Census 2026 for PwDs

THE LAST CENSUS FOR PWDS was done in 2011 and came up with the finding that India has 26.8 million persons with some disability - impairment of vision, speech, hearing, movement (wheelchair bound), autistic etc.

- By Krishan Kalra

As it turned out later, this was a gross underestimation as the World Bank data later came up with the figure “between 40 & 80 million”; some other studies, including that by the World Health Organization (WHO) and also various or-ganisations involved in empowerment of the disabled, in fact estimated the number as over 100 million! There are solid reasons for the apparently wrong figures in 2011:

Social stigma attached with disability that leads to parents and even neighbours hiding facts about a disabled child. People consider being blessed with a PwD as ‘God's wrath and punishment for past sins’ and this thinking even leads to substandard care for the child and general neglect by the family. So, the reporting was grossly inaccurate - especially in rural areas. This happened despite the census authorities having run a campaign around accurately reporting disabilities.

In 2011 only seven GOI recognised disabilities were considered, while after the implementation of RPWD (Rights of people with disabilities) Act 2016, now 21 disabilities are officially recognised by the Government of India, which should also mean a much larger number of PwDs in the country.

Regular finetuning, digitisation and upgradation of the systems followed by the census authorities i.e. the Registrar General & Census Commissioner under the home ministry. Back in 2011, the systems were presumably not half as good.

The ‘underestimation’ also led to under-allocation of resources, weak planning and poor monitoring of inclusion outcomes. As it is PwDs in India (despite having been glorified as Divyangjan by the Hon'ble Prime Minister) generally do not have access to quality health facilities, accessible transport, education, training and also remain deprived of gainful employment. Despite the discrepancy in numbers (26.8 million and 100 million) it is clear that PwDs constitute a very significant part of the Indian population.