship for the succeeding year scholarship will be paid from the month following that for which the scholarships was paid during the Previous academic year.
III) The Head of the Institution shall obtain from the scholarship stamped receipt (Appendix Age) in duplicate in taken of having received the amount and shall forward a copy thereof to the Director, Social Welfare, Haryana, Chandigarh by the 10^th of each month for record.
IV) In case of misutilisation of any grant, Government shall reserve the right or recovering the same.

10. LEAVE DUE TO ILINESS.
a) For continue absence for a periods not exceeding three months. the scholarships shall be paid in full provided the request for leave is supported by a certificate from a registered medical practitioner.

11. PROGRESS REPORT
a) The Head of the Institution shall forward to the Director, Social Welfare, Haryana, Chandigarh, separately in respect of every scholar in his/her charge a quarterly progress report in the form given in Appendix age.
b) If the progress of a scholar is not satisfactory it shallow, be responsibility of the Head of the Institution where the scholar is studying to issue monthly warnings to him/ her to the effect that unless the scholar improve is/ her scholarship shall be cancelled.

12. RENEWAL AND CANCELLATIONS
a) A scholarship shall normally be cancelled if the scholar fails to pass in an annual examination of if his/ her progress continues to be unsatisfactory for a period of one year inspire warnings.
b) It shall be discretion of the Director, Social Welfare, Haryana, to renew the scholarship for such period as he considers fit if it is found that the failure of a scholar or his/ her unsatisfactory progress was due to circumstances beyond, his/ her control. Such renewals shall normally be made on the advice or the Head or the Institutions where the scholar is studying.

13. GENERAL
The State Government reserve the right to amount these rules without notice.

Sd/-
Secretary to Government, Haryana
Social Welfare Deptt.

The Financial Commissioner, & Secretary to Govt. Haryana, Social welfare Department.

The Director,
Social Defence & Security Department,
Haryana, Chandigarh.

No. 992 SW-(3)/93
Chandigarh, dated the 13/5/93

Subject:- Grant of scholarship under state sector- Amendments therein.

In continuation of Haryana Govt. Social Welfare Deptt. Sanction order No. 3924- SW-(I)-85 dated 25.10.85 on the subject.

Sanction of Governor of Haryana is hereby accorded to amend the rules and income criteria under the scheme scholarship to physically handicapped students under state sector who are receiving education in various Govt. / recognised educational institutions in the state under subject to the condition that the expenditure involved would be met from the savings of the department :-

Rule-I:- Definitions The blind are those who suffer from the flowing.

The Blind conditions:

a) Total absence of sight.

b) Visual acuity not exceeding 3/60 to 10/200 (Snallen in the better eye with correcting lenses.

The Deaf: The deaf are those whom the sense of hearing is non functional for the ordinary purpose in life.

Orthopaedically The orthopaedically handicapped are those who handicapped. have physical defect or deformity which cause an interference with the normal functioning of bones, musicales and joints.

(Scholars having disability less than 40% will not be awarded scholarship.

Rule-6(i) Rule-6 may be under as rule 6(i)

Rule (ii) Corse of studying:

a) The education from Ist class to Middle standard is divided into tow study courses i.e. from Ist Primary class to Vth class VIth to class VIIIth (Primary and Middle courses respectively)

b) The students will apply only once in a particular course of study for scholarship n particular class and will continue to receive scholarship on the basis of the annual Progress Report till the completion of the particular course of study. He/she will have to the particular course of study. He/ she will have to apply afresh only on the change of course of study i.e. in 6^th class (Middle course of study).

Rule-7: Documents to accompany each application.
Evert application shall be accompanied by the following documents at the start of the particular course of study i.e. from Ist class and VIth class.

b) A certificate in form (Appendix-D) from a Revenue officer not below the rank of Naib Tehsildar or any other officer of equivalent status, or an affidavit attested by a Ist class Magistrate or a certificate from a Gazetted officer indicating the monthly income of both the parents or the Guardians of the scholar. The rate or the Guardians of the scholar. The rate of scholarship for the various income groups is as under:-

Sr. No.	Income of both the parents	Rate of scholarship per month.
1	Income upto Rs. 4000/- P.M.	Full rate
2	Income above Rs. 4000/- P.M.	No scholarship will be awarded.

No scholarship will be awarded to a candidate in case of monthly combined income of his/ her parents/ guardians exceeds Rs. 4000/- per month.

Rule 11. Progress Report

a) The Head of the Institution shall forward to the Director, Social Defence & Security, Haryana, Chandigarh Separately in the succeeding year of the course of study i.e. 2^nd,3^rd, 4^th and 5^th year of the primary course of study ad in VII and VIII the year of the Middle course of study in respect of every scholar in his/ her Annual Progress Report of every scholar in his/ her Annual Progress Report in the form given in appendix- F (Revised Performa attached.

3. The expenditure involve would be debatable out of the following head of accounts:

i) “2235- Social Security & Welfare -02- Social Welfare- Part-I-State Pla Scheme-101- Welfare of Handicapped Social Defence & Security Directorate-(i) – Scholarship to physically handicapped students – scholarships.”

ii) “2235-Social Security & welfae-02- Social Welfare- 101- Welfare of handicapped – Social Defence & Security Directorate-(v) – Scholarships to physically handicapped students scholarship-Non-Plan.”

This issues with the concurrence of Finance Department conveyed vide their U.O. No. 1/122/85-FG/2841 dated 18.12.92.

Sd/-

Joint Secretary, for Financial Commissioner & Secy. to Govt.Haryana, Social Welfare Department.

Endst. No. 992/SW/-(I)- 97, Chandigarh the 13/5/93

A copy as above is forwarded for information and necessary action to the:-

Accountant General ( A&E) , Haryana, Chandigarh.
Accountant General (Audit), Haryana, Chandigarh.
All District Social Welfare Officers in the State.

Sd/-

Joint Secretary, for Financial Commissioner & Secy. to Govt. Haryana, Social Welfare Department.

From

The commissioner & Secy. to Govt. Haryana.
Social Welfare Department.

The Director,
Social Defence & Security Department,
Haryana, Chandigarh.

Memo No. 1508 SW/Dated, Chandigarh the 1-8-94

Subject:- Grant of Scholarship under State Sector- Amendments there of.

In continuation of Haryana Govt. Social Welfare Deptt. sanction order NO. 992-SW(i)/93, dated 13.5.93 on the subject.

Sanction of the Governor of Haryana is hereby accorded to amend the Rules under the Scheme “ Scholarships to Physically Handicapped Students under State Sector who are receiving education in various Govt. / recognized Educational Institutions in the State, as under, subject to the condition that he expenditure involved would be met from the savings of the Department:-

Rules -9 payment

The scholarship will be available to each students from the month of April to the month of March i.e. for full academic years, subject to the condition that fee is paid for full academic year.

provided that

(i) & (ii) deleted.

(iii) The head of the Institution shall obtain from the scholar stamped receipt ( Appendix ‘E’) in duplicate in taken of having received the amount and shall forward a copy there of to the District Social Welfare officer of the respective district by the 10^th of the next month, for record.

(iv) No Change.

Sd/-

Joint Secretary, for Commissioner & Secy. to Govt. Haryana
Social Welfare Department.

Endst. NO. Dated, Chandigarh the

A copy is forwarded to the following for information and necessary action:-

1. Accountant General ( A&E) Audit) Haryana, Chandigarh.

2. All District Social Welfare officer in the Haryana.

Sd/-

Joint Secretary,

for Commissioner & Secy. to Govt. Haryana

Social Welfare Department.

TO BE SUBSTITUTED BEARING SAME NO. & DATE.

From

The Commissioner & Secy. to Govt. Haryana.
Social Welfare Department.

The Director,
Social Defence & Security Department,
Haryana, Chandigarh.

Memo NO. 758-SW(1) 95
Dated, Chandigarh, 31-3-95

Subject:- Grant of Scholarship to the Physically Handicapped students from Ist class to and the class to higher studies.

In continuation of Haryana Government Social Welfare Department sanction order No. 8550-53-GA-ii (SW-72 dated 2.8.72 and Memo No. 3924-SW(1)-85, dated 25.10.85, No. 992- SW(1)93, dated 13.5.93 and NO. 1258-SW(1)94, dated 13.694, sanction of the Governor of Haryana is herby accorded to revise the rates of scholarship to the physically Handicapped students receiving education in the various Govt. / Recognised Schools/ Colleges in the State with effect from 1.10.94 as desired by P.A.C. as under, subject to the condition that the expenditure involved on this account would be met from the savings of the department:-

Rates of Scholarship from Ist Class to VIII Class.

Sr. No.	Nature of the Disability		Upto Primary Class from Ist to IV Class & V Class	Upto Middle from VI Class to 8^th Class.
1	Deaf & Dumb	Rs. 100/-	120/-	120/-
2	Orthopeadically	Rs. 100/-	120/-	120/-
3	Blind	Rs. 100/-	150/-	150/-
4	Mentally Retarded Children	Rs. 100/-	100/-	100/-

Rates of Scholarship from IX Class to Higher studies

Type of Courses	Rates of Scholarship per month for day scholars	Rates for month hostellers	Readers allowance for Visually6 Handicapped only pr month
Class IX, X Pre- University Course and IA/ SC	Rs. 125/-	Rs. 150/-	Rs. 50/-
BA/B.Sc. / B.Com. etc.	Rs. 200/-	Rs. 225/-	75/-
B.E/ B.Tech./ M.B.B.S./L.L.B./ B.Ed. Diploma in professional and Engineering Studies etc. in plan Training	Rs. 250/-	Rs. 300/-	Rs. 100/-
M.A./ M.Sc. / M. Com. L.L.M. / M Ed. etc.	Rs. 300/-	Rs. 400/-	Rs. 100/-

The expenditure involved would be debatable out of the saving under the head: “2235-Social Security & Welfare-02-Social Welfare (SDS-101-Welfare of Handicapped )- (iii) Scholarship to Physically Handicapped students –Non- Plan and

“2235-Social Security & Welfare- 02-Social Welfare (SDS)-101-Welfare of Handicapped Part-I-State Plan Scheme (i) Scholarship to physically Handicapped students Plan”

This issues with the concurrence of Finance Department conveyed of their U.O. No. 3/2/92/3FG-II/741 dated 31.3.95.

Sd/-

Joint Secretary for Commissioner & Secy. to Govt. Haryana,
Social Welfare Department.

From

The Commissioner & Secy. to Govt. Haryana.
Social Welfare Department.

The Director,
Social Defence & Security Department,
Haryana, Chandigarh.

Memo NO. 219-SW(1) 96
Dated, Chandigarh, 31-2-96

Subject:- Enhancement of Income Criteria of the parent / guardians from Rs. 2000/- to 6000/- per month for the grant of scholarships to Physically Handicapped students studying in the higher classes/ diploma course.

In continuation of Haryana Govt., Social Welfare Deptt. order No. 750-SW(1)-95, dated 31-3-95 the Governor of Haryana is pleased to increased income Criteria of the parents/guardians from RS. 2000/- to 6000/- per month for the grant of scholarships to physically handicapped students studying in the higher classes, diploma courses with effect from 1.4.95, (9^th class onward.)

2. This issues with the concurrence of Finance Deptt. conveyed vide their U.O. No 3/2/92-3FG-II/2610, dated 4.1.96.

Sd/- Joint Secretary

for Commissioner & Secy. to Govt. Haryana,
Social Welfare Department.

Endst. No. 219-SW(1) -96 Dated, 13.2.96

A copy is forwarded to the following for information for a necessary action:-

Accountant General (ASE/ AUDIT), Haryana, Chandigarh.
All Deputy Commissioner in the Haryana state.
All District Social Welfare Officers in the Haryana Sate.
All Deputy Director at Head Quarter.
All Superintendent at Head Quarter.
Senior Accounts Officer, Head Quarter.

Sd/- Joint Secretary
for Commissioner & Secy. to Govt. Haryana, Social Welfare Department.

From

The Commissioner & Secy. to Govt. Haryana.
Social Welfare Department.

The Director,
Social Defence & Security Department,
Haryana, Chandigarh.

Memo NO. 3422-SW(1) 2002
Dated, Chandigarh, 25.11.2002

Subject:- Enhancement in the rates of Scholarships for Blind students Hostlers & Readers allowance to Blind students studying in the higher classes, diploma course w.e.f. 1.11.2002

In continuation of Haryana Govt. Social Welfare Department order No. 758-SW(1) 95 dated 31.3.95 and 219 SW(1) 96 dated 13.2.96. The Governor of Haran is pleased to increase the rates of scholarships (Hostlers & Reader’s allowances) to only blind students studying in the higher classes, diploma course w.e.f 1. 11..2002 (9^th class onwards) as under:-

Rates of scholarship from 9^th class to higher studies.

Rates of Scholarship

1	2	3	4
Type of Course	Rate per month for day scholars Not revised	Rate per month for hostellers Revised w.e.f. 1.11.02 (only for Blinds)	Readers allowance for Visually (blinds) Handicapped only per month

1. Class IX, X, Pre-University Course and I.A./I.Sc.	125/-	300/-	150/-
2. B.A/ B.Sc / B.Com. etc.	200/-	400/-	200/-
3. B.Ed/ B.Tech. / MBBS/ L.L.B/ B.Ed. Diploma in Professional and Engineering studies etc./ In Plan training	250/-	500/-	250/-
4. M.A/ M. Sc/ M.Com/ LLM/ M.Ed etc.	300/-	500/-	250/-

The expenditure would be debatable out of saving under the head “ 2235- Social Security & Welfare -02 Social Welfare- 101-Welfare of Handicapped- (iv) Scholarship to Physically Handicapped students Non Plan (SJE)” and “ 2235—Social Welfare -101- Welfare of Handicapped Part I State.

Plan Scheme – (iii Scholarship to Physically Handicapped students Plan (SJE).

The issues with concurrence of Finance Department conveyed vide of their U.O. No. 3292 3 FG II(2397) dated 29.10.02

Sd/-
Joint Secretary for Commissioner & Secy. to Govt. Haryana,
Social Welfare Department.

Endst. No. 3422- SW(1) 2002 dated 25.11.2002

Accountant forward to the following for information & necessary action:-
1.    Accountant General ( A&E Audit, Haryana, Chandigarh.
2.    All Deputy Commissioners in the Haryana State.
3.    All Distt. Social Welfare Officers in the Haryana State.
4.    All Deputy Director at Headquarter.
5.    Senior Accounts Officer Head Quarter.

Sd/-
Joint Secretary for Commissioner & Secy. to Govt. Haryana, Social Welfare Department.
A copy is forwarded to the Finance Commissioner & Secretary to Govt. Haryana Finance Department with reference to his U.O.No 3292 3 FG II(2397) dated 29.10.02 F.G.
Sd/-
Joint Secretary for Commissioner & Secy. to Govt. Haryana, Social Welfare Department.

To
Financial Commissioner Secretary Govt.
Haryana Finance Department
No. 3422   SW(1) 2002 dated 25.11.2002

From

The Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary,
to Govt. Haryana, Social Justice & Empowerment Department.

To
The Director, Social Justice & Empowerment Department, Haryana.
Memo No. 483-SW(I)-10
Chandigarh, dated 20-10-2010.

Subject: Enhancement in the Rates of Scholarship and income criteria of the parents/guardians for the Handicapped Students.
In continuation of Haryana Govt. Social Justice & Empowerment Department letter No. 3422-SW(I)2001 dated 25-11-2002 and instructions issued thereof from time to time, the Governor of Haryana is pleased to increase the rates of scholarship to the physically Handicapped Students of Haryana State studying in various classes of various Govt./Recognized Schools, Colleges in the State w.e.f. 1-4-2010, as per details given below:-

Sr. No.	Type of class	Rates of Scholarship for day scholars per month	Rate of scholarship for hostellers per month	Reader allowance for visually handicapped only per month.
1	Class I-IV	300/-	-	-
2	Class-V-VIII	400/-	-	-
3	Class- IX-XII	500/-	600/-	300/-
4	B.A/B.Sc/B.Com	600/-	800/-	400/-
5	B.E/B.Tech./MBBS/LLB/B.Ed and diploma in professional & engineering studies etc.	800/-	1000/-	500/-
6	MA/MSC/M.Com/LLM/M.Ed/M.Tech, etc	1000/-	1000/-	500/-

2. The revised Rates of the scholarship will be subject to the condition that income criteria of the parents/guardians of handicapped students is hereby fixed Rs. 10,000/- p.m.

