National Resource Kit: The Tripura Chapter (Call for Comments)

Note: The chapter is an early draft and will undergo subsequent modifications. We welcome comments and feedback from our readers.

Executive Summary

In February 2008, Tripura was ranked to be the second among the North eastern states in their implementation of Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995.

Quick Statistics

• Capital: Agartala
• Population (2011): 3,671,032
• People with disabilities (2000): 58,940
• Literacy: 87.75%

Legal Provisions

The Government of Tripura has not implemented any state specific legislation and has enforced the following schemes under the Department of Social Welfare:

Accessibility

Free bus pass for persons with disabilities are given for travel on the State Transport Buses

Aids and Appliances
There is no State Government scheme for provision of aids and appliances. The Central Government Assistance to Disabled Persons Scheme (ADIP) has distributed funds to the state of Tripura for implementation. [1]

Education

1. Educational Institutions: 2 seats are reserved in each industrial training Institutes. A special residential school is set up in the State with modern Instruments for the hearing and speech impaired students.
2. In 2009, the Tripura government planned on introducing a home-based education program (HBEP) for children with disabilties who were unable to attend schools, in lieu of governmental measures to train teachers and equip schools with adequate infrastructure for disabled students.
3. Scholarship/Stipend: Scholarship is given to different category of students with disabilities from Class I to Class VIII. The details are as follows:

• Rs.70/– p.m. to Rs.95/– p.m. – For blind and hearing impaired.
• Rs.60/– p.m. to Rs.80/– p.m. – For other categories of handicapped
• Students of Class IX to University level also get scholarship up to the maximum of Rs.240/– p.m. depending on the class/course. Scholarship is also given to the students with disablties for doing music course, vocational course, technical course and professional course.[2]

Employment

1. Reservation in Government Job: 3% jobs in Class III and Class IV posts are reserved for the persons with disabilities
2. Age Relaxation: Upper age limit is relaxed by 5 yrs for persons with disabilties for applying in Government Jobs.
3. Conveyance Allowance: Conveyance allowance up to Rs.50/– p.m. is given to the employees with disabilities belonging Grade ‘C’ and ‘D’.
4. Assistance for self-employment: Persons with disabilities get assistance for self-employment from the State Government.

Social Protection

1. Incentive for Marrying disabled: Incentive to the tune of Rs.5000/– for the marriage to a person with disabilities is given by the Social Welfare Department of the State Government.
2. Five persons in each of the 956 Gram Panchayats, 9 Nagar Panchayats and each ward of the municipality area (Agartala Municipality) are being given pension at the rate of Rs.100/–p.m.[3]

Miscellaneous

1. Tripura has a web based application called Physically Challenged Persons Information System (PCPIS) which issues disability certificates to physically challenged persons on the day of their medical checkup; captures details like personal information, education and employment information along with their image and fingerprint; as well as a record of the state assistance they make use of (scholarship, stipend for the complete blind, travelling allowance, etc.) and a record of the appliances issued to the person by the District Disability Rehabilitation Centre.

[1]. http://www.tripurastat.com/socialandwelfareschemes/27/disabledscheme/369478/stats.aspx

[2]. http://www.tripurastat.com/socialandwelfareschemes/27/disabledscheme/369478/stats.aspx

[3]. http://tsu.trp.nic.in/src/AboutSRC3.htm, http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/disablity_india_statistical_data_11mar2011/Appendix%201%20Tables.pdf

[4]. http://www.tripurastat.com/socialandwelfareschemes/27/disabledscheme/369478/stats.aspx