Raipur, November 12, 2025/Chhattisgarh government’s Department of Social Welfare, in special collaboration with UNICEF, will organize an important workshop on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, at Hotel Courtyard by Marriott in Raipur, to further strengthen the draft of the “Chhattisgarh State Policy for Welfare and Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities 2025”.
The workshop will be presided over by the Minister for Women and Child Development and Social Welfare, Smt. Laxmi Rajwade. The objective of the workshop is to finalize a comprehensive and inclusive policy for persons with disabilities in the state under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 is a landmark legislation that establishes disability as a matter of ‘rights’ rather than charity. In order to effectively implement the provisions of the Act in the state, the Department of Social Welfare has prepared a comprehensive draft of the “Chhattisgarh State Policy for Welfare and Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities 2025”. This workshop is being organized with the special support of UNICEF to make the draft more robust and inclusive.
This workshop will be based on the guiding principle of “Nothing About Us, Without Us”. Its main objective is to obtain valuable suggestions and practical feedback from key stakeholders, various concerned departments, and national-level experts before finalizing the policy.
Renowned national experts will participate to provide technical and expert opinions for this important deliberation. These include Mr. Rajiv Raturi (key petitioner in the landmark case Rajiv Raturi vs. Union of India and Asia Pacific Regional Officer, Disability Rights Promotion International), Mr. Sameer Ghosh (Inclusion Advisor, World Bank), Mr. Akhil Paul (Chief Patron, Sense International India), and UNICEF expert Ms. Alka Malhotra.
To ensure a “holistic governance approach” in policy-making, the participation of various key departments of the state government is being ensured in the workshop. Senior officials from the Home (Police), Panchayat and Rural Development, Tribal and Scheduled Caste Welfare, Public Relations and Tourism, General Administration, Public Works Department, School Education, Health and Family Welfare, Finance, Commerce and Industry, Transport, Electronics and Information Technology, Higher Education, Skill Development, Technical Education and Employment, Women and Child Development, Urban Administration and Development, Labour, Sports and Youth Welfare, and Village Industries Departments will attend.
The main expected outcomes from the workshop are to receive concrete inputs on every chapter of the draft policy, such as education, health, employment, accessibility, and social security, from experts and all these departments. By incorporating the suggestions received, it will be ensured that the final policy is not only comprehensive, inclusive, and robust, but also proves to be a milestone in bringing about real and positive change in the lives of persons with disabilities in the state.