Ten years after the current disability law came into effect, the Indian government has yet to develop an updated National Policy for Persons with Disabilities. Meanwhile, the existing National Policy for Persons with Disabilities was approved two decades ago.
The organization Doctors with Disabilities: Agents of Change (DwDAoC), in its letter to the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Secretary of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), expressed serious concern over this prolonged delay. According to the organization, a modern national policy is necessary to translate the rights guaranteed by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (RPDA) 2016, as well as India's obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, into a coordinated, measurable, and adequately provided-for state system.
The government acknowledged the need for a new national policy, which was reflected in a 2022 public notification requesting comments on the draft policy. The working group established to develop this policy submitted a draft on October 12, 2021, and the deadline for stakeholder comments was set for September 30, 2022. However, as noted in the letter, four years after the consultation process, India continues to operate under the national policy developed in 2006.
When drafting the new policy, the department explicitly took into account significant changes that have occurred since 2006, including India's ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the adoption of the RPDA in 2016, and the approval of the National Education Policy in 2020.
In 2016, the RPDA replaced the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act of 1995. Dr. Satendra Singh, the founder of DwDAoC, stated in his letter that as an organization representing disabled medical professionals, they are particularly concerned about the gaps that arise when disability policy is not effectively integrated across healthcare, social security, and other sectors. He also noted that the medical interpretation of disability is contested during professional assessment and the determination of entitlement to aid. These legal rulings underscore the necessity of a decisive shift towards a rights-based, functional, and adaptive approach, rather than one that views disability itself as a substitute for incapacity.
The letter also highlighted several shortcomings in the draft national policy, including insufficient alignment with the Ministry of Health's proposed accessibility standards for medical care and inadequate reflection of accessibility requirements for goods and services within public procurement systems.
The organization requested the current status of the revised national policy, the reasons for its delay, whether a revised draft has been prepared following consultations, what mechanism and timeline are planned for further consultations if any, and the expected date for the notification of the revised national policy.