In an incident that raised eyebrows recently, budget airline IndiGo denied boarding to a specially-abled child on a Hyderabad-bound flight at the Ranchi airport. The wheelchair confined boy in his teens apparently posed a safety hazard for the flight because he was in a state of panic. There were doctors on board the flight who felt otherwise and suggested that[Read More...]
A few days ago, I happened to visit an ATM to withdraw some cash. The ATM was located in a busy marketplace and in a narrow space between two shops. The machine had to be reached by climbing a short flight of steps. At the glass fronted entrance there was a notice which referred to a Reserve Bank circular advising[Read More...]
Many benefits and schemes available for persons with various disabilities cannot reach them, particularly in more remote villages, as much effort is needed for linking persons with disabilities (PwDs) with the various schemes meant for providing relief and benefits to them . Due to past neglect the number of PwDs can be not only surprisingly high in several remote[Read More...]
The marginalised sections are ubiquitous in world societies. It is the feature of human history which has found its way through a historical process of marginalisation. Marginalisation pushed certain sections of society to the fringes of the social order. It is a systemic way of deprivation and discrimination. Such social groups have limited access to opportunities, restricted freedom of choice,[Read More...]
Very often it is our disabling attitudes that make life difficult for people with disabilities, rather than their own physical impairments. More than the disability itself, it is its psychological effects that take a bigger toll on the person, says wheelchair bound Tanzila Khan, a disability rights activist who founded GirlyThings.pk. Tanzila shared her anguish in lead up to the[Read More...]
India has roughly five crore incapacitated people. Persons with Disabilities (PwD) could in fact be as high as 5 – 6% of the total population. Almost half of them are uneducated and a significant number of that populace lives in rural areas. Differently-abled people deserve to progress in all facets of life- whether it is physical, economic, or social. They[Read More...]
The recently released circulars by NTA (national testing agency) and other institutions to conduct the entrance examinations is highly exclusionary in general and for the students with disabilities in particular. As we are aware that in the current crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, the students with disabilities have been particularly neglected by most of the universities as well as other[Read More...]
At the midnight hour, when the whole world slept, India woke to life and freedom in the emotional words of Nehru’. But, again, in the midnight hour, India will witness one of the most radical tax reforms – GST…! The government is ready to roll out GST from July 1 despite dissatisfaction from many quarters. One of the consequences[Read More...]
