Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot today said that a nationwide programme of providing modern technology for differently-abled persons has been launched by his ministry. <br/><br/>Mentioning this at the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of speech and hearing disabilities in Mumbai today, Thawar Chand Ghelot announced cochlear implant for children below the age of 5 years having bilateral congenital severe to profound deafness and upto the age of 12 years having bilateral post lingual deafness. The programme was launched on 3rd December 2014 and so far 530 surgeries have been done on children with hearing disabilities who can now hear and speak.<br/><br/>Speaking at the function, Mr Gehlot said the government is committed to empower the differently-abled people in the country. He informed that the Rights of persons with Disabilities Bill 2016 was passed in Lok Sabha on December 16, 2016. Rajya Sabha had already passed the Bill with 119 amendments. <br/><br/>Mr Gehlot said that the new Bill has expanded the definition of disability to cover 21 conditions including specific learning disabilities, multiple sclerosis, speech and language disability, thalassemia, haemophilia, sickle cell disease, multiple disabilities including deaf blindness, acid attack victims and Parkinson's disease. During his visit to the institute, Mr Gehlot was accompanied by Ramdas Athawale, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment.