Redesigning India for Inclusion of PwDs

• 09 Feb 2026

This editorial is based on “Budget 2026 makes employment room for disabled, but not in public spaces” which was published in The Business standard on 06/02/2026.This editorial examines how Budget 2026 reframes persons with disabilities as contributors to economic growth through skilling and employment. It argues that true inclusion remains incomplete without accessible public spaces, mobility, and inclusive urban infrastructure.

For Prelims:Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016,Mental Healthcare Act 2017, Divyangjan Kaushal Yojana,NDFDC. 

For Mains: Constitutional provisions for PwDs, Measures taken for the welfare of PwDs, Key issues and measures taken.

The Union Budget 2026 signals a quiet but important shift with regard to Persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities are no longer seen only as recipients of welfare, but as participants in economic growth. Yet inclusion that begins and ends at the workplace remains incomplete. True empowerment of PwDs lies not just in skills and jobs, but in accessible public spaces, mobility, and social infrastructure. The issue, therefore, is not merely about employing persons with disabilities, but about redesigning society to include them. 

What Anchors India’s Rights-based Framework for Persons with Disabilities?  

• Constitutional Framework: Constitution provides the normative foundation, though disability is not explicitly listed 
  • Article 14: Equality before law and equal protection of laws 
  • Article 15(1): Prohibits discrimination, judicially expanded to include disability. 
  • Article 16(1) : Equality of opportunity in public employment 
  • Article 21: Right to life with dignity (basis for accessibility, autonomy, inclusion) 
  • Article 38: It directs the State to engage in social transformation to promote social, economic and political justice, and the welfare of the people. 
  • Article 41 (DPSP): Right to work, education, and public assistance for certain vulnerable groups including disabled.  
• Legal Framework 
  • Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016: Enacted to align with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (which India ratified in 2007).  
    • Expands disabilities from 7 to 21 categories. 
    • Guarantees: Equality & non-discrimination,Equality & non-discrimination, 4% reservation in government employment, 5% reservation in higher education, Accessibility in transport, ICT, buildings. 
    • Introduces penalties for violations 
  • Mental Healthcare Act, 2017: Rights-based approach to mental illness. 
  • Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992: Regulates rehabilitation professionals by standardising training curricula, accrediting institutions, maintaining a central register of qualified practitioners, and preventing unqualified practice in disability rehabilitation services. 
  • National Trust Act, 1999: Welfare of PwDs with autism, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability and multiple disabilities 
  • Scheme for Implementation of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 (SIPDA): It is an umbrella programme of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD). It provides financial and technical support to Central Ministries, States, and UTs for implementing the RPwD Act through projects that promote accessibility, inclusion, awareness, and skill development for persons with disabilities. 
• Institutional Framework 
  • Central Institutions 
    • Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD): Formulates national policies, schemes, and programmes for PwDs and coordinates their implementation across ministries. 
    • Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD):Enforces disability rights by monitoring implementation of laws and addressing grievances through quasi-judicial powers. 
    • Central Advisory Board on Disability: Advises the government on disability policy, ensures inter-ministerial coordination, and reviews overall progress on inclusion. 
  • State-Level Institutions:  
    • State Commissioners for Persons with Disabilities: Safeguard rights of PwDs at the state level by handling complaints and overseeing enforcement of disability laws. 
    • State Advisory Boards on Disability: Assist state governments in policy formulation, planning, and monitoring of disability-related programmes. 
    • District-Level Committees: Implement disability schemes at the grassroots, issue disability certificates, and facilitate access to local services and benefits. 

What Measures has India Undertaken for the Welfare of PwDs? 

