Patna, Jan. 15: Differently-abled persons in Bihar stand to gain from the provision of getting disability certificates closer home, increased government allocation for their betterment, quota in government jobs among other things.

Addressing a national convention on disability, Bihar State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) member Rajendra Prasad said: “It is the duty and the obligation of the state government to help out those with 100 per cent disability. The state government should give a minimum of Rs 20,000 every month to help them lead a dignified life. If it fails to do so, all laws, schemes and policies would prove to be a mere rhetoric,” SHRC member Rajendra Prasad said.

Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Studies, New Delhi and A.N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna, jointly organised today’s seminar to help create awareness among people about differently-abled persons to help them bring back to the mainstream.

SHRC chairman S.N. Jha said providing Rs 20,000 could be one aspect that could be looked into, but the broader issue should be to make those with 40 to 50 per cent disability self-reliant. “Differently-abled persons form large social groups and do not need charity in the form of a few thousand rupees. The focus should be on how to empower them and implement the existing schemes,” Jha said. The scope and ambit of human rights have increased nowadays. “Earlier, it was confined only to civil liberty and the freedom to lead life, he said, before adding educational, health and cultural rights also come under human rights.

Food and consumer protection minister Shyam Rajak said the NDA government in the state was committed to the uplift of the differently-abled by providing benefits of social security pension scheme.

“Earlier, differently-abled persons had to make the rounds of civil surgeons to get a certificate of more than 40 per cent disability to avail of the benefits of the pension scheme but now our government has adopted a liberal approach and made the provision that the differently-abled can now get the certificate from the medical officer posted in the block itself and do not require to come to the district headquarters,” Rajak said.

The minister said the government has earmarked around Rs 20.7 crore for the betterment of physically and mentally challenged people apart from ensuring a three per cent quota in government jobs.

SDRS honorary president G.N. Karna demanded that the state government consider creating a department dedicated to the betterment and welfare of the differently-abled on the lines of those in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka apart from opening a centre for disability studies at AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies.

Former chief minister Jagannath Mishra, institute diretor D.M. Diwakar, former chairman of Bar Council of India Suraj Narayan Singh also spoke on the occasion.