3. The expenditure involved would be debitable to the head"2235 Social Security and welfare-02-Social welfare (Social Justice & Empowerment Department Haryana) 101-Welfare of Handicapped-97(iv) Scholarship to Physically Handicapped Students-Non Plan 2010-11.

4. This issue with the concurrence of Finance Department conveyed vide their U.O. NO. 3/2/92-3FG-II/1950 dated 24-9-2010.

Sd/- Deputy Secretary,
Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary, to Govt. Haryana,
Social Justice & Empowerment Department

Endst. NO. 483-SW(I) 2010 Chandigarh, dated the 20-10-2010

A copy of above is forwarded to the following for information and necessary action;-
1.    Accountant General (A&E)/Audit, Haryana, Chandigarh.
2.    Joint Director, at Headquarter.
3.    Chief Account Officer, Budget, at Headquarter.
4.    All District Social Welfare Officer in the State.

Sd/-
Deputy Secretary,
Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary to Govt. Haryana,
Social Justice & Empowerment Department

A copy forwarded to the Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary to Govt. Haryana, Finance Department with reference to his U.O. No. 3/2/92-3FG-II/1950 dated 24-9-2010.

Sd/-
Deputy Secretary,
Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary, to Govt. Haryana,
Social Justice & Empowerment Department

To
The Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretariat to Govt. Haryana, Finance Department.
No. 483 -SW(1) 2010 Chandigarh, dated the 20-10-2010

From
The Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary,
to Govt. Haryana, Social Justice & Empowerment Department.

To
The Director, Social Justice & Empowerment Department,
Haryana.

Memo No. 848-SW(4)-2011
Chandigarh, dated 28-11-2011.

Subject: Enhancement in the Rates of Scholarship and income criteria of the parents/guardians for the Handicapped Students.
In continuation of Haryana Govt. Social Justice & Empowerment Department letter No. 483-SW(I)2010 dated 20-10-2010 and instructions issued thereof from time to time, the Governor of Haryana is pleased to increase the rates of scholarship to the physically Handicapped Students of Haryana State studying in various classes of various Govt./Recognized Schools, Colleges in the State w.e.f. 2012-2013 as per details given below:-

Sr. No	Type of class	Rates of Scholarship for day scholars per month	Rate of scholarship for hostellers per month	Reader allowance for visually handicapped only per month
1	Class I-IV	400/-	-	-
2	Class-V-VIII	500/-	-	-
3	Class- IX-XII	600/-	600/-	300/-
4	B.A/B.Sc/B.Com	600/-	800/-	400/-
5	B.E/B.Tech./MBBS/LLB/B.Ed and diploma in professional & engineering studies etc	800/-	1000/-	500/-
6	MA/MSC/M.Com/LLM/M.Ed/M.Tech etc	1000/-	1000/-	500/-

2. The revised rates of the scholarship will be subject to the condition that income criteria of the parents/guardians of handicapped students is hereby fixed Rs. 10,000/- p.m.
3. The expenditure involved would be debitable to the head"2235 Social Security and welfare-02-Social welfare (Social Justice & Empowerment Department Haryana) 101-Welfare of Handicapped-97(iv) Scholarship to Physically Handicapped Students-Non Plan 2012-13.
4. The issued with the concurrence of Finance Department conveyed vide their U.O. NO. 3/2/92-3FG-II/1865 dated 18-10-2011.

Sd/-
Deputy Secretary,
Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary, to Govt. of Haryana,
Social Justice & Empowerment Department

HARYANA GOVERNMENT
SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT

No. 1344- SW(1) -81:- The Governor of Haryana is pleased to formulate the following rules governing the scheme for the grant of Unemployment Allowance to the Physically Handicapped persons.

Objectives
It is observed that the Employment of the Handicapped is very meagre. The employers show reluctance to employ them even if the handicapped possess requisite qualifications. Their period of wait after the completion of education and training is also unduly long. In order to mitigate the economic difficulties faced by the handicapped, maintenance grant will be given to all the educated physically handicapped persons who are qualified to get jobs but are not able to find employment due to various reasons.
The department is also implementing a scheme for grant of educational scholarship to the blind. Financial assistance being given under the state Govt. and Govt. of India’s Scheme. The rate of unemployment allowance Rs. 50/- to matriculates, Rs. 100/- to Graduate / Diploma holders and Rs. 150/- to post-graduate will not in any way discourage the handicapped persons from seeking further education. This scheme is to be implemented with effect from 1-4-1981.

II-Eligibility
All educated unemployed, applicants shall be eligible for the grant of unemployment allowance who are physically handicapped in accordance with the criteria given in Appendix-I and are enrolled:-
(a) An applicant should not be availing of financial assistance under any pension, maintenance or scholarship scheme of the State or Central Government or from any other organisati0on or agency;
(b) State/ Central Govt. employees and also those of the public Sector understanding, local bodies and quasi-Govt. institutions, who may have been dismissed from service or are in receipt of pensions form such employers and persons convicted of cognisable offences involving moral turpitude shall not be eligible for the benefits under this scheme.

III- Rate of Unemployment Allowance.
The following shall be the rates for the payment of unemployment allowance:-
Matric Rs. 50/-P.M.
Graduate/Diploma Holders Rs. 100/-P.M.
Post Graduates Rs. 150/- P.M.

IV- Duration
Financial assistance will be given for a period of six year from the date of application or registration in the Employment.

V- Application for Unemployment Allowance.

Applications for Unemployment allowance shall be submitted to the Director, Social Welfare, Haryana, on the prescribed form as at Appendix –II, Applications will be processed and submitted in his office and the decision of the Director, Social Welfare, Haryana shall be final.

VI- Power to sanction Unemployment Allowance.

The power to sanction Unemployment Allowance shall vest in the Director, Social Welfare or an officer not below the rank of class II officer who may be delectated such authority by him.

VII- Stoppage or Recovery of the Unemployment Allowance

The authority empowered to sanction the Unemployment Allowance may:-

(a) Step the payment of the unemployment allowance to any recipient, if the said allowance is no more payable to any change in the circumstances in which the some was sanctioned:
(b) Withdraw or with held the payment of unemployment allowance if at any stage it is discovered that the unemployment allowance was not admissible in the first instance and it was sanctioned by mistake or an false information or in disregard of any condition subject to which it could be sanctioned. The amount of unemployment allowance already paid may also be recovered without prejudice to an action, whether civil or criminal to which the recipient may be liable.
ii) In the event of the death of the recipient the un-employment allowance shall cease to the payable and if the recipient died before receiving any payment the amount not disbursed shall lapse to the Government.
iii) If at any time, a money order retaining to the disbursement of the unemployment allowance is received back undelivered due to any reasons whatsoever, the amount shall be predicted to the Government account unless it is claimed person all by the recipient within on month of its receipt.

VIII- Remittance of unemployment allowance.

The unemployment allowance shall be remitted to the recipient by money order on quarterly basis at the cost of the Government.
XI- Unemployment Allowance not enforceable through court of law.
The unemployment allowance under these shall not be enforceable though the court of law.

X- Yearly affidavit.
To draw the unemployment allowance in a subsequent year, the handicapped will be required to give an affidavit at the beginning of every financial year that they contained to be unemployment.

TIRLOCHAN SINGH
Commissioner & Secretary Officer
Haryana Social Welfare Department

(Extract Haryana Government Gazette, dated the 5th December, 1995)

HARYANA GOVERNMENT

SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT

Notification

The 13^th November, 2003

No. 1935-SW(1) 95 In partial modification of Haryana Government, Social Welfare Department Notification No. 3144-SW(1) 81, dated the 7th December, 1981, the Governor of Haryana is pleased to amend para 3 of the rules governing the Scheme for the grant of unemployment allowance to the Physically Handicapped Persons with effect from Ist April, 1996 as under:-

(III) Rates of Unemployment Allowance

The following shall be the rates for the payment of unemployment allowance :-

1.      Matric/ Middle Pass Diploma Holder                           Rs.150/-
2.      Graduate/ Matric Pass Diploma Holder                       Rs. 200/-
3.       Post Graduate, Graduate Diploma Holder                   Rs. 250/-

3. This issues with the concurrence of Finance Department conveyed vide their U.O.No 1/88/95-3 FG-II/2374/01, dated 28th November, 2003.

VEENA EAGLETON,

Commissioner and Principal Secretary to
Government of Haryana, Social Welfare Department.

Extract Haryana Government Gazette, dated the 23rd December, 2003

HARYANA GOVERNMENT

SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT

Notification

The 8^th December, 2003

No. 3012-SW(1)2003. In partial modification of Haryana Government, Social Welfare Department Notification No. 3144-SW(1)81, dated the 7th December, 1981, the Governor of Haryana is pleased to increase the rates of unemployment allowance under para 3 of the rules governing the scheme Unemployment allowance to Educated Physically Handicapped Persons w.e.f. 3rd December, 2003 as under:-

(1) Rates of Unemployment Allowance

The following shall be the rates for the payment of unemployment allowance :-

1. Matric/ Middle Pass Diploma Holder Rs. 200/- p.m

2. Graduate/ Matric Pass Diploma Holder Rs. 250/- p.m.

3. Post Graduate, Graduate Diploma Holder Rs. 300/- p.m.

This issues with the concurrence of Finance Department conveyed vide their U.O.No 1/88/95-3 FG-II/2374/01, dated 28th November, 2003.

VEENA EAGLETON,
Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary to Government of Haryana
Social Welfare Department
Chandigarh
The 28th November, 2003

Haryana Government Gazette, dated the 13^th February, 2007

HARYANA GOVERNMENT

SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT

Notification

The 24^th January, 2007

No. 94-SW(1)2007. The Governor of Haryana is pleased to increase the rates of Unemployment Allowance to 100 percent Handicapped Persons ( Blinds/ Orthopaedically Handicapped/ Deaf and Dumb) only under para-3 of the governing the scheme. Unemployment Allowance to the Educated Physically Handicapped Persons w.e.f First April, 2006 would be as under:-

1. Matric/ Middle Pass Diploma Holder Rs. 1000/- p.m

2. Graduate/ Maric Pass Diploma Holder Rs. 1500/-p.m.

3. Post Graduate/Graduate Diploma Holder Rs. 2000/-p.m.

This issues with the concurrence of Finance Department conveyed vide their U.O.No 1/68/95-3 FG-II/2510.. dated 9^th January, 2007.

Sd/-

ANURADHA GUPTA,
Commissioner and Secretary to Government Haryana
Social Welfare Department.

HARYANA GOVERNMENT

SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT

NOTIFICATION

No. 2066- SW(4)2003 - In suppression of Haryana Government Notification No. 2187—SW(4) 95 Dated 15.12.95, the Governor of Haryana pleased to constitute. The State Selection Committee for period of three years w.e.f. 15.2.2003 (i.e. 15.2.2003 to 14.2.2006) for the selection of persons in the Haryana State consisting of the following members.

1. Minister Social Welfare Department, Haryana Chairman

2. Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary Member

to Govt. Haryana, Social Welfare Department.

3. Director of Industries, Haryana Member

4. Labour Commissioner, Haryana Member

5. Director General, Health Service Haryana Member

6. Director, Employment, Haryana Member

7. Director, Social Justice & Empowerment Deptt. Member

Haryana. Secretary

Non- Official Member

1. Dr. V.J.S Vohra NEVEDAC Prosthetic Centre Member

Near Airport, Chandigarh.

2. Dr. Smt. Mamgam, General Secretary, Social Member

Health in India, Haryana State Branch, Chandigarh.

1. The main function of the committee will be select the handicapped persons for the National State Awards during the year.

2. The terms of the members of committee will be for three years.

3. The Head Quarter of the committee will be at Chandigarh.

4. The members of the committee will draw travelling allowance daily allowance as under:-

(i) Non-official members of the committee shall be entitled to the actual expense and daily allowance as admissible to Haryana Govt. Servants in accordance with the instruction issued by the Haryana Govt. from time to time.

(ii) The travelling and daily allowance to the Non-official members will be admissible on producing of a certificate to the effect that no Travelling allowance in respect of the journey or daily allowance for the period mentioned in the bill has been or will be claimed by them from any other source.

(iii) The travelling allowance for meeting of the committee will be allowed to the members from their permanent residence to the place of the meeting. If, however a member attend meeting from a place other than the place of his permanent residence, T.A bill be allowed to him either from the place of his residence or from where he attends the meeting whichever the distance loss.

(iv) The Non- official member of the committee who resides at the place where meeting of the committee was held will not entitled Travelling allowance / Daily allowance.

5. The entire expenditure involved will be incurred under the head “2235-Social Security & Welfare-02- Social Welfare -101- Welfare of Handicapped viii State Award to outstanding employer placement officers/ Handicapped 7 most efficient Handicapped employed/ self employed handicapped person Non- Plan 2003-04.

VEENA EAGLETON
Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary to
Govt. Haryana, Social Welfare Department.

Endst. No. 2066- SW(4) 2003 Dated 9-9-2003

A copy is forwarded to the Chairman/ All members of the Committee for information and necessary action.

Sd/-

Joint Secretary,

For Financial Commissioners & Principal Secretary

to Govt. HaSd/-ryana, Social Welfare Department.

Endst. No. 2066- SW(4) 2003 Dated 9-9-2003

A copy is forwarded to the Accountant General Haryana Chandigarh for information and necessary action.

Sd/-

Joint Secretary,

For Financial Commissioners & Principal Secretary

to Govt. Haryana, Social Welfare Department.

Endst. No. 2066- SW(4) 2003 Dated 9-9-2003

A copy is forwarded to the Controller. Printing and Stationary Department Haryana, Chandigarh for publishing the notification in the Haryana Government Gazette. Part- I One hundred spare copies or the notification may please be supplied to the undersigned at the earliest.

Sd/-
Joint Secretary,
For Financial Commissioners & Principal Secretary to Govt. of Haryana,
Social Welfare Department.

SCHEMES REGARDING CONFERING TE STATE AWARDS TO 16 OUTSTANDING EMPLOYERS/PLACEMENT OFFICERS OF THE HANDICAPPED AND MOST EFFICIENT HANDICAPPED EMPLOYERS/ SELF EMPLYED HANDICAPPED PERSONS.

INTRODUCATION

Since the advent of independence, State Govt./Government of India have been taking keen interest to solve various problems of handicapped persons. In order to enable then to become self reliant in life special emphasis has been laid on education, training and rehabilitation of the handicapped. Despite educational and training opportunities for the handicapped for numbers of years. Our efforts for placing them inn suitable employment have been some what sporadic. Experience in the economically advanced countries had clearly demonstrated that both economic and human values of placing trained handicapped persons properly in modern industry, business agriculture and public service could bring useful results.

Realising the importance of discovering avenue of employment for handicapped and need for a concerned efforts in this direction, special employment exchanges were set up for the handicapped persons. In the wide range of occupation both in public and private sections. This was, however, a relatively shall achievement and much greater efforts were needed to stimulate the efforts to the placement of trained handicapped persons in suitable employment. As an incentive since 1069 the resident of India has been giving away annually awards to outstanding employer of the handicapped / handicapped employees / self employed handicapped persons and the placement officers of the handicapped. This has produced encouraging results.

With a view to increase the avenues of placement/ employment for handicapped persons, it has decided by the State Government to confer state awards as are awarded by the Govt. of India.

Under the scheme being operated by the G9overnment of India a National Selection Committee stands constituted at the Central Level for considering the cases of handicapped persons for National Awards recommended by the State Selection Committee, which will be constituted every year by the department, . The composition of the committee will be as under:

1	Minister for Social Welfare Department	Chairman
2	Secretary, Social Welfare Department	Member
3	Director, Industries Haryana	Member
4	Commissioner, Labour Department	Member
5	Director, General Health Department	Member
6	Two prominent experts in the rehabilitation of handicapped (non officials, will be nominated by the Chairman.)	Member
7	Director, Social Justice & Empowerment	Member Secretary

This committee shall also be responsible for the selection of candidates for the conferring of State Awards.

