Most Polling Booths inaccessible in Bangalore

There are several such voters who can do with some facilities
from the election authorities. File photo: S.S.Kumar (The Hindu)

Most of the 7,700 polling booths in Bangalore are seen to be not accessible to those with physical disabilities.

A middle-aged, physically challenged woman came to exercise her franchise at the Government Urdu Primary School in Palace Guttahalli here during the Assembly elections in May 2013. The wheelchair-bound woman could not enter the polling booth as there was no ramp. Eventually, her son and husband arranged for a plastic chair, eased her into it and lifted her to go inside the booth, after which she cast her vote.

Most of the 7,700 polling booths in Bangalore are seen to be not accessible to those with physical disabilities. Though the Election Commission has promised to make arrangements to help such people cast their votes, Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, Anil Kumar Jha admitted that it may be difficult to ensure such facilities at booths located on the various floors of a building.

Sunil Jain, founder of Astha, an organisation working for people with disabilities, said that the authorities, when it is difficult to make such booths accessible to such people, should make efforts to at least identify booths with a large concentration of people with disabilities so that necessary arrangements can be made there. With the 2011 Census identifying 1.8 per cent of the population in Bangalore as living with disabilities and NGOs estimating their percentage at 2.7, Mr. Jain, himself wheelchair-bound, said that persons with disabilities constitute several thousands of Bangalore’s 76 lakh electorate. In addition, there may be several persons with temporarily disabilities that they have suffered in accidents.

Policemen help a voter with disability at a polling
booth in Virugambakkam. Photo: S.S.Kumar (The Hindu)

Astha has written to Mr. Jha urging him to launch a drive through SMS under which those with disabilities can send their Voter ID number to a designated mobile number and indicate their nature of disability. Also, it has cited an initiative taken up by the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi, providing for registration of those with disabilities and their nature of disability on a website and urged Mr. Jha to replicate this experiment in the State.

Through this, Mr. Jain said, the authorities can generate data of persons with disabilities booth-wise and take alleviating steps. In response, Mr. Jha said that he would examine the suggestion made by Astha. But he was sceptical about implementing it as elections are barely two weeks away.

Mr. Jain, however, said that a deadline for registration can be fixed and the data can be shared with officials in-charge of booths designated for those with disabilities to make necessary arrangements for such voters.

Mr. Jha said that instructions have been given to election officials to give preference to those with disabilities when they come to vote. “They will not have to wait or stand in a queue,” he added.

Though all Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) are Braille-enabled, Section 49 N of the Conduct of Election Rules 1961 allows a blind or a physically infirm person who is unable to recognise the symbol on the ballot paper/EVM, to be accompanied by another person.

Mr. Jain said that the Election Commission should begin compiling data of persons with disabilities on its rolls by including a provision for registration in Form 6 submitted at the time of enrolment.

Source: The Hindu - Bangalore needs – disabled-friendly polling booths

Supreme Court directs Centre to withdraw order making Aadhaar "Mandatory"

Withdraw orders making Aadhaar mandatory for any service: SC to Centre

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed the Government of India to withdraw all orders, which make the Aadhaar card mandatory for availing any service. The court has also directed the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) not to share any information pertaining to an Aadhaar card holder with any government agency without the prior permission of the card holder.

The Supreme Court was hearing the petitions challenging the Constitutional validity of Aadhaar card with those opposing the mega project saying it was not backed by any statute and compromises with national security.

Further, a three-judge bench headed by Justice BS Chauhan was also told that the project not only violates the right to privacy but the "biometrics", which is the foundation of the project, is an unreliable and untested technology and public funds are being channeled to private enterprises without sufficient validation.

Earlier in 2013, the apex court had also issued an interim order which had said Aadhaar card be not made mandatory for people for availing any government services and nobody should be deprived of any such facilities for want of the card.

