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Rally to make Govt. see reason

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI FEB. 16. Worth Trust, a non-governmental organisation based in Tamil Nadu, assembles braillers for which it has to import components from abroad. Since it has to pay import duty for the components, the cost of the braillers is very high and predictably beyond the reach of many visually-impaired persons.

Similarly, all major hearing aid manufacturers in India import their components from abroad. The customs duty on the components increases the retail price of the hearing aids substantially. In addition to this, there is a customs duty levied on the accessories as well.

``Assistive aids and appliances play a very important role in the lives of disabled people as it helps enhancing their productivity and standard of living. The quality of wheel-chairs, tricycles and other assistive aids currently available in India is extremely poor,'' rues Javed Abidi of the Disabled Rights Group, which has been advocating the exemption of Customs and Excise Duties on aids and appliances for people with disabilities.

A DRG delegation had met the then Union Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, in this regard but the demands were bypassed in the Budget presented by him. However, after sustained advocacy over a period of 10 months, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment set up a committee to examine the issue in December 2002. The Committee has now finalised its report in which it has recommended that all kinds of aids and appliances meant for persons with disabilities be exempted from customs/excise duties. It has also recommended simplification of procedures for availing the exemptions.

"We subsequently wrote to the Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, on January 24 seeking an appointment to discuss certain other pressing issues like raising of income tax exemption limit for disabled people from the present Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 1 lakh and to announce incentives for the private sector for promoting employment opportunities for persons with disability. But we have not received any response from him,'' said Mr. Abidi, adding that another letter written by the DRG on February 10 raising these and a few other concerns too have met with a cold response.

As a last resort, the DRG on Sunday organised a protest rally of people with disabilities at Jantar Mantar on the eve of the beginning of the Budget session highlighting these demands. "The lives of 70 million disabled people in the country are at stake,'' said one of the protesters who later courted arrest.

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