People's Democracy

NPRD Extended Meeting Discusses

Draft Programme & Constitution

Muralidharan

“NO pity or charity, we want rights.”  That was Meena Kumari succinctly summing up the mood of the delegates. “And fight we shall for achieving these”, continued the determined delegate from rural Jharkhand, who had to struggle her way on her four limbs to make it to the stage. That was in February 2010 in Kolkata at the all India convention of the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled. A more confident Meena reiterated her resolve with renewed vigour at Bengaluru, attending the extended meeting of the NPRD on December 9-10, 2012.  Much water had flowed down both the Hooghly and the Kaveri since 2010. Meena was in a wheelchair this time and the NPRD which at the time of the convention had constituent units in four states had now spread to 12.

Despite the progress that the NPRD has made in this short period of time, it has an uphill task before it, given the vast mass of the disabled who continue to remain outside the organised movement.

“Nothing about us without us” proclaimed one of the host of banners put up at the Bharat Scouts & Guides premises, the venue for the meeting. How to turn this into a reality and what would compel policy makers to take their aspirations into cognizance, was a question foremost in the minds of the delegates assembled from different parts of the country.

The Approach Paper adopted at the Kolkata Convention while acknowledging that “The welfare and advancement of disabled is crucially linked to the recognition of their rights as equal citizens, not as recipients of charity or patronage” concluded that: “Disability is no longer a charity or welfare issue. It is an issue for rights, to live with dignity and share the fruits of development with equality. There is growing consciousness and assertiveness on the part of the disabled for their rights. This is reflected in the growing numbers of groups advocating their rights and demands, with the disabled themselves taking the lead. From being at the mercy of charitable institutions and seeking patronage, their growing assertiveness is bringing them increasingly to question the institutions of the State.”

Unfortunately, the groups engaged in advocacy are confined to big cities and towns and leave out the vast mass of the disabled both in the urban and rural areas. Reaching this huge mass of disabled who remain unorganised and building a strong mass based disability organisation in the country continues to be the prime task before the NPRD. There was and remains a huge vacuum in the country as far as a strong organisation of persons with disabilities is concerned. This is not to deny the fact that strong sectoral bodies like those of the blind have been in existence for long.

Given the complexities and diversities of disabilities with issues and problems unique to each disability, bringing them under one banner is no mean task. Especially when awareness about the “other’s” disability is limited. Added to this is the mushrooming of a multitude of NGOs that have fragmented the movement, which is still in a very nascent stage.

With a paradigm shift in the understanding of disability from a medical/charity model to a rights based one, especially in the wake of the coming into force of the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), the need for a new type of organisation that would champion rights has become all the more relevant.

From the very inception itself we were clear that such an organisation has to be in the form of a broad platform that would encompass and rally the vast masses of persons with disabilities in the country into a united whole, despite all its diversities.

While we went to the convention with an Approach Paper outlining some of the basic issues that we had then identified, we were still to concretise the manner in which we would mobilise the vast mass of disabled persons in the country and the shape it would take. Which are the bodies that can affiliate or associate with the NPRD, on what basis would these organisations seek affiliation to the NPRD, or, how can such independent bodies be brought into the NPRD fold – were all questions that we did not address at that point of time.

It is in this context that an extended meeting was organized. G N Nagaraj, secretary of the Karnataka Rajya Angavikalara Mattu Palakara Okkota, welcomed the delegates. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and former MP, Brinda Karat, in her keynote address emphasised that “Disability rights are not separate from fundamental human rights and the entire human rights discourse should include the issue of disability.” She also lamented the fact that disability is not covered as a prohibited ground of discrimination in the Indian constitution. It may be recalled that during her tenure as a member of the Rajya Sabha, Brinda had moved a Private Members Bill to amend Article XV(1) and XVI(2) of the constitution. She stressed the importance of enacting strict penal provisions for discrimination against and violation of the rights of persons with disabilities.

The extended meeting had a single agenda–deliberating on the draft of the programme and constitution of the NPRD. Assistant convener of the NPRD, Muralidharan introduced the draft. He pointed out that the NPRD while talking of rights for persons with disabilities seeks to link it up with the existing socio-economic realities in the country and on that basis set an agenda and the path to realize this. It would be fallacious to talk of rights without talking into account the political-social-economic conditions prevailing at any given point of time. It is this perspective that it lays in the form of a programme, he said.

Adherence to the programme and acceptance of its constitution would be a perquisite for any organisation seeking to associate or affiliate with the NPRD. As it will be purely an affiliating body, the NPRD will not enrol members directly. There is also provision for non-mass membership based disabled persons organisations to become associate members of the NPRD.

The draft programme sets out the objective of striving for the dignity, self respect and self esteem of persons with disabilities. It pledges to fight against discrimination faced by persons with disabilities and to strive for the social, cultural and educational equality of persons with disabilities so that they can develop as equal, responsible and democratically conscious citizens among other things.

The advancement of the disabled is crucially linked to the advance of the democratic movement and society in general. The NPRD will strive to mainstream issues of the disabled and their concerns and aspirations and make them part of the democratic movement and consciousness of the people.

NPRD convenor Kanti Ganguly in his presidential address said no change can come unless political parties give due importance to this issue. Political will is important to bring about substantive changes at the policy level as well as for implementation.

Sixteen delegates participated in the discussion on the draft programme while eleven participated in the discussion on the draft constitution. The basic thrust of the deliberations was aimed at strengthening the document while in some cases more clarity was sought with regard to some formulations. Delegates sought to enrich the document with experience gained at the ground level and the situation existing in their respective states. The amendments and suggestions received from the delegates will be discussed at the meeting of the NPRD committee to be held early next year. The draft will then be updated and placed for deliberation and adoption in the first conference of the NPRD to be held in the middle of next year.