Welcoming the Members the Minister said that the National Institute for empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities was established to serve as a National Resource Centre for empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities with the aim to provide rehabilitation, training, employment, education and social development of person with multiple disabilities.
The Minister further added that a separate Department of Disability Affairs within the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment was created by the Government in May, 2012 for better addressal of needs of persons with disabilities and to formulate policies, and protocols for their inclusive growth so that they can be integrated in mainstream society.
The Minister invited suggestions for further improvement in the activities of the Institute.
Shri P. L. Punia, INC, (Lok Sabha) praised the effort of the Institute and suggested that a monitoring mechanism be established for trained persons and integrate the training with employment opportunities through campus interviews. He further suggested that more regional centres of the Institute should be set up.
Shri Thangso Baite, INC, Lok Sabha suggested that persons with multiple disabilities are all dependent upon their families for their day to day needs, so the Ministry should plan some schemes to make them financially independent.
A presentation was presented on the vision and role of the Institute and the programmes being implemented by it during the meeting.
Shri Manik Rao Gavit, Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment, Shri Porika Balram Naik, Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment, Shri Sudhir Bhargava, Secretary (SJE), Ms. Stuti Kacker Secretary, Department of Disability Affairs, Shri Anoop Kumar Srivastava, Additional Secretary (SJE) and other senior officials of the Ministry and NIEPMD were also present.
