Disability certification in Digital India

Vasudeva et al.[1] propose digitization of disability certification using technology to curtail infringement of dignity in their commentary published on website of the journal on Nov 29, 2021. They compare current proforma in use and proposed a ‘blinded’ disability certificate in Figure 1 of their article. And they (correctly) state therein that every time they avail its benefit, why they should disclose their disability to an uninterested party. When there is a large-scale violation of human rights of weaker sections around,[234] which largely goes unpunished and many a times even unreported why’d one reveal her medical condition for availing something which our lawmakers promise to give as legislature in various houses, I wonder. Due to lack of sensitivity, mandatory training, illiteracy, notion of binary of normal versus abnormal; it is no wonder that sometimes those occupying official chairs display utter disregard for someone who is less than prefect and under these circumstances disabled should not be compelled to make her imperfection explicit when booking clerk neither has any medical reasoning nor such training. To circumvent the challenge, the authors propose a blinded certificate where infirmity of the person is not mentioned. While this is a laudable step, it is only the beginning of an alternate thinking and what I propose is that there is further scope to reduce chances of misuse and fraud in the process by linkage of cards.[5] Nowadays our Government is running full steam to make a Digital India.[6] After arrival of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome -Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on world stage as a pandemic, when meeting physically is risky, our administration wants to provide every possible service on digital mode as a precautionary measure. Besides that, several times we are supposed to present our Aadhar card, PAN card, or some other document for establishing our identity while availing citizen services or even filing our Income Tax returns on a portal. Hence, I propose to link the Certificate with any of the pre-existing identity cards. As these (proposed to be linked) cards are already in use, there won’t be any extra cost for the program implementation. Our Prime Minister wants to provide Digital Health Card to every citizen.[7] These cards will have all the medical information of a citizen in digital format and stored in cloud. When one wants to avail medical care, a service provider can access the record from the cloud and the patient does not need to carry her record with her all the time. Furthermore, the card may be easily linked to the blinded Disability Certificate. If an authority wants to have more information about a beneficiary, who is claiming benefit under disabled category, he can access the stored data of the record after due authorization. An accompanying press release states that based on the foundations laid down in the form of Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile trinity and other digital initiatives of the government, Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission will create a seamless online platform through the provision of a wide-range of data, information and infrastructure services, duly leveraging open, interoperable, standards-based digital systems while ensuring the security, confidentiality and privacy of health-related personal information. And, “The Mission will enable access and exchange of longitudinal health records of citizens with their consent”.[8] Nowadays, DigiLockers and electronic repositories are providing services for safe custody of one’s valuable information and documents.[9] Our authorities can avail these services and link these ones as and when needed. If some law needs to be tweaked for this purpose, our lawmakers can do so by getting the proposal approved by legislature. We need to realise that binary of normal versus abnormal is too simplistic one, most of the times population has a gradation of varying ability making a spectrum which makes a normal curve. Hence, every attempt should be made to have an inclusive society which does not leave anyone behind. We would adopt that approach not only because that one is beneficial to us but because that one is just. Technology offers us a way not only to identify the target beneficiaries with a neutral approach but also has certain safeguards to prevent leakage. When we judiciously combine high-end cutting edge tools with empathy and sensitivity; results may be amazing. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.