Disability activists held a candlelight vigil outside the residence of Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Mukul Wasnik on Saturday demanding that more disabled people be made part of the committee for drafting the new disability Act. “After months of relentless advocacy by disabled rights organisations, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has finally embarked upon a historic task of drafting a new law to replace the outdated Disability Act,...

People of dalit communities in the Gadarwara sub-division of district Narsinghpur in Madhya Pradesh are on the brink of starvation as they are facing harassment, economic sanctions and social boycott because they have refused to remove animal carcasses. A fact finding team of civil society organisations says that dalits at many places have been ‘imprisoned’ in their own houses as all entry and exit points have been blocked by the...

Government job reservation observed more in the breach Even as yet another International Day of Persons with Disabilities is being observed on Thursdaythe differently abled continue their struggle for access and rights. The State Government itself has admitted that the provisions of Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995, which inter alia seeks to provide 3 per cent reservation in jobs and education, have been...