Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan- Major Achievements of Accessible India Campaign

Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) is a nation-wide Campaign was launched to provide universal accessibility to persons with disabilities.

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Accessible India Campaign UPSC Relevance

Accessible India Campaign: Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan, also known as Accessible India Campaign, is a government initiative to ensure accessibility for disabled people in India.

Accessible India Campaign is important for UPSC Prelims Exam (Government Schemes) and UPSC Mains Exam (GS Paper 2- Government Schemes for Vulnerable Section of People).

Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan in News

Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has recently released the Major achievement and Initiative under Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan.

What is Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan)?

About: Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) is a nation-wide Campaign was launched to provide universal accessibility to persons with disabilities.
Implementing Ministry: Accessible India Campaign is being implemented by Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) of Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.
Key Objectives: The campaign aims at providing equal opportunity to persons with disabilities to participate in all the aspects of life and live independently.
- The Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan focuses on developing accessible physical environment, transportation system and Information & communication ecosystem.
- Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan aims to develop an inclusive society in which equal opportunities and access is provided for the growth and development of Persons with Disabilities.
Main Pillars: Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan is being implemented to ensure accessibility for Divyangs across following three key pillars-
- Built-Up Environment
- Transportation System
- Information & Communication (ICT) ecosystems.

Major Achievements & Initiative under Accessible India Campaign

The achievements of AIC across sectors are:

Built-Up Environment:
- Access Audit of 1671 buildings completed.
- 1630 Government buildings, including 1030 Central Government building have been provided with features of accessibility.
Transportation Sector: Efforts are being made to make the transportation sector accessible.
- Airports:35 International Airports and 55 Domestic Airports have been provided with features of accessibility. Ambulifts are available at 12 airports.
- Railways:All 709 A1, A & B category railway stations have been provided with seven Short Term Facilities. 603 railway stations have been provided with 2 Long Term Facilities.
- Roadways:1,45,747 (29.05%) buses have been made partially accessible and 8695 (5.73%) made fully accessible
ICT Ecosystem (Websites): Nearly627 Central and State/UT government websites have been made accessible.
Accessibility in TV viewing:
- Being ensured in a phased manner.
- 19 private news channels are telecasting partially accessible news bulletins.
- 2447 news bulletins have been telecast with subtitling/sign-language interoperation.
- 9 general entertainment channels have telecast 3686 scheduled programs/movies using subtitling
Education:Out of 11,68,292 government and government aided schools, 8,33,703 schools (71%) have been made barrier free with the provision of ramps, handrails and accessible toilets
Institutional Literacy Material:
- The Department has developed an Easy Reckoner of 10 basic features of Accessibility for ease of understanding.
- Volume 1 of the series of guidebooks for professionals titled ACCESS- The Photo Digest on Public Centric Buildings was launched on 2nd March 2021.
- Volume 2 of the series of guidebooks for professionals titled ACCESS- The Photo Digest on Airports was launched on 19.11.2021.
Monitoring: Activities under the Accessible India Campaign are being monitored through a Management Information System (MIS) portal.
Formulation of Sector Specific Standards of Accessibility:
- The task of formulation of Sector Specific Standards/Guidelines of Accessibility is underway by respective Ministries/Departments, including Civil Aviation, Roadways, Railways, School and Higher Education, Culture, Tourism, MHA, Banking, Consumer Affairs and Sports.
- Guidelines by MoHUA and MietY are notified.
- Department is lending support through sensitization, handholding and by recommending experts in field of accessibility.
Sugamya Bharat App:
- Helping in crowdsourcing grievances of accessibility being faced on ground in infrastructure and services and forwarding for redressal.
- Helpful also in creating sensitization and awareness generation about importance of accessibility.
- COVID-19 related complaints which are meant only for Divyangjans are being given top priorities now. To be cleared within 3 days.