May 20, 2021
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A 6- month Community-Based Inclusive Development (CBID) Program on rehabilitation of Divyangjan was launched by the Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment. Union Minister of State, SJ&E, Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar ; Australian High Commissioner to India, Barry O’Farrell; High Commissioner of India to Australia, ShManpreet Vohra; Secretary DEPwD, GoI, M Anjali Bhawra, Vice-Chancellor of Melbourne University Professor Duncan Maskell., S, DEPwD, Prabodh Seth and Dr. Nathan Gills of Melbourne University were also among those present at the launch event.
According to the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, the program aims to create a pool of grass-root rehabilitation workers at the community level who can work alongside ASHA and Anganwadi workers to handle cross-disability issues and facilitate inclusion of persons with disabilities in the society. The program has been designed to provide competency-based knowledge and skills among these workers to enhance their ability to successfully discharging their duties. These workers will be called ‘Divyang Mitra’ i.e., friends of persons with disabilities. The Rehabilitation Council of India intends to roll out the course initially on a pilot basis for two batches in 7 National Institutes of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and 7-9 voluntary organizations having experience in Community Based Rehabilitation programme. Initially, the programme will be available in English, Hindi, and 7 regional languages, namely, Gujarati, Marathi, Odiya, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, and Garo.