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New Delhi : On the occasion of International Day of Persons with Disabilities today, the Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu conferred the National Awards on individuals, institutions, organizations, State/District etc for their outstanding achievements and work done towards empowerment of Persons with Disabilities(PwDs) at a function at VigyanBhawan, New Delhi, on December 3, 2018.

Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawarchand Gehlot, Ministers of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Pal Gurjar, Ramdas Athawale, Vijay Sampla, Secretary, DEPwD, Shakuntala D Gamlin were also graced the occasion. Altogether 56 individuals and 16 institutions were awarded on the occasion.

Addressing a gathering on the occasion, the Vice President said that the award presentation programme is a very pious and meaningful. ” India is known for its philosophy of “Care and Share”. It is our duty to take care of our physically disabled brothers and sisters. Skill development of Divyangjans is very necessary and useful,” Naidu said and added that the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is doing a very commendable job. He opined that the awardees serve as the role model to others. Divyangjans need Empathy not Sympathy, Naidu said. He said that there is a hidden talent in every disabled person that needs to be harnessed.

Gehlot, in his address, said that the people’s participation is very necessary in the overall uplift of Divyangjans. During past four years, the Government of India has taken several new initiatives for the Divyangjans. Six Guiness Book of World Records have been created by Divyangjans. More than 7,500 camps have been organised and more than twelve lakh of Divyangjans have benefitted from them. Reservation for Divyangjans in Government services have been increased from 3% to 4%, he said and added that the Divyangjans performed exceedingly well in Para-Olympics games.

For National Awards 2018, an advertisement inviting applications from persons belonging to all the 21 specified disabilities was published in the leading newspapers on July 17, 2018.  In all, 1,221 applications were received till last date of receipt of applications. These applications were scrutinized as per the parameters prescribed in the guidelines by four Screening Committees constituted for this purpose. The National Selection Committee at its meeting held on November 1, 2018, considered the applications shortlisted by the Screening Committees and recommended 72 Awards in 14 categories of National Awards.

Till 2017, the Award Scheme was governed under the National Awards Rules, 2013, which provided 7 categories of disabilities as per the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995.  However, with the coming into force of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, on April 19, 2017, the number of specified disabilities increased from 7 to 21 under the new Law. Accordingly, all the 21 disabilities have been included under the National Award Guidelines which have been notified in the Extra-ordinary Gazette of India dated August 2, 2018.

 

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