The theme of this year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which is being observed on December 3, is “Amplifying the Leadership of Persons with Disabilities for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future”.
However, it is ironic that India still does not have persons with disabilities participating in political leadership. In fact, most fundamental facilities do not even follow the government’s accessibility mandates.
Though disability-related social justice measures have seen considerable development in recent years, on International Day of Persons with Disabilities, it is worth recounting the forgotten history of disability-related legislation that could have been transformative – but failed to make it through.
That dates back to July 1980, when a government working group, led by LK Advani of the Bharatiya Janata Party, was set up to examine how legislative action could promote the economic rehabilitation and social integration of persons with disabilities. In case such legislation was considered essential, the group was to detail its scope and objectives.
The group submitted its report to the government in December 1981 in the form of a draft legislation called the Disabled Persons (Security and Rehabilitation) Bill. The draft is not available in the public domain. Advani has said that the bill was rejected by the higher bureaucracy of the Ministry of Social Welfare. As a consequence, this bill, which could have preceded the American Disabilities Act of 1991, did not see any light.
Missing report
In 1987, the government set up a committee under the chairmanship of former judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Baharul Islam, a Rajya Sabha member, to work out a law to safeguard the rights of persons with disabilities and enable them to enjoy equal opportunities and fully participate in national life. The committee submitted its report in June 1988.
The nature and constitution of such a committee’s appointment were itself contentious. A sitting MP had been made a chairperson of the government-appointed committee that was not answerable to the Parliament. Such an appointment also blurred the division of powers by making a member of the legislature who was not in the Council of Ministers a part of executive action. Thus, the executive accountability to the legislature by tabling the report was bypassed.
Little public information is available regarding its contents. In response to a question in Rajya Sabha in December 1994, the government said that the report recommended the following points: amending some articles of the Constitution to include disability; transferring the matter of the “relief of disabled and unemployable” from the state list to concurrent List; vocational training as equivalent to academic qualification and establishing such institutes; all avenues of employment and self-employment being available to physically and mentally disabled people; facilities for access of public buildings; and fiscal incentives to persons with disabilities.
Laws that weren’t
Based on this report, two bills were introduced in Rajya Sabha in 1991 – the Board for the Welfare and Protection of the Rights of the Handicapped Bill, 1991, and the National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Mental Retardation and Cerebral Palsy Bill, 1991. However, because of a change in government, these bills could not be taken up for consideration.
Around 1994, the contents of the Board for Welfare and Protection of Rights of the Handicapped Bill, 1991, were further examined. It was decided to replace it with more elaborate legislation covering all aspects of security, prevention and rehabilitation of the handicapped, including their education, training and employment to make them productive citizens.
Accordingly, the government formulated the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. This became India’s first comprehensive legislation for persons with disabilities. In 2016, it was replaced by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act.
Exactly 30 years ago, speaking on the occasion of International Disability Day, Bijoy Krishna Handique, an MP, argued for a need to formulate a comprehensive scheme for the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities not “by way of charity but as a matter of right”.
Although India has shifted from a charity- to a rights-based model on disability, including persons with disabilities as active participants in economic, social and cultural development is still an aspiration.
December 3 is International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
Shashank Pandey is a lawyer and founder of the Politics and Disability Forum.
