Inclusion of the Disability Factor in the Census 2011 and India Govt's Efforts in Addressing the Issues

India's Census 2001 showed that over 21 million people (around 2.1% of the total population) as suffering from one or the other kind of disability, the website of the Office of the Registrar of General & Census Commissioner said.

Among the total disabled in the country, 12.6 million are males and 9.3 million are females. Data had been collected on 5 types of disabilities and disability ‘In seeing’ at 48.5% stood at No.1 position. The figures of other types of disabilities were reported as: Disability ‘In movement’ (27.9%), ‘Mental’ (10.3%), ‘In speech’ (7.5%), and ‘In hearing’ (5.8%). 

Uttar Pradesh with 3.6 million disabled people topped the states in the country. Bihar (1.9 million), West Bengal (1.8million), Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra (1.6 million each) were the other states with significant numbers of disabled. Tamil Nadu is the only state, which has a higher number of disabled females than males.

However, Rama Chari, director, Diversity and Equal Opportunity Centre (DEOC), the Bangalore-based organisation that conducted a research study with the NGOs in recommending the right kind of questions to be included in the census questionnaire, said: “Last time, NGOs had to really fight hard to include disability-related questions. The ineffectual nature of the questions and the insensitive handling of the queries by enumerators meant that the result was incorrect.” 

Rama Chari added that the figure given by Census 2011 about the percentage of disabled people in India is a misleading one given that several international agencies, including World Health Organisation (WHO), have been claiming that the numbers could be anywhere between 2% to 10%. But, the sector regards getting the questions in after a particularly tough battle with the officials was a victory last time.

Now, regarding the efforts of the India Government in addressing the issues of the people affected with disabilities, here is an excerpt from The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment’s website: “Though the subject of "Disability" figures in the State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, The Government of India has always been proactive in the disability sector. It is not only running seven National Institutes (NIs) dealing with various types on disabilities and seven Composite Regional Centers (CRCs), which provide rehabilitation services to PwDs and run courses for rehabilitation professional but also funds a large number of NGOs for similar services and also a National Handicapped Finance & Development Corporation (NHFDC) which provides loans at concessional rates of interest to PwDs for self-employment. Besides, the Union Government is a party to (i) Proclamation on the Full Participation and Equality of People with Disabilities in the Asian and the Pacific Region - adopted at Beijing in December, 1992, and (ii) The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which came into effect in May, 2008.” 

 

You can find here a list of organizations under the Division of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment: Organizations on disabilities.