Centre to provide universal IDs to persons with disabilities

The Centre on Tuesday said Universal Disability Identity (UDID) cards will be provided to persons with disabilities which will have universal recognition.

The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) is in the process of providing UDID cards to persons with disabilities, Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Kamlesh Kumar Pandey said at a press conference here.

Besides, under skill development, the government has set a target to train five lakh persons with disabilities upto 2018 and 25 lakh persons upto 2022.

So far, 44,000 persons with disabilities have been trained, Pandey said.

He said the office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD) came into existence in 1998 under the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. 

The function of the Chief Commissioner is to coordinate the work of the state Commissioners, monitor utilisation of funds disbursed by the Centre and take steps to safeguard the rights and facilities made available to persons with disabilities.