SCOPE
Separate awards will be presented to outstanding employers of the handicapped and to the most efficient handicapped employees including self employed handicapped persons and placement officers from the following section:-
1.    The State Govt. Statutory bodies etc.
2.    Public Sector undertaking of the State Government.
3.    Private sector including self employed handicapped persons.
Nature of Awards.

a)	Employees/ Self Employed	10 Prizes
	First Prize	Rs. 5000/- and certificate
	Second Prize	Rs. 4000/- and certificate
	Third Prize	Rs. 3000/- and certificate (2 Nos)
	Fourth Prize	Rs. 2000/- and certificate.(2Nos)
b)	Employees of the Handicapped	Two Prizes
	First Prize	A big shield and certificate of merit
	Second Prize	A small shield and certificate of merit
	Placement Officers	One Prize
	One Prize	Rs. 4000/- and certificate of merit

Production of Selection

Initially selection for presentation of State Awards will be made by the departmental committee consisting of Director, Social Justice & empowerment and all Deputy Directors of the Department. The departmental committee will submit its recommendations to the State selection committee for making final selection.

Since selection is to be receipt of applications on the prescribed from will be fixed by Government of India.

The State government may at its discretion invite recommendations from institutions for the handicapped administered directly by it.

Criteria for Selection of Employers
Employers are proposed to be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:-

i) That at least 2% of their employees are disabled subject to a minimum of three persons in a given establishment. In case of larger establishment employing 15 handicapped persons or more.
ii) That whatever necessary minor adjustments in the meeting have been made.
iii) That the disabled are offered in same conditions of service. Including the rates of the pa is given to other employees.
iv) That the employees have shown sympathetic consideration understanding of the problems of handicapped and.
v) That were necessary and feasible, such additional facilities as accommodation are provided.

For Handicapped Employers including Self Employed Handicapped Persons.
The employees and self employed handicapped persons are proposed to be accessed on the basis of the following criteria:-
i) That he has placed at least 20o o of the number of people registered with him during the last one years.
ii) His fellow up during the last given year coupled with placement of the people registered with him upto the end of the last year is outstanding.
iii) That the attitude f the placement officer towards the registered handicapped persons has been sympathetic.
Due regards be given to the performance and hard work put in the placement officer keeping in view the larger number of beneficiaries handed by him.

Procedure for Presenting The Awards.

The Awards may be received personally be selected employers, placement officers and self employed persons in Chandigarh or a place as decided by the chairman in consultation with the Governor of Haryana. They will be paid travelling and daily allowance by the social Justice & Empowerment. The Government may on this occasion give a reception to which may be invited prominent citizen including the representatives of employers, with a view to giving stimulus to the campaign for the placements f handicapped persons in suitable employment.

From

The Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary to Govt. Haryana, Social Justice & Empowerment Department.
To
The Director Social Justice & Empowerment Department.
Haryana, Chandigarh.

No. 1759 SW(1) /2008 Chandigarh, Dated the 4-02-2008

Subject:- Revision of Rates of States Awards to the Physically Handicapped Persons.

Sanction of the Governor of the Haryana is hereby accorded to revise the rates of the State Awards in connection with the Presentation of Annual Awards to the Handicapped Persons of the States under the Scheme “ Scheme regarding conferring the State Awards for Outstanding Employers / Placement Officers of the Handicapped and the most efficient Handicapped Employees/ Self Employed Handicapped Persons”. The rates are revised as under:-

S.No	Category of prize	Nature of the prize No. of prize	Present rates and certificate	Revised rates and certificates
1	Employee/ Self Employed	First Prize (one) Second Prize (one) Third Prize (two) Fourth Prize(three)	Rs.5000/- and certificate Rs. 4000/- ad certificate Rs. 3000/- and certificate Rs. 2000/- and certificate	Rs. 10000/- and certificates. Rs. 8000/- and certificate Rs. 6000/- and certificate Rs. 4000/- and certificate.
2	Employers of the Handicapped	First Prize (one) Second Prize (one)	A big shield and certificate of merit. A small shield and certificate of merit.	Rs. 5000/- and certificate of merit. Rs. 3000/- and certificate of merit.
3	Placement Officer of the Handicapped	One Prize	Rs. 4000/- and certificate of merit.	Rs. 8000/- and certificate of merit

2. The Expenditure involved would be debatable to the Head “2235- Social Security and Welfare-02- Social Welfare- Social Justice and Empowerment, Haryana-101- Welfare of Handicapped-X State Award to Outstanding Employer / Placement officer of the Handicapped and most efficient Handicapped Employees/ Self Employed Handicapped Persons – other charges Social Security and Welfare –NON PLAN during the year 2007-08.
3. This issues with the concurrence of Finance Department conveyed vide their U.O. No. 1/6/94-3 FG-II (1944) dated 27-11-2007.

Sd/-
Joint Secretary,
for Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary to
Govt. Haryana, Social Justice & Empowerment Deptt.
Endst. NO. 1759 SW(1) / 2008,
Chandigarh, dated the
A copy is forwarded to the Accountant General (Audit)/ A&E Haryana Chandigarh for information and necessary action.
Sd/-
Joint Secretary,
for Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary to Govt
Haryana, Social Justice & Empowerment Deptt.

A copy is forwarded to the Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary to Govt. Haryana, Finance Department with reference to their U.O No. 1/6/94-3FG-II(1944) dated -27-11-2007.

Sd/-
Joint Secretary,
for Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary to
Govt. Haryana, Social Justice & Empowerment Deptt.

To
The Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary to Govt.
Haryana, Finance Department,
U.O.No. 1759 SW(1) /2008 Chandigarh, dated the

ANNEXURE-A
PARTICULARS OF RECOMMENDED EMPLOYEE/SELF EMPLOYED WITH DISABLITIES FOR STATE AWARD

1.	Name(a) in English(in BLOCK Capital letters
	(b) in Hindi
2.	Address: (a) Residential
	(b)Office
3.	Telephone numbers: (a) Residential
	(b) Office
4.	FAX Number: (a) Residential
	(b) Office
5.	E-mail address, if any
6.	Sex
7.	Date of Birth/Age
8.	Nature/Category of disability
9.	Percentage of disability (Certificate of competent authority to be attached)
10.	Qualification: (a) Academic
	(b) Technical
11.	Trainings received, if any:
12.	Details of experience gained informally
13.	Whether employee or self-employed
14.	If employee:
	(a) Name of the Employer
	(b) Designation or Post held
	(b) Scale of pay and salary drawn
	(c) Nature of work engaged on
	(d) How does his/her productivity compare to that of his non-disabled counterparts in percentage of 10% more or less.
	(e) Rehabilitation with fellow – employed
	(f) Independence in work(encircles the grading option)	Very Good Good Poor
	(g) Mobility and self care remarks including a brief life sketch of about 200 words of the candidate highlighting his struggle against the disadvantages created by his disability ( encircle the grading option)	Very Good Good Poor
	(h) Punctuality ad regularity in attendance (encircle the grading option)	Very Good Good Poor
	(i) Whether any incentive/ rewards/ certificate given to the employee by the employer for his work during last three years. If yes, details thereof.
	(j) General assessment of the employee for last three years ( encircle the grading option)	Very Good Good Poor
15.	If self-employed:
	(a) Trade/ Professional with which associated
	(b) Monthly Income ( Attach copy of last income Tax Return filed/ Income Certificate)
	(c) How far you have upgraded your skill in that trade/ profession with a view to absorb yourself fully as a self-employed entrepreneur?
	(d) Social- economic problems/ constraints being faced in the existing trade/ profession to become a sustainable self- employed entrepreneur
	(e) (i) Whether taken loan from any bank/ financial institution of State/ Central Government (give full details)
	(ii) .If yes, indicate the balance amount of loan to be repaid
	(f) Have you ever been declare to be a defaulter to any nationalized bank/ financial institution/cooperative bank.
16.	If any National or State Level Award received during last five years, then please mention: (a) Name of the Award (b) Conferring Agency (c) Year of conferment

NOTE:

In case of self-employed persons with disabilities, the particulars may be duly certified by a gazette Officer of the Central/ State Govt. / Member of Parliament/ Member of State Legislature / Municipal Corp. etc.
Three copies of the photographs clearly showing disability of recommended employees/ self-employed with disabilities, with bio- data be enclosed.
Application should be supported by a Medical certificate indicating the degree of total disability.

ANNEXURE- B
PARTICULARSOF EMPLOYERS FOR STATE AWARDS

1	Name in English ( Block Capital letters ) and Hindi
2	Postal and telegraphic address of the organization with telephone & fax number.
3	Web- site address, if any
4	E-mail address, if any
5	Whether Government/ public Sector Undertaking/ Private
6	Nature of work undertaken by the organization
7	Total number of employer in the organization	Male Female Total
8	Number of employees with disability in the organization category-wise and sex- wise	Male Female Total
9	Number disability of the employees (if the organization has employees with various disabilities, please indicate the number of employees with each disability)
10	Percentage of employers with disability as Compared with the total number of Employees.
11	Nature of work in which Persons with disability are employed.
12	Whether their service conditions are the same as those for others.
13	Whether any modifications are made in the machinery and access is provided in the built environment.
14	Special effort made to train and employee persons with disability so far and plans for future.
15	How does the productivity of Employees with disability compare with that of non- disabled employees.
16	Remarks

Signature of the recommending authority with date

ANNEXURE- C

PARTICULARS OF THE AGENCY/OFFICER RESPONSIBLE FOR PLACEMENT OF THE PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES FOR STATE AWARDS

1. PERSONAL DATA

1	Name in English ( in Block Capital letters) and Hindi
2	Date of Birth
3	Educational qualification
4	Postal address
5	Telegraphic address/ FAX No.
6	Telephone Number : Office: Residence:
7	Web-site / E-mail address, if any
8	Name of the employer with complete address (Give all the employers with whom employed during the last five years, last name to be given first).
9	Total service in the capacity

PERFOMANCE DATA: Placement and follow- up Give the information for the last five years.

S.No.	Year	No. of Persons with Disabilities Registered Placed Male Female Male Female (Disability wise)	No. % age of placement to Registration	No. of cases followed up	% of dropouts from employment with brief reasons
(1)	(2)	(3) (4) (5) (6)	(7)	(8)	(9)
1	2003
2	2004
3	2005
4	2006
5	2007

III. Brief particulars of the Placement Officer:

Signature of applicant with date

Signature of the recommending authority with date

Broadly, “Placing” means an employers acceptance of a persons into a remunerative job as a result of the following Employment Exchange operations as a result of the ---
i) Booking on an order prior to submission;
ii) Pre-submission of the persons to be referred to the employer.
iii) Submission of the selected persons and verification / that the persons have been engaged.
(Defining as given in the National Employment Service Manual.)

SCHEME OF ASSISTANCE TO DISABLED
PERSONS FOR PURCHASE/FITTING OF AIDS/APPLIANCES (ADIP SCHEME)

Applicable w.e.f. April 2005

Govt. of India
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment,
Shastri Bhawan
New Delhi

SCHEME OF ASSISTANCE TO DISABLED PERSONS FOR PURCHASE/FITTING OF AIDS/APPLIANCES (ADIP SCHEME)

1. INTRODUCTION

It has been the constant endeavour of the Government to provide the disabled persons with aids/appliance at minimum costs. The requirement for providing of aids/appliances, which are essential for the social, economic and vocational rehabilitation of the disabled persons, has come into sharp focus, particularly after the enactment of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, which came into force in 1996. Various surveys conducted from time to time have made it clear that India has a very large number of disabled persons. Many of them come from low-income groups. Disability restricts their opportunities for leading functionally productive lives. From the application of modern technology, there have emerged a number of aids, which can reduce the effects of disabilities and enhance the economic potential of the disabled. To illustrate a wheel chair, an artificial limb, crutch, a brace, a splint can greatly improve the mobility of physically disabled individual. Similarly, with the help of a powerful hearing aid, persons with some residual hearing can be helped to carry on many activities of daily living. Low vision to read, print and undertake other activities resulting in their rehabilitation. However, a large number of disabled persons are deprived of the benefits of these appliances because of their inability to find funds to purchase them.

In the light of the Government’s growing stress on helping disabled persons and in bringing the aids and appliances within their reach, it has been decided in continue the ADIP Scheme and modify it in such a way that it becomes more user-friendly and the needy are not deprived of aids/appliances, which are essential for their social, economic and vocational rehabilitation. If they can, thereby, become earning members they would be much closer to achieve economic self-dependence and also be able to live and pursue their activities dignity.

2. THE SECHME AND ITS OBJECTIVES

The Scheme aims at helping the disabled persons by bringing suitable, durable, scientifically-manufactured, modern, standard aids and appliances within their reach The estimates, according to 58^th Sample Survey conducted by NSSO in 2002, indicate that there are about 18.04 million persons with various types of disabilities in the country. Their disabilities restrict the opportunity for their economic and social growth. In addition, about 3% of the children below 14 years of age suffer from delayed development. Many of them are mentally retarded and cerebral palsied and require some aids/appliances to attain the capacity for self-care and independent living.

The main objective of the Scheme is to assist the needy disabled persons in procuring durable, sophisticated and scientifically manufactured, modern, standard aids and appliances that can promote their physical, social and psychological rehabilitation by reducing the disabilities and enhance their economic potential. The aids and appliances supplied under the Scheme must be ISI.

3. DEFINITIONS

Definitions of various types of disabilities as given in The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (PWD ACT)

4. SCOPE

The Scheme will be implemented through the Implementing Agencies as listed in the following para. The Agencies will be provided with financial assistance for purchase fabrication and distribution of such standard aids and appliances that are in conformity with objective of the Scheme. The Implementing Agencies will take care of/make suitable arrangements for fitting and post-fitting care of the aids and appliances distributed under ADIP Scheme. The scope of the Scheme has been further enlarged to include use of mass media, exhibitions. workshops etc, for exchange of information and promoting awareness and distribution and use of aids/appliances.

The Scheme shall also include under its ambit, medical/surgical correction & intervention, which is essential prior to fitment of aids and appliances. The cost could range from Rs. 500/- for hearing & speech Impaired to Rs. 1,000/- for visually disabled and Rs. 3,000/- for orthopacidcally disabled.

5. ELIGIBILITY OF IMPLEMENTING AGENCY UNDER THE SCHEME

The following agencies would be eligible to implement the Scheme on behalf of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, subject to fulfilment of laid down terms and conditions:

i Societies, registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and their branches, if any, separately.

ii Registered charitable trusts.

iii District Rural Development Agencies, Indian Red Cross Societies and other Autonomous Bodies headed by District Collector/Chief Executive Officer/District Development Officer of Zilla Parishad.

iv National/Apex Institutes including ALIMCO functioning under administrative control of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment/Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

v State Handicapped Development Corporations.

vi Local Bodies-Zilla Parishad, Municipalities, District Autonomous Development Councils and Panchayats.

vii Nehru Yuvak Kendras.

Grant-in-aid under the Scheme will not be given for commercial supply of aid/appliance.

The NGOs should preferable possess professional/technical expertise in the form of professionally qualified staff (from recognized courses) for the identification, prescription of the required artificial aids/appliance, fitment and post fitment care of the beneficiaries as well as the aid/appliance.

The NGOs should preferable possess infrastructure in the form of machinery/equipment for the fabrication, fitment and maintenance of artificial aid/appliance to be given to a disabled person under ADIP Scheme.

Implementing Organisations should network and establish linkages with medical college/district hospitals/ rural hospitals/ PHCs/ fitment centres of ALIMCO/DDRCs/ any other professionally competent agency to acquire/avail the requisite infrastructure for fitment and maintenance of aids/ appliances distributed under ADIP Scheme available with these bodies. The implementing Agencies shall also avail of the professional/technical expertise of above mentioned agencies for fitment and post-fitment ALIMCO and DDRCs functioning under the administrative control of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment shall also assist DRDAs and other autonomous organizations to develop requisite manpower and infrastructure over a period of time to provide satisfactory service to the beneficiaries under the Scheme. Such organizations while applying of the grant under the Scheme shall produce sufficient proof of linkages with the professional agencies preferably in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding.

