A 1995 law recognised only 7 categories of disability. The law that replaced it in 2016 recognises 21, and lets the government add more. That expansion changed who could legally claim reservation, accessibility, and protection under Indian law.
Timeline
- 2007: India ratifies the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), creating an obligation to update its 1995 disability law.
- 14 December 2016: The Rajya Sabha passes the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill.
- 16 December 2016: The Lok Sabha passes the Bill. It receives Presidential assent on 27 December 2016.
- 15 June 2017: The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, comes into force, replacing the 1995 Act.
- 28 April 2026: In Justice Sunanda Bhandare Foundation v. Union of India, the Supreme Court pushes for full compliance, nearly a decade after the Act took effect.
⚖️ The RPwD Act, 2016
1. The Basics
- Replaces The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 replaced the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995. It aligned Indian law with the UNCRPD, which India ratified in 2007.
- Passage Parliament passed the Bill in December 2016 — the Rajya Sabha on 14 December, the Lok Sabha on 16 December. It received Presidential assent on 27 December 2016, and came into force on 15 June 2017.
- 21 Categories The Act expanded recognised disabilities from 7 to 21, and gives the Central Government power to notify more. New categories included speech and language disability, specific learning disabilities, acid attack victims, dwarfism, and three blood disorders (thalassemia, haemophilia, sickle cell disease).
- Reservation It raised the reservation quota in government jobs for persons with benchmark disabilities, from 3% to 4%.
- Education Every child with a benchmark disability, aged 6 to 18, has a right to free education under the Act.
- Enforcement The Act created Special Courts in each district, to handle cases involving violations of the rights of persons with disabilities.
Previous Year Question
Asked as: “Which of the following statements with regard to persons with disabilities in India is/are correct? 1. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, an Act passed by the Parliament of India in 2018, mandates reservation in education and employment, places a legal duty on Governments to ensure accessibility and non-discrimination. 2. The Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan focuses on achieving universal accessibility for Persons with Disabilities across three key domains — built infrastructure, transport systems and information and communication technology. 3. The National Divyangjan Finance and Development Corporation (NDFDC) is a public sector organisation set up by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs as a not-for-profit company to promote entrepreneurship among Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).” (UPSC CSP 2026, GS Paper I). Answer: 2 only — statement 1 is wrong (the RPwD Act was passed in 2016, not 2018), and statement 3 is wrong (NDFDC sits under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, not the Ministry of Corporate Affairs).
🏛️ Institutions and Accessibility
1. Oversight and Funding
- Commissioners The Act strengthened the office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, now assisted by two Commissioners and an 11-member Advisory Committee. State Commissioners’ offices were similarly strengthened.
- Employer Duty Government establishments must provide “reasonable accommodation” for persons with disabilities. Those with more than 20 employees must appoint a liaison officer, to handle compliance and recruitment.
- National Fund The Act created a single National Fund, subsuming two earlier funds: the National Fund for Persons with Disabilities, and the Trust Fund for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.
- NDFDC The National Divyangjan Finance and Development Corporation is a not-for-profit Central Public Sector Undertaking. It sits under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, not the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. It channels loans for self-employment and entrepreneurship, through state-level partner agencies and banks.
2. Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan
- Launch Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan, the Accessible India Campaign, launched in December 2015. It reinforces the Act’s own accessibility mandate for public buildings, government and private, within a prescribed time-frame.
- Three Domains The campaign targets universal accessibility across three domains: the built environment, transport systems, and information and communication technology (ICT).
- Nodal Body The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, runs the campaign.
3. Penalties
- Enforcement The Act provides penalties against offences committed against persons with disabilities, and against violations of its own provisions.
⚖️ Current Affairs
1. Recent Developments
- SC Order 28 Apr 2026: In Justice Sunanda Bhandare Foundation v. Union of India, the Supreme Court recorded a key milestone. Almost all States and Union Territories had finally appointed Nodal Officers, to monitor the Act’s implementation. It set a final deadline of 15 May 2026, for the remaining Union Territories, Lakshadweep and Ladakh.
- Reservation 28 Apr 2026: The Court accepted the government’s clarification on horizontal reservation. Disabled candidates who qualify on their own merit, without relaxed standards, must be adjusted against unreserved vacancies, while “upward movement” into reserved seats remains permitted.
- Oversight 28 Apr 2026: The Court assigned National Law Universities to carry out detailed assessments. Their task: check how well states are actually implementing the Act, under a scheme called “Project Ability Empowerment.”
- Related Ruling 19 Jun 2026: Separately, the Supreme Court declared the right to walk on safe, demarcated footpaths a fundamental right under Part III of the Constitution — a ruling with direct implications for accessibility and disability rights.
Test Yourself
🔍 The Bigger Picture
1. Law vs Enforcement
- Slow Enforcement The Act came into force in 2017, yet the Supreme Court was still pushing for basic compliance in 2026. Passing a rights-based law and actually enforcing it across every state are two very different achievements.
- Shifted Definition The jump from 7 to 21 recognised disabilities reflected a shift in how disability itself gets defined. Disability now emerges from the interaction between a person’s condition and the barriers society places around them, not the condition alone.
- Indirect Wins The 2026 footpath judgment shows how disability rights can advance through cases that aren’t framed as disability cases at all. A right to safe footpaths benefits everyone, but it especially strengthens the accessibility mandate this Act already sets out.
- Horizontal Reservation The horizontal reservation clarification matters practically. It stops a disabled candidate’s own merit from being wasted against a reserved quota. They can instead count toward the general vacancies they already qualified for.
Beyond the answer
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