Information
There was one simple demand to make the telecast of Republic Day ceremony accessible via sign language interpretation on ALL 6 channels of Doordarshan, especially on DD National.
After advocating sternly for this issue for days, we were informed the day before that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Doordarshan will be making the telecast of Republic Day Ceremony 2014 accessible on three channels ONLY – DD Bharati, DD News and DD Urdu. This had hurt the disability sector immensely.
To stand up and fight against this discrimination, hundreds of disabled people gathered outside Doordarshan on Sansad Marg in the evening. The large crowd had then marched to Shastri Bhawan in the beating cold where finally after much wait, a delegation was called in for a meeting with the Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The delegation that comprised of Javed Abidi, Convener, DRG; Syamala G., AADI and A.S. Narayanan, NAD apprised to the Secretary, the disappointment and the agitation of the sector. The Secretary would hopefully be holding a meeting on Monday with relevant stakeholders to take up this issue.