New Delhi: India today said discussions were
on with various stakeholders on the issue of harmonising the
country's legislations with the UN Convention on Rights of
Persons with Disability and the government will come up with
its "formulations".
"There is a discussion going on because a couple of years
back, UN adopted a convention on rights of persons with
disability. So in order to harmonise our legislation with the
UNCRPD, a debate and a dialogue is on with all the stake
holders and we will be coming up with our formulations
subsequently," Union Minister for Social Justice and
Empowerment Mukul Wasnik said here.
He was addressing a national workshop here at Jawaharlal
Nehru University on 'model curriculum development in
disability studies in India'.
The minister, however, underlined that there are various
legislation enacted over the time in the country to protect
the rights of person with disability but "we have to see that
those are enforced properly".
Speaking on the issue of providing "barrier free"
environment to disabled persons, Wasnik said "barrier free
environment is no more just an issue of charity but an issue
of rights. Each one has to have a barrier free environment.
Our public buildings, our public places should be open to each
one of us."
He said his ministry has taken up the matter (of
providing barrier free environment to disabled persons) with
different ministries and the Union government
"We have written to all the chief ministers (asking)
that in a proper and a reasonable time frame, public places.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, February 12, 2010, 20:22