Thaawarchand Gehlot, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment inaugurated the ‘Inclusive Independence Day celebrations’ organised by the National Trust here today. Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment Shri Krishna Pal Gurjar also graced the occasion. Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi, Member of Parliament, New Delhi and Shri K K Sharma, Director General, Border Security Force were the Guests of Honour.Addressing on the occasion, Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot said that his ministry is fully committed to the welfare of Divyangjans and several new schemes and programmes have been initiated during past three years. He said that the categories of Divyangjans have been increased from Seven to Twenty One to cover more Divyangjans. He praised the National Trust for organizing such an Inclusive Independence Day celebrations, as a part of its ‘Inclusive India Initiative’, an awareness campaign with the participation of around 2500 people from all walks of life along with 500 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Inclusive Independence Day celebrations is a pan-India effort and similar activities were also conducted at Bangalore, Guntur, Jorhat, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kanyakumari, Trivendrum, Varanasi, Patna, Raigarh, Ahmadabad, Udaipur, Dhanbad, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar and Hoshiarpur, he added.
On the eve of 71st Independence Day, National Trust, a statutory body of Government of India under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment conducted Inclusive Independence Day celebrations, as a part of its ‘Inclusive India Initiative’, an awareness campaign. The Initiative aims to provide equal access to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, by means of Inclusive Education, Inclusive Employment and Inclusive Community Life.The large scale outdoor awareness activities took place on Niti Marg, in the vicinity of Nehru Park, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi today from 7:00 am onwards. The theme of the day was “Freedom from Bias”. Around 2500 people from all walks of life participated in the celebrations along with 500 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The day had fun cultural activities for all, like yoga, aerobics, wheelchair basketball, judo karate, bocce, nukkad natak, theatre play and culminated with an inclusive walk.NHPC, NDMC, BSF and NCC have collaborated with Inclusive India Initiative to make this inclusive event a great success. Joint Secretary and CEO, National Trust, Shri Mukesh Jain says “To encourage inclusion of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as part of Inclusive India Initiative, events like this sensitise the community at large.”