• Universal Physical Accessibility (Sugamya Bharat): India is executing a high-intensity retrofit of public infrastructure to ensure "Universal Design" becomes the standard for all future urban and rural development projects.  
  • Under the Accessible India Campaign, over 1,030 Central Government buildings have been fully retrofitted. 
    • It is also being recalibrated to focus on "end-to-end" connectivity, particularly in the railway and aviation sectors.  
  • The shift is from merely building ramps to ensuring accessible toilets, tactile paths, and ambulatory lifts, ensuring dignified independent travel rather than assisted movement. 
• Targeted Skilling for High-Growth Sectors : The government has pivoted from generic vocational training to high-value skills in AI, AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics), and IT to ensure PwDs are not left behind in Industry 4.0.  
  • This strategic shift aims to move PwDs from low-income informal roles into formal, process-driven gig economy jobs where remote work is a feasible accommodation. 
  • The Budget 2026-27 launched 'Divyangjan Kaushal Yojana' with ₹200 Cr allocation, offering task-oriented and process-driven roles, which are suitable for Divyangjans.  
    • This will ensure dignified livelihood opportunities through industry-relevant and customized training specific to each divyang group. 
• Drive Towards Assistive Technology Manufacturing : To reduce dependency on expensive imported aids, the focus is now on domestic manufacturing of high-tech assistive devices under the 'Make in India' framework.  
  • This reduces the cost barrier for advanced prosthetics and hearing aids, directly enhancing the employability and mobility of PwDs by making essential tools affordable. 
  • For instance, Budget 2026-27 launched  'Divyangjan Sahara Yojana' to scale production of AI-integrated limbs and e-Braille readers. 
• Improved Entrepreneurial Self-Reliance & Credit Access Financial inclusion measures are being aggressively expanded to support self-employment, recognizing that formal corporate hiring often lags.  
  • By providing concessional credit and microfinance specifically for PwDs, the state is fostering a class of 'Divyang' entrepreneurs who can generate livelihoods for themselves and others. 
  • Under the Divyangjan Swavalamban Yojana, the National Divyangjan Finance and Development Corporation (NDFDC) had disbursed ₹1,330.22 crore in cumulative loans by early 2024, underscoring the growing scale of financial support for entrepreneurship and self-employment among persons with disabilities. 
• Enforcement of 'Reasonable Accommodation': The Supreme Court has moved beyond non-discrimination to mandate proactive 'reasonable accommodation' in education and employment as a fundamental right, not charity.  
  • This jurisprudential shift places the burden on institutions to prove 'undue hardship' if they deny facilities like scribes or accessible infrastructure, rather than on the PwD to demand it. 
  • The Supreme Court, in Pragya Prasun v. Union of India, held that digital accessibility for Persons with Disabilities flows from the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21. 
  • The Supreme Court in Gulshan Kumar v. Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (2025) declared that denying a scribe or compensatory time to any person with a disability (PwD) constitutes discrimination under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016. 
• Standardization of Disability Certification (UDID): The fragmentation of disability data is being resolved through the mandatory digitization of certification, ensuring benefits are portable across state lines.  
  • This eliminates the bureaucratic harassment PwDs faced when moving states for work, ensuring their welfare entitlements (pensions, travel concessions) remain valid nationwide without re-verification. 
  • For instance, over 1.25 Crore UDID cards generated by 2025, creating a National Database.  
    • The Divyangjan Card, also known as the E-Ticketing Photo Identity Card (EPICS), is a railway identity card for people with disabilities (Divyangjan) that allows them to get concessions on train travel. 
• Push to Digital Accessibility Ecosystem: Recognizing that digital barriers are as exclusionary as physical ones, the government is enforcing web accessibility standards (WCAG) for all public digital platforms.  
  • This "Digital First" approach ensures that essential services like banking, KYC, and grievance redressal are accessible via screen readers and voice commands for the visually and neuro-divergent. 
  • For instance, in a significant stride towards building a digitally inclusive India, the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) has launched the revamped Sugamya Bharat App at the International Purple Fest 2025. 
• Inclusive Education Resources (ISL & E-Content) To bridge the learning gap for hearing-impaired students, there is a massive push to standardize Indian Sign Language (ISL) in academic curriculums.  
  • By creating a digital repository of study materials in ISL, the state is ensuring that deaf students have equal access to primary and higher education content, breaking the cycle of illiteracy. 
  • For instance, ISL Digital Repository now hosts 3,189 e-content videos covering Class 1-12 curriculum.  
    • Further the PM e-VIDYA DTH Channel No. 31 was officially launched as India’s first 24/7 television channel dedicated specifically to Indian Sign Language (ISL). 
• Expanded Social Security Net: While employment is the goal, the state acknowledges the need for a safety net for those with severe disabilities who cannot work.  
  • Recent updates have focused on expanding the coverage of health insurance and maintenance allowances to cover modern therapies and rehabilitation costs that were previously excluded. 
  • For example, Niramaya Health Insurance coverage was raised to ₹1 Lakh for cerebral palsy/autism. 
• Mental Health & Psycho-Social Support: The government has integrated disability-specific interfaces into the national mental health framework to combat the "invisible pandemic" of isolation among PwDs.  
  • By launching accessible versions of the Tele-MANAS app with screen-reader compatibility and high-contrast UI, the state is ensuring that mental health counseling is not a privilege reserved for the able-bodied but a universal digital right. 
  • Tele-MANAS 2.0 now includes the 'Asmi' chatbot allowing users to engage with the app and seek information or help regarding mental health. 
• Political Participation & Electoral Reforms: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has institutionalized "Vote from Home" (VfH) not just as an option but as a standard protocol for those with 40%+ benchmark disability, fundamentally shifting the voting paradigm from "polling booth access" to "franchise at doorstep."  
  • This ensures that mobility barriers and lack of accessible transport do not result in the disenfranchisement of the disabled electorate. 
• Flourishing Para-Athlete Ecosystem: Moving beyond tokenism, the 'Khelo Bharat Niti 2025' treats para-sports as a high-performance career avenue. 
  • The focus is on creating a "talent pipeline" where para-athletes receive parity in funding, training facilities, and cash awards, making sports a viable path for economic mobility and social prestige. 
  • Currently, 52 spots in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) core group are held by para-athletes for the 2028 LA Olympics cycle following their record-breaking performance at the Paris Paralympics.

