The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India launched the ‘Inclusiveness and Accessibility Index’ to mark the next chapter of its flagship Campaign, the ‘Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan’. The Index, prepared in collaboration with The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) was launched by M Venkaiah Naidu, Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs at a  function held at the Plenary Hall of Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Pal Gurjar also graced the occasion.

The ‘Inclusiveness and Accessibility Index’ is a service being extended by the Government of India  to the industries and corporates to participate in the Accessible India Campaign (AIC) by voluntarily evaluating their readiness for making the workplace accessible for Persons with Disabilities. Prime Minister had invoked the Corporate Sector to come forward and support the campaign during his speech on the ocassion of the launch of AIC which also marked the International Day of Persons with disabilities. Speaking on the ocassion of the launch, M Venkaiah Naidu congratulated the Ministry and DEPwD for taking the Accessible India Campaign to the next level of inclusivity by introducing the Inclusiveness and Accessibility Index. Expressing his thoughts he recounted that there are numerous examples of persons with disabilities like – Actor/Dancer Sudha Chandran, Music Maestro late Ravindra jain, Journalist H Ramakrishnan, visually impaired cricketer Shankar Naik -  who have never let any form of disability come in their way of success and have left an indelible mark in their respective fields. He added that society’s inadequate and improper responses to the disabled make their lives more difficult and challenging; therefore the need of the hour is to change the mindset of the people, which will be the right step forward to the social integration of PwDs into the mainstream. Emphasising on the need of nurturing the talent of PwDs he said that they should be equipped with skill training to make optimum use of their potential, and it is only then that the country will transform into an incluisve India and give true meaning to the clarion call of “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas”. He informed the audience that his ministry - Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation – has recently come out with ‘harmonised guidelines for barrier free built environment for persons with disability and Elderly Persons’ to be followed by CPWD.  These guidelines have special emphasis on safety and dignity, independence of movement and maintaining architecture quality. He also added that his Ministry has made an earnest beginning in addressing accessibility related concerns for the Smart City Mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).  Naidu also said that the collective mission of the society should be towards ‘making of a developed India (MODI)’. He added that the Index has been prepared with a holistic approach and may be applied and used by organisations irrespective of their size and scale. Adding that the issues of PwDs are now being addressed with redoubled passion and energy under the guidance of the  Prime Minister, the Minister emphasised that joint efforts of all stakeholders including central and state governments are required to effectively implement AIC and for transformation of ‘India’ into an ‘Inclusive India’.

Krishan Pal Gurjar, informed the gathering that accessibility is the key to inclusion and equal access for people with disabilities is the mantra for Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan.  An accessible barrier-free environment is the first step towards fulfilling the right of people with disabilities to participate in all areas of community life. It is with this objective that DEPwD’s accessible India Campaign was launched on December 3, 2015. Further, he added that the Campaign is a nation-wide programme for achieving ‘Universal Accessibility’ for ‘Persons with Disabilities’ (PwDs) with a focus on three verticals: built environment; public transportation and information and communication technologies. He said that the Index is a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country and will be a potential gamechanger for the integration, assimilation and inclusion of persons with disabilities into the mainstream. The Index enables the orgaisations to introspect over their inclusive policies and organisational culture in aid of PwDs, employment of such workforce and adaptations to meet the needs of PwDs.

Earlier, in his address to the gathering, Secretary DEPwD  Vinod Aggarwal welcomed the chief guests, other distinguished government functionaries, members of FICCI, representatives of the Corporate sector and various NGOs to the launch of this remarkable initiative towards inclusion and recognition of persons with disabilities (PwDs) as a talent pool that can positively shape the country’s future. Stating the Targets of AIC he informed the audience that under Built Environment Accessibility audit, 25 to 50 most important government buildings and converting them into fully accessible buildings by July 2016 in 50 cities of the country. To enhance the Accessibility of public transportation systems - accessibility audit of all the international airports and converting them into fully accessible international airports by July 2016 and that of all the domestic airports and converting them into fully accessible airports by March 2018. It will also include ensuring that A1, A and B categories of railway stations in the country are converted into fully accessible railway stations (July 2016) and that 50 per cent of railway stations in the country are converted into fully accessible railway stations by March 2018. 10 per cent of Government owned public transport carriers in the country are also to be converted into fully accessible carriers March 2018. Whereas, under the Information and Communication Technology vertical the accessibility audit of 50 per cent of all government (both Central and State Governments) websites and converting them into fully accessible websites by March 2017 and also train and develop 200 additional sign language interpreters by March 2018.

The Secretary also informed that DEPwD has already enrolled 18 Access Auditors in its panel, who will be leading the Access Audits across the country. Quoting the Prime Minister’s visionary  message of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ he appealed to the corporate representatives in the gathering to come forward and lead the change. Joint Secretary, DEPwD, Mukesh Jain emphasised in his presentation that it is an educational, aspirational, benchmarking tool which will help organisations to self-evaluate their systems and policies for inclusion of disability.