Members of National Association of the Deaf today demanded revocation of government's order to integrate Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC) with Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for Hearing Handicapped (AYJNIHH) in Mumbai.
Protesters gathered outside Shastri Bhawan here to demand autonomy for ISLRTC, as envisaged in 11th Five Year Plan.
NAD has also written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to suspend the government order with immediate effect, and "establish ISLRTC as a stand-alone organisation managed by the deaf people".
The organisation has also demanded that a committee of sign language experts from India and abroad be constituted to review the original draft proposed in 2011.
It also proposed a fresh staffing structure and phase- wise implementation plan for ISLRTC.
"We the 18 million deaf citizens of the country strongly protest this decision of the ministry to merge the much needed independent centre with an organisation that has a poor insight of the problems of the deaf community or their culture," NAD secretary A S Narayanan said.
He said there was a serious shortage of sign language interpreters in the country and that the government order letter will "hinder" ISLRTC's independent functioning.
According to Narayanan, ISLRTC was included in the 11th Five Year Plan after "persistent advocacy" by NAD.
Recently, the government issued an order letter suggesting that ISLRTC should be merged with AYJNIHH.
