Mahakumbh

Nagar, 22 Feb (HS): The Divyang Portal was inaugurated at the National

Conference of State Commissioners under the 'Divya Kumbh Exhibition' organized

by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities on the occasion

of Mahakumbh-2025. State commissioners and experts from across the country

participated in this workshop, where there was a wide discussion on the

empowerment of persons with disabilities, their rights and education.

The

chief guest of the program, Rajesh Aggarwal, Chief Commissioner, Department of

Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Government of India, launched the web

portal of Uttar Pradesh State Commissioner Department of Empowerment of Persons

with Disabilities. Through this portal, information about various schemes and

services will be easily available to the disabled.

Screening

of documentary on Maha Kumbh: During the workshop, a documentary based on Maha

Kumbh-2025 was screened, which showed the participation of Divyangjans and the

special arrangements made for them. On this occasion, Principal Secretary,

Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Government of Uttar

Pradesh, Subhash Chand Sharma presented the outline of the workshop.

Joint

Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of

Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, New Delhi, Rajeev Sharma

highlighted the important aspects related to the rights of persons with

disabilities and their empowerment.

Address

by experts and discussion on empowerment of Divyangjan: In this national

workshop, there was an in-depth discussion on social participation, education

and employment of Divyangjans. Prof. Sanjay Singh, Vice Chancellor of Dr.

Shakuntala Mishra National Rehabilitation University, Lucknow and Prof. Shishir

Kumar Pandey, Vice Chancellor of Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Divyang Rajya

Vishwavidyalaya, Chitrakoot expressed their views.

In

the workshop, experts from ALIMCO, Kanpur and Regional Rehabilitation Center,

Lucknow provided information on technical assistance and rehabilitation

programs for Divyangjan. The strategy for implementing the notifications of 12

March 2024 and 16 October 2024 of the Government of India related to assessment

of disability and issuance of UDID cards was also discussed.

Special

discussion on education of handicapped children: In the workshop, strategies

were discussed to prevent dropouts of children with special needs from primary

to higher education. Under this, discussions were held on making the schemes

run by the government effective and providing more resources to Divyang

students.

Senior

officers and commissioners from across the country were present: The workshop

was attended by senior officers and State Commissioners from various States,

prominent among them were Praveen Puri (IAS, Maharashtra), Vijay Rajput (IAS,

Gujarat), C. Uday Kumar (IAS, Andaman & Nicobar), Aditi Choudhury (IAS,

West Bengal), Sonali P. Wayangkar (Principal Secretary, Madhya Pradesh), Bhrituti

Harichandan (Odisha), Guruprasad Pawaskar (Goa), S.D. Sundaresan (Puducherry),

Shailaja (Telangana), Das Suryavanshi (Karnataka), Prof. P.T. Baburaj (Kerala)

and Achintan Kilikdar (Tripura).

In

addition, S. Govindaraj (Commissioner, Disabled Persons, Govt. of India),

Praveen Prakash Ambasth (Deputy Chief Commissioner, Disabled Persons, Govt. of

India), Amit Kumar Singh (Joint Director, Directorate of Department of

Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow), Ranjeet

Singh (Joint Director, Directorate of Department of Empowerment of Persons with

Disabilities, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow), Madhurendra Parvat (Registrar, Jagadguru

Rambhadracharya State University, Chitrakoot), Abhay Kumar Shrivastava (Deputy

Director, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Prayagraj

Division, Prayagraj), Satendra Tripathi (Deputy Director, Varanasi Division, Varanasi),

Rajesh Mishra (Deputy Director, Vindhyachal Division, Vindhyachal) and

Disability Empowerment Officers from various districts also attended the

workshop.

Commitment

to protect and empower the rights of persons with disabilities: In this

national conference, important decisions were taken regarding the protection of

the rights of the disabled, their empowerment and access to education.

Reiterating the commitment of the government, the officials assured that all

necessary steps will be taken for the welfare of the disabled.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi