DRG threatens stir against Centre's delay in UNCRPD ratification

New Delhi, Sep 26 (UNI) Disabled rights activist Javed Abidi today accused the government of delaying the ratification of the UN Convention on Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD), even six months after it gave its consent to the convention.

He said though the government had signed the UNCRPD in March this year, but its ratification was yet to come. ''Unless ratified, the convention, which was a weapon that would equip the disabled with various rights and facilities, is not implementable,''he told reporters here.

''The disability sector is getting increasingly impatient and we cannot just sit and keep waiting,'' he said, adding he would soon file a RTI application to know the status.

He said there were loopholes in the Disability Act, 1995, which could be rectified with the ratification of the UNCRPD. ''The Act does not make it mandatory for the private sector to give reservations for the disabled,'' he pointed out.

He accused Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Meira Kumar of incompetence and demanded her resignation Threatening to launch a country-wide strike to protest against the delay, he said to begin with, his organisation the Disabled Rights Group, along with other NGOs will go for one-day fast near Jantar Mantar on October 2.

UNI