6. ELIGIBILITY OF THE BENEFICIARIES.

A Person with disabilities fulfilling following conditions would be eligible for assistance under ADIP Scheme through authorized agencies.

He/she be an Indian citizen of any age.
Should be certified by a Registered / Medical Practitioner that he/ she is disabled and fit to use prescribed aids/ appliances.
Person who is employed / self-employed or getting pension and whose monthly income from all sources does not exceed RS. 10,000/- per month.
In case of dependents, the income of parents/ guardians should not exceed Rs. 10,000/- per month.
Persons who have not received assistance from the Government, local bodies and Non- Official Organisations during the last 3 years for the same purpose. However, for children below 12 years of age this limit would be 1 year.

7. QUANTUM OF ASSISTNACE TO DISABLED

Only those aids/ appliances which do not cost more than RS. 6,000/- are covered under the Scheme. However, for visually mentally, speech & hearing or multiple disabled, the limit should be Rs. 8,000/- during their study period aftaer IX standard. The limits will apply to individuals items of aid and where more than one aid is required, the ceiling will apply separately. The amount of assistance will be as follows.

Total Income	Amount of Assistance
(i) Upto Rs. 6,500/- per month. (ii) Rs. 6,501/- to Rs. 10,000/- per month	(i) Full cost of aids/ appliances. (ii) 50% of the cost of aids/ appliances

Further, travelling cost would be admissible limited to bus fare in ordinary class or railway by second class sleeper subject to limit Rs. 250/- for beneficiary irrespective of number of visits to the centre and a Certificate from Doctor or Rehabilitation Professional, travel expenses subject to the same limit would be admissible to an attendant/ escort accompanying the beneficiary. The beneficiary should attend the Rehabilitation Centre nearest to hi/ her place of residence, except in the North- Eastern Region where he may be allowed travel cost for travelling outside the Region till such facilities becomes available within that Region.

8. TYPES OF AIDS/ APPLIANCES TO BE PROVIDED.

Types following aids and appliances may be allowed for each type of disabled individual. However, any other item as notified from time to time by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for the purpose will also be allowed.
LOCOMOTOR DISABLED.

i.    All types of prosthetic and orthotic devices.
ii.    Mobility aids like tricycles, wheelchairs, crutches walking sticks and walking frames/ rolators. Motorised tricycles for persons with locomotors disability that are likely to cost more than Rs. 6,000/- may be procured and provided in exceptional cases subject to prior approval of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on case to case basis. Extent of subsidy would however continue to be Rs. 6000/- For all other devices ceiling is Rs. 6,000/-
iii.    All types of surgical footwears and MCR Chappals.
iv.    All types of devices for ADL (activity of daily living).

VISUALLY DISABLED
i.    Learning equipments like arithmetic frame, abacus, geometry kits etc. Giants Braille dots system for slow-learning blind children. Dictaphone and other variable speed recording system. CD player / Tape recorder for blind student fro Xth standard.
ii.    Science learning equipments like talking balances, talking thermometer, measuring equipments like tape measures, micrometres etc.
iii.    Braille writing equipments including Bailers, Braille shorthand machines, typewriters for blind students from X Class. Talking machines, calculators, Geography learning equipment like raised maps and globes.
iv.    Communication equipment for the deaf-blind. Braille attachments for telephone for deaf-blind persons.
v.    Low vision aids including hand-held stand, lighted and unlighted magnifiers, speech synthesizers or Braille attachments for computers.
vi.    Special mobility aids for visually disabled people with muscular dystrophy or cerebral palsy like adapted walkers.
vii.    Soft- ware for visually handicapped persons using computers that are likely to cost more than Rs. 6,000/- may procured ad provided in exceptional cases subject to prior approval of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on case to case basis. The extent of subsidy would however continue to be Rs. 6,000/-. For all other devices ceiling.

HEARING DISABLED.

i.` Various types of hearing aids.

ii. Educational kits like tape recorders/ CD player etc.

Assistive and alarming devices including devices for hearing of telephone, TV, doorbell, time alarm etc.
Communication aids, like, portable speech synthesizer etc.

MENTALLY DISABLED.

Any suitable device as advised by Rehabilitation Professional or treating physician.

9. PROCEDURE FOR RECIPT OF GRANT-IN-AID BY AN IMPLEMENTING AGENCY.

The organisation will submit their application in the prescribed format ( Annexure- I& II) to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment through concerned State Government / UT Administration/National Institute/ Regional Rehabilitation Training Centre/ District Rehabilitation Centre/ any other agency authorized by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, every year. The application should be accompanied with following documents/ information (dully attested)

A copy of Registration Certificate u/s 51/ 52 of Persons Disabilities (Equal Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full Participation Act (PWD Act), 1995.
A copy Registration Certificate under Societies Registration Act, 1860 and their branches, if any, separately, or Charitable Trust Act.
A copy of Rules. Aims and Objectives of the Organization.
A copy of Certified Audited Accounts and Annual Report for the last Year.
Names of the Members of Management Committees of the Organisation.
List of identified beneficiaries and types of aids/ appliances required by the organisation for supplying / getting to the identified beneficiaries.
Estimated expenditure for distribution/ fitting of aids/ appliances amongst the identified beneficiaries.
And Undertaking that the funds will not be utilized for any other purposes.
An Undertaking to maintain a separate account of the funds received from the Ministry under the scheme.
The implementing Agencies already receiving grant-in-aid under the Scheme should also furnish the list of beneficiaries assisted from the grant-in-aid released to them in the previous year as per Performa given in Annexure- V may be given.
A calendar of activities for entire financial year including probable dates for holding caps etc. for distribution of aids/ appliances and also maintain separate account for that.
An Undertaking that the organisation will provide post – distribution care to the beneficiaries as well as aids/ appliances, on demand.

m. Organisation should be financially should ad viable and has requisite capability to mobilize the resources.

The organisation shall have working rapport with the District available with District Administration for identification of aids/ appliances.
The implementing agencies shall keep manuals/ literature on main features, maintenance and upkeep of devices, one year free maintenance would be provided by them for assistive devices 2% of the annual allocation will be earmarked for monitoring and evaluation of expenses.
The organisation will provide reservation to SC/ST/OBC and disabled persons in accordance with instructions issued by GOI from time to time if it employees more than 20 persons on a regular basis.

10. RECOMMENDATION

The State Government/UT Administration/ National Institute/RRTC/DRC/any other agency authorized by the Ministry should send its recommendation with specific remarks about.

i) Professional competence, credibility, integrity and existing infrastructural facilities for satisfactory implementation of the Scheme by the NGO/organisation.

ii) Eligibility of the organisation as laid down by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

iii) Rapport with target groups, capacity and willingness to network with other NGOs and Panchayati Raj institution etc.

The recommendation should also include whether the NGOs is getting grant-in-aid from other Ministry/ State Government etc. for the same purpose.

However, no recommendation is required in case of National Institute and ALIMCO working under the administrative control of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

11. QUATUM OF ASSISTANC3E TO AN IMIPLEMENTING AGENCY.

No ceiling should be imposed on the quantum of assistance to be released to an Implementing Agency and it branches (separately) during a particular financial year However, while deciding on the amount of grant to be given, the performance, professional expertise, capacity, tack record and outreach capabilities of the agency shall be kept in view.

12. SANCTION / RELEASE OF GRANT-IN-AID

The Implementing Agencies will be sanctioned grant-in-aid in particular financial year after receiving recommendation from State Government/ UT Administration/ National Institute/ RRTC/ DRC/ an other agency authorized by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The subsequent financial a assistance would be sanctioned after receipt of audited accounts and list of beneficiaries with their permanent addresses in the prescribed poroma for the previous year’s grant shall be furnished before the end of second quarter of each financial year, positively.

The recommending authority should create the field agencies who shall strive to conduct sample checking of beneficiaries regarding utilization of grant-in-aid by NGOs and distribution of aids and appliances by the Implementing Agency. The sample checking of beneficiaries regarding utilization of grant –in- aid by NGOs and distribution of aids and appliances by the Implementing Agencies. The sample checking would cover at least 5 to 10 percent of the beneficiaries, which are covered under the Scheme in the previous year.

The grant-in-aid would normally be released in tow instalment after process of audited accounts and list of beneficiaries furnished by the organisation/ implementing Agency to the satisfaction of the Ministry.

13. CONDITIONS FOR ASSISTANCE.

i. The implementing agency will be fully competent to satisfy about the monthly income of the beneficiaries and shall obtain a certificate from the concerned competent authority. The identification of the beneficiaries has to be done by an expert in accordance with guidelines issued by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in this regard

ii. The implementing agency will maintain a register in the prescribed performa ( Annexure-III) about the beneficiaries assisted under the Scheme.

The implementing agency shall maintain a separate accounts of funds received and utilized from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment under the Scheme. The fund should be kept in separate bank account to be operated under ADIP Scheme.
A certificate from the Head of the Implementing Agency to the effect that the funds have been utilized. A list of beneficiaries as per proforma given in Annexure- IV assisted by the organisation that the funds given by the Ministry will be furnished along with the yearly application as per procedure indicated in para 9 in CD in Excel programme.
The final accounts for a financial year will be rendered through utilization certificate and audited accounts signed by chartered accountant within six months of the close of the financial year.
The agency implementing the scheme will obtain an undertaking from the beneficiary that he/ she has not obtained such aid from any other agency/ source during last tow years ad that he/ she not obtained such aid from any other agency/ source during last three years and that he/ she will keep it for his/ her bona fide use.
The agency implementing the scheme will be open to inspection by an officer/ agency authorized by Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment or the State Government / UT/ Administrative / National Institute/ DRCs etc.
When the Government of India has reasons to believe that the sanction is not being utilized for the approval purpose the amount would be recovered from the implementing agency with interest and no further assistance would be given to the agency.
The quantum of assistance to be given to an implementing agency during a particular year will be decided by the Government of India. The implementing agencies would, therefore, not incur any liability under the Scheme unless the funds have been sanctioned to them fort the purpose.
At least 25% beneficiaries should be girl child/ women.

Annexure-I

Application for Central Scheme of Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/ Fitting of Aids/ Appliances.

From Date:

The Secretary to the Government of India,

Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment,

Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi

Subject:- Assistance under the Central Scheme of Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/ fitting of aids/appliances.

I submit herewith an application for a grant for the year under the Scheme of Assistance to Disabled persons for purchase/fitting of aids/appliances. I certify that I grant is given. Should the Institutions/ Organisation cease to exist at any time, such properties shall revert to the Government of India.

(a) All assets acquired wholly or substantially out of the Central grant shall not be encumbered or disposed off or utilized for purpose other tan those for which the grant is given. Should the Institutions/ Organisation cease to exist at any time, such properties shall revert to the Government of India.

(b) The accounts of the project shall be properly and separately maintained. They shall always be open to check by an officer deputed by the Govt. of India or the State Government of India at his discretion.

(c) If the State or the Central Govt. have reasons to believe that the grant is not being utilized for approved purpose, the Govt. of India may stop payment of further Instalments and recover earlier grants in such a manner as they may decide.

(d) The Institution shall exercise reasonable economy in the implementation of the scheme.

(e) The Organisation will obtain an undertaking from the beneficiaries as required under the scheme, before fitting/ giving of aids/ appliances.

Yours faithfully,

(Signature)
(Designation)
(Office Stamp)

Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment

Name of the Scheme

1. Organisation

Name

Address (office) :

(Project) :

Phone (office) :

(Project) :

Fax (office) :

(Project) :

Telex (office) :

(Project) :

E-mail (office) :

(Project) :

Grams (office) :

(Project) :

2. (i) Name of the Act :

Under which registered :

(ii) Registration No. and :

Date of Registration :

Any other Organisation/ Institute :

Body, if applicable, give details

3. Registration under Foreign : (Yes/ No)

Contribution Act

4. Memorandum of Association :

And Bye-Laws.

5. Name & Address of the :

Members of the Board of

Management/ Governing

Body

6. List of Documents to be attached :

(a) A copy of the Annual Report

For the previous year which

Should contain the balance sheet (including receipt and payment account ), income and Expenditure Account.

7. Details of the project for which the :

Grant-in-aid is being applied.

8. Grant-in-aid applied for in :

the current year.

9. Details of beneficiaries .

(a) Number of disabled benefited :

From previous years grant.

(b) Proposed number of disabled :

Expected to be covered during

Current financial year.

10. Details of the staff available :

Details of GIA received under other Schemes of

State Govt…………………………….

Central Govt………………………..

Other sources…………………….

Programme / Project run grant-in-aid received Total Location of the

By the NGO (other than amount service Expenditure Project

The one applied for ) agency on the

Projects.

13. List of Additional Papers.

(if any given)

I have read the scheme ad fulfil the requirement and conditions of the scheme. I undertake to abide by all the condition of the Scheme.

Signature ………………………………..

Name…………………………………

Address……………………………

……………………………………..

Date……………………………..

(Seal)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note: Wherever not applicable, specially in case of new Organisation, please write – N.A.

MINISTRY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE & EMPOWERMENT.

Name of the Scheme:

1. APPLICATION FORM FOR THE IIND INSTALLEMMENT

1. Organisation

Name

Address (office) :

(Project) :

Phone (office) :

(Project) :

Fax (office) :

(Project) :

Telex (office) :

(Project) :

E-mail (office) :

(Project) :

Grams (office) :

(Project)

2. Grant-in-aid(in. Rs.)

Total

A. Applied in the current year :

B. Received as Ist Instalment :

C. Applied for IInd Instalment :

3. Annual Report of the previous year.

ii) Audited statement of accounts of previous year ( Receipts and Payments statement, Income & Expenditure Statement) and Balance sheet.

iii) Audited utilization certificate with itemise expenditure as per the sanctioned items of grant.

iv) Details of staff available.

v) Details of beneficiaries as per Annexure IV

vi) Assets acquired wholly or substantially out of government grants under GFR 19

vii) An other information considered necessary b the organisation of a asked for:

Signature ………………………………..

Name…………………………………

Address……………………………

……………………………………..

Date………………………

(Seal)

Annexure- III

Register to be maintained by the agencies implementing the Scheme Assistance to Disabled for purchase/fitting of Aids/ Appliances.

Sr.No	Name of beneficiaries	Address	Male/ female	Age	Income	Type of aid(given)	Date on which given	Cost of Aid
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

Fabricating/ Fitment charges	Total cost of Aid	Subsidy provided	Travel cost paid to outstation beneficiaries	Board and expenses paid	Whether any surgical correction undertaken	Total 12+13+14+15
10	11	12	13	14	15	16

No. of days for which stayed	Signature of Beneficiary	Whether Accompanied by escort
17	18	19

Annexure- IV

List of beneficiaries assisted by the agencies implementing the Scheme of Assistance to Disabled for purchase/fitting of Aids/ Appliances to be furnished to Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment

Sr.No	Name of beneficiaries	Address	Male/ female	Age	Income	Type of aid (given)	Date on which given	Cost of Aid
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

Fabricating/ Fitment charges	Total cost of Aid	Subsidy provided	Travel cost paid to outstation beneficiaries	Board and expenses paid	Whether any surgical correction undertaken	Total 12+13+14+15
10	11	12	13	14	15	16

No. of days for which stayed	Whether Accompanied by escort
17	18

To be accompanied by certificate from Rehabilitation Professional / Physically for every case.

Annexure- V

Scheme of Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/ Fitting of Aids/ Appliances.

UTILISATION CERTIFICATE.

(See Government of India’s Decision (1) below Rule 150 )

Sr.No	Letter number and date	Amount.

Certified that out of Rs. ................................. /- of grant-in-aid sanctioned during the year ...................................................in favour of ................................................ NO. given in the margin and Rs. / on account of unspent balance of the pervious year, a sum of Rs. ....................................../ has been utilized for the purpose of ............................................................... for which it was it was sanctioned and that the balance of Rs. ................................................................/ remaining unutilized at the end of the year has been surrendered to Government (vide NO............................................... dated will be adjusted towards the grant-in-aid payable during the next year.

