Odisha has 2.96% disabled population, census data on disability released earlier this week revealed. Disability rights campaigner ourightly rejected the report, stating that the number is grossly underestimated.

According to the Census 2011 disability data released on Saturday, the state has disabled population of over 12.44 lakh, including 6.74 lakh males and 5.69 lakh females. "There are serious miscalculations. Probably, the data enumerators have not made the headcount properly. The number of disabled won't be less than 6% of the total population," said Sruti Mohapatra, a disability rights campaigner, on Sunday.

The number of disabled was 10.21 lakh (5.68 lakh males and 4.52 lakh females) in 2001, around 2.78% of the population. The differently-abled persons grew by 21.84% from 2001 to 2011.

Of the total disabled, 21.20% are visually impaired, 19.11% have hearing problems, 5.51% speech impaired, 20.89% suffer from movement disability and 5.82% are mentally retarded while the rest have other types of multiple disability.

Compared to the overall average percentage of disabled in the general population, their percentage is significantly higher among Scheduled Castes (SCs) at 3.32% and comparatively lower (2.65%) among Scheduled Tribes (STs). Among the total 12.44 lakh disabled population, 2.38 lakh are SCs and 2.53 lakh STs.

SOURCE: Times of India