What are the Key Issues Associated in Welfare of PwDs in India?  

• The "Statistical Invisibility" & Certification Trap: A massive variance between Census data and WHO estimates creates a "Policy Blindspot," artificially suppressing budget allocations. 
  • Furthermore, the bureaucratic rigidity of the UDID card system excludes those with dynamic or invisible disabilities (like blood disorders) from accessing Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT). 
  • As of 2025, reports from organizations like EnAble India estimate the PwD population could be as high as 300 million.  
    • A 2025 nationwide survey by the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) found that 53% of PwD applicants face rejection for benefits, often due to stringent medical verification. 
• "Retrofit Tokenism" in Infrastructure: The Accessible India Campaign (AIC) largely suffers from "compliance tokenism," where ramps are built at dangerous angles or without handrails simply to tick checkboxes.  
  • This partial accessibility fails the 'end-to-end' usability test mandated by courts, leaving last-mile connectivity (pavements/toilets) completely hostile.  
  • For instance, a recent CAG report has highlighted serious lapses by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) in implementing the Accessible India Campaign, noting that pre-access audits were conducted in only 34 of 170 old government buildings retrofitted for Persons with Disabilities. 
• The "Digital Apartheid" in e-Governance: As welfare shifts to "Digital-First" delivery, a new exclusion barrier has emerged where critical apps (fintech, health) violate WCAG standards.  
  • Visual CAPTCHAs, lack of screen-reader compatibility, and complex UIs effectively disenfranchise PwDs from autonomous use of essential digital public goods. 
  • For instance, as of December 2024, only 95 Central Government websites have been made accessible under the Content Management Framework by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology leaving a vast majority of public digital platforms inaccessible to Persons with Disabilities. 
• Economic Exclusion & The "Reservation Mirage": Despite the 4% statutory reservation, a "Compliance Mirage" exists where vacancies lapse due to rigid "job identification" that ignores modern assistive tech capabilities.  
  • The private sector mostly restricts hiring to low-value CSR roles, trapping PwDs in a cycle of poverty rather than genuine career progression. 
  • The Marching Sheep PwD Inclusion Index 2025 revealed that Persons with Disabilities represent less than 1% of the workforce across 876 surveyed organizations in India. Furthermore, 37.9% of organizations still have no permanently employed PwDs. 
• Educational Segregation & Resource Deficit: "Inclusive Education" remains largely theoretical as schools enroll PwDs without pedagogical adaptation, leading to isolation within classrooms.  
  • The chronic shortage of RCI-registered special educators and lack of ISL-trained teachers in rural areas forces high dropout rates among neurodivergent children. 
• Intersectionality & The "Double Burden" on Women: Policy frameworks exhibit "Gender Blindness," failing to address the specific reproductive and safety needs of women with disabilities who face double discrimination.  
  • State-run shelter homes often lack internal oversight, leading to high rates of abuse and forced medical interventions (hysterectomies) without consent.  
  • In India, 11.8 million women and girls with disabilities face compounded vulnerabilities. Women and girls with disabilities are up to ten times more likely to experience violence than their non-disabled peers as per UNFPA . 
• Fiscal Underutilization & Administrative Lethargy: There is a persistent "Utilization Deficit" where funds allocated for PwD welfare lapse unspent due to complex disbursal mechanisms and lack of state-level proactivity.  
  • Scholarship and aid (ADIP) schemes suffer from procedural bottlenecks, meaning financial support often arrives too late to be effective.  
  • The Sixth Report of the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment (presented in 2025) noted that expenditure for the DEPwD has consistently remained on the "shortfall side." 
• The "Caregiver's Crisis" & Guardianship Gaps: Indian law lacks a seamless "Supported Decision-Making" framework for individuals with intellectual disabilities, often forcing families into archaic, expensive guardianship battles that strip the PwD of legal agency.  
  • A NHRC report found that many cured patients were being kept "illegally" in government mental health institutions even after their recovery. 
• Climate Vulnerability & Disaster Inequity: PwDs are disproportionately impacted by India's escalating climate crises (heatwaves/floods), yet disaster management protocols remain "disability-blind," lacking accessible early warnings or evacuation aids.  
  • During extreme events, PwDs face a "Survival Penalty" because relief centers rarely have tactile paths, accessible toilets, or medical support for chronic conditions, making them the first to be left behind.  
• The Rural-Urban "Rehab Divide": While urban centers see a rise in high-tech AI limbs, rural PwDs remain trapped in "Therapeutic Deserts" where even basic physiotherapy or speech therapy requires traveling hundreds of kilometers.  
  • This geographic inequality creates a two-tier citizenry where a PwD's quality of life is determined by their PIN code rather than their potential, leading to permanent, preventable secondary disabilities." 
  • In many rural districts, persons with disabilities must travel to district or state headquarters for basic physiotherapy, speech therapy, or assistive device fitting, as such services are largely unavailable at the block or primary health-care level, unlike in metropolitan cities where advanced rehabilitation centres are concentrated. 

