Are schemes for the disabled on papers only?

While on the one hand, much is claimed to be done for the welfare of the disabled persons in Jammu and Kashmir and even a count of various schemes is being made by the Social Welfare Department, the fact of matter is on the obverse. In other words, either such sections are unaware of those schemes or there are quite deficient measures in connecting them to such schemes resulting in denial of social justice to them and thus non- fulfilment of a great responsibility that the said department and other Government agencies are supposed to demonstrate. The question, again, is in respect of various NGOs claiming to do ”a lot” for such sections of our society lamenting that various schemes sponsored by the Central Government and automatically standing applicable to Jammu and Kashmir following abrogation of Article 370,are nowhere seen being implemented.
It is really astonishing that persons with disabilities like being deaf and dumb , especially the children, usually coincidentally hailing from Rajouri, Poonch, Doda and other far flung and remote areas of the UT are bereft of educational facilities as either there are very few educational institutions for them or there are none at all. Proper education would have enabled these children to stand up on their own legs in getting some employment and means of livelihood which is thus denied to them. Ramp type facilities for such physically disabled children are nowhere to be seen. We know that there are schemes in vogue under the Scheme of implementation of Persons with Disabilities Act to provide barrier free environment and facilities in important Government buildings like Secretariats etc and for which the Central Government provides Grants- in -aids to all states and Union Territories but there are no such facilities provided to these persons in the UT. Perhaps their issues are not forming the list of priorities for the UT Government to address.
Are we reduced as a society and as an administrative mechanism to mute spectators to their plight in the absence of providing to them their rights and facilities that they are even forced to beg outside religious places just to keep their body and soul together? Are there no such provisions and standing instructions and the like to the concerned departments to keep monitoring, levels of implementation of the welfare schemes specially tailored for them ? Are representatives from such persons and those NGOs sincerely working for their amelioration, being taken into confidence by the Social Welfare Department and other connected Government agencies of the UT to get a feel of what type of problems they faced and how those could be addressed in a time bound manner?
A thorough review of the schemes piloted by the Social Welfare Department of the UT should intensely be made to know the number of beneficiaries covered and the consistency in paying them the monthly disability pensions. They could be around a lakh in number or even more and in that connection, whether the field staff was constantly making a survey and enrolling the eligible persons and whether the list of beneficiaries was kept updated. Similarly, an exercise for the centrally sponsored schemes for them must be made and lapses therein found so that a suitable action could be taken, more for ensuring that justice was not denied to them than for any other purpose.
So much of thrust currently is being laid on education and there being various schemes to promote education in the country and if these sections of our society are not reaping the requisite benefits therefrom primarily due to official apathy and social indifference, neither the objectives of new National Education Policy could be comprehensively achieved nor could we justify having done anything for such sections in imparting education to them and to their children.
The apathy and neglect of the Government authorities and institutions heaped on these sections of our society should not drive these people to come on streets just to be heard as that would amount to an open testimony that enough was not being done for them. It is, therefore, incumbent upon the UT Government to accord due attention to the problems of the disabled persons of our societies. If the aggrieved ones claim schemes for them” all on papers only”, that is the on ground appraisal of such schemes warranting taking of corrective measures.