Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today launched Accessible India campaign in New Delhi on the occasion of International Day of Persons with Disabilities. It is a nationwide flagship campaign for achieving universal accessibility for persons with disabilities. <br/><br/>It also aims to create an enabling and barrier free environment, with a focus on Built Environment, Public Transportation and Information and Communication Technologies. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Jaitley said, it is the society's responsibility to take up the campaign in a mission mode.<br/><br/>Mr Jaitley also read out the message of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In his message, Mr Modi urged the corporates to come forward and support the campaign. He said, accessibility should be incorporated in the Smart Cities mission. The Prime Minister said, the campaign will benefit not only persons with disability( PWDs) but also the elderly, pregnant women and children.<br/><br/>Under this campaign, atleast 50 per cent of all the government buildings of National Capital and all the State capitals will be made fully accessible by July 2018 for PWDs. All the international airports will be converted into fully accessible international airports by July 2016. All A1, A and B categories of railway stations in the country will be converted into fully accessible railway stations by July 2016. <br/><br/>Atleast 10 per cent of Government owned public transport carriers in the country will be converted into fully accessible carriers by March 2018. Atleast 50 per cent of all public documents issued by the Central Government and the State Governments will meet accessibility standards by March 2018.<br/><br/>The campaign is also in the process of developing a web portal along with a mobile application. An Accessibility Index is also underway to measure the level of disabled friendliness of a system.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today launched Accessible India campaign in New Delhi on the occasion of International Day of Persons with Disabilities. <br/><br/>It is a nationwide flagship campaign for achieving universal accessibility for persons with disabilities and to create an enabling and barrier free environment, with a focus on Built Environment, Public Transportation and Information and Communication Technologies. It seeks to make government buildings and public transportation disabled-friendly.<br/><br/>By this campaign, at least 50 per cent of all the government buildings of National Capital and all the State capitals will be converted into fully accessible buildings by July 2018. All the international airports will be converted into fully accessible international airports by July 2016. <br/><br/>All A1, A and B categories of railway stations in the country will be converted into fully accessible railway stations by July 2016. At least 10 per cent of Government owned public transport carriers in the country will be converted into fully accessible carriers by March 2018. At least 50 per cent of all public documents issued by the Central Government and the State Governments will meet accessibility standards by March 2018.<br/><br/>The campaign is also in the process of developing a web portal along with a mobile application for creating a crowd sourcing platform to get information about inaccessible places, processing information for approving proposals and channelizing CSR resources for creating of accessible spaces. An Accessibility Index is also underway to measure the level of disabled friendliness of a system.<br/><br/>On the occasion, Mr Jaitley conferred national awards on outstanding persons with disabilities and individuals and organizations that are working for the empowerment of persons with disabilities. 51 individuals and institutions have received the awards this year.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today launched Accessible India campaign in New Delhi on the occasion of International Day of Persons with Disabilities. <br/><br/>It is a nationwide flagship campaign for achieving universal accessibility for persons with disabilities and to create an enabling and barrier free environment, with a focus on Built Environment, Public Transportation and Information and Communication Technologies. <br/><br/>It seeks to make government buildings and public transportation disabled-friendly.<br/><br/>By this campaign, at least 50 per cent of all the government buildings of National Capital and all the State capitals will be converted into fully accessible buildings by July 2018. All the international airports will be converted into fully accessible international airports by July 2016.<br/><br/>All A1, A and B categories of railway stations in the country will be converted into fully accessible railway stations by July 2016. At least 10 per cent of Government owned public transport carriers in the country will be converted into fully accessible carriers by March 2018. At least 50 per cent of all public documents issued by the Central Government and the State Governments will meet accessibility standards by March 2018.<br/><br/>The campaign is also in the process of developing a web portal along with a mobile application for creating a crowd sourcing platform to get information about inaccessible places, processing information for approving proposals and channelizing CSR resources for creating of accessible spaces. An Accessibility Index is also underway to measure the level of disabled friendliness of a system.<br/><br/>On the occasion, Mr Jaitley conferred national awards on outstanding persons with disabilities and individuals and organizations that are working for the empowerment of persons with disabilities. 51 individuals and institutions have received the awards this year.