‘Differently-abled persons have the rights to live with dignity’

KOHIMA, SEPTEMBER 20: With the objective to secure justice to all and restore dignity of an individual, the Nagaland State Legal Services Authority (NSLSA) launched a legal service programme for the differently-abled persons at the Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench, on September 20. NSLSA executive chairman and the chief guest, Justice Nishitendu Chaudhury, spoke on the rights of all citizens of the country. He said differently-abled persons, besides enjoying voting rights and other rights for reservation in services and posts, have the right to live with dignity in the society. He said Article 21, which speaks about right to life, should be made applicable for all. He emphasised that the differently-abled persons should enjoy the same status, same opportunities, amenities and scope to develop and manifest. It may be mentioned here that NSLSA had launched seven schemes in the last annual conference, out of which one was legal services for mentally and physically challenged persons. The chief guest also talked about Nagaland as one of the few states in the country and the first state in the North Eastern states to launch this scheme, which many people were not aware of. He spoke about Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti, a free artificial limbs and callipers fitment centre based in Guwahati. He said though it had not receive any help from central of state governments, yet they were committed to provide the facilities on their own initiatives across the country without any monetary obligation in return. He said law students, social and political activists can work towards tracing these people and make them avail the services. To ensure that these people with the fitted limbs do not face problem while refitting or other services which they might require, he said the service centre in Dimapur would be good so that they don’t need to travel to Guwahati. Commissioner and Secretary of Justice and Law Department, M Patton, in his brief address, informed that as per 2011 census, there were 29,631 differently-abled persons in which only around 5% have the disability certificate. Patton regretted that despite allocation of three disability centres in Dimapur, Mon and Tuensang districts, the only existing centre in Dimapur was non-functional. He, therefore, suggested conducting the same programme in the district level since it would be inconvenient for many disabled persons to travel. Member Secretary of NSLSA, Nino Iralu, NJS, informed the differently-abled persons to contact the NSLSA and avail the free service facility. At the end of the programme, 22 differently-abled persons from different districts were given artificial limbs and callipers.