Census of PWDs demanded
FE Report | Friday, 8 April 2011
FE Report
Organisations working for establishing the rights of the physically and mentally challenged people Thursday demanded their individual census. They claimed that most of them were not included in the disabled category; rather they were generalised in the 5th national census, held from March 15 to 19 last. They demanded a new census concerned only with the challenged people at a press conference held at the National Press Club in the city. The National Alliance of Disabled People's Organisations (NADPO), the leading national network for persons with disabilities (PWDs), organised the press meet. President of the organisation Md Abdus Sattar Dulal said in his key-note speech that the implementation of the 19th article of the census, where 'disability' has been incorporated for the first time, was a failure due to a lack of trained human resources and of specific schemes. The census had also failed to give a perfect criterion for PWDs and their disabilities, he said. Mr Dulal said although above 10 per cent of the total population of the country is disabled, they have been excluded from the national development programme. "National development has been hindered for not having an accurate statistics of the PWDs and they have been deprived of their proper allocation from the national budget since the country's birth," he said. Responding to a question on the number of the challenged people, which NADPO claimed to be 10 per cent, Secretary General of NADPO Md Jahangir Alam said they were following the accounts of World Health Organisation and International Labour Organisation.
Organisations working for establishing the rights of the physically and mentally challenged people Thursday demanded their individual census. They claimed that most of them were not included in the disabled category; rather they were generalised in the 5th national census, held from March 15 to 19 last. They demanded a new census concerned only with the challenged people at a press conference held at the National Press Club in the city. The National Alliance of Disabled People's Organisations (NADPO), the leading national network for persons with disabilities (PWDs), organised the press meet. President of the organisation Md Abdus Sattar Dulal said in his key-note speech that the implementation of the 19th article of the census, where 'disability' has been incorporated for the first time, was a failure due to a lack of trained human resources and of specific schemes. The census had also failed to give a perfect criterion for PWDs and their disabilities, he said. Mr Dulal said although above 10 per cent of the total population of the country is disabled, they have been excluded from the national development programme. "National development has been hindered for not having an accurate statistics of the PWDs and they have been deprived of their proper allocation from the national budget since the country's birth," he said. Responding to a question on the number of the challenged people, which NADPO claimed to be 10 per cent, Secretary General of NADPO Md Jahangir Alam said they were following the accounts of World Health Organisation and International Labour Organisation.