HYDERABAD: The process of issuing Universal Disability Identity (UDID) cards has been taken up in 15 states in the first phase, a top official said here today.
The cards, issued to persons with disabilities, are recognised in all the states and government departments.
"As the disability certificates issued by state governments are not valid across departments and also in other states, the Central government has started a process to issue UDID certificates which will be valid throughout the country and in all departments," Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Kamlesh Kumar Pandey told reporters here.
He said a pilot project of UDID was rolled out in Ratlam district in Madhya Pradesh and based on that experience, the government has started issuing the cards in 15 states in the first phase.
"States that have issued a large number of disability certificates have been included in the first phase. Telangana is one of those states. The Centre has provided a link to the states through which UDID cards can be acquired by disabled people," Pandey said.
As per the 2011 Census, 2.68 crore people in the country have disabilities, out of whom 50.5 per cent have been issued with the disability cards by the states, he said.
The population of the disabled in Telangana is 10.55 lakh and out of them 7 lakh have been provided with the disabled certificates, he said, adding that all certificates issued by state governments will be linked to UDID.
Pandey further said he has spoken to the Telangana Chief Secretary to start an independent department for the welfare of the disabled.
"A proposal is also under study for starting a department of Disability Studies in the city-based Osmania University to take up research," he said.
The Central government has selected 50 cities under its Accessible India campaign and 100 buildings in each of these cities will be made accessible for the disabled.
Accessible India or Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan is a programme to serve the differently-able community of the country. The campaign comes with an index to measure the design of disabled-friendly buildings.
"Under Skill Development, the Centre has set a target to train five lakh persons with disabilities upto 2018 and 25 lakh persons with disabilities upto 2022," the chief commissioner said, adding that 44,000 persons with disabilities are trained till now.