Lok Sabha Question No. 822 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-25
Subject: Implementation of Accessible India Campaign
Ministry: SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT
Asked by: Diya Kumari

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 822

TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.07.2023

## IMPLEMENTATION OF ACCESSIBLE INDIA CAMPAIGN

## 822.     MS. DIYA KUMARI:

Will the Minister of SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  aim  of  the  Accessible  India  Campaign  which  was  universal  accessibility  for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) has been achieved;
- (b) if so, the details of railway stations, airports, public transport that have been made accessible to PwDs and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c)  whether  the  Government proposes to extend the scheme to the tourism sector and provide infrastructure such as brail signages, tactile flooring and ramps and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) whether a monitoring mechanism has been set up to track the implementation of the scheme and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) and (b):  Sir, the achievement made so far across various sectors by the Government under the targets of the Accessible India Campaign is attached at Annexure-I .
- (c): The sunset date for the Accessible India Campaign (AIC) has been set for March 2024 after which  AIC  will  be  merged  with  the  Creation  of  Barrier  Free  Environment  component  under SIPDA.
- (d):  To  track  the  implementation  of  the  scheme,  the  Government  conducts  meetings/VCs  and sends  letters  to  the  stakeholders  of  the  Campaign.  Further,  the  Government  has  launched  a Management  Information  System  (MIS)  portal  for  Accessible  India  Campaign  in  September 2019 with the aim and objective of real time online monitoring of the targets of the Campaign. The MIS portal is a single platform for monitoring the progress being made against each target of Accessible India Campaign. All stakeholders of the Campaign, including Ministries/Departments as well as States/UTs report the progress of work being achieved on ground on a regular basis along with photographs and other necessary documents.

Annexure referred  to  in  part  (a)  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  822  raised  by M. DIYA KUMARI for  answer  on  25.07.2023  regarding  ' Implementation  of  Accessible  India Campaign'

## Achievements made under the targets of the Accessible India Campaign

|   Sl No | Target                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           | Status                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
|---------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|       1 | Target of enhancing the proportion of Accessible Government Buildings: Target 1.1 : Completing accessibility audit of at least 25-50 most important government buildings in 50 cities and making them fully accessible; Target 1.2 : Making 50% of all the government buildings of the National Capital and all the State Capitals fully accessible; Target 1.3 : Completing accessibility audit of 50% of government buildings and making them fully accessible in 10 most important cities/towns of states not covered in targets 1.1 and 1.2; | For Target (1.1) - State Government buildings  In the State Governments / UTs, auditors completed Access Audit of 1671 buildings in 48 cities. 1671 access audit reports have been submitted to the State's/UTs Nodal Officers. Further, financial proposals for retrofitting of 1484 buildings have been received so far. Sanction has been issued by the Department in respect 1314 buildings and 20 States/UTs have reported to have completed retrofitting work in 611 buildings. For Target 1.2 and 1.3 8 States/UTs have informed that 2851 State Government buildings have been selected to be made accessible under Targets/Phases (1.2) and (1.3) from their own funds and reported work completion in 354 buildings. For Central Government building under the targets of built up environment:  In the Central Government, CPWD reported completion of retrofitting work in 1100 Central Government buildings targeted under Accessible India Campaign. |
|       2 | Target of enhancing the proportion of Accessible Airports Target 2.1 and 2.2 - Airports: All international airports and domestic airports to be made fully accessible;                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |  All 35 international airports & 55 out of 69 domestic airports provided with accessibility features (ramps, accessible toilets, helpdesks and lifts with Braille and auditory information systems), Further, all international/customs airport are reported to have been provided with                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |

|    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | aerobridges.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
|----|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|  3 | Target of enhancing the proportion of Accessible Railway Stations Target 3.1 and 3.2 - Railways: A1, A & B categories of railway stations to be made fully accessible; 50% of all railway stations to be made fully accessible;                                                                                       |  All 709 A1, A & B category railway stations have been made fully accessible, 4068 railway stations have been made partially accessible.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
|  4 | Target of enhancing the proportion of Accessible Public Transport Target 4.1 - Buses: 10% of Government owned public transport carriers are to be made fully accessible;                                                                                                                                              |  MoRTH has reported that out of 1,46,202 buses, 51,155 (34.99%) buses are accessible /fully accessible and out of 3533 bus station, 3120 are made accessible in respect of 24 States/UTs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
|  5 | Target of Enhancing proportion of accessible and usable public documents and websites Target 5.1 and 5.2 - Websites: At least 50% of Central and State Government websites are to meet accessibility standards; 50% of all public documents issued by the Central and State Governments meet accessibility standards; |  A total of 637 State Governments' websites have been made accessible including 474 websites made live so far.  95 websites of Central Government Ministries/Departments are made accessible by MEITY under the Content Management Framework so far.                                                                                                                                                                                             |
|  6 | Target 6.1 - Sign Language Interpreters Training and Developing 200 additional sign language interpreters:                                                                                                                                                                                                            |  The Government has established Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC) as a Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, in September 2015. The main objective of the Centre is to develop manpower for using, teaching and conducting research in Indian Sign Language.  ISLRTC has informed that more than 1000 persons have been trained in Indian sign language through Diploma and Short Term Courses of ISLRTC. |

|    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |  Total 116 students have completed Diploma in Indian Sign Language Interpretation (DISLI) course in three academic sessions during 2016-17 to 2019-21. ISLRTC was running DISLI course for the academic year 2020-22 having total 77 students.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
|----|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|  7 | Target 7.1 and 7.2 - T.V Viewing: (a) Public television news - National standards on captioning and sign language interpretation are to be created and adopted; (b) At least 25% of public television programmes on government channels are to comply with the set standards |  Accessibility standards for accessible TV viewing by persons with hearing impairment have already been issued by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB) for providing for sub-titling, sign language interpretation along with accessibility for televisions sets, remote controls, equipment and internet content. Further, MoIB has to formulate similar guidelines for other disabilities including visual impairment.  Accessible content on TV is also being enhanced in a phased manner and so far 19 private news channels are telecasting partially accessible news bulletin, 2447 news bulletins have been telecast with subtitling/sign-language interpretation and more than 3686 scheduled programs/movies using subtitling have been telecast by general entertainment channels. |

*******