2. Certified that I have satisfied myself that the conditions on which the grant-in-aid was sanctioned have been duly fulfilled/ are being fulfilled and that I have exercised the following checks to see that the money was actually utilized for the purpose for which it was sanctioned.

Kinds of checks exercised

Duly certified by a Chartered Signature.........................

Accountant/ Auditor

Designation.....................

Date..............................

Annexure- VI

SCHEME OF ASSISTANCE TO DISABLED PERSONS FOR PURCHASE/ FITTING OF AIDS/ APPLIANCES

(ADIP SCHEME)

STATEMENT SHOWING COMPOSITION OF THE MANAGING COMMITTEE.

NAME AND POSTAL ADDRESS THE

ORGANIZATION______________________________________________________________

Sr.No.	Name of the Member of the Managing Committee	S/o D/o W/o	Complete residential address	Nature of occupation	Status in the Managing Committee
1	2	3	4	5	6

Note: (i) Certified that the composition of the above Managing Committee is in accordance with the approved Bye Laws and Memorandum of Association of the organization.

(i) Certified that the above Managing Committee was elected by the General Body in its meeting held on .................................................................The life of the Committee is form .............................................. to................................................

Signature

Name of President/ Secretary (in capital letters)

Office stamp of the Organisation

HARYANA GOVERNMENT

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT DEPARTMENT

NOTIFICATION

Dated Chandigarh 30-1-2009

No. 2351-SW(4)-2008: The Governor of Haryana is pleased to make the following scheme namely “Financial Assistance to the Non-School Going Disabled Children Scheme” which will come into force with effect from 1.12.2008 .This scheme incorporating the amendments made from time to time and shall be applicable throughout the State of Haryana .

DEFINITIONS

The Mentally Retarded Children who suffer from following conditions :-

1) Mental Retardation with I.Q. not exceeding 35.

2. AIM:-

Presently Haryana Govt. is providing Financial Assistance in the form of scholarship to such disabled children of state who are below 18 years of age and are getting formal education in different schools, colleges, technical institutions and universities etc. and those disabled persons who are above 18 years of age are being provided financial assistance in the form of Handicapped Pension

But there are some mentally retarded children in the age group of 0 to 18 years who are in the category of Profound & Severely retardation, who are not able to attend formal education, training etc. due to their disability. They are totally dependent on their parents or relatives and need constant supervision and care of their families. Some of them require nursery care also. These children because of their severity of M.R. are looked down upon in society and are also forced to live in deplorable and humiliating environment. Their Parents also some time find it difficult to look after them properly either due to financial difficulties or otherwise. Therefore it is felt imminent that in order to boost the morale of these children as well as provide support to their parents some financial assistance should be given to them for their welfare and respectful up bringing. Keeping this in view a scheme named “Financial Assistance to the Non- School going disabled Children” is conceived aiming at to providing financial assistance to such parents who cannot send them for formal schooling and boarding of their disabled wards in the age group of below 18 years because of financial constraints or because of the returns of their Mental Retardation.

3. ELIGIBILITY:- Eligibility conditions are as follows:-

( i ) A person having physical disability in the age-group of below 18 years shall be eligible for grant of Assistance.

(ii) The applicant should be a domicile of Haryana State and should be residing in Haryana State for the last three years at the time of submission of application. He /She will have to submit domicile proof for this purpose issued by the competent authority.

(iii) The applicant’s close relatives and parents are not in a financial position to support him/ her and the income of his/ her parents, close relatives or his/ her own income from all sources is less than the income as prescribed under the Minimum Wages Act, i.e. Rs. 3510/- p.m.as in 2008. He/She will have to submit proof of income verified by the competent authority.

(iv) The assistance would not be given to such children who are already receiving assistance under the Scholarship, Unemployment Allowance and Handicapped Pension Schemes being implemented by the Social Justice& Empowerment Department, Haryana.

(v) The applicant should have the following disabilities:-(a) Mental Retardation with I.Q not exceeding 35.

Medical Certificate duly issued by the Civil Surgeon will have to be produced for (i) to (v) above.

(b) The applicant shall submit proof regarding age of the ward/child in the form of:

(i) Birth Certificate issued by the Registrar of Births & Death; or

( ii) Affidavit by the applicant attested from the First Class Magistrate; or

( iii) A certificate from any Gazetted Officer of the State/.Central Govt.

4. CONSTITUTION OF COMMITTEE FOR SCRUTINY :

(a) Committees will be constituted for scrutinizing the eligibility for grant of financial assistance in the rural and urban areas. In the rural areas, the Committee will consist of District Social Welfare Officer or his representative, Circle Revenue Officer and Medical Officer of Health Department. In the urban areas, the Committee will consist of Officer In charge of the Municipal Committee or the Executive Officer or the Secretary of Municipal Committee and District Social Welfare Officer or his representative and a Medical Officer of Health Department.

5. SUPERVISION & COORDINATION COMMITTEE :

A District Level Committee comprising of Civil Surgeon as a Member, District Social Welfare Officer as Member Secretary and Deputy Commissioner of the District or his representative as Chairman will be constituted, for overall supervision, coordination and implementation of the Scheme in the District . District Social Welfare Officer will be the convener of the Committee. It will meet once every quarter to review the performance of the scheme.

6. VERIFICATION:-

(i) During its visit to the village/ ward for the purpose of verification of fresh applicants Committee for Scrutiny may also ensure that no beneficiary eligible for assistance is left-out. For this purpose, all the beneficiaries will be required to present themselves before the Committee. Assistance to those persons who fail to present themselves before the Committee will not be considered. Financial Assistance will be sanctioned by the concerned District Social Welfare Officer on the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee.

(ii) In those cases where Committee comes to a definite conclusion that beneficiary is no longer eligible for assistance, the Committee will recommend to terminate the assistance of such beneficiaries and will send intimation to District Social Welfare Officer of such termination, for further necessary action. However, the committee shall exercise reasonable judgment to decide these cases. The District Social Welfare Officer shall intimate the fact of termination of assistance to the beneficiary. An appeal shall lie, within 3 months from the intimation of such termination to the District Level Committee against such termination of assistance. The decision of the District Level Committee shall be final and will not be subjected to any further investigation./ appeal.

(iii) In those cases where the beneficiary has not presented himself/ herself before the Committee at the time of disbursement for two consecutive months and the Committee suspects the eligibility of a beneficiary, the Committee may recommend to District Social Welfare Officer to stop the further disbursement of assistance to such beneficiary. District Social Welfare Officer shall issue a notice to the beneficiary asking him/ her to show cause why his/ her assistance should not be terminated. If the beneficiary fails to satisfy the District Social Welfare Officer regarding his/ her continued eligibility of assistance, An appeal shall lie, within 3 month from the intimation of such termination to the District Level Committee against such termination of assistance. Otherwise, the assistance shall be resumed after the beneficiary satisfies the District Social Welfare Officer about his/ her eligibility for assistance.

(iv) Initially verification will be done village wise by the Committee for scrutiny. However, special verification may be done in case of complaints or as per decision of the Govt. from time to time.

7. MODE OF PAYMENT:-

(a) Assistance shall be disbursed through the Panchayati Raj under the supervision of Block Development and Panchayat Officer or by any other means of payment to be decided by the Government from time to time. The financial assistance shall become payable from the 1^st day of the month in which it is sanctioned.

(b) The periodicity of payment of assistance shall be decided by Director, Social Justice and Empowerment from time to time.

(c) No further payment shall be made if the acknowledgement of disbursement/payment has not been received for two consecutive instalments.

(d) The assistance which have remained unpaid for two consecutive instalments or more shall be enquired into by the concerned District Social Welfare Officer who will take necessary action in this regard. Payees acknowledgement shall be recorded and kept under lock and key by the District Social Welfare Officer till the accounts have been audited by Accountant General, Haryana.

(e) Handling cash payment to the disbursing officials shall be made, as far as possible, through bank drafts issued in favor of them.

(f) All the un disbursed amount shall be received by the District Social Welfare Officer concerned. A proper record of such amounts shall be kept in a separate register. The undisguised amount received back shall be taken in the cash book and the entire amount thus received shall be refundable by short drawl from subsequent assistance bill.

(g) The Director Social Justice and Empowerment Haryana shall be over-all in charge of the “Financial Assistance to the Non-School Going Disabled Children Scheme” and necessary instructions in regard for proper enforcement and accounting procedure shall be issued by him/her from time to time.

Note: The payment of financial assistance shall be made to the parent /guardian of the disabled child who applies for the financial assistance in respect of his/ her children/wards and not direct to the children.

8. PROCEDURE FOR MAKING APPLICATION:

The application for Financial Assistance shall be submitted in the prescribed form which would be available with the District Social Welfare Officer or Director Social Justice & Empowerment Department, Haryana Chandigarh free of cost and can be submitted to the respective District Social Welfare Officer up to 10^th day of every month.

9. RATE OF ASSISTANCE :

Financial assistance shall be admissible under the scheme at the rate of Rs. 300/- per month to every disabled child in the family of the applicant. Every non school going disabled child in a single family would be eligible for this assistance. Government will have the right to change the rate of assistance from time to time.

POWER OF SANCTION :

The District Social Welfare Officer dealing with the scheme shall be the sanctioning authority who shall pass orders on each case on the basis of the spot verification conducted by the Committee for scrutiny or in case of complaint etc. Investigation Officer or any other official deputed for the purpose by the sanctioning authority. The decision of the Director Social Justice and Empowerment shall be final. The order passed by District Social Welfare Officer in each case shall be communicated to the applicant and the Accountant General, Haryana, Chandigarh.
11. STOPPAGE OF ASSISTANCE :

(i) Assistance shall be payable from the date of sanction till the beneficiary completes the age of 18 years. However the District Social Welfare Officer shall have the right to stop payment of assistance, if at any stage it is found that it was sanctioned on a wrong ground or false information or the condition for which the assistance was granted no longer existed..

(ii) Assistance shall cease to be payable on the death of a beneficiary and if the grantee dies before receiving assistance for a particular period, the same shall also lapse.

(iii) In case assistance is sanctioned on the basis of wrong information given by the applicant in his /her application form, the amount given would be recovered as arrears of land revenue .In case of deliberate wrong information the beneficiary shall be liable for prosecution .

(iv) Assistance under this scheme shall not be liable to attachment under any court of law.

(v) After attaining the age of 18 years, the beneficiary should automatically become eligible for handicapped pension.

12 PUBLICITY:

Wide publicity measures will be adopted by way of publishing public notices and display advertisements in the leading newspapers, printing of folders and pamphlets, public notices at all District Social Welfare Offices and similar other public places, advertisement through District Public Relation Officers and by way of Munadi in the Rural and Urban areas.

13 IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING: -

One Post of Investigator in each District/ Headquarter shall be created on contract basis for best Implementation and Monitoring of scheme.

14 BUDGET HEAD.

2235- Social Security & Welfare-02- Social Welfare 101-Welfare of Handicapped –Part I-State Plan Schemes (72) Financial Assistance to non-school going disabled children 09-Grant-in-Aid (New Scheme Plan 2008-09

Chandigarh dated NAVRAJ SANDHU

4^th December,2008 Commissioner & Secretary to Government. Haryana,

Social Justice & Empowerment Department

Endst.No.2351-SW(4)-2008 Chandigarh dated the30-1-2009

A copy is forwarded to the controller, Printing and stationery Department Haryana Chandigarh for publishing in the Haryana Govt. Gazette 150 spare copies may please be supplied to the undersigned at the earlier.

Sd/-

Joint Secretary

for Commissioner & Secretary to Government. Haryana

Social Justice & Empowerment Department.

Endst.No. 2351-SW(4)-2008 Chandigarh dated the 30-1-2009

A copy is forwarded to the following for information and necessary action:-

Director] Social Justice & Empowerment, Haryana.
1. Accountant General] Haryana ( A & E Audit )] Chandigarh.
2. All Deputy Commissioners in the Haryana State.
3. All District Social Welfare Officers in the Haryana State.
4. All District Welfare Officers in the Haryana State.

Sd/-

Joint Secretary

for Commissioner & Secretary to Government. Haryana

Social Justice & Empowerment Department.

A copy is forwarded to the Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary to the Govt. of Haryana, Finance Department with reference to his U.O.No. 1/80//2008-3FG-11/2272 dated 3-12-2008.

The Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary

to Govt. Haryana, Finance Department.

U.O.No 2351-SW(4)-2008 Chandigarh dated 30-1-2009

HARYANA GOVERNMENT

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT DEPARTMENT

NOTIFICATION

The 30th October, 2009

No. 1953-SW(4)-2009-In partial modification of Haryana Government, Social Justice & Empowerment Department, Notification No. 2351-SW(4) 2008, dated 30th January, 2009, the Governor of Haryana is pleased to make the following amendments shall come into operation with immediate effect.

1. Sub Para (IV) of Para 3 of the Scheme is omitted.

2. In said scheme sub point (a) of sub para (V) of Para 3 is substituted under:-

(i) Mental Retardation with I.Q. not exceeding 50 or percentage of disability is 70% and above.

(ii) Persons with cerebral palsy.

(iii) Persons with Autism.

(iv) Multiple disability with a total permanent disability of 705 or more disabilities as defined in clause (i) of Section 2 of the persons with Disabilities, Protection or Rights and Full participation) Act, 1995 (\1 of 1996).

(v) Case of orthopaedic Disability with a permanent disability of 100% which are further clarified as under.

(i) Myhopathy

(ii) Paraplegic

(iii) Quadri Plegia.

2. Budget Head

2235-Social Security & Welfare-020- Social Welfare 101-Welfare of Handicapped-part I State Plan Schemes (72) Financial Assistance to non-school going disabled children 09-Grant-in-aid (New Scheme Plan 2009-10).

Sd/-

Chandigarh: Navraj Sandhu,

The 25th August, 2009 Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary to Govt. Haryana, Social Justice & Empowerment Department.

SCHEME OF DEPLOYMENT OF CAREGIVERS

Introduction & Objectives

It has often been seen that persons with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities require constant and life long care of their persons. Care giving families have reported that with the increasing age of the child with disability as well as with the increasing age of the primary care givers, particularly the mother, providing care becomes more stressful, more demanding, labour intensive, costly and tiring. Although there are no reliable statistics to determine the population of persons with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities, it is generally known that those families that have amongst themselves any person having any of the above disabilities go through tremendous physical and financial strains throughout the life of the affected persons. Very often the families do not wish to institutionalize their disabled members not merely because cost of institutionalization is beyond their economic means but also because there is an emotional binding which dictates the decision to retain the disabled family member. The object of the National Trust for the welfare of persons with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities Act, 1999 is to empower families to retain their disabled members within the family and the community.

As the families are often reluctant and/or do not have the financial means for sending a person to an institution of any type, there is a need to bring relief to such families by providing caregivers services, which may be hired. National Trust has formulated a scheme for training of caregivers and setting up of a cell by6 trained caregivers, which will provide services by changing parents. As all the parents will not be able to pay, it proposed to provide free services to BPL families. The caregivers can change from the APL families. Therefore, the Haryana State has formulated a scheme of Deployment of caregivers. This scheme also takes care of career prospects and career progression of caregivers, effective arrangement for deployment after training & to provide incentive to make care giving as a preferred career. The scheme will be implemented in the group form i.e. Group Care Centre within their locality so that they can avail these services nearest to their home.

B. Training of Caregivers

The National Trust has given training to 68 caregivers in the State. In future, training programme for caregivers will be tied up with the National Trust on need base. The training programmes will be conducted on the basis of training module prescribed by the National Trust. The cost of training and setting up of a cell of caregivers will be met by National Trust. The financial assistance will be give to caregivers NGOs.

C. Coverage of the Scheme

In the first phase this Scheme will be implemented in the selected districts i.e. Rohtak, Sonepat, Bhiwani, Sirsa, Karnal and Faridabad in the State. Gradually, the Scheme may be expanded in other districts on the availability of the funds.

