Govt to provide monthly Rs 5K to specially abled with high needs

The AAP-led Delhi Government on Tuesday announced a monthly financial assistance of Rs 5,000 to disabled persons with high special needs. The decision, made just months before the Capital is set to go to the polls, was taken in a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday.

The announcement was made by Social Welfare Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, who credited Arvind Kejriwal’s ‘treasury of honesty’ as the vision behind the scheme.

Chief Minister Atishi, in a post on X, said, “Under Kejriwal’s guidance, the Delhi Government has always worked most for those who have received the least in life. Another such progressive decision has been taken by the government to provide Rs 5000 per month to those with benchmark disabilities.”

Bharadwaj said the Delhi Government already provides pension to around 1,20,000 specially abled individuals with disabilities exceeding 42 per cent. Individuals with a medical certificate and Unique Disability Identification (UDID) cards are entitled to the pension.

“Now, persons with over 60 per cent disability, as verified by medical certificates and UDID cards, will be eligible for Rs 5,000 monthly pension,” he added.

The minister shared that according to the 2011 Census, 2,44,882 people in Delhi are specially abled. “Based on World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, we have assessed that around 9,500 to 10,000 individuals in the city are considered to have high special needs,” he added.

He said as per the WHO, 15 per cent of the world’s population is dealing with some form of disability. Out of this, around 2-4 per cent of people have such severe disabilities that they fall into the category of high special needs.

He explained that while the term “disability” may have a negative connotation, there is a growing shift towards referring to individuals with disabilities as “persons with special abilities”.

However, he clarified that since the government’s policies are derived from legal acts, the official terminology remains ‘persons with disabilities’ as per the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act.

He pointed out that Tamil Nadu is the only state currently offering financial assistance to individuals with high special needs, providing Rs 1,000 per month.

He said the government would soon open registrations for eligible individuals, who will need to have a medical certificate confirming a disability of over 60 per cent. Once verified, these individuals will be entitled to receive Rs 5,000 per month.

“We have already instructed the department to roll this out immediately, and I believe that after this, the elected government of Delhi will be the first in the country to offer such substantial financial support to our specially abled people with high needs,” he said.