Lok Sabha Question No. 3100 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-08
Subject: Removal of Disability Column in NFHS
Ministry: SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT
Asked by: Dr. T. Sumathy (a) Thamizhachi Thangapandian

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT DEPARTMENT OF EMPOWERMENT OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 3100 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.08.2023

## 'REMOVAL OF DISABILITY COLUMN IN NFHS'

3100.  DR. T. SUMATHY (a) THAMIZHACHI THANGAPANDIAN:

Will the Minister of SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT सामािजक ᭠याय और अिधकाᳯरता मंᮢी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Ministry of Health had removed the column of disability from National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-6 after consultation with this Ministry;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the details of evidences relied upon by the concerned Ministry to suggest removal of column of disability from the above survey; and
- (d)  whether  the  disability  column  in  National  Sample  Survey  Organization  (NSSO)  survey doesn't cover all 21 disabilities enlisted in the Right of Persons with Disabilities Act (RPwD) and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT (SUSHRI PRATIMA BHOUMIK)

(a)  to  (c)  :  The  Ministry  of  Health  and  Family  Welfare  had  informed  that  the  selection  of questions to be included in NFHS-6 questionnaire is based on recommendations of a Technical Advisory  Committee  and  other  high-level  Committees  comprising  of  representatives  from concerned Central Ministries such as M/o Social Justice and Empowerment, M/o Statistics and Programme Implementation, M/o Women and Child Development, NITI Aayog etc., development partners and domain knowledge experts, constituted for smooth functioning of the survey. After detailed discussions and deliberations, the Committees decided for non-inclusion of disability-related questions in NFHS-6 on the following grounds:

- (i)    Most  of  the  data  related  to  disability  are  already  available  in  the  survey  report  of National Sample Survey (NSS) 76th round namely 'Survey of Persons with Disabilities', which was  a  dedicated  survey  conducted  by  Ministry  of  Statistics  and  Programme  Implementation (MoSPI) during July-December 2018 to collect detailed information on this specific aspect.

(ii)  The  primary  focus  of  NFHS  is  maternal  and  child  health  and  other  associated questions. The dedicated survey of NSS, gives a better coverage of disability prevalence, having wider  indicators  on  disability  as  compared  to  NFHS-5.  As  per  NFHS-5  report,  the  disability prevalence  was  only  1.0  percent  for  rural  areas  and  0.9  percent  for  urban  areas  while,  NSS estimated 2.3 per cent for rural areas and 2 per cent for urban areas. Therefore, based on data collection for a few parameters on disability in NFHS, it is not possible to adequately capture the all-India extent of disability and will significantly underestimate the prevalence of disability.

(iii) Further, types of disability have several medical terminologies, which may result in inappropriate responses as the respondents might not be aware of the specific disabilities.

(d): National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) conducted the Survey of Persons with Disabilities during  NSS  76 th Round  Survey  (July  -  December  2018)  which  included  the  categories  of disabilities mentioned in the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016.

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