Disability aids, appliances should not attract 5% GST: Parliamentary panel

The panel noted that 2011 Census data is still used to design welfare schemes for the community, although a new 2016 act expanded the scope of the word 'disability'

Aids and appliances for people with disabilities should not attract a 5 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) charge as it does now, a Parliamentary panel has noted. Noting that these materials are critical for the disabled to "pursue independence, literacy and employment with dignity", the panel has asked the social justice ministry to take up the matter with the GST Council at the earliest.

The department-related standing committee in its demand for grants report for the Social Justice and Empowerment ministry has noted that the ministry’s department of empowerment of persons with disabilities, being a “social welfare department attending to the marginalised section of the society” should endeavour to have these items declared tax free.

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The panel, headed by BJP MP Rama Devi, has also pointed at the underutilisation of funds meant for the Assistance of Disabled Persons for Purchase/Fitting of Aids/Appliances (ADIP) scheme under which disabled people are provided assistive devices and corrective surgeries. In 2022-23, the Centre set aside Rs 235 crore under budgetary estimates for the scheme, revising it at Rs 230 crore under revised estimates. However, the actual expenditure for the scheme was only Rs 146.01 crore; the Centre has said that “social distancing norms” disrupted the manufacturing and distribution mechanism under the scheme. For 2023-24, an amount of Rs 245 crore has been set aside.

The panel has now asked the ministry to work on a focused approach by taking up special drives regularly for holding camps, programmes etc during the year 2023-24, and pay attention to publicity of the scheme.

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The panel has also said that delay in Census 2021 is affecting the disabled population. It said that the government still accounts for Census 2011 data to design welfare schemes for the disabled. As per the Census 2011, India has 2.68 crore people with disabilities which is 2.21 per cent of the total population. The actual figures of the disabled population, the panel said, is yet to be ascertained, especially since a host of disabilities were added to the government’s list after the passage of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

“The Committee also urge the Department to emphasise upon the disability surveyors conducting the NSS of Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation to consult disability experts while any survey is being designed, extensively train and sensitise surveyors on types of disabilities to include all the categories of disability that are covered in the Act of 2016 which is the ultimate aim of the legislation,” the panel said.