The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India organised an awareness workshop at the Birla Auditorium, in Jaipur on Tuesday, to provide an insight into the various contours of the Accessible India Campaign and on the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders in the journey to achieve Universal Accessibility for the inclusion of persons with disabilities.
Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Arun Chaturvedi was the chief guest on the occasion which was presided over by Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Pal Gurjar was also present at the workshop.
The Department has conceptualized the ‘Accessible India Campaign’ (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) as a nation-wide campaign for achieving universal accessibility that will enable persons with disabilities (PwDs) and those with lesser mobility to gain access, provide equal opportunity and independent living and participate fully in all aspects of life in an inclusive society.
PM Narendra Modi had launched the campaign on December 3, 2015 to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The campaign reached another milestone with the launch of the ‘Inclusiveness and Accessibility Index’ –a transparent benchmark for organisations to receive an objective score on disability inclusion –on March 30, 2016 as part of the Abhiyan.
Arun Chaturvedi, on behalf of the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje, thanked the Central Ministry for choosing Jaipur as one of the target cities to implement Accessible India Campign objectives.
Expressing his pleasure on Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan’s success since its launch in december 2015, the state Social Justice and Empowerment Minister expressed confidence that the Campaign is on the right track and will go a long way in empowering Persons with Disabilities. He also invoked the members of the gathering to come ahead and contribute towards achieving Universal Accessibility.