The Centre, UIDAI and three oil PSUs - IOCL, BPCL and HPCL - had later on moved the apex court seeking modification of its earlier order that Aadhaar card is not mandatory and no person should suffer for want of it in getting the benefits of government schemes.

The petitioners, including Justice K Puttaswamy; former high court judge and Major General SG Vombatkere, who retired as Additional Director General, Discipline and Vigilance in Army HQ; also sought to restrain the Centre, Planning Commission and the UIDAI from issuing Aadhaar cards by way of an executive order of January 28, 2009.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan had in the beginning of the arguments by saying that "there is no statute to back the project" and even if there were one, the statute would be violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution as the project enables surveillance of individuals and impinges upon right to human dignity. Maintaining that whenever state seeks to impinge upon fundamental rights, its action must be backed by statute and not mere executive fiat, the senior advocate said, "Here, the action under the impugned project of collecting personal biometric information without statutory backing is ultra vires even where an individual voluntarily agrees to part with biometric information."

He contended that the project would not stand the test of Constitution as there is no statutory guidance on who and how the biometric information has to be collected. The advocate said the task has been given to some private entities without sufficient validation. Further, there was no clarity on storage, usage and protection of data, he said, adding "the project is also ultra vires because under the constitutional scheme any action of the state that could potentially impinge on an individual's freedom must be backed by statute."

The petitioners said that the procedure adopted by UIDAI in collecting data was also violative of Article 21 as individuals are not told about crucial aspects such as potential misuse of the information, the absence of any statutory protection, commercial value of the information and that private parties are involved in collecting biometric information without safeguards. The bench, which is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the scheme, had earlier said the stand of state governments needs to be considered while adjudicating the case on Aadhaar card. .................

To read the full story please click here

Source: IBN Live

Option of Cadre closer to home state for Disabled IAS officers now

Physically challenged IAS officers can choose cadre closer to home State but no Transfer to home State under amended Rule

AARTI DHAR

New Delhi, March 18, 2014

But no transfer to home State under amended rule

Indian Administrative Service officers, appointed under the physically challenged category, can now choose a cadre closer to their home States. However, no transfer to the home State will be permitted under an amended rule.

In a notification issued on Tuesday, amending guidelines for posting of IAS officers with physical disabilities, the Department of Personnel and Training said a request for change of cadre could be made by an officer within three months through the parent cadre. Along with the application, documents in support of the grounds for cadre change would have to be enclosed.

The applicant will have to indicate a minimum of three States which are geographically contiguous to his/her home State. In their absence, the State closest to the home State in terms of distance would be admissible.

The government may, case-by-case and taking into account the extreme hardship faced by the officer, on the basis of a medical board report, permit transfer to a cadre closer to the home State.

If the transfer is agreed to ‘in principle’ by the Centre, the State government's concurrence will be sought as per the preference cited by the officer. If it is not forthcoming from any of the preferred States, the Centre may, after consulting another neighbouring State willing to accept the officer, effect the transfer.

The Centre’s decision on the selection of the State or cadre will be final and binding on the officer.

These guidelines will be implemented with prospective effect.

Source: The Hindu 

Delhi Election Commission plans for inclusive voting in Delhi

EC makes ‘special’ plans for inclusive voting in Delhi 

Facilities such as wheelchairs will also be made available at polling booths. 

To ensure that the differently abled are included in the polling process, the Delhi Chief Electoral Office is looking at providing special training to polling booth staff so that they are sensitive to the needs of various categories of the differently abled.

Facilities such as wheelchairs will also be made available at polling booths.

A meeting to chalk out an action plan for the same was held on Thursday. It was attended by representatives of various NGOs and civil society organisations such as Muskaan, National Association of the Deaf, Action for Ability Development and Inclusion, Koshish Special School, among others.

“After detailed discussion with NGOs and civil society organisations working with the differently abled, we got feedback about the facilities that would be required at the polling booths. We will be working to address the requirements of the different categories of differently abled. This would include behavioural training for our polling booth staff,’’ Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev said.

