Aparna, kin would visit village for Ganeshotsav
on Thursday.
Aparna was from Chennai. Her in-laws are from Dhamoli Bhojanewadi village in Chiplun taluka, Ratnagiri.
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Her husband Amol works as a pilot with Air India. She is survived by her husband and 12-year-old daughter.
The family would visit their village for Ganesh festival and Shimogautsav.
Aparna's father-in-law, Yashwant, was a retired serviceman. After learning about the accident several villagers left for Mumbai to be with the family, said locals. — Umesh K Parida
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Although we reach out to them with memorandums, they just pass the buck without providing any solutions,' says Aslam. Students say that despite the poor infrastructure on the campus most of the universities are providing free education to differently-abled students. 'Although we are not getting any special financial assistance, all our fees are being exempted. We never had to worry about fee remittance affecting our academics in the campus,' said Gautam. Lack of maintenance The lack of maintenance of facilities provided to differently-abled students is a major concern shared by students across campuses in India. Aslam recounted a troubling interaction with the JNU administration after students submitted a memorandum demanding accessible pathways to campus dhabas. According to them, the administration allegedly responded by saying the dhabas would be made accessible—but only by shutting them down entirely. 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She added the university is taking no measures to control strays within the campus. 'It scares students with disabilities almost all day whenever they step out of their hostels. They can't move around safely and independently in such a condition. There is no proper maintenance of washrooms in the hostels. They aren't bothered to clean the premises and remove garbage on time despite raising complaints several times,' she said. Gautam elucidated that more needs to be executed to improve the lives of students within Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). 'Compared to several other universities in North India, AMU offers a fairly satisfying physical infrastructure to the students. However, basic amenities like washrooms are still poorly maintained,' he said. Prof. Manvendra Kumar Pundhir, Coordinator of Disability Unit, Aligarh Muslim University, says they have taken several measures to improve the facilities for differently-abled students within the campus. 'We are providing 5% reservation for PWD candidates in admissions and 4% in all appointments across the AMU. We are not charging any fee from the students and all our buildings are equipped with ramps for free movement of students and staff,' he said. Prof. Pundhir said plans are in the pipeline to take the campus to the next level in terms of inclusivity. 'We are not claiming that we are a 100% disability-friendly campus. There are several shortcomings and we are in the process of rectifying them. The university is planning to introduce braille scripts in all sign boards across the campus and pave tactile-tiles across all pathways within the campus. We are also aiming to provide modern assistive devices and software in the near future,' he added. What NIRF can do 'Differently abled students are facing immense discrimination in terms of financial assistance offered by the universities as well as facilities provided within the campus. Nowadays, the diversity index has become the core of the entire academic planning of universities across the country. University administrations are more bothered about improving the ranking than addressing actual problems. The majority of the institutions are not maintaining the actual data of differently-abled students enrolling in colleges. If the data is inconsistent, the entire planning will be affected,' said Vikas Gupta, a professor of History at the University of Delhi, who has been working for the disability rights front to improve the lives of students and staff across educational institutions in India. Prof. Gupta, who is visually-impaired, said that there is 'regression' in the facilities offered to students with disability in Delhi University and affiliated colleges over the years. The transport service that used to help all students, including persons with disabilities, to travel across Delhi University campuses was discontinued around 5-6 years ago. 'The administration has stopped reading services for students who struggle with their academics. They also stopped the pool of writers offered to the students to assist them during their examinations. The financial assistance to PWD students, which started back in the 80s, has been curtailed to a merit-based list of students instead of entailing all who enrolled in higher education courses. When merit itself is a social construct, the shift to merit over need has led to wider disparity of support among the students. The entire process has become exclusionary,' said Prof. Gupta. He suggests that proactive measures are required to improve the assistance provided to students with disability rather than prioritizing NIRF ranking. 'Instead of blindly following the data provided by University management, a notice should be sent in advance to all disabled students to discuss their grievances before giving a rank to a particular institution. The appointment to bodies like the ICC must be based on seniority and roster instead of personal preferences. The focus should shift from building dedicated hostels and schools to making all educational spaces inclusive and accessible to every student,' added Prof. Gupta. Attempts were made to reach out to the managements of JNU and Pondicherry University via phone calls and email. There has been no response. Provisions in the RPWD Act, 2016 The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016, introduced by the Union government, guarantees several provisions for the welfare of students and staff with disabilities on campus. Some of them are as follows: Non-discrimination in admission: Institutions cannot deny admission to a student with disability on the basis of their disability. Inclusive education: The Act mandates inclusive classrooms with reasonable accommodations, support systems, and individualized learning strategies to ensure effective participation. Accessibility in infrastructure: Schools, colleges, and universities must ensure barrier-free access to buildings, labs, libraries, hostels, and classrooms. Trained educators: Institutions must appoint educators and staff trained in inclusive education and disability awareness. Provision of aids and assistive devices: Learners with disabilities are entitled to free assistive devices, appropriate technologies, and accessible learning materials. Curriculum adaptation: Educational content should be inclusive, free from stereotypes, and available in accessible formats like Braille, audio, and sign language. Grievance redressal: The act ensures a mandatory establishment of a grievance redressal mechanism to handle complaints related to disability rights violations. Reservation in Higher Education: At least 5% seats must be reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities in all government and aided higher education institutions. Prevention of Abuse and Discrimination: Institutions are required to prevent abuse, bullying, and harassment of students with disabilities, with defined protocols for action. Monitoring and Compliance: Educational bodies must submit compliance reports and are subject to inspection by appropriate authorities.