What Measures are Needed to Further Empower PwDs in India ?  

• Institutionalizing "Accessibility Audit" Compliance via Smart Governance: To bridge the gap between the RPwD Act 2016 mandates and ground reality, India must move beyond voluntary compliance to algorithmic enforcement.  
  • Municipal corporations should integrate mandatory accessibility audits into the digital building plan approval systems (like OBPS), where AI-based scrutiny automatically rejects plans lacking ramps, tactile paths, or accessible washrooms before a human officer even sees them.  
  • Post-construction, crowdsourced audit mechanisms using geotagged mobile apps can allow citizens to report non-compliance, triggering automated notices to property owners. 
    • This creates a transparent digital trail that removes bureaucratic discretion and ensures Universal Design is not an afterthought but a prerequisite for urban development. 
• Decentralized "Therapeutic Community" Models in Rural Health: Healthcare for PwDs in rural India is often centralized and inaccessible.  
  • The solution lies in Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) 2.0. We need to upgrade the existing ASHA and Anganwadi worker network into "Disability Mitra" cadres, trained specifically in early identification, basic therapy (physio/speech), and navigating the UDID (Unique Disability ID) ecosystem.  
  • By creating tele-rehabilitation nodes at Gram Panchayat levels connected to district hospitals, we can de-institutionalize care, making it affordable and culturally integrated.  
    • This shifts the focus from a "medical model" of curing disability to a "social model" of enabling daily living within the beneficiary's own environment. 
• Incentivizing "Neurodiverse-Ready" Private Sector Employment: Corporate India needs to move beyond tokenistic hiring to creating neuro-inclusive ecosystems. The government should introduce a "Diversity Credit" system, similar to carbon credits, where companies are auditable on their retention rates and career progression of PwDs, not just hiring numbers.  
  • Practically, this involves tax breaks for Reasonable Accommodation investments subsidizing the cost of screen readers, sign language interpreters, or ergonomic workstations.  
  • Furthermore, establishing Job-Matching Consortia that map specific skills of PwDs (e.g., pattern recognition in autism for data analytics) to industry needs creates a value-driven business case rather than a charity-based one. 
• "Phygital" Inclusive Education with Assistive Tech (AT) Labs: Inclusive education fails when teachers are overwhelmed; the fix is a "Phygital" (Physical + Digital) hybrid support system.  
  • Every school cluster (covering 10-15 schools) must be equipped with a shared Assistive Technology (AT) Lab funded by CSR and government grants, containing refreshable Braille displays, augmentative communication devices, and sensory corners.  
  • Simultaneously, states must mandate a "Co-Teaching Module" in B.Ed. curriculums where general educators are trained alongside special educators to co-manage classrooms. This ensures that inclusion is supported by infrastructure and pedagogy, preventing PwD students from becoming "invisible" in mainstream classrooms. 
• Mainstreaming "Adaptive Sports" as Social Integration: Sports are a powerful but underutilized tool for psychological empowerment and social cohesion. We need to mandate the inclusion of Adaptive Sports infrastructure (wheelchair basketball courts, sensory-friendly pools) in all "Khelo India" centers and public parks.  
  • By strictly enforcing a "Parallel Events" policy, where district and state-level sports meets must have concurrent events for PwDs, we normalize disability in the public eye.  
  • This moves the narrative from "sympathy" to "athletic excellence," fostering community pride and drastically improving the physical and mental well-being of the PwD population. 
