Prizes, priority in jobs for disabled players

Ahmedabad: On Wednesday, the Gujarat government announced a special policy for physically challenged sportspersons, called the `Sports Policy Divyang'. The policy promises preference in government jobs and admission to professional courses and even special prize money to recognise talent.

Manish Bharadwaj, secretary of the sports, culture and youth department said: “The government has decided to allocate a special dedicated budget to promote the participation of Divyang sportspersons in national and international games. There will also be a `Special Khel Mahakumbh'. The `divyang' sportspersons will get preference in jobs, admission in professional courses and several such benefits. The government also plans to promote sports infrastructure for `divyang' sportspersons.“

Bushan Punani, executive secretary of Blind People's Association (BPA) said: “It is a wonderful initiative. Sports for the disabled should be inclusive.“

For Bhalaji Damor, 39, of Piprana village in Aravalli district, the policy has been an ardous 18 years coming. He won the title of man of the series in the first cricket world cup for the blind in 1998. The ace all-rounder, took India to the semifinals of that tournament. After being given hopes of jobs, Damor finally took to tending buffaloes and doing odd farm jobs for a living. Work on other people's farms is also hard to come by because of Damor's impairment. Today, the `Divyang' poli cy has no meaning for him.

Not just in sports, but Gujarat happens to be the only state which restricts completely visually impaired persons from government jobs. This is via its own February 2013 government notification from the education department.Rajesh Mulwani, for instance, who is totally blind, is today principal of District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) in Amreli district. He had to fight the government in the Gujarat high court for the principal's post. The 2013 education department reserves just 1.5% of jobs for people with low vision, but excludes completely blind candidates.