The Parliamentary Consultative Committee of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment was today informed that a Bill to increase the number of disabilities categories from 3 to 19 was "under process".
Chairing the meeting, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot said the procedure for obtaining disability certificate was being simplified with the provision of a unique identity code to the disabled population of the country.
Coming to the scholarship schemes, the Minister said a new programme called Pre-matric Scholarship Scheme for SC students of Classes IX and X was introduced in the 12th Five Year Plan to minimise the instances of drop out amongst the pre-matric SC students.
He also said that the number of 'top class institutions' for scholarships has been increased from 205 to 207 and the parental income ceiling has been increased from Rs two lakh to Rs 2.50 lakh from April 2014.
Members who attended the committee meeting included Harish Chandra Meena, Sakuntala Laguri, Mamtaz Sanghamirtra, Jaswant Singh Bhabhor, Virender Kashyap, Dileep Singh Bhuria, Vinod Chavda, Gadam Nagesh, Ahamed Hassan and Shambhoo Prasad Tundiya.