• Mandating "Disability-Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction" (DiDRR): With the increasing frequency of climate events, India must integrate a "Safety Chain" protocol specifically for PwDs within the National Disaster Management Authority framework.  
  • This involves creating geo-tagged registries of PwDs at the ward level to prioritize their evacuation and ensuring relief camps are pre-audited for accessibility and sanitation.  
  • Furthermore, early warning systems must be upgraded to "Multi-Modal Communication" standards, delivering alerts via vibration, sign language broadcasts, and simplified audio to ensure no demographic is left unaware during a crisis.  
    • This shifts disaster response from a generic reaction to a targeted, life-saving precision mechanism. 
• Enforcing "Actuarial Fairness" in Financial Inclusion: To combat the financial exclusion where insurers deny coverage or charge exorbitant premiums, the IRDAI must mandate "Standardized Disability Insurance Products" with capped premiums, similar to the standard Arogya Sanjeevani policies.  
  • Simultaneously, banks should implement "Biometric Exemption Protocols" for those with upper-limb disabilities or worn fingerprints, replacing rigid authentication with voice or iris recognition.  
  • This ensures that the "Cost of Disability" is mitigated by a supportive financial ecosystem that guarantees economic dignity and liquidity rather than dependence. 
• Leveraging "Public Procurement Power" for Market Shift: The government, being the largest consumer of goods and services, must enforce "Accessible Procurement Guidelines" for all public tenders, especially in IT, transport, and infrastructure.  
  • If the state refuses to buy software, websites, or office equipment that isn't Universal Design compliant, it forces manufacturers to alter their production lines, thereby driving down the cost of accessible technology for everyone.  
  • This strategy utilizes "State Buying Capacity" to create a mainstream market for accessible goods, transforming them from niche, expensive luxury items into affordable, standard commodities. 

Conclusion:  

India’s disability policy is at a critical inflection point, moving from welfare to workforce inclusion. However, employment without accessible public spaces risks reducing empowerment to a narrow economic metric. True inclusion demands redesigning infrastructure, governance, and social attitudes around universal design. Only when public spaces, digital systems, and institutions become disability-ready will growth translate into dignity.

Drishti Mains Question:

Critically examine how Budget 2026 reflects a shift from a welfare-based to a rights-based approach towards persons with disabilities, and identify the gaps that still persist.

 

FAQs

1. What is the key shift in Budget 2026 regarding PwDs?
From welfare beneficiaries to economic participants.

2. Which law governs disability rights in India?
Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

3. What is ‘reasonable accommodation’?
Necessary adjustments to ensure equal participation of PwDs.

4. What is UDID used for?
Pan-India digital disability certification.

5. What is the biggest gap in current policy?
Poor accessibility in public spaces and infrastructure. 

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question (PYQ)  

Q. India is home to lakhs of persons with disabilities. What are the benefits available to them under the law? (2011)

1. Free schooling till the age of 18 years in government run schools. 
2. Preferential allotment of land for setting up business. 
3. Ramps in public buildings. 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?  

(a) 1 only  

(b) 2 and 3 only  

(c) 1 and 3 only  

(d) 1, 2 and 3  

Ans: (d)