Chalk out comprehensive policy for reservation of specially-abled people
Srinagar: Expressing serious concern over the pathetic standard of living of a vast section of widows, orphans, destitute and old age people in the state, CPI (M) state secretary Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami has urged the government to enhance widow and old age pension, urging the government to ensure welfare of this poor and miserable lot of the society.
“Rs 400 financial assistance is too small an amount to fetch them even medicines,” Tarigami said, adding that the amount received by widows, old aged and orphans after running form pillar to post in social welfare department needs to be reviewed without any delay, a statement issued to KNS said. In a statement issued here today, Tarigami while referring to the huge number of orphans, widows, handicapped and destitute observed that the state government must go for a one time exercise to cover all the needy and deserving people under the central government’s various flagship programmes.
The CPI (M) leader also remarked that instead of spending money on unproductive areas, the government must focus and utilize that money in providing financial assistance to the uncovered segments of the society who are in distress. “Hundreds of financial assistance cases of widows, orphans, old aged people and handicapped persons are pending for the last many months before social welfare offices in different districts for unknown reasons. What will these needy people do to that meager amount if it is not provided to them in time,” Tarigami asked. He said unfortunately the conflict of last twenty years has posed a huge challenge, leaving behind nearly 40,000 widows, orphans and handicapped persons since the insurgency erupted in 1990.
Tarigami also called for a comprehensive reservation policy for the disabled in private educational institutions, training and professional colleges and other employment concerns to empower the specially-abled population in Jammu and Kashmir. He said the rising problems of the specially-abled can’t be addressed through lip service, pseudo promises or ritual celebration of World Disability Day, but a serious policy intervention is the need of the hour to facilitate their independent living and self determining existence.