More than 50% PwD have no Disability Certificates

Three of 5 disabled have no proof of their condition
Aditi Tandon/TNS

New Delhi, June 17
Three in every five differently-abled persons in India have no proof of their disability. Seventeen years after the government enacted the Persons with Disabilities Act in 1995 to make life easier for such persons, evidence from across the country shows that only 39.13 pc of them have been issued disability certificates.

Only 12 states, led by Andhra Pradesh, have reported more than 50 per cent coverage of their differently-abled population. Union Territory of Daman and Diu has issued disability certificates to just 1.13 pc of the total differently-abled persons living there, as per 2001 census.

New Delhi is among the poorest performers and has so far given certificates to only 10.19 pc of its physically challenged population. The 2001 Census puts the count of differently-abled persons living in Delhi at 2.36 lakh. Out of them, only about 2,400 persons have got disability certificates until March 31, 2012.

Coverage reported by Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand is also lower than the national average. These states have issued disability certificates to 38.88 pc and 22.23 pc of their respective differently-abled populations.

Overall, out of 216.3 lakh differently-abled persons in India (2001 Census), the government has managed to give official proof of disability only to 84.62 lakh persons till March this year. Around 131.67 lakh differently-abled persons are still awaiting their certificates, reveals the latest data collated by the Office of Chief Commissioner of Disabilities under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

These are shockingly low numbers. Simply put, 60.87 per cent of the differently-abled persons in India can't access the rights guaranteed to them under the law — be it transport concessions, job reservations or quotas in educational institutions. This also explains why year after year, the posts reserved for the differently-abled persons in government offices and seats set aside for them in educational institutes go vacant.

"A disability certificate is the very foundation of the life of a differently-abled person. It is to me what a UID is to you. It is my virtual gateway to the world, to life itself. But the procedure to get this document is so complex in India that most differently-abled persons, mainly the poor, never manage to get it," says Javed Abidi, President, Disability Rights Group, (DRG) an umbrella organisation of NGOs working for in the disability sector.

Under the law, the disability certificate is issued by a medical authority notified by the state government. Each such medical authority is constituted at the district level and is supposed to receive applications from the disabled, assess their disability and issue them a certificate within a week from the receipt of application, if the disability is assessed at 40 per cent. Only a government doctor is authorised to issue a disability certificate for which an applicant is required to come to the district government hospital and represent his case before the medical authority constituted for the purpose.

But the problem is this: Government documents reveal that so far only 16 states in India have notified these medical authorities. These are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal, Bihar, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and UP.

The DRG had petitioned the Health Ministry and the PMO earlier saying the delivery of disability certificate should be decentralised down to primary health centre-level so that a poor villager can get his disability assessed without having to take the trouble of coming all the way to the district.

"We ask a simple question. If a passport can be delivered to an applicant at home, what is the problem in delivering a disability certificate at home? A disabled has a greater right over the document because his movement is impaired. We have asked for a simple online application to be designed to allow the disabled to declare their disability. Let the government verify the authenticity of the claim and home deliver the certificates," Abidi says.

BERA Tests to check misuse of fake certification of hearing impairment

Dear Colleagues,

There have been incidences of misuse of Disability Certificates by persons not having required (40%) of disability to be eligible for the benefits available under the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995.

It has come to our notice that many persons who use voice cellphones regularly to call and receive a voice call have been claiming to be persons with disability (hearing impairment) and possessing fake disability certificates thereby taking away the benefits meant for the persons with hearing impairment in terms of Persons with Disability Act 1995.

To prevent irregularities in availing reservations for physically challenged persons, the authorities in Andhra Pradesh (India) are planning to adopt a new technology, the Brainstem Evoked Response Audiom-etry (BERA) system to ascertain hearing deformity of persons in the district.

The new system will become significant when candidates claim reservation under the hearing-impaired quota. There are a huge number of cases to prove that ineligible people have availed certificates from doctors when traditional tests like the simplified tone decay tests are used. “We have received many complaints that people possess certificates as hearing impaired and have been misusing the quota. We have been asking professionals to adopt a stringent mechanism that prevents irregularities,” said Mr V.V.S.S.N. Murthy, the assistant director, Depart-ment of Welfare for the disabled and senior citizens.

Government had decided that hearing deformity should be certified only at the ENT hospital at Koti in Hyderabad. The local medical board recommends patients as physically challenged for final certification. Normally, persons with deformity of more than 40 per cent can only be considered valid and hearing disability normally is associated with dumbness. But in most cases, there is no speech deformity.

This feature proves fake certification, say medical professionals.

Source:  Deccan Chronical

Another case of Misuse of benefits meant for Disabled

Dear friends,

Equalising opportunities provided by way of positive discrimination by the Govt. to its employees with disabilities can often be misused, by vested interests. Therefore proper mapping of people with disabilities is all the more important. This is height of carelessness of the BSA that 24 transfers were made on the basis of fake certificates without even verifying as to how suddenly so many teachers became disabled! It wouldn't have come to the notice had suddenly so many applications were made on the common ground of disability to stop their transfers.

Even for the employees with disabilities, the rules are very clear that they can be transferred close to their native places among various institutions. No one can claim to continue at single school through out.

We learnt about similar case in Bihar last year or so. This indicates for some tough mechanism of verifications and harsher punishments in case of misuse by the State. All these teachers should not only be prosecuted under the provisions of Indian Penal Code but also under the provisions of Persons with Disabilities Act-1995 and be suspended with immediate effect. The vigilance department should reach the root of this malaise as to who coordinated such mass practice. There must be someone within the department advising teachers to adopt this measure!

