World bank

The World Bank is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge to support governments of member countries in their efforts to invest in schools and health centers, provide water and electricity, fight disease, and protect the environment. The World Bank is not a "bank" in the common sense. The World Bank is an international organization owned by the 184 countries, both developed and developing that are its members.

Since it was set up in 1944 as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The number of member countries increased sharply in the 1950s and 1960s, when many countries became independent nations. As membership grew and their needs changed, the World Bank expanded and is currently made up of five different agencies.

Disability Report, 2007

PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN INDIA: FROM COMMITMENTS TO OUTCOMES

India has some 40 to 80 million persons living with disability. But low literacy and employment rates and widespread social stigma are making disabled people among the most excluded in society. Children with disabilites are less likely to be in school, disabled adults are more likely to be unemployed, and families with a disabled member are often worse off than average. With better education and more access to jobs, people with disabilities can generate higher growth which will benefit the country as a whole.

In future, as the country makes economic progress, age related disabilities and those due to traffic accidents are expected to rise sharply. This is borne out by the fact that internationally, the highest reported disability rates are in OECD countries.

Although India has a growing disability rights movement and one of the more progressive policy frameworks in the developing world, a lot more needs to be done in implementation and “getting the basics right”. This includes deepening preventive health programs, screening all children at a young age, empowering disabled young adults with employable skills, encouraging the private sector to employ people with disabilities, ensuring full integration by overcoming stigma, promoting newer thinking and better coordination of programs, and improving the measurement of disability to ensure that the scale of disability in India is better understood. Most importantly, persons with disabilities should themselves be made active participants in the development process.

Source: http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/india