Disability rights group to strike over Census issue

In a letter to Banthia who has ruled out inclusion of the disabled in the Census of 2001 the Disability Rights Group, has written that they are being forced to organise rallies and dharnas for something which is their right. 8220;Hundreds of letters from NGOs and disabled people from all over the country have been sent to you in the last four months regarding the need to include disability in the Census. But you are still not willing to look at the issue in a positive light,8221; it said.

Speaking to The Indian Express, representatives of these organisations said the reasons given by the Census Commissioner for not including disabled in the Census are not reasonable. Banthia has said that the first Census in 1981 had given low figures and indicated failure of the process. However these groups point out that the process could be rectified if they change the methodology. In the first and only Census of the disabled in independent India, the categories of disabled were themselves unreasonable and insensitive like 8220;totally crippled, totally dumb and totally blind.8221; While only a minority is totally disabled in any way, this process also left out the mentally handicapped and the hearing impaired, they pointed out.

The second excuse given is that enumerators need training which is a fact that is laughed off by disability activists like Vandana Bedi and Anita Ghai. 8220;All you need to ask are two extra questions. One is whether there are any disabled persons in the houses and the other is what disability do they suffer from. What training do you need to ask these?8221;

The third reason given by Banthia as well as the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the latter in the Rajya Sabha, is that the first Census failed because people found such questions insensitive and shut their doors on enumerators. To this the groups say that there are many contentious issues other than disability. 8220;Then let us not collect any data including those on caste or religion. But these are vote banks and cannot be excluded,8221; they point out. And is it not the Government8217;s duty to create awareness about the need for a Census rather than give excuses, they ask.

8220;Besides, disabled persons are more aware of their rights than they were in 1981. They live in an information age and are asking to be counted,8221; says Javed Abidi who along with Bedi and Ghai and three others had met Home Minister Advani last month asking him to look into the issue.

While Advani had promised to help them, no talks have taken place though it is five weeks after the meeting making disability groups feel slighted.