All state capitals to be made universally accessible by 2018; Arun Jaitley launches 'Sugamya Bharat'

The next big-ticket campaign of the Modi-led cabinet is called Accessible India, and as name suggests, it aims to provide universal accessibility for every citizen of India, including differently abled persons. This is Modi government's next flagship programme after Swachh Bharat, the cleanliness campaign launched in October 2014.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley launched the initiative yesterday while also launching a mobile app and a web portal called Sugamya Bharat (Accessible India). This portal and the app would enable Indian citizens to take photographs of inaccessible public places, so that state governments and the centre can take notice and make them accessible. In reward, the government would be introducing a reward system for the proactive citizens.

Earlier, the launch was supposed to be done in the presence of PM Modi, but since he had to rush to Chennai to overview the flood situation there, Jaitley filled in for him. At the launch, Jaitley read out the PM's message to the audience, which comprised of differently abled winners who won national awards.

Expressing regret over his absence at the launch, Modi used a special word for the differently abled people. "All of you are an inspiration in the true sense of the word. I feel that instead of the word viklang (disabled) we should use the word divyang (the divine body)," his message read.

This programme has been launched with a target-based approach. They plan to make at least 2,500 government buildings accessible by July next year; by 2018, all state capitals would be made universally accessible.

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