To sum up, need to have a database of PWDs district wise on the line of Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh is all the more important. Also organisations working for transparency, disability should use RTI and ensure social audit that such misuse is checked in the bud. A strict action in this case can send alarming signals to future criminals!

regards

SC Vashishth, Advocate-Disability Rights

09811125521

To read from Source Click here: Indian Express

‘Disability’ enables teachers to tweak transfers in Pratapgarh

08 October 2009

Physical disability, often regarded as a curse, is coming handy for hundreds of government teachers in Pratapgarh, who are using it as a pretext to seek transfers.

Of the 469 assistant teachers who received promotion this July, 130 have sought transfers, producing fake certificates of disabilities. Or like Girish Chandra, a teacher at Antpur primary school at Mandhata, they produce fake disability certificates to cancel transfers.

Chandra submitted his application to the office of Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA). Chandra is not handicapped, said the BSA office, which had ordered an inquiry after some teachers made a written representation to check the malpractice.

Another teacher, Indrasen Singh, got posting at his village Pure Chauhan from Rainia on this ground. He has even joined duty. Yet another teacher, Rama Shukla, sought transfer with a fake certificate. “The teachers had not produced any such certificate at the time of getting the government job,” said a teacher.

“They did not fill up the column of physical handicap. Suddenly, in contrast to the known 25 disabled teachers, 130 applications have been submitted in the office of the BSA seeking transfers.” These teachers have produced fake certificates because they want to stay near their villages, he added.

The BSA office woke up to the practice after approving 24 such transfers and the Basic Shikhsa Adhikary was charged with accepting bribes.

Denying the allegations, BSA Ashok Nath Tiwari said: “I have sent all such certificates to the Chief Medical Officer for verification. Now transfers will be done only after getting the verification. I will cancel the transfer done so far by me.” He added that legal action will be taken against teachers found guilty.

The CMO, Pratapgarh, Dr Madan Mohan, said he has not received any letter from the BSA, but if the BSA requested him, his office will do the verification. “A racket is being run at the office of BSA and CMO,” said Prabhakar Dwivedi, a teacher. “The CMO office issues fake certificates and the BSA office effects the transfers without verification. We will approach the district magistrate for an impartial inquiry,” he added.

On July 30, the government had promoted 496 assistant teachers in Pratapgarh district. As per government policy, transfer is mandatory with promotion. But despite accepting promotions, some teachers teaching at primary schools in their villages, were reluctant to join their new postings. A few wanted to get postings as per their wishes. But when the district administration mounted pressure on them to join their new postings, they submitted fake disability certificates and sought transfers.

Another State-level workshop on Disability Evaluation and Certification

Dear Friends,

The Government seem to be taking this exercise in all the corners of India to see that Disability Evaluation and Certification is done as per set norms. However, the process is still tedious for many and as per estimates presented by Union Minister for State of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India, only 22% persons with disabilities counted in 2001 census have been given the Disability Certificates. One could easily imagine and about the status of remaining 78% when all Govt. schemes, benefits are only given to those who have a valid Disability Certificate!

In this light, the whole process of certification at times seems unending in a gigantic country like India, unless the Government consciously decides to make an earnest effort to issue Smart Card based multi-purpose Disability Certificates to all so that multi-certificates for various reasons could be avoided. I remember when on 25 September 2007, a National Consultation Meeting to simplify the procedure of Issuing Disability Certificate was organised by Svayam in association with Aarth-Astha at New Delhi which had major recommendation that I feel are still to be implemented!

The need of the hour is to take this issue as a national challenge to map all citizens and children with Disabilities and issue them this crucial document within a time bound programme.
regards

Subhash Chandra Vashishth


Click on link below to read from source:
Doctors urged to follow norms while issuing disability certificates

Health official says doctors will have to follow uniform guidelines specified by the Central government to evaluate and certify the cause of disability.

Doctors will have to follow uniform guidelines specified by the Central government to evaluate and certify the cause of disability, said Principal Secretary, Health, V.K.Subburaj.

Addressing medical professionals, who are also members of the various Medical Boards in the district, Mr. Subburaj said doctors have to take the task of issuing disability certificates seriously. Apart from responsibility and commitment, they also had to have a rounded picture of multiple disabilities while issuing the certificates.

He was speaking at the inaugural of a State-level workshop on Disability Evaluation and Certification organised here by the National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD).

NIEMPD Director Neeradha Chandramohan said currently certification was being done only for uni-disability or a single disability. The training programme was organised to orient doctors on multiple disability certification. A disability of 40 per cent or more was caused by blindness, low vision, hearing impairment, mental retardation, mental illness, locomotor disability, leprosy (cured), Cerebral Palsy and Autism. Multiple disabilities indicate a condition in which the disability is caused by two or more of the above causes, she added.

The objective of the workshop was not only to disseminate information to doctors regarding the guidelines, but also to clarify their doubts regarding the current evaluation process. The issue of simplifying the process was also taken up at the meeting, as the medical boards met only once a week to give certificates. It was mentioned that this was insufficient to cover a substantial portion of the disabled population.

The recommendations from the meeting would be sent to the Government of India through the State government, Dr. Chandramohan added. The workshop was conducted by the NIEPMD with the National Institute for the Orthopaedically Handicapped, Kolkata, and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.