NEW DELHI: The city might have become more accessible for persons with disabilities (PWDs) because of the efforts of Mallikarjuna Iytha, founder of IDEA-Saksham, an NGO that trains the differently abled to become entrepreneurs. Himself a person with locomotor impairment, Mallikarjuna was awarded for the ‘Best Entrepreneurship Skills‘ by Delhi government on Monday, being one of the 11 others who were similarly honoured.
In addition to the 11 PWDs who were awarded for excellence in various domains, four paralympic athletes were felicitated and two hospitals, Dr Ambedkar Hospital and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, honoured for specialising in services for PWDs. During the event, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also launched a mobile app called ‘Dharohar’ that aims to provide all pension beneficiaries with important notifications.
Among the awardees was 35-year-old Monika Dankar, who has a locomotive disability in one arm and one leg. She is a nursing officer with Delhi government. Last year, when she wanted to apply for a nursing tutor’s post at Lady Hardinge Medical College, she found that she wasn’t eligible because only a single leg disability was a criterion. Dankar filed a case in the Court of Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities against this and recently received a verdict in her favour.
“Apart from the physical challenges, society poses many challenges to people with disabilities. Our only hope is to fight those odds,” said Dankar, who received the ‘Best Employee’ award. “While now there is indeed an intent to make infrastructure and services disable friendly, the full reality hasn’t been achieved.”
Pooja Gupta, who suffers from thalassemia, and Yashika Bhatt who has intellectual disability, were awarded the ‘Best Sports Persons with Disabilities’ titles.
Addressing the awards ceremony held at Shah Auditorium in north Delhi’s Civil Lines, Kejriwal said, “It is a very emotional and spiritual experience for me to give away these awards. The story of each individual who has received the award is extremely inspirational. All these people have converted their disabilities into their strengths. While one of them plays badminton while sitting in a wheelchair, some are motivational speakers, others play handball and create paintings. These individuals possess different kinds of talent.”
The chief minister continued, “It is well said that when god takes away something, he gives another thing in return. I congratulate each person and salute each of the awardees. One thing everyone might have noticed is how even after achieving this much, they still have the hunger to do something for the betterment of society. Some of them said they wanted to convert their silver medal into a gold medal, others asked for an opportunity to work with Delhi government and yet others wanted to speak at motivational sessions in Delhi government schools. They still have a great passion to do something more.”
Kejriwal added that Delhi government is focused on all individuals with disabilities. “Our government has many plans for the elderly, pensioners and people with disabilities,” he claimed. “If more plans are needed, we will create them. The government has no shortage of funds. In the entire country, Delhi government is the only government whose budget is not in deficit. We have a surplus because we run an honest government.”
In addition to the 11 PWDs who were awarded for excellence in various domains, four paralympic athletes were felicitated and two hospitals, Dr Ambedkar Hospital and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, honoured for specialising in services for PWDs. During the event, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also launched a mobile app called ‘Dharohar’ that aims to provide all pension beneficiaries with important notifications.
Among the awardees was 35-year-old Monika Dankar, who has a locomotive disability in one arm and one leg. She is a nursing officer with Delhi government. Last year, when she wanted to apply for a nursing tutor’s post at Lady Hardinge Medical College, she found that she wasn’t eligible because only a single leg disability was a criterion. Dankar filed a case in the Court of Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities against this and recently received a verdict in her favour.
“Apart from the physical challenges, society poses many challenges to people with disabilities. Our only hope is to fight those odds,” said Dankar, who received the ‘Best Employee’ award. “While now there is indeed an intent to make infrastructure and services disable friendly, the full reality hasn’t been achieved.”
Pooja Gupta, who suffers from thalassemia, and Yashika Bhatt who has intellectual disability, were awarded the ‘Best Sports Persons with Disabilities’ titles.
Addressing the awards ceremony held at Shah Auditorium in north Delhi’s Civil Lines, Kejriwal said, “It is a very emotional and spiritual experience for me to give away these awards. The story of each individual who has received the award is extremely inspirational. All these people have converted their disabilities into their strengths. While one of them plays badminton while sitting in a wheelchair, some are motivational speakers, others play handball and create paintings. These individuals possess different kinds of talent.”
The chief minister continued, “It is well said that when god takes away something, he gives another thing in return. I congratulate each person and salute each of the awardees. One thing everyone might have noticed is how even after achieving this much, they still have the hunger to do something for the betterment of society. Some of them said they wanted to convert their silver medal into a gold medal, others asked for an opportunity to work with Delhi government and yet others wanted to speak at motivational sessions in Delhi government schools. They still have a great passion to do something more.”
Kejriwal added that Delhi government is focused on all individuals with disabilities. “Our government has many plans for the elderly, pensioners and people with disabilities,” he claimed. “If more plans are needed, we will create them. The government has no shortage of funds. In the entire country, Delhi government is the only government whose budget is not in deficit. We have a surplus because we run an honest government.”
