Activists representing people with disabilities (PwD) have termed as eyewash the Government’s move to cut down tax from 18 per cent to 5 per cent on some essential devices for the sector under the new GST regime. They said the inclusive society as envisaged under the Centre’s ‘Accessible India’ Campaign is possible only if all the appliances are exempted from tax.

They reasoned that as poverty and disability are interlinked in India and many disabled in rural areas are below poverty level (BPL), even this 5 per cent should go. Around 5 per cent of the population has some sort of disability. Apart from an increase in prices, it is also felt that it will force such people to use poor quality devices or further push them to poverty.

Delhi-based disability rights activist Satendra Singh said PwD pay all the taxes still they can’t access transport, education, employment and information because of inaccessible infrastructure. 

‘The Government which is making tall claims of making India Accessible is all set to levy tax for the first time on the eyes, ears, limbs of PwD i.e., Braille, crutches, wheelchairs, hearing aids,” Singh said. Currently, all these appliances and devices are currently exempt from all taxes like Sales Tax/ VAT/ Excise/Customs.

Multiple representations by National Platform for the Rights of Disabled (NPRD), an NGO and Finance Ministers from Tripura and Kerala, have prompted the Government to bring down the GST to 5 per cent for “Braille paper, Braille typewriters, Braille watches, hearing aids and other appliances to compensate for a defect or disability”

But this is not going to help, said the activists.

SK Rungta and Muralidharan from NPRD cited an instance, saying that a book in Braille even at present costs five times more than the cost of a print version of the same book. Imposition of 12 per cent GST on Braille paper will hike the costs of Braille books manifold.

Similarly, wheel chairs which are essential for some locomotor disabled even now are very costly. If the proposed GST of 5 per cent is added, it would become even costlier and make it further out of reach, said Muralidharan, making case for a nil tax for all the items used by the PwD.

Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/activists-term-tax-cut-on-divyang-devices-eyewash.html