Asia-Pacific, Assistive Technology, September 26 2019

INDIA: The Indian state of Chhattisgarh will soon have a national institute for assistive technology and support centre for people with disabilities. Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot on Thursday agreed to the demand made by Social Welfare Minister Anila Bhediya for setting up a National institute for assistive technology and support centre in Raipur.

 The Social Welfare Minister also demanded setting up centres for identification of disabilities while addressing the third meeting of Central Advisory Board on Disability at Vigyan Bhawan here. The meeting was organised by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. She informed the gathering about programmes and schemes being run by the Chhattisgarh government for persons with disabilities. She said that the state has increased reservation for persons with disabilities from 6 to 7 per cent, which is the highest in the country.

Appreciating the state’s decision to provide one per cent reservation to persons with special intellectual disability, the Gehlot said other states too should emulate the initiative. The Social Welfare Minister said that Chhattisgarh government is committed towards empowering persons with disabilities by providing skill development and self employment opportunities to them.