Under the project, the NGOs will first train the master trainers of the EC.

“We have 50,000 polling booth staff. To impart training to them, we will prepare audio-visual presentations to give them a wider understanding on how to help the differently abled of different categories. The needs of a visually-impaired person is very different from that of a hearing-impaired person,’’ an official said, adding that the idea was to prepare a template which the staff could follow.

Besides this, signage and  posters will also be put up at polling booths to facilitate the differently abled.

“We are also looking at allowing attendants to assist them in casting votes,’’ an official said.

Officials said ramps would be placed to ensure seamless access.

“We are looking at making wheelchairs available at all polling booths,’’ Dev said. The EC will coordinate with civic agencies to ensure proper infrastructure at the booths.

“…it is a welcome move that someone in the government had decided to include people with disabilities. Achieving the end goal might be difficult given the fact that there are only 20 days to elections. But if we work as a team, a lot can be achieved. Infrastructure modification will be required. There are 19 kinds of disabilities which are listed and each has a different requirement…,’’ Neera Chawla, deputy director and principal  of Muskaan, said.

Source: Indian Express

Delhi: Most polling booths not disabled-friendly

New Delhi, 12 March 2014

People with disabilities might face serious difficulties while casting their vote in the upcoming general elections as a number of polling booths across the Capital neither have accessible washrooms nor reserved parking, an RTI application has revealed.

 A 2007 Supreme Court judgment ruled that special facilities need to be put in place to make polling booths more accessible for persons with disabilities.

 Not to speak of sign language interpreter, some of the polling booth organisers even replied that they could not entertain people with mental or psychosocial disability as there is no such provision in law, said RTI activist Satendra Singh, a doctor at the University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS) and Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) Hospital, Delhi.

 Also, there is no record of the number of disabled voters in India or Delhi and no information on complaints and action taken on violations of the Supreme Court's order to provide facilities in polling booths for disabled voters.

 While replying to the RTI query of Dr Singh, two assembly constituencies (ACs) 2 and 16 said there were no arrangements for washrooms at all for disabled voters. Ten ACs replied there were arrangements of washrooms but these too were found to be inaccessible for such voters when cross checked by Dr Singh, who himself is a person with disability.

 "None of the washrooms are accessible for wheel chair users. Even hospitals lack accessible toilets," said Dr Singh.

 He said since the majority of the venues (polling booths) are schools and colleges, they rarely have ramps, forget about toilets with changes. Only two ACs had accessible washrooms.

 "The RTI info gathered from 70 assembly constituencies (ACs). Since the same will be used for the seven parliamentary constituencies (PCs) in next month’s general elections, it becomes of paramount importance to highlight the violations of 2007 Supreme Court judgment and inadequacies of CEO Delhi in protecting electoral rights of persons with disabilities," said Dr Singh.

 More than five ACs have no reserved parking for disabled electors despite having enough space, while four ACs said there were no provision for extra queues for such voters.

 When asked whether people with mental or psychosocial disability are allowed to vote, six ACs replied in the negative. Besides, two of the ACs, gave identical answers ~ "Since person with mental disability cannot be an elector, the question of voting does not arise.”

 Dr Singh, however, said, in the eyes of the law, every person (including mentally ill, mentally challenged, medically ill, hospitalised, incarcerated) over the age of 18 is fully competent unless it is declared otherwise by a court of law.

 "If a person's name is in the voter list s/he can vote irrespective of whether s/he suffers from a mental illness or not. Only if a court of law declares a person incompetent then the exclusion applies," said Dr Singh.
 Chandni Chowk, which is a VIP PC, replied that all facilities have been provided.

 Dr Singh termed the situation as alarming for the Election Commission of India (EC) and Delhi State Election Commission (DSEC), as the elections for the 16th Lok Sabha are just four weeks away.

Source: The Statesman Mr. Chandan Prakash Singh (singh.chandan@thestatesman.net)