Activists seek transparency in redrafting

CHENNAI: The unwillingness of a governmental committee redrafting the Disability Act to bring transparency to the redrafting process has left activists and advocacy groups fuming. At a consultation meeting held to discuss the draft of the new Disability Bill held in the city on Thursday, noted disabled rights activist Javed Abidi strongly urged the committee to make the records of its working public.

Abidi also lashed out at the committee for perceived delays in its functioning. He points out that the committee was appointed on April 30 this year and was mandated to come up with the draft by August 31. The committee's chairperson bargained for more time and settled for a deadline of October 31.

"The committee took a whole month to organise its first meeting. What were the members doing till then? Worse, soon after the first meeting they bargained for a further extension in deadline to December 31," fumed Abidi. And all this after the Union minister had wasted eight months deciding on whether a redraft was required in the first place, he adds.

Moreover, there was a sense of tokenism in the appointment of just three disabled persons to the 27member committee, said Abidi. "A majority of the committee is made up of bureaucrats and NGO leaders. There aren't enough stakeholders involved", he noted.

Other activists present at the meeting were quick to point out that the committee had overlooked the recommendations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which had asked governments to stop beholding 'disability' in medical terms and approach the concept in social terms.

Abidi's comments were part of an appraisal of disabled rights activists and advocacy groups, organised by the Diabled Rights Group, Vidyasagar and the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People among others.