Free Education with scholarship to disabled in Himachal

SHIMLA---Free education facilities from standard first to university level, Industrial Training Institutes and Polytechnics was being provided to the physically and mentally challenged persons in the State besides three percent reservation in government service. This was stated by Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, in the inaugural address he delivered at the week long 2nd Floor Hockey National Special Olympics, being hosted by Himachal Chapter and organized at BCS Ground here after he unfurled the Special Olympics Winter Games Flag and was saluted by an impressive march-past of contingents drawn from 20 States of the country here today.

Chief Minister said that State Government was sensitive towards the needs of the special people and had formulated a number of policies and programmes aimed at their socio-economic upliftment with additional opportunities to progress ahead with normal citizens. He said that such people needed to be provided equal treatment at par with other normal human beings so that they could overcome their deficiencies. He said that besides free education special children were being disbursed scholarships ranging between Rs. 150 to Rs. 450 per month for day scholars and Rs. 300 to Rs. 900 to the hostel students while they pursue their academics in various educational institutions. He said that three percent reservation was also being provided to them in Government service and similar facility was available in the State Administrative Services as well. He said that a special drive had been launched to fill the vacancies reserved for special people and 1,260 eligible persons were given employment in different departments. He said that all the 54,091 persons with over 40 percent disability had been issued identity cards and 28,867 were being provided social security pension of Rs. 330 per month where Rs. 12 crore were being spent annually.

Prof. Dhumal said that it was heartening to know that five of the selected mentally challenged children from the state would be participating in the Special Olympics being held in Athens, Greece, next year. He congratulated the special Olympians hailing from the State who had won Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals in national level games and earned laurels to the State. He lauded the role of Special Olympics Himachal Pradesh in providing a forum to the special children to exhibit their sports talents and inculcate feeling of self-confidence amongst them by equipping them with necessary skills to meet the forthcoming challenges in their lives successfully. He said that such events were instrumental in exposing special children to the outside world besides making them confident of all their deeds.

Chief Minister welcomed the participating teams from different states to Himachal Pradesh and wished them good luck in the events they would be competing during the week long championship. He said that such an occasion would be appropriate opportunity to other special people to overcome their disability and lead normal life in the society. He remembered late Ms. Helen Kellar who despite physical challenges had emerged a source of inspiration to the entire world since he dedicated her life for the cause of special people.

Smt. Nirmala Sitaraman, National BJP Spokesperson, appreciated the initiatives taken by the State Government in protecting the interests of the physically, visually and mentally challenged people. She said that it would help such underprivileged people to overcome their disability and learn to lead a normal and successful life.

Shri Victor Vaz, Sports Director, Special Olympics, congratulated Himachal Pradesh for emerging the First State in the country to host National Special Olympics. He said that the participation of special sportspersons had doubled as out of 34 teams, 20 male and 14 female teams were participating. He said that the current games would also be carrying selection of players to participate in international Special Olympics being held in Korea.

Dr. Mallika Nadda, Chairperson, Special Olympics Himachal, welcomed the Chief Minister and thanked him for inaugurating the games. She detailed out the achievements of the organization since its inception in year 2002 and said that 10,000 athletes, 1,000 coaches, 2,500 volunteers and 2,500 families were the achievement in last nine years. She said that 12 State-Level sports tournaments were organized wherein 3070 special children participated, while 850 children participated in national games and national level camps. She said that Ms. Geeta Devi of Bilaspur had won Gold Medal in the Summer Special Olympics organized at Bochi, Ireland in year 2003 and Ms. Harshita won one Silver and one Bronze Medal in athletics. She said that so far 8 Gold, 3 Silver and 7 Bronze Medals had been won by Special Children in national level games.

Smt. Rashmi Dhar Sood, Sports Director, proposed vote of thanks.

A variety cultural programme was presented to mark the inaugural ceremony.

Shri Suresh Bhardwaj, MLA, Shri Ganesh Datt, Vice-Chairman, HIMUDA, Smt. Roopa Sharma, Vice-President, State BJP, Shri J.S.Rana, DC, Shri Maneesh Garg, Director of Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri J.R.Katwal, Director of Youth Services and Sports, Dr. Satish Malhotra, Area Director, Special Olympics, other dignitaries and sportspersons were present on the occasion.

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