National Human Rights Commission Chairperson Justice Arun Mishra has said the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) needs to be defined properly as it is culminating in the proportionate opportunity, which is restrictive in nature.

Intervening in the 3rd Roundtable on Implementation of CRPD as part of 16th Session of the Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP16) being organized at the UN headquarters in New York, USA from June 13 to 15, Justice Mishra, who is accompanied by NHRC Member Rajiv Jain, said opportunities for employment should not be denied by prescription of kind of disabilities; full opportunity should be afforded to ensure need-based distributive justice.

The NHRC Chairperson said discrimination in adoption must come to an end. Physical, mental, and emotional stability needs required to be defined. He also said the concept of severe disability should be properly defined along with circumstances to take the consent of guardians etc for surgery to avoid its misuse.

Giving a brief inside into the legal provisions in India for the protection of the Rights of disabled people, Justice Mishra said that the standards for accessibility have been defined in India’s The Rights of Persons with Disabilities, RPWD Act, 2016. Now the challenge is to create awareness. Disabled are called specially abled to provide them dignity and improve their mindset. Preparation of education and other material for the primary to secondary level education in sign language, audio-visual mode, print, and electronic media is being focused upon.

He also said that separate National level institutes have been set up for visual, speech and hearing, intellectual, multiple disabilities, locomotor disabilities, rehabilitation and training, mental health, and retardation. They are providing specialized postgraduate degree courses, and diplomas, imparting vocational training, clinical services, running indoor hospitals, and providing OPD services. Regional centres are functional.

Referring to some of the recent initiatives of the NHRC, India for the protection of the rights of disabled persons, he drew attention to an Advisory issued by it in relation to the prevention of visual impairment of children by toys, crackers, and chemicals. He also said that in the Draft National Action Plan 2022, the Commission has recommended for special treatment for women to inch towards the much-desired gender justice.

The Accessible India campaign is in vogue for digital help literacy. Besides, the National Skill Development Corporation and regional centres for the development of skills of disabled people have been established. Infrastructure needs are being looked into to make them broad-based in pursuance of the enabling provisions of the Act besides ensuring the audit of buildings for access including in prisons, beggar homes, and mental hospitals.

New Delhi (India), October 6: Gurugram-based legal edtech company LawSikho has announced 100 percent scholarships for 500 persons with disabilities (PWD). The candidates who complete the courses successfully will be co-certified by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).

Law graduates and law students will take an online admission test to decide who is eligible for the scholarships, which will cover LawSikho’s test prep courses for government jobs, upskilling courses focused on jobs in the private sector, and remote freelance work courses focused to international markets like US, UK and Canada.

To qualify for the admission test, candidates must produce a government-issued disability card or certificate of disability. Out of 500 seats, 300 will be reserved for law graduates and law students, while 200 will be open to non-law candidates interested in remote freelance work. The admission test will be held in October, but candidates can appear for an online on-demand admission test even later. The goal is to roll out all 500 scholarships before December 2022.

“A small-scale pilot project has already been tested and over a hundred candidates have benefited from it so far. This expansion will benefit from the learnings of the existing programme. Also, when we benefit from feedback from learners from different backgrounds, we are able to make our services more inclusive”

-said Ramanuj Mukherjee, CEO at LawSikho.

Masoom Reza, 24, an LLB from Jamia Millia Islamia who is currently enrolled at NLSIU Bengaluru as an LLM student, is among the many outstanding students who have already been part of LawSikho’s scholarship programme for PWD.  Completely visually impaired since the age of seven, Masoom took our Judiciary Test Prep course in 2021 as part of his preparation for the Judiciary Services Competitive Examination and applied for a full scholarship, which he received.

Speaking about his LawSikho experience in general, Masoom, who stood third in the Indian Law Institute CAT for LLM, says the method of teaching is “amazing”, and adds that he has particularly benefited from Lawsikho’s practice sessions and the faculty’s approach of interlinking various laws for better understanding.

“Many job seekers with disabilities find remote work much more suitable and convenient, but very few programmes exist for them. Given LawSikho’s success in helping Indian graduates secure remote work opportunities across the world, we felt that it would be a great time to formally announce scholarships for candidates who are also Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan). We have given free admission to over a hundred candidates already, and based on this initial success, we decided to expand the programme”

-said Vibhas Sen, Head of Marketing, LawSikho, an IIM-C alumni and Paralympian himself, who was affected by polio in both legs.

LawSikho is India’s one of the leading online education companies that create advanced and practical legal courses and customised training programmes catering to lawyers, law students leading businesses and universities. LawSikho bridges the gap between theory and practice in legal education, bringing industry and practical insights into legal learning. Legal edtech company LawSikho also offers a number of courses from foreign universities at affordable rates for Indian students. With talent arbitrage being one of our focal points, LawSikho equips Indian lawyers to build high-profile careers in the international remote job market.

Around 700 job seekers receive internships, jobs and freelance work while pursuing or after completing their courses from LawSikho every month. Candidates interested in the scholarship programme may write to support(at)lawsikho(dot)in attaching their Statement of Purpose and resume, along with a government-issued proof of disability.