-Kafila.org The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill was meant to be an enactment to codify India's obligations under the UNCRPD, which it ratified without reservations. There was a Committee set up in 2009 by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, headed by Smt. Sudha Kaul, to draft a Bill to this effect. Like the UNCRPD says, the Committee included different people with disabilities - across disabilities - to draft...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: The UPA government is likely to introduce the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill in the Parliament during the second leg of the winter session which began on Wednesday. The bill has driven a wedge between disabled rights activists who have widely divergent opinions on the bill, which many see as a watered down version of the document made available by the government on the website of...

-The Hindu Concerned over the glaring increase in the number of beggars across all major cities and towns in the country, the Centre is now focussing on preventing begging. To begin with, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has asked the States and Union Territories to inform the Centre about schemes and welfare measures taken by them to check beggary. No information on implementation "Although various State governments and Union Territories have enacted...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Disability rights activists from across the country have come together to demand that the government incorporate crucial amendments to the new Disability Rights Bill before introducing it in Parliament on February 5 and passing it. A leaked copy of the bill created a furore as activists realised that the Bill readied to be passed was not the draft available on the ministry of social justice...

-Frontline Two draft Bills on the Tribal Sub-Plan and the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan raise hopes of granting these decades-old schemes statutory status and ensuring allocation of funds in the Central and State budgets for their implementation. IN a significant legislative move, the Union government's Ministry of Tribal Affairs released a draft Bill for the implementation of the long-neglected Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP), a special programme mandated by the Planning Commission to benefit the...