Mukul Wasnik, the Union minister of social justice and empowerment, said here on Saturday that the government will be tabling the revised Persons With Disabilities (PWD) Act in the winter assembly session to convert it into a new legislation. The draft of the new act will be circulated to all state governments for their suggestions.

He was speaking after inaugurating the 9{+t}{+h} national conference on childhood disabilities organized by the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) and the National Childhood Disability Group (NCDG).

"The new legislation will guarantee equality and non–discrimination to all persons with disabilities. The central government is also contemplating formation of a 'disability rights authority'," he added.

Wasnik said there is a plan to start an Indian Sign Language and Research Centre in collaboration with the Indira Gandhi National Open University.

The minister, however, admitted that it was sad despite all efforts by the central government "only 30–32% of the PWD actually have got the disability certificate so far". He suggested converting the multi–member medical board that certifies disabilities into a single person expert board to hasten the certification process.

The proposed National Centre for Universal Design and Barrier Free Environment was also being set up as an obligation under the UN Convention on rights of PWDs, informed Wasnik.

Dr Dipty Jain, the chairperson of the conference, asked the minister to start a certification centre for children with learning disability in the city so that they don't have to travel to Mumbai.

Child disability group (CGD) president Dr SS Kamath said that IAP had brought out the first book on childhood disability and suggested its inclusion in the syllabus at UG and PG levels. CDG secretary Dr Sameer Dalwai stressed on making trained personnel and services available to convert the disabled into enabled.

Dr Uday Bodhankar, secretary–general of the UK–based Commonwealth Association of Health and Disability, called for making Nagpur a disability–free city. Dr Kishor Taori, the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) president, said the council will honour doctors doing community work in disability. Rajendra Mulak, minister of state for energy, called for more e–diagnosis or patients in villages. MLC S Q Zama also spoke on the occasion.