From Our Correspondent
TURA: A two-day sensitization with awareness and assessment campaign began in the premises of the Tura Law College on Tuesday with West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Sanjay Goyal flagging off the meet.
Rightfully called “Badthe Kadam”, the pan-India program is organized by the National Trust for the welfare of persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities.
Under this program the participation of the state government, traditional institutions, NGOs and society is of immense importance to ensure the success of the countrywide awareness and sensitization campaign on disabilities.
The program is in the form of a Mela to help provide an integrated platform to deliver on the spot convergent services to the disabled and their families without having to follow the long government procedures.
One of the speakers at the program who happened to be closely working with the issue of disability was Ms. Velbora Wankhar, state Coordinator of the National Trust. She mentioned that “Badthe Kadham” objective is to ensure the rights of the disabled are met with the Millenium Development and the United Nations Convention for persons with disability.
The campaign would also bring about change in attitude towards people and help them understand disability in a developmental context, said Wankhar.
A message from the President of India was also read out on the occasion.
The need to include children with special needs under the ambit of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) program was also stressed. “Unless these children are included the objectives of SSA cannot be realized,” said SSA District Coordinator, Mrs H D B Sangma.
West Garo Hills deputy commissioner Sanjay Goyal also participated in the program and gave a breakup of the schemes available under various departments and NGOs to help the disabled.