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National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) and American India Foundation (AIF) co-organised the Disability Inclution Across 17 Sustainable Development Goals in partnership with Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and United Nations India on 9th December, 2016 at Juniper, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi.
Inaugural Session: Setting the Stage:-
- Javed Abidi, Honorary Director, NCPEDP
- Nishant Pandey, Country Director, American India Foundation (AIF)
- Yuri Afansiev, UN Resident Coordinator & UNDP Resident Representative in India
- Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Hon’ble Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment
Taking Stock: Where are we after one year?:-
- Chair:- Mr. Javed Abidi, Hononary Director, NCPEDP
Panelist:-
- Ankit Rajiv Jindal, Marketing Advisor, NIT DATA Services, Founding Director, Diversity and Equal Opportunity Centre (DEOC)
- Deepali Kapoor, Program Head, Pratham
- Amitabh Behar, Executive Director, National Foundation for India (NFI)
Poverty elimination: How will it happen when 20% of the world’s poorest are people with disabilities and we continue to neglect them?:-
Chair:- Mr. Amarjeet Sinha, Secretary, Department of Rural Development (DRD), Ministry of Rural Development
Panelist:-
- Praveen Kumar G., Head of Programmes, VSO India Trust
- Sandeep Chachra, Executive Director, ActionAid (India)
- Madhu Khatri, Associate General Counsel, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd.
- Rajiv Khandelwal, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Aajeevika Bureau
Inclusion of disability in the national development agenda: The way Forward:-
Chair:- Mr. N. S. Kang, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), MSJE
Panelist:-
- Rema Nagarajan, Senior Assistant Editor, Times of India
- Manas Satpathy, Executive Director, PRADAN
- Nandita Bhan, Research Scientist & Adjunet Assistant Professor, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI)
- Arjun Sanyal, Director, Education (Learning and Migration Program), American India Foundation
Goal 1 of the SDGs is – End Poverty in all its forms everywhere. Goal 3 which focuses on health and well being is - Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. There is such an intrinsic relationship between poverty, health and disability that it is blasphemous to note that disability has not been mentioned in not only these two goals but also their targets and indicators. Here’s how they are related:
Poverty and Disability – 800 million of the world's 1 billion people with disabilities live in the countries of the Global South. People with disabilities also comprise 20 percent of the world's poorest. People with disabilities not only are more vulnerable to poverty but their poverty is compounded by other inequalities. For instance, a person with disability has far lesser chances of education and thus lesser chances of employment.
Health and Disability - People with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to deficiencies in health care services. They may experience greater vulnerability to secondary conditions, co-morbid conditions, and age-related conditions often engaging in health risk behaviors. It is therefore imperative that when one talks of healthcare, it must include all assistive devices and technologies that are essential for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in their daily lives.
We are beginning a dialogue with relevant stakeholders to ensure disability is not left out of the global agenda again.
NITI Ayog has been entrusted with the role of coordinating the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Their task is not to merely collect data on SDGs but to act proactively to fructify the goals and targets not only quantitatively but also while maintaining high standards of quality.
NITI Ayog will create a vision document for about 15 years i.e. upto 2030. It is now up to us to ensure that disability is not left out of this very important document. Have you read through the SDGs? Do you have any specific recommendations for NITI Ayog?