3-Mar-2020: Dr. Harsh Vardhan chairs multi-stakeholder consultation on prevention and control of deafness

“We have to work cohesively so that no child is left out for the screening and treatment related to hearing loss, as this is one of the key components of the vision of our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji to make a healthy and new India by 2022”, said Dr. Harsh Vardhan, as he chaired a high level multi-stakeholder consultation. Today is also observed as “World Hearing Day”.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that there is a strong need to create awareness for early detection and treatment related to hearing loss. He also said that hearing loss is the fourth leading cause for "Years Lived with Disability' (YLD). Government of India has started the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Deafness (NPPCD) with focus on early identification, diagnosis and treatment of ear problems responsible for hearing loss and deafness. He further informed that the program is being implemented in 558 districts and total numbers of cases examined in the year 2019-20 (9months)with deafness are3,27,172 and total number of ENT surgeries performed are 18,745. The Union Health Minister also stated that the 13,411hearing aids have been fitted and the number of person referred for rehabilitation are 45,953 during the year 2019-20, so far.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan advised that a more focused strategic approach is needed to implement this program in a mission mode. He stated that in order to strengthen the current program to achieve the goal, more brainstorming sessions, awareness camps, monitoring mechanisms etc., need to be started for the desired outcomes.

The Union Health Minister also suggested finding out the possibilities to associate NPPCD along with other national programs/schemes related to mother and child care. He also added that there is a strong need to promote public awareness through appropriate and effective Information, Education & Communication (IEC) strategies with special emphasis on prevention of deafness along with capacity building & development for prevention, early identification and management of hearing impaired and deafness cases. In addition, training would be provided from medical college level specialists (ENT and Audiology) to grassroot level workers.

29-Feb-2020: PM distributes Aids & Assistive Devices to Divyangjan and Senior Citizens at a mega distribution camp (Samajik Adhikarita Shivir) in Prayagraj Uttar Pradesh

In the biggest ever “Samajik Adhikarita Shivir”, the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today distributed Assistive Aids and Devices to nearly 27,000 Senior Citizens & Divyangjan at a mega distribution camp at Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.

The mega distribution was organised for empowering the Senior Citizens under the Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana-RVY and under ADIP Schemes of the Government of India.

Prime Minister said, “This maxim is the basis for the philosophy of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishwaas. With this spirit, our government is working to the welfare & development of each and every one in the society. It is my government’s first priority to protect the interests of 130 Crore Indians whether Senior Citizens, Divyangjan, Tribals or the downtrodden”.

Referring to the mega camp of distribution of aids and devices the Prime Minister said it is a part of the Government’s effort to provide better living to one and all.

"During the time of earlier governments, such distribution camps were hardly organised, and such mega camps were very rare. In the last five years, our government has set up about 9,000 camps in different parts of the country," he said.

Prime Minister said in the last five years the Government has distributed over Rs 900 Crore worth of aids and devices to the Divyangjan.

Prime Minister said, “ In the development of a New India, it is essential that there is an equal participation by the Divyangjan Youth and Children. The Government is encouraging them be it the Industrial Sector, Service Sector or in the field of Sports and Games”.

“Ours is the first Government which has enacted the “Rights of Persons with the Disabilities Act”, through this we have expanded the categories of disabilities from 7 to 21. We have also increased the quota of reservation for Higher Education from 3% to 5% for the Divyangjan”

The Prime Minister said that in the last five years, many buildings in the country, more than 700 railway stations and airports, have been made accessible to the disabled. The remaining ones will also be made accessible by linking to the Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan, he added.

This is the biggest ever distribution camp conducted in the country in terms of the number of beneficiaries covered, number of appliances distributed and value of aids and appliances distributed.

In the mega camp, over 56,000 Assistive Aid and Devices of different types will be distributed free of cost to over 26,000 of beneficiaries. The cost of the Aids and Devices is over Rs 19 Crore.

The objective is to provide assistance through these aids and devices to the daily living and socio – economic development of the Divyangjan and the Senior Citizens.

28-Feb-2020: Prime Minister to distribute Daily Living Aids and Devices to senior citizens and Divyangjan at biggest ever RVY & ADIP camp at Prayagraj tomorrow

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi will distribute Assistive Aids and Devices to Senior Citizens under Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana (RVY) and to Divyangjan under ADIP Scheme at a ‘Samajik Adhikarita Shivir’ and a mega distribution Camp organized by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment at Parade Ground, Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh) tomorrow i.e. on 29th February, 2020. This will be the biggest ever distribution camp being conducted under RVY and ADIP schemes in all terms like number of beneficiaries covered, number of appliances and value of aids and appliances to be distributed. Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Yogi Adityanath will be the Guest of Honour of the function. The Shivir will be inaugurated in the presence of Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot. Deputy Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Keshav Prasad Maurya, & Dr. Dinesh Sharma and other dignitaries will be present. Secretary, DEPwD, Smt. Shakuntala D. Gamlin and other senior officers from the Ministry and Government of Uttar Pradesh will also be present.

