Differently Abled To Get Web based ID Cards; National DB Of disabled Persons Will Be Created
In one of the biggest social reform initiatives ever conducted in India, more than 2 crore differently abled Indians are all set to get benefitted. Government of India has proposed creating a huge National Database for Persons with Disabilities, after which a unique web based ID card will be issued to all differently abled Indian citizens.
Spearheaded by Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, which has been specially created under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, this enormous exercise will be kicked off effective December, 2015.
Joint Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DOEOPWD), Awanish Kumar Awasthi, recently said, “We are aiming at issuing the first universal disability ID card on December 3. We have almost zeroed in on the software provider, who would also be tasked with the responsibility of uploading disability certificates,”
The Problem
As per the 2011 census, there are 2.6 crore differently abled people in India, out of which only 1.05 crore have proper disability certificates. Although there are various schemes and reservations for them, initiated by the Central and State Governments, due to lack of certificates, they miss out and fail to take advantage of the offers.
Additionally, as observed with migrant workers, most of the differently abled persons have their certificates and proofs kept at their native place, meanwhile they migrate to different states for employment. When the certificates are actually required, they fail to obtain them, leading more missed chances.
Checking authenticated certificates is also a big issue, as there are some people who falsely obtain such certificates in order to get benefits. Moreover, Govt. also wants to track those differently abled people who have been provided assistance, so that they are able to understand how and when help can be provided.
The Solution
Keeping in mind these practical problems, DOEOPWD has envisioned a huge database of persons with disability, which will have the following details about the person: personal, bank, disability certificate, employment, education and income status of every person. This data would be saved on a chip, which will be saved in the plastic card issued to them.
Hence, whenever they need to use or apply for any Govt. plans or scheme, all they need to carry is this smart card. All the information and data would be extracted from this chip, and appropriate assistance would be provided.
Awanish said that all existing certificate holders would be transferred to this new system; and new medical camps would be launched in every nook and corner of the country to include more disabled persons into this huge database and to issue them new chip based cards.
Besides, DOEOPWD is also planning to increase the number of disabilities which are recognized by the Govt. to 19; currently only 9 disabilities are included in the reservation programs. Once a centralized data base is created, many more initiatives can be launched, depending on the actual requirements.
You can read the entire proposal and planning for creating National Database for Persons with Disabilities and issuing Web based ID cards here.
Well-written article sir. Its best part that you’ve carefully used the term “differently abled” instead of “disabled” or similar terms usually used by most of the authors.