Persons with disabilities struggle to get basic benefits from the government policies

Despite repeated promises from the Tamil Nadu government, the rudimentary issues in providing basic amenities are being overlooked

By Anish Pathiyil and Niranjana V B

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, while announcing the hike in pension of the visually-impaired in December 2022, had reiterated his government’s commitments towards the welfare of the persons with disabilities (PWD). He explained that the goal of the government was to ensure that persons with disability have no grievance and that schemes had to be implemented even if it provides relief only to a single PWD. But a closer look into the various schemes designed and implemented, highlights the glaring issues.

The Tamil Nadu government prides itself on the delineation of a special Commissionerate for Welfare of the Differently Abled as per the provisions in the Persons With Disability Act, 1995. The department is headed by a Commissioner who has the rank of a Principal Secretary and extends support to the persons with disabilities through various policies and initiatives. The State Policy for the Differently-Abled Persons was issued in 1994, as a mechanism for promotion and protection of the rights as well as ensuring equal opportunities for them in social life.

Despite these efforts from the government’s side, there are multiple issues in the support provided to the persons with disabilities. The most striking issue is the lack of data regarding the population of the PWDs in the state. “There is no mandate to have disaggregated data for disabled people. Even the panchayat headquarters will have no idea about the count. They will direct you to an NGO working in the area,” said Sudha, member of the Disability Rights Advocates, an organisation dedicated to protecting the civil rights of people with disabilities.

Another major issue is the mandatory requirement of the Unique Disability Identification (UDID) number for availing the schemes designed for the PWD. The government had mandated that the UDID should be generated before 1 April 2023 to make use of benefits under 17 government schemes. The notification also states that if the UDID is not available, the UDID enrolment number along with the certificate of disability shall be mandatory. “Some of the persons with disability are not even aware of the necessity of a UDID,” said Raghuram, a visually-impaired person. “They are not even aware of the procedure. Some don’t have the resources to do it on their own,” he added.

The procedure to obtain a disability certificate in Chennai is in itself quite tedious. Every PWD must visit the State Resource Training Centre (SRTC) - District Differently Abled Welfare Office (DDAWO) in K K Nagar to identify the percentage of disability. Once the details have been gathered and tests completed, the red tape forces the applicant to wait for days. “NGOs like us are able to complete the process quite quickly due to the contacts we have, but the individual applicants are forced to wait many days for the final seal alone,” said Lingesh, who works in the research and document division of the Better World Shelter, a shelter for women with disabilities run by Dorcas Research Centre for Education, Art and Culture under the aegis of the Greater Chennai Corporation.

The procedure to avail schemes is no different, with each person having to personally visit the District Disabled Welfare Office under the Directorate of Medical Services (DMS) in order to register for services. Matilda, an inmate of the Better World Shelter, explained the tiresome process involved in availing the scheme to supply retro-fitted petrol scooters. “Scooters generally take six months to be provided. There is no online portal to check on the status of these scooters. We have to go to the office physically everytime,” she said.

Matilda also highlighted the issues many people face with the linking of Aadhar cards necessary to avail certain schemes. Data available in the Tamil Nadu government website highlights the several pending cases of linking Aadhar cards while availing the Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS), part of the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP). Under IGNDPS, a disabled person belonging to BPL household and aged between 18 to 79 years is given a pension of Rs.300 per month. This pension amount increases to Rs.500 per month upon reaching the age of 80 years.

An audit conducted by the Center for Inclusive Policy (CIP) analysing the social protection response to COVID-19 crisis for persons with disabilities in India, titled ‘Too little too late’, identified that only 7.6 per cent of working age persons with disabilities are covered by NSAP. The coverage of state schemes is also at a lowly 42.78 per cent. The report says that only 15 per cent of beneficiaries receive an amount larger than Rs 2000 per month. This explains the budget allocation in the social protection schemes for the disabled, which amounts to only 0.04 per cent of GDP. In relation to the schemes introduced by the Tamil Nadu government, the report identified that the distribution of extra payment and pension was restricted to only a couple of districts. The rural population were also not able to access the helpline created for availing in-kind and rehabilitation services.

A pilot social audit of the NSAP carried out in Chennai and Villupuram by the government identified many issues in the implementation of the NSAP scheme. One major issue was the lack of a BPL list at the district level, which is necessary to identify the beneficiaries of the scheme. The report also highlights the exclusions due to issues with linking Aadhar cards and the cancellations caused due to a verification done by the revenue department, which was termed ‘superficial’ and ‘hurried’. Non-recognition of fingerprints, mismatch in Aadhar data and banking issues were identified to be the other major issues causing a delay in payment of pensions.

The above data highlights a few examples regarding the failure of the government in achieving the targets, both physical and financial, over the last few years.

The issues faced by the PWDs can be explained using a case-study of Gnana Bharathi, a spinal-injury-affected person, who formed the Spinal Injured Persons Association (SIPA) in 2010. The scheme to release specially-designed manual wheelchairs worth Rs 20,000 for spinal-cord disorder persons was introduced in 2015. “We expected an Audi car, but got a Maruti 800 in return,” said Bharathi, regarding the quality of the device provided. Despite two or three rounds of discussion and a few conditions provided as part of the association, the supplier did not improve the quality of the product.

The second scheme planned in 2017 for battery operated vehicles failed to agree to the association’s pointers regarding service facilities and guarantees. “The list of service centres provided by the government contained numbers of drinking water suppliers and water wash centres,” Bharathi said. The third scheme, valued at 2000 crore, instituted in 2020, was initiated on the condition that members of the association will be included in the planning process. But the orders for the device went to the same company planned during the previous attempt. The wheelchair scheme continues to be in limbo with no developments over the last three years.

Examples like this portray how difficult schemes for the PWDs are to plan and execute. With schemes for the disabled amounting to only 0.22 per cent of public spending in the country there is an urgent need to improve their amenities. The first step is to ensure basic data is collected and stored at panchayat level. The dissemination of awareness regarding schemes and the provision of assistive devices need to be prioritised. Design for these devices need to be standardised according to universal standards to ensure quality.