-The Indian Express India’s disability movement will not be the same again. I wonder if 50 years down the line, India’s disability movement’s timeline will be viewed as before and after Javed Abidi. The unexpected passing away of this colossus a few days back has shaken all — from activists who were his contemporaries to reporters wondering aloud on Twitter about whom to ask for quotes in future coverage of disability. So where...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Disability rights crusader Javed Abidi dies at 53 -Manash Pratim Gohain
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: India’s global face of disability rights movement, Javed Abidi, died of chest infection on Sunday. He was 53. Abidi, who founded the Disability Rights Group (DRG), and was serving as the director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People, is survived by his mother and two siblings. Born in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, he was diagnosed with spina bifida. Abidi wasn't operated on...
More »Following the grain trail: on India's public distribution system -Jean Dreze
-The Hindu Many States have initiated ‘reforms’ of the public distribution system that are hurting millions of people India’s public distribution system (PDS) is in danger of being derailed in several States across the country. Recent disruptions of the PDS have taken different forms, from compulsory biometric authentication to so-called direct benefit transfer (DBT). The consequences are alarming, but tend to go unreported. Biometric mix-ups Jharkhand is a prime example of this problem. By...
More »The ABC of the RTE -Maninder Kaur Dwivedi
-The Hindu Open-minded adoption of the RTE Act’s enabling provisions can radically transform school education Free and compulsory education of children in the 6 to 14 age group in India became a fundamental right when, in 2002, Article 21-A was inserted in the 86th Amendment to the Constitution. This right was to be governed by law, as the state may determine, and the enforcing legislation for this came eight years later, as...
More »The map of rural deprivation -Santosh Mehrotra
-The Hindu For millions hit by agricultural distress, the escape to construction jobs is grinding to a halt With the Union Budget to be presented on February 1, it is hoped that the Finance Minister will make a significantly higher allocation for investment in infrastructure. It is vital for addressing rural distress. The Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) informed us that ‘landlessness and dependence on manual casual labour for a livelihood...
More »