Action plan for disabled women soon: Bengal panel

Kolkata, Nov 3 : The West Bengal Women's Commission is planning to come out with a comprehensive action document with recommendations for bettering the lot of the physically challenged women in the state, its chief said Tuesday.

The commission is now preparing a blueprint before holding dialogue with policy makers, government officials and stakeholders on how to bring changes to the life of women with disabilities (WWD).

"We'll shortly convene a meeting inviting state government officials concerned, policymakers, stakeholders and other representatives who are working closely in this field to prepare a comprehensive action plan for the WWDs in our state," WBWC chairperson Malini Bhattacharya said at a South Asian seminar organised by Association for Women With Disabilities (AWWD) here.

She said the commission had received a letter this year from the office of the state disability commission to participate in the government task force that was formed to restore rights of physically challenged women.

"Earlier, we were not included in that government task force which was aimed at the social development of differently abled women," Bhattacharya said.

The AWWD took up an ambitious project, "Creating Spaces for Women with Disabilities", in 2007 with international partners like Healthlink Worldwide and collaborated with like-minded organisations in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The programme, funded by Britain's Department for International Development (DFID), was designed for physically challenged women from across south Asia to help them win equal rights and fight against discrimination.

A large number of participants from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal attended the round table discussion that discussed the present situation of disabled women in the region.

--IANS