India's revised national disability policy remains pending four years after consultation

NEW DELHI: Ten years after the current disability law was passed, govt is yet to frame a revised National Policy for Persons with Disabilities. The existing National Policy for Persons with Disabilities was adopted 20 years ago. "This prolonged delay is particularly concerning because a contemporary national policy is essential to translate the rights guaranteed under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPDA) Act, 2016 and India's commitments under UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into a coordinated, measurable and adequately resourced whole-of-govt framework," stated the organisation, Doctors with Disabilities: Agents of Change (DwDAoC), in its letter to the minister for social justice and empowerment and secretary of Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD). Govt had acknowledged the need for a new national policy in its 2022 public notice inviting comments on the draft policy. The task force constituted to draft the policy had submitted the draft on Oct 12, 2021, and the deadline for stakeholder comments was Sept 30, 2022. Four years after the consultation process, India continues to operate under the national policy formulated in 2006, pointed out the letter. When drafting the new policy, the department explicitly acknowledged the significant developments since 2006, including India's ratification of the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, enactment of RPDA, 2016, and adoption of National Education Policy, 2020. In 2016, RPDA replaced Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. "As an organisation led by and representing health professionals with disabilities, we are particularly concerned about the gaps that arise when disability policy is not effectively integrated across health, social protection and other sectors. The medicalisation of disability in professional assessment and eligibility has also been challenged . .. These judgments underscore the need to move decisively towards a rights-based, functional and accommodation-oriented approach rather than one that treats disability itself as a proxy for incapacity," stated DwDAoC founder Dr Satendra Singh in his letter.

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The letter pointed out several shortcomings in the draft national policy including the lack of adequate convergence with health ministry's proposed accessibility standards for healthcare and how accessibility requirements for goods and services remained inadequately reflected in public procurement frameworks. The organisation sought the current status of the revised national policy, reasons for its delay, whether a revised draft had been prepared following consultations, the proposed mechanism and timeline for further consultation, if any, and the expected date by which the revised national policy would be notified.

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