D. Financial Implications of the Scheme

Basically, the Scheme will cover BPL PwD beneficiaries without charging any user’s fees but APL PwD cases may be included in this scheme and for this they will have to pay Rs. 100/- per month as user’s fees. The Scheme will be implemented on group basis and the ratio of BPL PwD & APL PwD will be 5:3. In first phase such ten Group Care Centres will be established. These Centres will be set up through District Red Cross Societies or reputed NGO working in the field of mental retardation. Each Group Care Centre will be run by trained caregiver. Who will be given Rs. 2000/- and Rs. 500/- for every BPL MR child. Minimum number of children 5 and maximum 8. If there are none then. One additional caregiver can be given.( Timing 9 A.M. to 5.00 P.M.).

E. Break-up of Annual Budget for 10 Group Care Centres

Recurring Expenses:

(a) Honorarium to caregivers

@ Rs. 5,000/- per caregivers p.m.- Rs.5,000/- X10X12 = Rs.6,00,000/-

(b) Visit charges of Speech -Rs.250/- X10X24 =Rs. 60,000/- Occupational/PhysioTherapist/Doctors(2 visits per Month @ Rs.250/- per visit)

@ Rs.300/- p.m

(d) One Assistant for Monitoring at Headquarter of Social Justice & Empowerment Haryana.

Non-recurring Expenses ( one time in 5 years )

Furniture (2 chairs, one table, - Rs. 25,000/- X 10 = Rs.2,50,000/-

one almirah ,one dari), play/learning materials, Daily Living Activity material etc.)

The user’s fees received from APL PWD will be utilized for these Group Care Centres on cultural, games and competitive activities etc. of persons with disabilities.

F. Accommodation for Group Care Centre

The rent free accommodation will be provided by Gram Panchayat /Local Bodies of the concerned village/town/city.

Eligibility

(a) The beneficiary i.e. person with disability under National Trust Act should be a domicile of Haryana State & should be residing in Haryana for the last 3 years at the time of submission of application.

(b) The PWD should be the age of below 18 years or have severe disability.

H. Implementing Agency

The District Red Cross Branch of the concerned district or reputed NGO will be the implementing agency which will be selected by the Director, Social Justice & Empowerment Department, Haryana.

I. Release of Funds

The NGO will apply for annual funds to the Director, Social Justice & Empowerment Department, Haryana and the department will release the funds to the concerned NGO in the form of grant-in-aid.

J. Physical & Financial Report

The NGO will submit the physical & financial report quarterly to the Director, Social Justice & Empowerment Department, Haryana. In the end of financial year, income and expenditure statement along with utilization certificate duly issued by the Chartered Accountant will be submitted to the department.

K. Monitoring of the Scheme.

A Nodal Officer will be appointed by the department who will be the authority to monitor the scheme and he/she will be competent to inspect and forward the proposal for grant-in-aid under this Scheme.

*******

Funding to Local Level Committee

Under the local Level Committee, presently. We are providing Rs. 10,000 per annum for the various activities which includes awareness generation, appointment of Guardians, sensitization of NGOs, etc. Now, it is proposed to increase the amount of Rs. 50,000 with the help of State Government so that activities of the LLC Can be increased with additional financial grants for publicity material, provision for appoi8ntment of staff, organizing sensitization public relation activities, as there are number of districts in our country that we are proposing to support, existing LLC as well, to cover the remaining districts of the country which is having large number.

Out of this Rs. 50,000, Rs 10,000 is already given by the National Trust and for the additional Rs. 40,000 we except Rs. 20,000 matching contribution from the State Government so that the balance amount of Rs. 20,000 can be borne by National Trust.

The tentative budget head/ break- up of budget is given below:

(a) Printing of awareness material Rs. 12,000.00

(b) Appointment of contractual staff @ Rs. 250

Per week, 2 days a week Rs. 12,000.00

(d) Awareness/ sensitization/ publicity/ activities Rs. 12,000.00

(e) Contingency (includes monitoring of legal Guardians)Rs. 2,000.00

(f) Vocational/job oriented training/training For self- Rs. 10,000.00

Employment ____________

Rs. 50,000.00

Whether is only one district in the UT, the annual expenditure for the UT share would be Rs. 20000=20,000/- per annum which will take the scheme long way.

NIRAMAYA

(A Health Insurance Scheme for the Welfare of persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities)

The National Trust for the welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities has introduced a Health Insurance Scheme with the collaboration with ICICI Lombard called “Niramaya” for above four disabilities. The details of the Scheme are as under:

OBJECTIVE

To provide affordable Health Insurance to Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation & Multiple Disabilities.
To encourage health services seeking behavior among persons with disability.
to improve the general health condition & quality of life of persons with disability.

SCHEME & ITS COVERAGE

The scheme envisages to deliver ‘Community based’ cover which will

Have a single premium across age band
Provide same coverage irrespective of the type of disability
Insurance cover upto 1.0 lakh Rs. and
All persons with disabilities will be eligible and included and there will be no ‘selection’

The Scheme further envisages that there shall be

No exclusion of Pre-existing condition
Same cover as that for other persons
Services ranging from regular Medical Checkup to Hospitalization. Therapy to Corrective Surgery, Transportation
Conditions requiring repetitive medical intervention as an in-patient
Pre & Post hospitalization expenses, subject to limits.
No pre-insurance medical tests
Cashless settlements only
Smart/Biometric cards with not only health data but also provision for other (Micro) financial data

The details of services with financial limits are as given in Annexure-‘A’. The scheme is extended in all the districts of the country (except J&K)

ENROLMENT OF BENEFICIARIES

All the registered organizations of National Trust are engaged in enrolment of beneficiaries. A sample enrolment form is enclosed in Annexure-B. The same is available in the web site of National Trust (nationaltrust.org.in) also.

ENPANELLMENT OF HEALTH SERVICE PROVIDERS

Under the scheme, health services will be provided by a network of hospital, nursing homes which will be duly empanelled for the scheme. Such service provider shall be of good quality fulfilling relevant requirements of the scheme.

PREMIUM & STOP LOSS

The premium amount is Rs.99/-per year for persons with income upto Rs.15,000/-p.m.which is paid by National Trust Others have to deposited Rs.250/- as processing fee. Details of the payment procedure is given in the enrolment form. In case of total claims exceeding the total premium amount, the Insurance Company will cover the risk up to 120% of the total premium amount i.e. the insurance company can have a stop loss at 120% of total premium amount. Similarly in case of claims falling short of total premium amount , the Insurance company shall pay back 90% of the savings, after deducting 20% as administrative cost.

IMPLEMENTATION

The Nodal Agency for implementation of the scheme is M/S Alegion Insurance Broking Ltd., 117, St. EBBA’S Avenue, P.S. Sivasamy Salai, Millipore, Chennai, Ph.No.9789982257, 9789982242.

The Scheme will be implemented through NGO member of LLC of concerned District. The NGO will enroll the beneficiaries and keep the records of the beneficiaries.

The beneficiary should be a domicile of Haryana State and should be residing in Haryana State for the last three years at the time of submission of application. He/She will have to submit domicile proof for this purpose issued by the competent authority.

ANNEXURE-A
INSURANCE BENEFITS HEALTH
List of Benefits (including pre-existing conditions) Limits (Rs.)

1	Cashless Hospitalization	100000
2	Domiciliary Hospitalization including Nursing charges	20000
3	Corrective Surgeries for existing disability including congenital disability	50000
4	Surgery to prevent further aggravation of disability	15000
5	Post operative care including Therapies for 6 months	15000
6	OPD Services (consultation and medicines) for all ailments and diseases.	10000
7	Regular Medical checkup for non-ailing Disabled.(Per Year)	10000
8	Pathology, Radiology, Advance tests for Diagnosis of illnesses and monitoring disability	7500
9	Ongoing Therapies to reduce impact of disability and disability related complications.	7500
10	Dental-Preventive Dentistry	7500
11	Transport charges for seeking medical services	1500
12	Alternative Medicine	2000

NIRAMAYA

ANNEXURE - B

(Health Insurance Scheme for Persons with Disabilities under the National Trust Act)

ENROLLMENT FORM

Name of Person with Disability (PWD) Passport photo

Father’s / Husband’s Name
(i) Age (ii) Sex (iii) Status : Married/Unmarried
Educational Qualifications
Type of Disability Tick here Percentage

a) Autism

b) Cerebral Palsy

c) Mental Retardation

d) Multiple Disabilities

please specify disabilities

Name of legal guardian, if any and relationship with PWD
Address of PWD for correspondence

PIN Phone email

Family Income of PWD /Parent
If family income above 15000 pm, details of amount

paid by the PWD to National Trust (Niramaya) Bank

Account (State Bank of India A/c 30396764585)*

10 Disability & Income verified & found correct.

(Signature & seal of LLC-NGO member)

11. Name & Designation of the authorized person of the NGO forwarding this enrollment form

Name of the NGO
Place Date Signature of the authorized person

Note:

Persons having family income of Rs.15,000/- p.m. are covered free under the scheme. For others a processing fee of Rs. 250/- to be deposited in savings Account No. 30396764585 in State Bank of India in favour of National Trust (Niramaya) and bank deposit receipt should be affixed as proof of payment along with the enrolment form.
This form can be submitted, till the enrollment process is continuing, to any registered organization of National Trust (list in the web site www.nationaltrust.org.in) in the district or to the registered office of ALEGION Insurance Broking Ltd., 117, St. Ebba’s Avenue, P.S. Sivasamisalai, Millipore, Chennai- 600 004.
Photocopies of Income Certificate, Disability Certificate & Address proof should be attached.
In case of any difficulty in getting the income certificate and /or disability certificate, the same may be obtained from the NGO member of Local Level Committee (LLC) of the district (LLC in case of Jabalpur) (list in the web site www.nationaltrust.org.in) who are authorized to issue such certificates, only for the purpose of this scheme.
Alternatively, income & disability details furnished on the form should be countersigned by the LLC NGO member (LLC in case of Jabalpur)
After submission of enrollment form, it will take around two months to process & distribute Health Card, if approved. Applicants are advised to check up with the NGO concerned where forms were submitted on 10^th/25^th of every month giving two month clear time for processing.

Benefits under the scheme can be availed by showing the health card at empanelled hospitals/health centres on cashless basis anywhere in India. At other places, benefits can be availed on reimbursement basis only.

Subject To implement GHARAUNDA scheme.

-----

National Trust, New Delhi has forwarded a GHARAUNDA scheme under the National Trust Act, 1999 to implement in the State. Under this scheme facilities of whole life shelter and maintenance will be provided to the Autism, cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities. For setting up/implementation of National Trust will provide Rs. 1.00 crore and the same share will be met by the State Government. State Govt. also provide land for construction of Group Home Centre. National Trust desired acceptance of the State for setting up of these centres. This scheme will be run by the NGOs having vast knowledge/experience in the field of Disabled Welfare and having sound financial position.

Under this scheme the following facilities will be provided to the Disabled Persons:-

Barrier free environment will be provided to the inmates;
Healthy diet and hygienic food will be provided 3 times in a day;
Necessary clothes will be provided free of cost;
Health services will be provided round the clock like as physiotherapy, medical check-up, speech therapy etc.
An accidental insurance policy amounting to Rs.50,000/- for each inmates;
Educational and Vocational Training facilities will also be provided;
Recreational and supports facilities;
Female caretaker will be provided to female inmates separately;
Complete security arrangement.

A memorandum of agreement between the National Trust and care service provider will be signed.

Under this scheme a corpus fund will be set up in which an amount of Rs. 2.00 crore (1.00 crore National Trust & 1.00 crore State Govt.) out of which the expenses relating to building, furniture, boarding-lodging, utensils etc. will be met out. In the initial stage group home measuring approximately 5000 sq.foot covered area will be set up for 40 inmates and for this purpose Rs.50.00 lakh will be met out of the corpus fund. The interest amount accrued on the remaining 1.50 crore rupee (approximate Rs.15.00 lakh) will be utilised for running/providing facilities to the inmates. As per the estimate Rs.4,000/- per month, per inmate purposed to be utilised and in this way Rs.11,52,000/- ¼4000x24x12=11]52]000@&½ annually will be utilised.

Out of the 40 seats 24 seats will be reserved for the beneficiaries belonging to BPL category and remaining 16 seats will be kept as paid seat for the inmates belonging above poverty line category. For this Rs. 9.60 lakh per seat will be charged from the parents/guardians of the inmate.

As regards the availability of land for construction of building it is purposed that land available in the premises of District Rehabilitation Centre, Bhiwani can be utilised for construction of building for the group care centre boys and the land/building available with Mahila Ashram, Rohtak can be utilised for the female group care centre.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/information-about-schemes-for-disabled-haryana

February 2013 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2013-03-11T05:35:46Z

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) wishes you a great year ahead and welcomes you to the second issue of its newsletter for the year 2013. In this issue we bring you an overview of our research programs, updates of events organised by us, events we participated in, news and media coverage, and videos of some of our recent events.

Memorial

Rahul Cherian, an expert and policy activist in disability law, intellectual property and technology law passed away due to an illness while on a visit to Goa on February 7, 2013. Rahul was the founder of the Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability and Policy, and a fellow at CIS. He was also a partner at IndoJuris Law Offices in Chennai and was one of the experts who drafted the Treaty for the Visually Impaired currently being negotiated at the World Intellectual Property Organization. The Hindu (February 8, 2013), First Post (February 8, 2013), Legally India (February 7, 2013), and Bar & Bench (February 8, 2013) covered this story. Lawrence Liang wrote an obituary page, A Lightness of Spirit (The Hindu, February 9, 2013) and Nishant Shah wrote a column One For All (Indian Express, February 17, 2013).

CIS organised a memorial function for Rahul Cherian at the TERI, Southern Regional Centre in Bangalore on February 28, 2013.

Jobs
CIS invites applications for the posts of Developer (NVDA Screen Reader Project), Programme Officer (Access to Knowledge and Openness), and Programme Officer (Internet Governance). To apply send your resume to sunil@cis-india.org and pranesh@cis-india.org.

Accessibility

CIS is doing two projects in partnership with the Hans Foundation. One of this is to create a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India and another is for developing a screen reader and text-to- speech synthesizer for Indian languages. CIS is also working with the World Blind Union and many other organisations to develop a Treaty for the Visually Impaired helped by the WIPO:

National Resource Kit for Persons with Disabilities

Anandhi Viswanathan from CIS and Manojna Yeluri from the Centre for Law and Policy Research are working in this project. Draft chapters have been published. Feedback and comments are invited from readers for the chapters on Bihar and West Bengal:

The Bihar Chapter (by Manojna Yeluri, February 14, 2013): The state of Bihar is in the process of formulating a comprehensive state policy on disability. The Bihar State Policy on Disability is an extension of the National Policy for Persons with Disabilities and is currently in a draft form awaiting government approval and notification.
The West Bengal Chapter (by Anandhi Viswanathan, February 28, 2013): The state of West Bengal has issued the West Bengal Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Rules, 1999 to implement the provisions under the central Persons with Disabilities (Protection of Rights, Equal Opportunities and Full Participation) Act, 1995.

Media Coverage

Indian Users’ Perspective On WIPO Negotiations On Treaty For Visually Impaired (by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch, February 16, 2013). Nirmita Narasimhan is quoted.

Access to Knowledge

The Wikimedia Foundation awarded CIS a two year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop the growth of Indic language communities and projects by community collaborations and partnerships. This is being carried out by the Access to Knowledge team based in Delhi. CIS is also doing a project (Pervasive Technologies) on examining the relationship between production of pervasive technologies and intellectual property. The project researches upon the noteworthy opportunities of the new types of low cost mobile devices, content and services as available in the market.

Wikipedia

Beginning from September 1, 2012, Wikimedia Foundation awarded CIS a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. The A2K team consists of four members based in Delhi: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Nitika Tandon, Subhashish Panigrahi and Noopur Raval, and one new team member Dr. U.B. Pavanaja who works from Bangalore office.