In the new mega camp, 56905 numbers of daily living Assistive Aids and Devices of different type for various categories will be distributed free of cost among 10406 Nos. of Divyangjan under ADIP Scheme & 16468 Nos. of Sr. Citizens (belonging to BPL category) under Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana Scheme i.e. total 26874 Nos. of beneficiaries. Total value of the aids and assistive devices will be amounting approx. Rs 19,37,76,980/-.

Central Government is committed towards the social welfare and empowerment of Divyangjan by building an inclusive society in which equal opportunities are provided for the growth and development of Persons with Disabilities so that they can lead productive, safe and dignified lives. In this endeavour this ‘Samajik Adhikarita Shivir’ and a mega distribution Camp is being organised by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in association and support of District Administration, Prayagraj at Parade Ground, Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh).

The objective of the event is also to facilitate and propagate information among general public particularly to Divyangjan and Sr. Citizens belonging to BPL category of the district about their issues of Day-to-day living and how to generate other avenues for their Socio-economic development. These include barrier free movement, Aid and Appliances needed for various types of disabilities, vocational training for self-employment, access to easy loans for entrepreneurship and employment opportunity.

With a view to maximise intended benefits to Senior Citizens and Divyangjan in the district of Prayagraj, ALIMCO, a Central Public Sector Enterprise, was ordered by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India to conduct assessment camps. Accordingly, the camps were conducted with full support from district administration. The Assessment camps of Senior Citizens were conducted at block level 20locations, 05 Municipal limits of Prayagraj & 01 Gram Panchayat in Prayagraj district during the period of 09th to 21st December 2019, 06th to 10th January 2020, 07th February 2020 & 22nd February 2020 in which a total of 26874 beneficiaries were registered.

The summary of beneficiaries earmarked for distribution of free aids and assisted devices in the mega distribution camp is as under:-

Serial No.

Scheme

No. of Beneficiaries

No. of Appliances

Value of Camp

(Rs.)

1

ADIP

10406

18455

10,54,07,928.00

2

RVY

16468

38450

8,83,69,052.00

TOTAL

 

26874

56905

19,37,76,980.00

Apart from above, the Ministry with the assistance of Prayagraj District administration will also attempt for establishing 03 Guinness Book of World Records. One of the record with title ‘Largest Parade of hand operated Tricycles’ will be attempted on 28.02.2020 and  02 attempts will be made on 29.02.2020.

Three titles are as under:

  1. Most hand operated Tricycle donated in one-hour. (600 Nos.)
  2. Largest Parade of hand operated Tricycle. (300 Nos.)
  3. Largest moving line of wheel chairs. (400 Nos.)

The details of major appliances to be distributed in the camp are as under:

ADIP Scheme

 

RVY Scheme

 

Appliances

Quantity

Appliances

Quantity

Motorized Tricycle

847

Walking Sticks

13292

Tricycle Conventional

3949

Wheel Chair

2181

Wheel chair

1544

Crutches

118

Crutches

5088

Tripod &  Tetrapod

1735

Walking sticks

1811

Walker Foldable

850

Brail cane

145

Spectacles

5816

Smart cane

659

Artificial Denture

4950

Smart phone

29

Hearing Aid

8858

Hearing Aid

2525

Wheel Chair Commode

55

Brail kit

73

Chair Commode

35

Rolator

229

Silicon Foam Cushion

10

Tablet

1

Knee Brace

326

Daisy player

12

Spinal Support

40

MSIED Kit

403

LS Belt

94

Cell Phone

54

Walking Stick with Seat

05

ADL Kit

50

Foot care kit

85

Braille Slate

13

---

 

CP Chair

99

---

 

Artificial limbs

& Callipers

924

---

 

847 battery operated motorised tricycles are to be distributed in the camp. Cost of one such motorised tricycle is Rs.37000/- wherein subsidy of Rs. 25000/- is provided under ADIP scheme and balanced amount of Rs. 12000/- is contributed either through MPLAD Fund, MLA Fund, CSR, NGOs or by the beneficiary himself. In the distribution camp 166 Motorised tricycle are being distributed with the support of MPLAD fund of Smt. Rita Bahuguna Joshi, MP, Prayagraj, 166 by Smt Kesaidevi Patel, MP, Phoolpur, 96 by Shri Ramesh Chand Bind, MP, Bhadoi and 16 each by 09 MLAs and 02 MLCs.

