Dr. Virendra Kumar, Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment today inaugurated the rehabilitation and hostel building of Composite Regional Centre (CRC) Lucknow at its premises. The rehabilitation building of CRC Lucknow has the state of art facility for providing rehabilitation services to Divyangjan such as occupation therapy, physiotherapy, sensory integration unit, prosthetic and orthotic services etc. The Center runs diploma and degree courses in special education (visual impairment and intellectual disability). The hostel building has capacity for providing accommodation to 200 students for pursuing courses in rehabilitation sciences and disability studies recognized by Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI).

Minister of Social Justice also virtually inaugurated the first batch of Community Based Inclusive Development (CBID) Program from CRC Lucknow. Minister, SJ & E also interacted with the Heads of these organisations, the faculty and students of the CBID programme. He appreciated the efforts made by these organisations in conducting these courses and conveyed his best wishes for students. He urged the students to complete the course with due diligence and set standard for upcoming batches in terms of their competency, knowledge and skill.  

The objective of CBID programme is to create a pool of grass-root rehabilitation workers at community level who can work alongside ASHA and Anganwadi workers to handle cross disability issues and facilitate inclusion of persons with disabilities in the society. The program has been co-designed by RCI in association with University of Melbourne, Australia to provide competency based knowledge and skills among these workers to enhance their ability for successfully discharging their duties. These workers will be called 'DivyangMitra' i.e. friends of persons with disabilities. 

This course is now being conducted in 6 National Institutes and 1 Composite Regional Centre of Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, 1 State Government Institute in Haryana and 8 other Non-Government Organisations shortlisted by RCI. 527 students including 38 Divyangstudents have been enrolled for the first batch of this programme in these organizations. The Government is providing stipend to the students of this course @ Rs. 500/- per month and @Rs. 700/- per month for Divyang students.

Ms Anjali Bhawra, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and Dr. Prabodh Seth, Joint Secretary in the Department accompanied Minister, SJ&E during the event.

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MG/RNM