A ‘Samajik Adhikarita Shivir’ for distribution of aids and assistive devices to ‘Divyangjan’ under the ADIP Scheme and to senior citizens under the ‘Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana’ of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India was organized by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) in association with ALIMCO and district administration Aurangabad (Bihar) at district collectorate campus, Aurangabad.
The Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Dr. Virendra Kumar inaugurated the camp along with Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ms. Pratima Bhoumik and Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Mr. A. Narayanswamy.
Speaking on the occasion Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Dr. Virendra Kumar told that during the last seven years and the current year aids and assistive devices have been provided to 20.01 lakh Divyangjan at a cost of Rs. 1210.67 crore through 10428 camps. 10 Guinness world records have been created during the distribution camps conducted by the ministry under the ADIP scheme, he added. He also informed that a total of 5102 aids and assistive devices were valued at Rs. 2.43 crore will be distributed free of cost to 1521 Divyangjan and 546 senior citizens at block/panchayat levels as per the SOP prepared by the department in view of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The Minister said that the scheme for Cochlear implantation which was started in 2014 has covered 3555 hearing-impaired children across the nation out of which 50 successful cochlear implant surgeries have been conducted in Bihar and seven hospitals are empanelled for conducting such surgeries under the government scheme in Bihar. The Minister added that Rs. 22.83 crore of scholarship has been released among 5855 Divyangjan students in Bihar. The central government has released Rs. 9.25 crores for making 21 government buildings in Bihar accessible and ‘Divyang’ friendly under Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan.
For attaining training at par with the latest in the world by the divyangjan sportspersons of the country, the government is setting up a Centre for Disability Sports at Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh at a cost of Rs.171.00 crore. In addition to the above, Central has issued 59 lakh of UDID cards out of which 1.39 lakhs of unique ID cards for divyangjan have been issued in Bihar.