PRIORITIZATION of funds for disadvantaged sections is a long-accepted precept of fiscal policy in India, and persons with disability (PwDs) clearly comprise a very important part of disadvantaged sections. Yet there is increasing evidence that their welfare needs suffer due to underfunding.
This injustice is rooted, to start with, in significant underestimates of PwDs. In India most planning and policy for PwDs is based on an estimate of PwDs comprising 2.2 percent of the total population. Contrast this with the worldwide estimate made by the World Disability Report (prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World. . .