Moreover, 243 Motorised tricycles are being distributed under the CSR initiative of various corporations. The details are as under;

  1. 118 by Meja, Urja Nigam Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Meja
  2. 83 by Prayagraj Power Generation Company, Bara
  3. 41 by IFFCO, Prayagraj, and
  4. 01 by Prayagraj Power Generation Company, Bara and IFFCO, Prayagraj.

Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojna (RVY) was introduced in December 2016 and the Scheme was launched by conducting the first distribution camp at Nellore (A.P) on 1stApril 2017, in the august presence of the Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu. Talking particularly about camps conducted under Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojna(RVY) during last 3 years, 137 such camps have been conducted by ALIMCO. The camp being organised in Prayagraj will be the 138th Camp planned on 29th February, 2020 camp under Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana.

Different types of assistive living devices like Wheel Chair, Walker, Hearing Aid, Spectacles, Denture, Walking stick, Tetrapod, Tripod and crutches are distributed to Sr. Citizens under RVY schemes by ALIMCO. It is a maiden camp in Prayagraj wherein new categories of assistive devices like Wheelchair with Commode, Chair/ Stool Commode, Silicon Cushion, Keen Brace, Spinal Support, Lumbar Sacral Belt (LS Belt), Walking Stick with seat, Foot care Kit (containing 8 assortments) are added for Sr. Citizens.

Amongst these, the camps where number of beneficiaries are more than 1000 and the value of appliances is more than Rs.1 crore, are called Mega Camps. Moreover, the camps which are initiated or conducted on the request of Ministers, Member of Parliaments or MLAs are also done in a similar transparent manner and also to inform about the central government run schemes among the general public. The Ministry has so far conducted 576such camps in last 5 years. The camp at Prayagraj will be 577th Camp.

1-Mar-2019: National Conference on Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme

A National Conference on “Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS)”was inaugurated by the Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot. The Conference was organised by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

The objective of the conference was to sensitize the stakeholders of the scheme i.e. Programme Implementing Agencies (PIAs), District level officers & State Government officers. Earlier the DEPwD organized three Regional Conferences at Secunderabad on 22.12.2018, Mumbai on 17.01.2019 and Kolkata on 18.02.2019 covering the Southern, Western, Central, Eastern and North-Eastern regions of the country.

The “7th Guinness Book of World Record” has been created by DEPwD at Bharuch, Gujarat where ‘Modern Artificial Limbs (Legs)’ were implanted on 260 Divyangjans within eight hours. DEPwD has already created Six World Records in other categories. It is a very proud moment for the DEPwD as well as for all Divyangjans of our country.

ISLRTC under DEPwD has recently prepared a Directory comprising 6000 words for the hearing impaired Divyangjans and more than 1700 hearing impaired children have been treated with Cochlear Implant Surgery and almost all of them are now leading a normal life. DEPwD has also provided ‘Motorized Tricycles’ to the Divyangjans nationwide for their smooth movement and Department of Transport is helping them. He announced that so far, 28 States have provided ‘Universal ID Cards’ to around 13 Lakh Divyangjans and very soon it will be provided to all Divyangjans of the country. He dwelt upon many new initiatives and achievements of the DEPwD and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for betterment and welfare of Divyangjans and downtrodden people of our country.

The NGOs and Self Help Groups play a very important role in the proper implementation of the government schemes. When government’s welfare schemes get decentralized, these schemes succeed more. The recommendations of such conferences are sent to the Policy Planning authorities of the government to frame the important policies. He informed the audience that now the official procedures regarding Divyangjan’s certifications and sanctioning of grants have been simplified very much so that Divyangjans and NGOs working for them may not suffer anymore.

The conference was to disseminate the provisions of the revised scheme and to sensitize various stake holders about it. This conference provided a unique opportunity for interactions amongst all stakeholders to ensure exchange of cross-sectoral views on the aspects of the efficacy of the scheme as well as the scope of improvements in it. It had a profound impact on the implementation of the DDRS for the welfare of Divyangjans. It sensitized the PIAs about the major changes brought about in the revised scheme and created awareness among major stakeholders, viz. State Government and District Level Officers and NGOs in popularizing the scheme further, thereby promoting the well-being of Divyangjans (Persons with Disabilities).

