Laws governing Web Accessibility in India

Hi,

I recently wrote a blog on the Indian regulations related with web accessibility. I'm inserting the same below. This blog has several references to the Indian laws governing web accessibility in India.

The blog is available at: http://infosysblogs.com/web2/2008/11/web_accessibility_and_the_law_3.html#more

Regards,
Ajay

Ajay Kolhatkar, PhD
Web 2.0 Research Lab, SETLabs
Infosys Technologies Limited
Bangalore - 560100, India
M: 91-9739979585


Web Accessibility and the Law - India

I would really like to thank Vijay Krishnamani for his comment on the previous post. Essentially, because it helped me dedicate this post only for the law in India. Vijay, thanks for your interest in the post and also for your question. Let me start with a short answer - To the best of my knowledge, we do not yet have a law that governs web accessibility in India. The last I know of is that a working group<http://egovstandards.gov.in/web_accessibility/web_acc_wg> has been set up, in Jan 2007, under the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. The stated objective<http://egovstandards.gov.in/notices/egscontent.2007-04-16.2228392667> of this committee is to formulate "Policy and Procedures for Implementation of Web Accessibility Standards". This is the only public information available.

Vijay is right as for the United Nation Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (UNCRPD<http://www.un.org/disabilities/>). India signed this convention in March 2007 and ratified it in October 2007. One of the eight guiding principles of this convention is "Accessibility". Also according to Article 21<http://infosysblogs.com/web2-mt/%28http:/www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=281> of the convention "Freedom of Expression and Opinion, and Access to Information" covers the provision of public information to persons with disabilities in accessible format and appropriate technologies,  encouraging private enterprises providing services, including via the internet, to enable such services in accessible and usable formats, and likewise for mass media providers. This convention came into effect in May this year. Hopefully we will see more serious thought and action on web accessibility in view of this convention.

There are several other laws dealing with disabilities in India.

 *   The Persons with Disabilities <http://ccdisabilities..nic.in/Act%201.htm> (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act,1995 governs the general rights for people with disabilities in India in connection with education, employment and public utilities such as transport and buildings/premises access . One of the key section in this act deals with non-discrimination. However, a clause used in defining the provisions says " [Authorities / Governments / Entities shall  provide ] within the limits of their economic capacity and development....". This in itself a huge indication of the likely results for such provisions.

 *   Another regulation that deals with disability in India is The National Trust<http://socialjustice.nic.in/ntact1999.pdf> for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999. One of the stated objectives of this act is "to facilitate the realization of equal opportunities, protection of right and full participation of persons with disability". This act specifically discusses provisions for legal guardianship of the four categories of disabilities and the creation of an environment for enabling as much independent living as possible for such people.

 *   A yet older act is the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992<http://www.rehabcouncil.nic.in/engweb/rciact.pdf> and its recent amendment in 2000 which deals with the development of manpower for providing rehabilitation.

 *   A more recent addition to the set of regulations is National Policy for Persons with Disabilities<http://socialjustice.nic.in/disabled/> released in 2006. The policy "seeks to create an environment that provides them (persons with disabilities) equal opportunities, protection of their rights and full participation in society services".. It deals with prevention of disabilities, rehabilitation measures, social security, and creation of a barrier free environment besides several issues related with persons with disabilities.

So it is evident that there is no dearth of legislation that can be resorted to when it comes to equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities in India. However, the question on their implementation remains as difficult as ever.

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