Opinion Ramping up
PM Modi suggests ‘divyang’ in place of ‘viklang’. But beyond renaming, much work remains to be done.
PM Narendra Modi
In his last Mann Ki Baat for 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi donned the cap of concerned statesman. Among other things, the prime minister spoke of how even though the word “viklang (disabled)” suggests notions of incapacity, persons with disabilities, in fact, have “extra power”. And so, he suggested “divyang (person with a divine limb)” should be used instead. This public focus on the treatment of persons with disabilities is welcome — and unfortunately rare. This is no politically correct quibbling over words — after all, the politics of language is powerful and resonates deeply. But well-meaning as the PM’s intervention was, it may have roamed over well-trodden territory — an old and largely settled debate. The phrase “differently abled” was first proposed as an alternative to “disabled” in the 1980s but it was rejected as it was seen as euphemistic and condescending.
But the PM didn’t stop there. He rightly acknowledged the infrastructure deficit, both physical and otherwise, that prevents the disabled from accessing opportunities in education, employment and leisure, or participating in public life, and which his government seeks to address through the Accessible India programme. Take physical accessibility, for instance: Even the most prestigious postcodes of the national capital come up short on mobility audits — where there are pavements, there are frequently bollards and trees blocking them, or precipitous gradients difficult to negotiate.
The 100 million-odd disabled persons in India arguably constitute one of the most disadvantaged groups — a majority are illiterate and only 25 per cent are employed. The UPA had introduced the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill in the Rajya Sabha in 2014. The government should dust it off and pass the bill, which views disability through the lens of rights and entitlements, not charity and goodwill.
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