SRINAGAR – In three years to 2017 — when the coalition government of theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was inpower in Occupied Jammu & Kashmir — 31,085 people were certified asdisabled in the 10 districts in Kashmir valley, up 74% from 17,898 peoplein the three preceding years, data obtained through right to informationrequests show.
The rising unrest in the Valley played a role in the increase, activistssaid, specifically pointing to the use of pellet guns for crowd control.
[image: Disabled-Kashmir]
Jammu and Kashmir is the only state yet to implement a 2016 law thatrecognises 21 disabilities–up from the earlier seven–suggesting that actualnumbers could be even higher.
Infrastructure in the state is not disabled-friendly, activists said,especially in public offices and educational institutions.
In six years to 2017, Kupwara district registered the most people withdisabilities (10,825), followed by Anantnag (8,638), Baramulla (7,274) andPulwama (5,461).
[image: Disabled-People-Kashmir]
In 2011, the state had a disabled population of 361,153–56.7% male and43.2% female–and up 19.3% from 302,670 in 2001, according to Census 2011.Hearing disability was the most prevalent (21%), data show.
*Conflict Led to Rise in Disabled Population*
As of 2014, more than 100,000 disabilities were due to conflict, accordingto a November 2015 study published in the Journal of Business Managementand Social Sciences Research (JBM & SSR). Post 2016, the use of pellet gunshas increased the number of disabilities, according to Srinagar-based humanrights activist Khurram Parvez.
Since 2016, 1,314 eyes of 1,253 people were impaired after being hit bypellets, and the chances of recovery are poor, *Greater Kashmir*, a localdaily, reported on April 8, 2018. Blindness accounted for 68.9% ofdisabilities in the state compared to 44.5% nationwide, according to theJBM & SSR study quoted above.
“The government has no policy to help these victims,” separatist leaderMirwaiz Umar Farooq told *IndiaSpend*. “Since it is their responsibility torehabilitate them, they are the one(s) who should come formed and helpthem, but the government has completely failed to rehabilitate them.”
“According to official figures, 17 people were killed by shotgun pelletsbetween July 2016 and August 2017, and 6,221 people were injured by themetal pellets between 2016 and March 2017,” according to the first everUnited Nations Human Rights report on Kashmir, released on June 14, 2018.
The Centre criticised the report, with an external affairs ministryspokesperson describing it as “fallacious, tendentious and motivated”,violating Indian sovereignty and “a selective compilation of largelyunverified information … overtly prejudiced and seeks to build a falsenarrative”.
*The Pending Act*
In December 2016, parliament passed the Persons with Disabilities Bill,2016, thereby replacing the 21-year-old Persons with Disability Act, 1995.The new law increased the number of recognised disabilities from seven to21, suggested penalties for discrimination, and hiked the reservation forpersons with disability–for education and government jobs–from 3% to 4%.
More than eighteen months since, all these are yet to be implemented inJammu & Kashmir.
Under Article 370 of the Constitution, parliament has power to make lawsonly on defence, external affairs and communication-related matters ofJammu & Kashmir. So, a legislation has to be passed in the state’s assemblyfor bills passed by the parliament to come into effect in the state.