'...Soumita Basu, a 37-year-old entrepreneur from Kolkata, has arthritis and has not been able to access her medicines since the lockdown. She has been prescribed hydroxychloroquine for her illness, but since reports emerged that the medicine may possibly prevent Covid-19, it is in short supply in medical stores. “People have started hoarding hydroxychloroquine, a very potent drug, without a doctor’s prescription. People like me who need it for our survival are not getting access to it,” she told ThePrint.
'...Wani suffers from a severe form of osteomyelitis, a bone infection, which has worn a deep crater into his skin on his right leg and is the reason he walks with limp. Yet strangely, he found himself detained in August last year and slapped with charges under the Public Safety Act (PSA), a controversial law that permits detention for up to two years without trial. Authorities have accused Wani of leading a mob armed with stones and wooden stalks last year, after the government revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. “Do you think I could have done that?” he asks....'
'...However, Persons with Disabilities and the impact the National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act will have on them has been completely ignored. As per the 2011 Census, 2.21% of the country’s population is disabled. The concerned departments in the government itself consider this figure a gross underestimation, with the World Health Organisation going as far as stating that 15% of the world’s population is disabled. Social stigmas ensure that Persons with Disabilities are locked up at home and not officially recorded in India’s population records.
'Disabled persons from across the country held a dharna at Delhi’s Jantar Manta today for their rights. They accused the BJP government of turning a deaf ear to their demands. They said they had no option but to take to the streets as the government was neither providing them adequate pension, nor jobs.'
'Cities in Uttar Pradesh may be topping the air pollution charts this season, but their police seem to have other priorities in mind. A tweet by a differently abled student to draw attention to an instance of stubble burning in his Bareilly neighbourhood backfired recently, with the local police inspector allegedly threatening to charge him under the National Security Act instead of acting on the complaint. Irshad Khan, a differently abled first-year law student, had tweeted on November 9 about a farmer in his neighbourhood burning crop stubble from his field in violation of the law.
'Three months after the Tabrez Ansari lynching case, which shook the conscience of the nation, Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Jharkhand once again witnessed a case of mob lynching on Sunday, September 22. A differently-abled tribal man was killed and two others were seriously injured when a mob allegedly thrashed them on suspicion of slaughtering a cow, in Khunti district of Jharkhand, police confirmed on Monday.
'A leading expert in child psychology says that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi must apologise after he appeared to poke fun at dyslexia at a public event, triggering outrage. Mr Modi questioned if a programme for dyslexic children could also help a "40 to 50-year-old child" - in remarks that appeared to be an attempt to ridicule his political rival Rahul Gandhi. "When the head of a country talks like this, it is very, very insensitive. He must apologise," Dr Roma Kumar said...'
'Four dalit youths including a physically challenged person were allegedly attacked by the activists of Bajrang Dal at Jayapura village in Chikmagalur district in Karnataka for 'eating beef'. The attack has come to light even as Gujarat is burning over a similar atrocity on Dalits in Una. On July 17, a gang of 30-40 Bajrang Dal members barged into the house of a Dalit family, beat them up with sticks and threatened them with machetes. The incident, however, came to light only on July 23. The attackers warned Dalits that if they didn't stop eating beef, they would be killed...'
Modi: "The country does not want a deaf and dumb, handicapped government". Such contemptuous remarks fit naturally in Modi's authoritarian discourse: projecting himself as the "strong leader" involves constructing a "weak" other.
