Dear Friends,
I appreciate such vigilant players in the disability sector. Such advocacy gives strength to the overall vibrancy of the Indian disability sector. We need to keep tab on various promises, laws and rules. Often, it is forgotten as new pressing issues overwhelm us. That is why the importance of such tab keepers.
If this fund is directed to the sector, we can have as many special schools, inclusive schools and accessibility around us besides vocational training and employment opportunities for Indians with disabilities. I know how many genuine organisations are not able to provide services due to resource crunch and delay in Govt. funding. The grants do not reach them even after the passage of the year for which they were required. The rampant corruption in providing support and grants. Each time, the authorities hide behind the excuses of their limited economic capacities when it comes to ensuring accessibility in infrastructure and providing support services.
The banks should be penalised for these lapses and made to pay interest at market rate for amassing the money for so long.
Also, we can't expect the CAG to be wise enough to know the needs and intricacies of the issues involved in the Disability Sector. Therefore, I would suggest that with CAG as its head, we could have membership from the disability sector to suggest and plan on how to spend the amount bring cheers in the lives of those experiencing disabilities and their families.
In addition to MSJE's funding, this money could be utilised for the special projects like vocational training, improving employement facilities, creating barrier free environment and more particularly towards the social security systems for those with no help from any corner. The constitution of such a board will also reduce the bureacratic hurdles that we often see in other departments especially in ministries like MSJE and the likes.
Congratulations Collin, once again!
Here is the news:
Banks pocketing funds meant for disabled
TNN 5 September 2009, 02:41 am IST
NEW DELHI: Banks and financial institutions have been pocketing an estimated Rs 724 crore annually by rounding up interest tax collections since 1993 despite a Supreme Court directive in 2004 that this money be used for creating a fund for implementation of the Disabilities Act to benefit disabled persons.
"Though a Trust headed by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) was set up, it appears that apart from starting a scholarship scheme for disabled students envisaging a maximum expenditure of Rs 1 crore per year from August 2008, nothing further seems to have been done," alleged a PIL in the Supreme Court on Friday.
Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves told a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan that the total sum due from the banks was now to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore and if it was given, implementation of the Disabilities Act would not require state funding at all. He showed the 2004 judgment of the apex court on this issue. This made the Bench issue notice to the Centre. In 2004, the SC had directed: "Despite the progressive stance of the court and the initiatives taken by the government, the implementation of the Disabilities Act is far from being satisfactory. The disabled are victims of discrimination in spite of beneficial provisions of the Act."
"We are therefore of the opinion that in the larger interest a fund for the aforementioned purpose be created with the amount at the hands of the Union of India and the appellants and other concerned banks, which may be managed by the CAG," it had said. "We would request the CAG to effect recoveries of all the excess amount realised by the Union of India by way of interest tax and interest by the banks and other financial institutions and create the corpus of such fund therefrom.
The appellants and other concerned banks are also hereby directed to contribute to the extent of Rs 50 lakh each in the said fund," the SC had said in its 2004 judgment. Gonsalves said as against Rs 5,000-10,000 crore which ought to have been collected, the amount collected is approximately Rs 150 crore of which Rs 1 crore has been earmarked for a scholarship scheme for disabled students.
Click here to read from the Source: The Times of India