New Team Member

Dr. U.B. Pavanaja joined the A2K team as Programme Officer, India Language Initiatives on February 19, 2013. Dr. Pavanaja holds a Master’s degree from Mysore University and Ph.D. from Mumbai University. He was a scientist at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, for about 15 years. He is one of the earliest editors of Kannada Wikipedia. He has to his credit many firsts, viz., first Kannada website, first Kannada online magazine, first Indian language (Kannada) website to receive Golden Web Award, first Indian language (Kannada) editor for Palm OS, first Indian language (Kannada) editor for WinCE device (HP Jornado 720), first Indian language version (Kannada) of universally popular Logo (programming language for children) software, etc. His Kannada logo won the Manthan Award for the year 2006. He was a member of the technical advisory committee setup by the Govt. of Karnataka for Standardization of Kannada on Computers (2000). He is also a member of the Kannada Software Committee of Govt. of Karnataka (2008-current).

Events Organised

Knowledge Sharing through GLAM at Bangalore (Karnataka Chitrakala Parishad, Kumara Krupa Road, Bangalore, February 25, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja, Subhashish Panigrahi and Nitika Tandon participated in this event.
Wikimedia Bangalore Meetup @ Indian Institute of Management (Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (organized in partnership with Wikispeed and NASSCOM). Vishnu Vardhan spoke on the Access to Knowledge project. Noopur Raval participated in the event.

Blog Entries

Creative Commons comes to India (by Subhashish Panigrahi, February 28, 2013).
Fifty-fourth Bangalore Wikimedia Meet-up at IIM, Bangalore (by Noopur Raval, February 28, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia Community Brings Wikipedia Education Program to IIMC, Dhenkanal (by Subhashish Panigrahi, February 28, 2013).
FOSS, Wikimedia and Mozilla Under One Roof at GNUnify 2013, Pune (by Subhashish Panigrahi, February 28, 2013).

Event Reports
CIS organised one Wiki workshop in the month of February 2013. We also bring you the report from an event organised in the month of January:

Celebrating Odia Wikipedia's Ninth Anniversary (organized by the Odia Wiki Community with support from CIS and Academy for Media Learning, January 29, 2013, Bhubaneswar). Few glimpses of the event are available as audio podcasts.
Digital Literacy Workshop at Department of Arts, Delhi University (by Nitika Tandon, February 5, 2013).

Media Coverage

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ନ‌ବମ ଜନ୍ମତିଥି ଅବସରରେ କର୍ମଶାଳା: ଇମିଡ଼ିଆରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ପ୍ର‌ୟୋଗ (Odishan.com, February 4, 2013).
ସମ୍ବାଦ: ଲିପି ବ୍ୟାକରଣ ଓ ମାନକ ଭାଷାର ପ୍ରୟୋଗ ଜରୁରୀ. (Sambad, February, 2013).
Odisha: Workshop organized on 9th Anniversary of Odia language: Application of Odia language in e-media (e India Bureau, March 2, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia’s 9th anniversary (fullOrissa News, February 13, 2013).
Odisha: Workshop organized on 9th Anniversary of Odia language: Application of Odia language in e-media (India Education Diary.com, March 2, 2013). Subhashish Panigrahi is quoted.
Odia language workshop organized on 9th Anniversary of Odia Wikipedia: Application of Odia language in e-media (Odishaviews.com, February 5, 2013). Subhashish Panigrahi is quoted.

Ongoing Events

Wikipedia Workshop @ BITS Goa (BITS Pilani K K Birla Goa Campus, March 7, 2013, 5.30 p.m. to 8.00 p.m.).
A Wikipedia Editing Workshop in Goa (Nirmala Institute of Education, Goa, March 8, 2013, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.).

Announcement

Sanskrit Wikiquote — Now Available: The Access to Knowledge team at CIS is happy to announce the availability of Sanskrit Wikiquote. Shiju Alex, an ex-team member played an active role in bringing this out. For more info see http://bit.ly/Y9OY9R.

Pervasive Technologies

Event Participated In

International Conference on Contours of Media Governance: Teaching, Disciplinarity, Methodology (organised by Jamia Millia Islamia University with support from Ford Foundation and ICSSR, Centre for Culture, Media & Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, February 25 – 27, 2013). Sunil Abraham presented preliminary findings from the Pervasive Technologies project.

Other Openness Updates

Announcements from Other Organizations

Iryna Kuchma wins the second EPT award: The Electronic Publishing Trust for Development announced the winner of its 2nd Annual Award in recognition of the effort made by individuals working in the developing and emerging countries in the furtherance of Open Access (OA) to scholarly publications. Dr. Francis Jayakanth won the inaugural award last year.

HasGeek

HasGeek creates discussion spaces for geeks and has organised conferences like the Fifth Elephant, Droidcon India 2011, Android Camp, etc. HasGeek is supported by CIS and works from the CIS office in Bengaluru.

Event Report & Video

Report of Aaron Swartz Memorial Hacknight (by Zainab Bawa, February 6, 2013). On January 19 and 20, 2013, HasGeek organized a hacknight to commemorate the life and work of Aaron Swartz. Zainab Bawa shares the developments.

Internet Governance

CIS has an agreement with Privacy International, London to facilitate the implementation of activities related to surveillance and freedom of speech and expression. We are also doing a project on examining the indicators of female economic empowerment in the IT industry in India.

Gender

Women in India’s IT Industry (by Jadine Lannon, February 27, 2013)
Women in the IT Industry: Request for Data (by Jadine Lannon, February 28, 2013).

Free Speech & Expression

Analyzing the Latest List of Blocked URLs by Department of Telecommunications (IIPM Edition) (by Snehashish Ghosh, February 14, 2013). The analysis was quoted in FirstPost.
Don’t SLAPP free speech (by Sunil Abraham with inputs from Snehashish Ghosh, Tehelka, February 3, 2013, Issue 9, Volume 10).
Freedom of Expression Gagged (by Chinmayi Arun, Hindu Business Line, February 15, 2013).

Media Coverage

Hate speech: ban or ignore? (NDTV, February 5, 2013). Pranesh Prakash, Shivam Vij, and Sanjay Rajoura gave their expert views on the impact of hate speech.
Censorship and sensibility in India (by Samanth Subramanian, February 6, 2013). Pranesh Prakash is quoted.
Online Abuse of Teen Girls in Kashmir Leads to Arrests (by Betwa Sharma, New York Times, February 8, 2013). Pranesh Prakash is quoted.
Indian net service providers too play censorship tricks (by T Ramachandran, The Hindu, February 9, 2013). Sunil Abraham is quoted.
Anonymous joins protests against Internet shutdown in Kashmir (by Indu Nandakumar, Economic Times, February 12, 2013). Sunil Abraham is quoted.
Why was the Gwalior court in such a hurry to block IIPM URLs? (by Danish Raza, FirstPost, February 19, 2013). Snehashish Ghosh’s analysis on blocked website is quoted.
Stop Press Carousel (by Arindham Mukherjee, Outlook, February 22, 2013). Sunil Abraham is quoted.
"All Indian Enterprises should Be Very Worried": Centre for Internet and Society (by Shubhra Rishi, Computer World, February 25, 2013). Pranesh Prakash is quoted.

Events Participated In

Freedom of expression online: identifying and addressing challenges and developing a shared vision and a working partnership: (organized by Wilton Park, Wiston House, Sussex, UK, February 13 – 15, 2013). Pranesh Prakash participated in the event.
9th International Asian Conference (organized by ITech Law, Bangalore, February 14 -15, 2013). Sunil Abraham was a panelist in the session on Censorship of Online Content.

Privacy

2012: Privacy Highlights in India (by Elonnai Hickok, February 12, 2013): Elonnai summarizes the top privacy moments of 2012 in India.
Surveillance Camp IV: Disproportionate State Surveillance - A Violation of Privacy (by Elonnai Hickok and Katitza Rodriguez of Electronic Frontier Foundation February 19, 2013).
BigDog is Watching You! The Sci-fi Future of Animal and Insect Drones (by Maria Xynou, February 25, 2013).

Events Organized

Analyzing the Draft Human DNA Profiling Bill 2012 (March 1, 2013, CIS, Bangalore).
Unique Identity Number (UID), National Population Register (NPR), and Governance (March 2, 2013, TERI Southern Regional Centre, Bangalore).

Event Participated In

The Omnishambles of UID, shrouded in its RTI opacity: CIS sponsored Colonel Mathew Thomas to hold a workshop at the fourth National Right to Information (RTI) organized by the National Campaign for People's Right to Information, held in Hyderabad from February 15 to 18, 2013.

Upcoming Event

DML Conference 2013 (co-organised by CIS and Digital Media & Learning Research Hub Central, Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers - Chicago, Illinois, March 14 – 16, 2013).

Internet Access – Knowledge Repository

CIS in partnership with the Ford Foundation was executing the telecom knowledge repository project which included producing and disseminating modules on various aspects of telecommunications including policy, regulations, infrastructure and market. However, from November 2012 there was a change in the mandate of the project. The new repository will cover the history of the internet, technologies involved, principle and values of internet access, broadband market and universal access. It will also touch upon various polices and regulations which has an impact on internet access and bodies and mechanism which are responsible for formulation policies related to internet access. The blog posts and modules will be published in a new website: www.internet-institute.in.

Upcoming Event

We are hosting an “Institute on Internet and Society” in collaboration with the Ford Foundation India, which is to be held from June 8, 2013 to June 14, 2013. Call for registration and relevant details will be announced soon on our website.

Telecom

While the potential for growth and returns exist for telecommunications in India, a range of issues need to be addressed. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the other is a countrywide access to broadband which is low. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum:

Newspaper Column

The Supreme Court & Spectrum Management (by Shyam Ponappa, Organizing India Blogspot, February 14, 2013, originally published in the Business Standard, February 6, 2013).

Blog Entry

Who Minds the Maxwell's Demon: Revisiting Communication Networks through the Lens of the Intermediary (by Sharath Chandra Ram, February 28, 2013).

Digital Natives

Digital Natives with a Cause? examines the changing landscape of social change and political participation in light of the role that young people play through digital and Internet technologies, in emerging information societies. Consolidating knowledge from Asia, Africa and Latin America, it builds a global network of knowledge partners who critically engage with discourse on youth, technology and social change, and look at alternative practices and ideas in the Global South:

Events Participated In

D:coding Digital Natives - Seminar with Nishant Shah (organized by HUMlab, February 26, 2013). Nishant Shah gave a talk on D:coding Digital Natives at Samhällsvetarhuset.

Video Vortex # 9 Re:assemblies of Video (organized by the Institute of Network Cultures, Post Media Lab, Moving Image Lab, Leuphana, et.al, February 28 – March 2, 2013). Nishant Shah delivered a key note at this event.

Digital Humanities

From 2012 to 2015, the Researchers At Work series is focusing on building research clusters in the field of Digital Humanities. We organised the first Habits of Living workshops in Bangalore last year. The next workshop is being held in Brown University.

Upcoming Event

Habits of Living: Networked Affects, Glocal Effects (organised by CIS and Brown University, March 21 – 23, 2013, Brown University, Rhode Island). Nishant Shah will be speaking at this event.

About CIS

CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities with ITU and G3ict, and Digital Alternatives with a Cause?, Thinkathon Position Papers and the Digital Natives with a Cause? Report with Hivos, etc. We have conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on WIPO Treaties, Copyright Bill, NIA Bill, etc.

CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO. CIS staff participates in the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meetings regularly held in Geneva, and participate in the discussions and comments on them from a public interest perspective. Our Policy Director, Nirmita Narasimhan won the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the Government of India and also received the NIVH Excellence Award.

Follow us elsewhere

Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter
Join the CIS group on Facebook
Visit us at http://cis-india.org

Support Us

Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.

Request for Collaboration

We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant@cis-india.org

CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/february-2013-bulletin

National Resource Kit : The West Bengal Chapter (Call for Comments)

anandi — 2013-11-07T06:19:34Z

The National Resource Kit team is pleased to bring you its research on the state of laws, policies and programmes for persons with disabilities in the state of West Bengal.

Note: The chapter is an early draft and will undergo subsequent modifications. We welcome comments and feedback from our readers.

Executive Summary

The state of West Bengal has issued the West Bengal Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Rules 1999 to implement the provisions under the central Persons with Disabilities (Protection of Rights, Equal Opportunities and Full Participation) Act 1995.

The Department of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare is primarily responsible for the welfare of persons with disabilities in the state. The government of West Bengal has issued six notifications in education, ten notifications in employment and training, ten notifications in health and rehabilitation, ten notifications in social protection and two notifications in transport for persons with disabilities.

Capital: Kolkata

Population: 91,347,736

Population of persons with disabilities: 1,847,184

Literacy: 77.08%

HDI: 0.625 Ranked: 19th (2005 status)

Department: Department of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare

Other authorities: Office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities

Click to download the West Bengal chapter (PDF, 344 Kb)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/the-west-bengal-chapter

In Memoriam of Rahul Cherian

praskrishna — 2013-02-25T01:51:22Z

The Centre for Internet & Society is organising a memorial function for Rahul Cherian who passed away recently while on a family visit to Goa. He had succumbed to an infection. The function will be held on February 28, 2013, from 5 p.m. To 7.00 p.m. at TERI, Bangalore. Dinner will be served right after the event. Lawrence Liang, Reuben Jacob and Gautam John will be speaking at the event.

Rahul Cherian

Rahul was a lawyer, disability policy activist and the founder of the Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability and Policy, and a fellow at CIS. He was a partner at IndoJuris Law Offices in Chennai, having acted as a managing partner of the firm between 2003 and 2008. He was also the co-founder of www.inclusiveplanet.com, the world's largest social network for persons with visual impairment. He was one of the experts who drafted the Treaty for the Visually Impaired currently being negotiated at the World Intellectual Property Organization. His areas of expertise include disability law, intellectual property law and technology law.

Rahul was on the legal expert panel constituted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to give input on the new disability law. He was instrumental in conceptualizing and executing a national Right to Read Campaign to bring about changes in copyright law to enable persons with disabilities access copyrighted work on an equal basis with persons without disabilities. He had helped the State of Kerala draft a plan document with a vision to ensure that by the year 2025 persons with disabilities are completely integrated into mainstream society.

Rahul Cherian's collaboration with CIS

Feedback / Submissions

Making Public Libraries Accessible to People with Disabilities (January 23, 2013): Thanks to Rahul's efforts, CIS was one of the 20 disability rights groups that wrote to the Ministry of Culture.
Comments and Feedback on the Draft Twelfth Five Year Plan with respect to Persons with Disabilities (December 28, 2013): CIS was one of the ten organizations representing people with disabilities that sent comments and feedback on the draft twelfth five year plan.

Analysis

An Analysis of the Comments by World Blind Union and the International Publishers Association (March 30, 2012): Rahul provides an analysis of the comments by the World Blind Union and the International Publishers Association after the 23rd session of the Standing Committee of Copyright and Related Rights.

Blog Posts

Linking Commercial Availability and Exceptions in the Treaty for Visually Impaired/Persons with Disabilities (January 23, 2013).
WIPO to Convene a Diplomatic Conference in Morocco to Finalise TVI (December 24, 2012).
The HathiTrust Judgment and its impact on TVI negotiations at WIPO (October 30, 2012).
WIPO General Assemblies Approve Road Map on Treaty for the Visually Impaired (October 11, 2012).
WIPO Treaty for the Visually Impaired — Moving from a Treaty on Paper to a Treaty that is Workable on the Ground (September 28, 2012).
Breaking News on Electronic Accessibility (September 28, 2012).
Ring Side View: Update on WIPO Negotiations on the Treaty for the Visually Impaired (August 13, 2012).
Copyright Amendments – Empowering the Print Disabled (May29, 2012).
Copyright v. Exercise of Fundamental rights (August 6, 2009).

News & Media Coverage

Rahul was quoted in the following:

Disability groups in India welcome progress on treaty for blind persons (The Times of India, December 20, 2012).
US and EU blocking treaty to give blind people access to books (The Guardian, July 30, 2012).
An online community platform for people with different needs (Press Trust of India, December 9, 2010).
Disability rights groups oppose changes to Copyright Act (The Hindu, April 23, 2010).

