Mumbai/New Delhi: Sarthak Educational Trust and National Abilympic Association of India flagged off the 7th National Conference on Disability today. The 2-day conference, held on December 18th and 19th 2020 is based on the theme Digital Inclusion – Pathway to Empowerment of People with Disability. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this annual national conference is held online is live on the social media handles of Sarthak Educational Trust.
Cabinet Minister Dr. Thawar Chand Gehlot, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment was the chief guest for the inaugural session. “COVID 19 has affected everyone, and this 2 day National Conference on Disability will throw light on the steps taken by Sarthak Educational Trust and Dr. Jitender Aggarwal to rehabilitate Persons with Disabilities (PwDs). Sarthak has launched their app CapSarathi which will help reach the persons with disabilities from rural India, which will take care of them right from early intervention to their retirement. Under guidance of PM Narendra Modi, Government of India has taken several steps for rehabilitation of Divyanjans, like having 5% reservation for PwDs for higher education, Universal ID card with benefits, and many more. Government is also in process of starting a sports academy in Gwalior for differently abled sportspersons. Under Modi Government initiative, skill development and sustainability of divyang is always the focus”
Dr. Jitender Aggrawal, Founder, Sarthak Educational Trust shared, “Sarthak Educational Trust has been working since 2008 and in the last 12 years has successfully reached out to 4% (0.8 million) of disabled populace in India and Trained and Placed 20000 PwDs to let them excel in their fields and inspire many. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sarthak went a step ahead to scale its activities. Within a week after the lockdown was announced, Sarthak started online training programmes for its members. Since then, about 3000 people with disabilities have been trained successfully through the online sessions, out of which 1,000 people have landed a job. Thus, the pandemic provided an opportunity for Sarthak to scale its reach”.
He further adds, “CapSarathi, our one-of-its- kind, path-breaking mobile app launched today is a joint initiative by Sarthak Educational Trust and Capgemini, a global leader in consulting & technology services. The app will act as a companion to the persons with disabilities right from early intervention to getting employment to their retirement plans. The app is a one stop solution for Information such as Government Schemes and Supports, Online/Offline Training courses, Assistive Devices, Scholarships and Financial Assistance for Education and Career, to get regular dose of inspiration with motivational stories of Champions with Disability, Online resources such as Braille-Online-Audio Books, Matrimonial Services and more. The user-friendly app is accessible for differently-abled users and their parents with various disability categories with six language support like Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada & Bengali. The CapSarathi Mobile App will cover 10 cr disabled population reaching out to 718 districts and 664,369 villages in India.”
Anurag Pratap, Vice President Digital Inclusion & Sustainability Leader, Capgemini shared ” I feel extremely proud to be speaking here at the launch of CapSarathi — a mobile application that has the capacity to touch the lives of thousands of Persons with Disabilities (PwD). When we work to create solutions for a social problem and use technology as an enabler for transformation, we always take into consideration the challenges that the underprivileged and rural sections might be missing out on. The fact is that this application has special focus on people in rural areas and is available in six Indian languages is what makes me believe in this application. Our objective has been to explore the challenges and opportunities for persons with disability in their everyday life including accessing livelihoods. With the many services that this application offers, we believe this application will open avenues and make their everyday easier than before.”
The virtual event also saw unveiling of the final blue print of its state of the art Global Resource Center in Gurugram, the construction for the first phase which has begun. This center will provide services like Smart Center, a Sensory Park, Center for Employment, Centre of Excellence for Early Intervention & Inclusive Education and much more to persons with disability. Through its 11 panel discussions the event deliberates and plans for bridging the Physical, Attitudinal and Financial Barriers in the line of inclusion of People with Disability through digital mediums and further accelerate the pace of their inclusion led empowerment.
With its 19 centers (New Delhi (4), Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Ambala, Bhopal, Jaipur, Kolkata, Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Vishakhapatnam, Chennai, Thane), the NGO is actively engaged in creating productive citizens of India through life cycle approach and Early Intervention, Inclusive Education, Skill Development, Employment Generation, and Advocacy programs (www.sarthakindia.org). National Abilympic Association of India has been working to ensure excellence in vocational skills by organizing regional and national level Abilympics in India and representing India in International Abilympics since 2001 (www.abilympicsindia.org)