Persons with Disabilities

Story hook

It is 30 March 2007. India signs the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in New York. By 1 October 2007, India ratifies it — among the earliest signatories. The Convention demands a paradigm shift: disability is no longer a medical problem of the individual; it is a social construct created by inaccessible buildings, hostile attitudes, and excluding institutions.

For nine years, India's 1995 Persons with Disabilities Act sat in contradiction with UNCRPD. It recognised only seven disabilities. It used the word "handicapped". It treated disability as charity.

Then on 27 December 2016, Parliament passed the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act. The new statute expanded the list to 21 disabilities, mandated 4% reservation in government jobs (up from 3%), 5% in higher education, and a National Fund. It guaranteed legal capacity, accessible information, inclusive education, and criminalised discrimination with up to 5 years' imprisonment.

Today, ~2.68 crore Indians (Census 2011) — likely 8-10 crore by WHO estimates (15-17% of population) — live with one or more of those 21 disabilities. The 2016 Act, paired with the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) launched 3 December 2015, is the statutory + programmatic backbone of India's disability rights architecture.

Why this matters for UPSC

A core GS-II Social Justice unit. Prelims: tested on the 21 disabilities, reservation %, year of UNCRPD ratification, and the Accessible India Campaign date (2017, 2019, 2022 Prelims). Mains: appears every 2-3 years — "discuss legal framework for PwDs" (2017), "examine inclusive education for disabled children" (2020), "rights-based versus welfare-based approach" (2024). Interview: tested on attitudes toward disability and policy design.