NEW DELHI : Among the groups most vulnerable to disaster are the persons with disabilities. Roughly, more than one billion people (equal to 15% of the global population) are reported to be afflicted with some or other forms of disabilities and a substantial part of the population lives in rural areas of the developing world amidst extreme poverty and developmental exclusion. When it comes to disaster risk reduction, persons with disabilities are often left behind to fend for themselves and their capacities are often underestimated. Persons with disabilities will likely experience more difficulties due to environmental changes caused by disaster and inaccessible refugee shelters. Even worse, they may experience more morbidities, disabilities, or even mortality due to hazards.
Against this background, a 2-days National Workshop on “Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Management in India” was organized at Gandhinagar, Gujarat on 11-12 July, 2019 by Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Studies, New Delhi in association with National Institute of Disaster Management Institute (NIDM), Institute of Seismological Research (ISR, Gandhinagar), and Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management (GIDM).
The National Workshop began with an encapsulated opening and chair remarks by noted expert on Disability Studies Dr G. N. Karna and briefly recapitulating the subject he made an impassioned plea for setting up an Advisory Council on Disability in the Prime Minister’s Office and imperativeness of integrating disability risk related issue into disaster management by the NIDM. Inaugurated the workshop Shri M. H. Shah (Hon’ble Chairperson, Gujarat State Human Rights Commission) underlined the necessity of visualizing disability inclusive disaster risk management related issue from rights-based (human rights) perspective. The keynote address was delivered by Shri P. K. Taneja (Former Addl. Chief Secy. to Govt. of Gujarat & currently DG, GIDM) espousing inclusivity of disability into disaster management. Shri D. N. Pandey (Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Gujarat) Chief Guest sought to pinpoint certain lapses in regard to implementation of governmental plans and schemes related to disability inclusive disaster management in India. Maj Gen M. K. Bindal, Executive Director and Guest of Honour on the occasion highlighting inclusiveness in disaster risk management stressed that disability is one long ignored gray area in DRM and NIDM is committed towards capacity development of stakeholders to mainstream it. Shri Sanjay Nandan (MD, Gujarat State Warehousing Corporation Limited) as Special Guest also called upon the NDMA, NIDM, NDRF, SDMAs and DDMAs to play a vital role in this area. Shri S. K. Langa (Collector & DM, Gandhinagar) highlighted the recent initiatives taken by District Administration for empowering the persons with disabilities. Comdt. 6th Bn NDRF Shri R.S. Joon also expressed NDRF’s commitments towards special care of vulnerable population including people with disabilities.
The inaugural session was followed by 4 technical sessions as also plenary session, where experts/scientists gathered from various parts of the country articulated their observations on diverse aspects related to the following themes such as (i) Understanding Disability Inclusive Disaster Management (ii) Disability-inclusive Early Warning and Preparedness (iii) Problems of Disabled and Elderly in Disaster Reduction (iv) Gaps in Disability and Disaster Risk Management. Dr. Kumar Raka, Programme Officer & Head-In-Charge, NIDM South Campus presented a paper on “Disability and Disaster Management in India: A Social Science Perspective” and Dr. Balu, Project Associate, NIDM South Campus reflected upon “Mainstreaming Disability Inclusive DRR in Local Governance”.
The workshop got concluded with adoption of a 5-point Charter of Demands and Recommendations. Among the issues figuring in the Charter of Demands and Recommendations include: (i) instituting an Advisory Council on Disability as a think tank in Prime Minister’s Office, (ii) setting up a Division/Cell on Disability Management as part of NIDM, (iii) incorporation of the issues related to disability inclusive disaster risk management in the curricula of the subjects of Disaster Management and Disability Studies being offered by universities and higher education institutions of the country, (iv) promotion of research and development activities in NDMA, NIDM, DST, DRDO and ISRO, and (v) involvement of persons with disabilities in formulation of plans/schemes related to disaster management for persons with disabilities.
Prof. Santosh Kumar, Senior Faculty NIDM expressed his thoughts as Distinguished Guest during Valedictory Session as society with inherent biasness and exclusive approach reflected in our sensitivity, culture, education, philosophy, governance, maturity and compassion. DRR policy, programmes, and strategies, research & development, capacity building programmes of NIDM and other stakeholders require serious introspection towards disability. Hon’ble Prime Minister special considerations for “Divyang” will not meet its objectives unless our interventions are based on sensitive policies with inclusiveness in true sense and spirit.
Ms Shalini Agrawal (District Magistrate, Vadodara) expressed her commitments towards disability inclusive DRR at the grassroots level and also delineated how to achieve it from bottoms-up perspective. Shri Vikram Gurjar, DC Admn & Training, NIDM also participated actively in the workshop.