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/events/in-memoriam-of-rahul-cherian

National Resource Kit: The Andaman & Nicobar Chapter (Call for Comments)

CLPR — 2014-03-06T16:21:24Z

The National Resource Kit team is pleased to bring you its research on the state of laws, policies and programmes for persons with disabilities in the state of Andaman and Nicobar.

Click to download the chapter in the revised format.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-kit-andaman-nicobar-chapter-call-for-comments

Indian Users’ Perspective On WIPO Negotiations On Treaty For Visually Impaired

praskrishna — 2013-02-18T09:07:06Z

South-East Asia is host to one-third of the world’s 39 million blind people. Over 20 million live in India alone. This week’s special session of the World Intellectual Property Organization aims to clean up the text of an international treaty to facilitate access to books for the blind and visually impaired community. It is thus of prime importance for India, and some there worry that issues such as commercial availability could undermine the treaty’s effectiveness.

This blog post by Catherine Saez was published in Intellectual Property Watch on February 16, 2013, Nirmita Narasimhan is quoted.

According to Nirmita Narasimhan, policy director with the Center for Internet and Society, barely five percent of published books in India are available in accessible formats. Visually impaired people struggle to get access to “education, news and entertainment, cultural materials, and employment.”

For instance, she told Intellectual Property Watch “even where there are seats reserved forl the blind in universities, there may not be enough applicants/candidates to fill those seats because of lack of educational resources.”

“Leisure reading and being up to date with the latest bestsellers is of course also a problem because these are unavailable at the time these reach the global market,” she said.

“Until last year, we did not have any fair use exception in our copyright law permitting conversion,” Narasimhan said. The new copyright amendment [pdf], which amended the Indian copyright Act of 1957, was adopted in May 2012 (IPW, Inside Views, 22 January 2013) but “has not yet translated into significant results in terms of accessible books,” Narasimhan said. The amendment allows conversion of books to accessible formats.

There are very limited resources in India, “both in terms of finances as well as manpower to carry out conversion activities, and a demand which far outstrips the supply, hence disability organisations struggle to keep up with the demand for accessible books,” she said, adding that “unlike organisations in other countries, organisations in India do not receive any government support for carrying out funding activities.”

Progress is slow and we still do not have complete access to global online collections such as Bookshare since there is some ambiguity regarding the definition of an ‘accessible format’ in our copyright act. Talking books are not explicitly mentioned in the Act,” she added. “Talking books” refer to books under a Digital Accessible Information SYstem (Daisy) format. The Copyright Amendment Bill of 2012 also does not address import and export, she said.

According to the Daisy Consortium, which includes 20 full members and over 40 associate members, a Daisy book is “a set of digital files” that includes “one or more digital audio files containing a human narration of part or all of the source text, a marked-up file containing some or all of the text (…), a synchronisation file to relate markings in the text file with time points in the audio file, and a navigation control file which enables the user to move smoothly between files while synchronisation between text and audio is maintained.“

“The Daisy Forum of India is an active network of over 85 organisations who are converting into Daisy, but the number of books with them is still significantly lower than those available in other countries,” she said.

“Technological solutions are still by and large unavailable in rural areas,” Narasimhan said. “Hence, while solutions like electronic text are useful in cities, audio or Braille would still be the primary means of reading for the blind in rural India.”

India is also working on a draft Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill. In particular, Article 51 on access to information and communication technology states that measures should be taken so that “all content in whichever medium whether audio, print or electronic shall be

made available to persons with disabilities in accessible format,” and that “persons with disabilities have access to electronic media by providing for audio description, sign language interpretation and close captioning.”

International Treaty of Utmost Importance

“Countries like India could benefit tremendously from access to accessible versions of books in libraries around the world,” according to Narasimhan. “It would dispense with the administrative mechanism of seeking copyright permissions, which would greatly ease the life of disability organisations engaged in conversions.”

A paper, posted on the CIS-India website on 23 January, by Rahul Cherian, founder of Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability Law and Policy, said next week’s session “is probably the last change to sort out the major outstanding issues in the text of the document before the diplomatic conference.”

“One of the most critical issues that remain outstanding is the desire that some government negotiators have to link the use of the treaty provisions or copyright exceptions to commercial unavailability of the work in accessible formats,” he wrote, underlining the “impossibility of verifying commercial availability with any degree of certainty.”

In particular, the linkage between commercial availability and the exceptions appear at two places in the treaty, he said: in Article C (National law limitations and exceptions on accessible format copies) and in Article D (Cross-Border exchange of accessible format copies).

The paper gives the example of the complexity of exception in relation to cross-border exchange. “Imagine that the United Kingdom introduces a provision in their copyright law allowing the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) to export accessible format copies to people with visual impairment in Chennai but only after verifying that the accessible format copy cannot be otherwise obtained within a reasonable time and at a reasonable price.”

“Remember that ‘reasonable price’ in India means that the accessible format copy of the work is available at prices that are affordable in that market, taking into account the needs and income disparities of persons who have limited vision and those with print disabilities,” it states.

He questioned how the RNIB based in the UK could even begin to undertake this exercise which would entail several steps such as checking whether the accessible format copy is available in India, understanding the needs and income disparities of those with limited vision and print disabilities, and checking the cost of the accessible format copy and determine whether the cost of the accessible format copy is reasonable.

Linking commercial availability and exceptions as mentioned in Article C, Cherian said, “will lead to countries such as India being put under pressure from the European Union and the United States to amend our Copyright Act and linking our exceptions to commercial availability,” and he added, “the same applies to countries that want to introduce copyright exceptions after the Treaty.”

Rahul Cherian died unexpectedly on 7 February.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/ip-watch-feb-16-2013-catherine-saez-indian-users-perspective-on-wipo-negotiations-on-treaty-for-visually-impaired

One For All

nishant — 2013-03-04T04:13:06Z

The importance of making information accessible and universal.

Nishant Shah's column was published in the Indian Express on February 17, 2013.

In the late 1990s, when I was an undergraduate student studying English Literature, a professor asked me if I could volunteer to write exam papers for a student with visual impairment, Milind, who was one year my senior. It was my first encounter with a student with a visual challenge, and it changed my experience and understanding of education. I had always found comfort in the world of words and stories. When I first met Milind, I soon realised that he was being excluded from this world of reading and writing that I had taken for granted. With most of the prescribed textbooks not available in Braille and none of the reference material in libraries accessible, he was dependent on volunteers and disability support organisations to audio-record the texts so that he could access them. His library was made of audio-cassettes scratched from over-use, which did not offer him the options of re-visiting, annotating, and close-reading. And when I wrote the exams for him, writing as he dictated, I was left humbled and inspired by his strong commitment to educating himself. The phone call I received when he got his English Literature degree, and our celebratory dinner, remain one of my happiest memories as an undergraduate student.

That experience made me realise, for the first time the exclusivity of the world of books and print. While print and paper industries have helped democratise knowledge and provided us access to store and retrieve knowledge through ages and time, they are also technologies of exclusion. Reading has been so naturalised in our everyday life, that we have almost forgotten that it is a visual medium. A book is not easily accessible to people who do not have the privilege or capacity to be literate. A book can also exclude with jargon and dense languages, which are the stronghold of an elite few. And more than anything else, it stays, if you will excuse the pun, a closed book, to people with visual impairment.

Like many who might have encountered second-person disability, I have never done much to change our society. I might have done some volunteer work, or signed petitions for better infrastructure, but the interventions have been minimal and almost non-existent. I think about this today, because on February 7, 2013, one of the strongest and most powerful voices that has been fighting apathetic government systems, moribund policies and indifferent social attitudes towards visually challenged people, Rahul Cherian, died due to ill-health. Cherian, who was the co-founder of the Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability Law and Policy and a fellow at the Centre for Internet and Society, where I work, was a disability policy activist who realised the potential of the digital world, to make information and knowledge accessible to those who were previously discriminated against.

Cherian firmly believed that the digital interfaces would provide new access to information and knowledge to those who live with visual disability. If we implement global standards to ensure that the text on the internet can be read out loud by text-to-speech devices, we would have a new democratisation of information that allows people to engage with the Web. His spirit and enthusiasm was infectious as he resolutely worked at persuading technology developers and holding governments responsible for implementing accessibility protocols to make information in the digital age open.

He was committed to digitising printed resources in formats which allowed deeper engagement and manipulation of text through voice and keyboard-based controls. He fought against intellectual property right regimes which disallow books to be converted into formats that can be accessible to open source and free screen readers and text-to-speech engines. Cherian worked at collectively harnessing the powers of the digital towards building a just and inclusive society that made me recognise how deep-seated our blind spots are, when we look at the mainstream and the popular. His work made me understand that the battles for open knowledge and open access are not only economic in nature. That the digital book projects offer new inroads for those previously excluded, into the world of knowledge and information. I feel honoured to have shared conversations and working spaces with him, and know that his passing will leave a large hole, in the lives of those who knew him, as well as the political movement that demands better access for inclusion of people with disability.

Today, I want to take this moment of loss, to remind myself of something that sometimes gets forgotten — the digital technologies that we take for granted and often use just for fun, have a strong potential for social and political change. While it is great that the digital world has offered new spaces for content generation, information sharing, cultural production and social connection, it also has the potential to build safe, just and inclusive information societies. I don't know if we should buy into the rhetoric that the next global war is going to be around information, but we should remember that information is definitely worth fighting for and making accessible to all.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/indian-express-feb-17-2013-nishant-shah-one-for-all

National Resource Kit : The Bihar Chapter (Call for Comments)

Manojna Yeluri — 2013-03-05T05:09:13Z

The Centre for Internet & Society and the Hans Foundation are pleased to bring you its research on the state of laws, policies and programmes for persons with disabilities in the state of Bihar.

Note: The chapter is an early draft and will undergo subsequent modifications. We welcome comments and feedback from our readers.

Summary

The Department of Social Welfare became an independent department on the subject of Women and Child Development on April 1, 2007. The key mandate of the Department is the protection of the interests and rights of women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities, with focus on the marginalised sections of society. The state of Bihar is in the process of formulating a comprehensive state policy on disability. The Bihar State Policy on Disability is an extension of the National Policy for Persons with Disabilities and is currently in a draft form awaiting Government approval and notification.

Click to download the full chapter.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-bihar-chapter-call-for-comments

A Lightness of Spirit

lawrence — 2013-02-11T06:28:43Z

Disability activist Rahul Cherian leaves a legacy of thinking about human rights as rights for the maximum enjoyment of life.

The op-ed by Lawrence Liang was published in the Hindu on February 9, 2013

The word spirit travels to us via Latin where spiritus literally means breath but is more accurately a description of the vigour and vitality of a being. It is therefore appropriate that while breath marks the line between life and death, an infectious spirit vitalises everyone with their being regardless of the presence or absence of their breath. Rahul Cherian — intrepid spirit and tireless activist for disability rights — passed away on February 7 after a sudden illness.

While many of us feel cheated by the death of someone so young, let us not be mistaken: it was always Rahul who cheated death all along, and Robin Hood-like, generously distributed his infectious enthusiasm, laughing his way out of the bank of life. Diagnosed at a very early age with a spinal tumour, hospitals and surgeries were no strangers to him; they were mere playmates from whom he learnt the value of not taking illness too seriously.

Impact on Verma report

After a surgery in his 30s in which he lost partial mobility of his legs, Rahul became involved with the rights of disabled people and started “Inclusive Planet,” an organisation that works on all aspects of disability rights — from accessibility policies of the government, to reform in copyright law to enable persons with visual disabilities the right to read. He was instrumental in the drafting of the Treaty for the Visually Impaired, currently being debated at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), as well as the amendment to the Indian Copyright Act to enable exceptions for persons with disabilities.

Most recently, “Inclusive Planet” made a set of submissions to the Justice J.S. Verma Committee on the reform of sexual assault laws from the perspective of disabled victims, many of which were incorporated into the final report.

In articulating an innovative jurisprudence of disability rights, it was clear that his sense of play and a belief that emancipation comes from a sense of joy, not of sorrow, always informed whatever he did. Thus even as he fought in all fora for equal citizenship of disabled people, he also included a dating service for them and a section on disability and humour on “inclusiveplanet.com”. A telling sign of his joie de vivre was an “Inclusive Planet” T-shirt that had an alien with crutches pointing at you saying, “You are not alone.”

I remember being in a meeting with him and various representatives of organisations fighting for the rights of the visually impaired to discuss with the government the Copyright Amendment Bill. As the negotiations seemed to head towards a frustrating bureaucratic wall, he turned to me in exasperation and said, “Things better start improving or I will be forced to hit someone with my crutches and that will be terrible for the image of the disability movement.”

In an interview in Geneva, Rahul enthusiastically demonstrated his new foldable scooter with which he said he could “go on his own and buy his wife Anjana a present.” He added: “I used to call myself a disability activist but now I consider myself a freedom fighter because I am actually fighting for freedom to access the city. Coming from the land of Mahatma Gandhi, I am proud to say I am a freedom fighter and let’s see what kind of freedom we can win for disabled people.”

Rahul leaves behind an important legacy in terms of his work, but a far more important one on how we understand the very idea of a free spirit. His singularity, while irreplaceable, provides us with a vocabulary of thinking of human rights struggles as really a right to the maximum enjoyment of life and doing it with a sense of lightness.

Enumerating lightness as one of the desirable attitudes to cultivate, Italian writer Italo Calvino urged us to recall Perseus’s refusal of Medusa’s stone-heavy stare. To slay Medusa without himself being turned to stone, Perseus supports himself on the lightest of things — the winds and the clouds — and “fixes his gaze upon what can be revealed only by indirect vision — an image caught in a mirror.” Calvino reminds us that Perseus’s strength lay in his refusal to look directly, but not in a refusal of the reality in which he is fated to live. Sleep well Rahul — you have taught us well that laughter and lightness are our greatest weapons against adversity.

(Lawrence Liang is a lawyer at the Bangalore-based Alternative Law Forum.)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/the-hindu-op-ed-lawrence-liang-feb-9-a-lightness-of-spirit

Rahul Cherian passes away

praskrishna — 2013-02-10T04:27:13Z

Rahul Cherian, an expert and policy activist in disability law, intellectual property (IP) law and technology law passed away on Thursday. He was 39.

This was published in the Hindu on February 8, 2013.

Rahul passed away while on a family holiday in Goa. The 1998 National Law University Bangalore graduate succumbed to an infection after several days in intensive care. Together with fellow Law alumnus Sachin Malhan, had Cherian co-founded Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability and Policy in October 2009, as an NGO supporting stakeholders and public bodies about laws and policies affecting persons with disabilities.

As head of policy initiatives at Inclusive Planet, he was involved in drafting the Treaty for the Visually Impaired currently being agreed upon by the World Intellectual Property Organisation in Geneva.

Rahul Cherian was also a fellow at the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), a legal expert on the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment’s panel on disability laws, and an advisor to several government initiatives related to the disability sector.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-february-8-2013-rahul-cherian-passes-away

Centre for Internet and Society

Lakshadweep (Govt) Notifications

Contents

National Resource Kit: The Lakshadweep Chapter (Call for Comments)

National Resource Kit : The Meghalaya Chapter: Call for Comments

Executive Summary

Legal Provisions

Employment

Education

Health & Rehabilitation

West Bengal Notifications (OCR)

West Bengal (Govt) Notifications

Information about Schemes for Disabled Persons in Haryana

February 2013 Bulletin

Memorial

Accessibility

National Resource Kit for Persons with Disabilities

Access to Knowledge

Wikipedia

Pervasive Technologies

Other Openness Updates

HasGeek

Internet Governance

Internet Access – Knowledge Repository

Telecom

Digital Natives

Digital Humanities

About CIS

Follow us elsewhere

Support Us

Request for Collaboration

National Resource Kit : The West Bengal Chapter (Call for Comments)

Executive Summary

In Memoriam of Rahul Cherian

Rahul Cherian

Rahul Cherian's collaboration with CIS

National Resource Kit: The Andaman & Nicobar Chapter (Call for Comments)

Indian Users’ Perspective On WIPO Negotiations On Treaty For Visually Impaired

One For All

National Resource Kit : The Bihar Chapter (Call for Comments)

Summary

A Lightness of Spirit

Impact on Verma report

Rahul Cherian passes away