-Press Information Bureau Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson, United Progressive Alliance, inaugurated "SAMARTH 2014: Celebrating Diversity" organized by the Department of Disability Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment here today. Speaking at the inaugural function Smt. Gandhi said that this event will help in creating awareness about the abilities of persons with disabilities and will go a long way in engendering an inclusive & enabling environment for them. Smt. Gandhi said there is...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court has asked the Centre and states to pay employees with hearing impairment the same monthly transport allowance they have been paying the visually and physically challenged, saying the law didn't allow "discrimination" based on disabilities. The court's human touch came on a plea by the Deaf Employees Welfare Association, which said that except for Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, no other state was extending them the...

The newly released disability data from Census 2011 shows that in a country of 2.68 crore disabled, nearly 69.5 percent stay in rural areas. Back in 2001, about 75 percent of the country's disabled resided in rural areas. The population of rural disabled persons has increased from about 1.64 crore in 2001 to 1.86 crore in 2011 i.e. by 13.7 percent. However, the population of urban disabled persons has increased...

-The Hindustan Times Nilesh Singit, 43, completed his Master's degree in Literature from Mumbai university in 1993 and a course in information technology soon after, and thought he was ready for the job market. Responses from the initial telephonic interviews too sounded positive. Then he went for the face-to-face rounds. A cerebral palsy survivor, Singit was rejected by one company after another - for four years. Dejected, he decided to turn entrepreneur....

-The Telegraph Bihar and Jharkhand are among eight states that are holding up moves to update national legislation on rights of people with disabilities, prompting an angry Union minister to slap them with an April 12 deadline for sending feedback on the draft bill. Minister for social justice and empowerment Kumari Selja has, therefore, written to the Governor of Jharkhand, Syed Ahmed - it is under President's Rule and chief ministers of...