CONVENTION TO IMPROVE NGO SERVICE DELIVERY TO THE DISABLED
India has about 50
million people with disabilities at all ages and living in diverse
socio-economic environment. The contribution of non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) to the development of disability welfare
in India is stupendous. There are approximately one million voluntary
agencies working in various sectors in the country. Of these more
than 3,000 voluntary agencies are engaged for the welfare of the
disabled. The Xth Plan document has emphasized rightly that voluntary
agencies can be a viable force for helping the people at large.
The recently concluded
Osaka Forum has extended the UN-ESCAP decade of persons with disabilities
to another 10 years and the International community is expected
to address the needs for barrier free, rights based and inclusive
society. These declarations have lot of ramifications in the Indian
scenario.
Manpower Report of
the Rehabilitation Council of India, RCI, had estimated that at
least 3.63 lakh Professionals would be required to serve the 10
per cent of the disabled population all over the country during
the 9th Plan whereas at present only about 21,000 professionals
have been registered with RCI. Though the number of training institutions
have increased from 22 to 160 wherein around 4000 professionals
are produced per annum. According to the RCI, it will take more
than a century to train adequate number of professions unless
innovative imaginative and resourceful approach is adopted to
accelerate the pace.
The Rehabilitation
Council of India has recognized more than 160 institutions in
the country to offer manpower development programmes in various
disability areas and more than 80% of these organizations are
managed by NGOs. Therefore, NGOs are the main stakeholders in
realizing the mission of RCI.
The RCI believes
that the mental barriers between various organizations serving
persons with disabilities should be removed and a congenial atmosphere
is created so that the efforts become complementary rather than
competitive in nature. It is in this context that the RCI is organizing
a three day get-together with NGOs in India to deliberate on various
issues pertaining to education, rehabilitation, awareness generation,
capacity building, research technology, etc. RCI treats this convention
as the "Summit of Minds". A large number of professionals and
experts in the field of disability will participate in the three-day
convention to be inaugurated by the Minister of Social Justice
and Empowerment Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya in New Delhi on Wednesday
(May 7).