Under the Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme, every year more than 600 NGOs are provided with financial assistance for running their projects for the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities such as Special school, pre-school and early intervention, Half-way Homes and Community Based Rehabilitation etc. The NGOs being funded are providing the rehabilitative services to more than 35000 to 40000 beneficiaries every year. In the implementation process of the scheme, the role of State Government is very crucial. The recommendation from the District Social Welfare Officer and State Government is important in release of grant-in-aid. The budget allocation for the year 2018-19 is Rs. 70.00 crores.


Although the DDRS Scheme was in existence from 1999, yet a major revamp has been carried out in its provisions with effect from 01.04.2018. The scheme has been revised for making it more impactful for rehabilitation of PwDs. Improvements made in the scheme include increase of honorarium and other cost norms by 2.5 times, streamlining the process of application and processing of proposals, rationalising the number of model projects from 18 to 9, etc.

The list of model projects includes:

  1. Pre-Schools, Early Intervention and Training
  2. Special Schools for Children with Intellectual Disabilities
  3. Hearing and Speech Disabilities and
  4. Visual Disabilities
  5. Project for Cerebral Palsied children
  6. Rehabilitation of Leprosy cured persons
  7. Half Way Home for psycho-Social Rehabilitation of treated and controlled Mentally ill persons
  8. Home Based Rehabilitation
  9. Community Based Rehabilitation Programme (CBR)
  10. Low Vision Centres and
  11. Human Resource Development.

17-Jan-2019: Regional Conference on “Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS)”

Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities implements a scheme titled ‘Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS)’. A Regional Conference for the scheme was organized on 17th January, 2019 at Nehru Centre, Mumbai covering Programme Implementing Agencies (PIAs) from the Western Region of the country. This is the second of a series of Regional Conferences to be held across the country and the exercise will culminate in a National Conference in New Delhi.

NGOs, State Government representatives from four Western States, namely, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Goa were present at the conference. Under DDRS, Grant-in-Aid is released to about 600 NGOs every year. About 10% of total NGOs under DDRS, 10% of total grant and 10% of Special School for Children with Intellectual Disabilities are from Western Indian States

DDRS is a Central Sector Scheme of Government of India which is being implemented since 1999 for providing financial assistance to NGOs working for education and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. This scheme was revised in 2018 and the revised scheme is being implemented since 1st April 2018. This Regional Conference was organized in order to disseminate the provisions of the revised scheme and bring the Department closer to implementing agencies. This conference provided a wonderful opportunity for interactions with all stakeholders from Central Government to implementing agencies. An in-depth understanding of scheme would enable better outreach in terms of better facilities to end beneficiaries, i.e. persons with disabilities.

In his address, Dr. Prabodh Seth, described NGOs of DDRS as partners in the mission of empowerment of persons with disabilities and highlighted the need for creation of inclusive society that accepts and respects persons with disabilities without discrimination. He encouraged those present at the conference to continue their laudable work in this sector and presented the vision. He made an elaborate presentation highlighting the provisions of new scheme such as increase in the cost norms by 2.5 times, streamlining the procedure of application, increase the funding of projects from 75% to 90% of their total cost, extending special benefits to special areas such as Left Wing Affected Districts, removal of limit in increase of number of beneficiaries, etc. This was appreciated by all the audience.

During her speech Smt. T. C. A. Kalyani said that the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities has been making tireless efforts for holistic empowerment of Divyangjan. She emphasized the need of exercising financial prudence to ensure that the Government fund is utilized for the purpose it is meant for.

The conference was also addressed by Shri Dinesh Waghmare, Principle Secretary (Welfare), Government of Maharashtra who shared his views and said that the new Act on disability promulgated by Govt. of India shall ensure rights of the persons with disabilities in the society. Govt. of Maharashtra is making the rules under RPwD Act 2016 for its effective implementation in the State.

Shri Vikash Prasad, Director, also gave a presentation on detailed procedure for implementing the scheme. There was an interactive question and answer session with NGOs after both the presentations where many doubts were cleared.

During the day long deliberation on DDRS scheme of Govt. of India in which the representatives of various agencies shared their views on how the scheme can be implemented better so that the benefits reach the targeted beneficiaries till the last person in the queue. The conference was an effective step towards good governance where the functionaries of the Central Govt. Ministries are reaching various parts of the country for creating awareness among the public. It leads to the ultimate objective towards ensuring welfare of Divyangjan and the dignity they deserve.