Govt to publish aggregated disability data in public for research purposes

New Delhi: The government has decided to publish aggregated disability data in public for research purposes and fostering data-driven decision-making and policy formulation within the disability sector, a senior official said on Monday.

The official in the Department of People with Disabilities said anonymous data of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) will be released through the Unique Disability ID (UDID) portal for research purposes

“By providing comprehensive data at multiple levels, including state, district, sub-district, gender, age group, and disability type, this initiative promises to shed light on the distribution and unique needs of PwDs across diverse geographical regions,” the official said.

The move aims to help researchers/NGOs study more about each and every disability in depth and spread awareness amongst the common people.

The data will also aid policymakers in framing policies according to the needs of the PwDs for enhancing their quality of life, the official added.

The official said publishing the data of all the 21 disabilities will also help IT sectors, E-commerce platforms, building constructors, etc. to design websites and applications and also construct kiosks according to the needs of PwD.

“The data may influence E-commerce/organisations to design their platforms according to the PwDs which increase the usability and purchasing cycle.

Hence it will somewhere persuade the economy of the country.

This will also connect more and more PwDs with digital India,” the official said.

The UDID project, hosted on the NIC cloud since May 2016, was established with the crucial goal of creating a centralised database for all PwDs in India.

It aimed to issue UDID cards through a single online portal across all states and Union territories, offering a promising platform for policy-making and targeted interventions.

Till now, over 90 lakh PwD cards have been made.

The move was announced in the presence of Minister of State for Social Justice Pratima Bhoumik who also launched other initiatives at the event.

The minister launched a booklet ‘Pathways to access: Courts on disability rights’ which is a compilation of the summaries of the important judgments delivered by the Supreme Court and high courts across India, pertaining to disability rights and issues.