From Lalit K Jha

Washington

An Indian-American techie has been appointed as advisor to the ‘Accessible India’ campaign to be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week to make transport, public spaces and information and communication technology accessible to differently-abled people.

Pranav Desai, a polio survivor, is vice president with a Global IT Services Company and had played a key role in inclusion of issues related to specially-abled people in the ruling BJP’s Vision 2020 document and its election manifesto.

Desai who had met the Prime Minister Modi when the latter toured Silicon Valley in September said the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) to be launched on December 3 would jump start transformation by creating massive awareness for disability sector.

Desai was appointed advisor to the ‘Accessible India’ campaign by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

He is the founder of non-governmental Voice of Accessible India (VoSAP) which has been working on multi-pronged approach as part of roadmap to achieve Vision 2020 such as providing policy inputs on assisting technologies, proposals to railways, finance and seven other ministries for adopting inclusive policy decisions, a media release said.

Accessible India Campaign (AIC), he said, is now becoming countrywide reality and inspiration to other nations in the world as well.

The campaign by the government, social leaders and media will help sensitise society at large and accelerate change/transformation, he added.

Desai said Art of Living Foundation of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has also joined the campaign.

“Today as India is taking great strides in the fields of technological advances, economic development and social transformation, Sri Sri would like that we all make a conscious effort to include the specially-abled people of India and their integration in our everyday life, make it a priority,” the statement said.

PTI