Welcome to India
RupeeCurrency in India
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Basic Country Profile
Location: South Asia
Capital: Delhi
Population: 1,281,935,911 (July 2017 est.)
Major Languages: Hindi, English and 20 other official languages
Major Religions: Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism
Currency: Indian rupee
Climate: Varies from tropical monsoon in South to temperate in North
Dial Code: +91
Time Zone:UTC+09:00
Disability Population: 21 million (Census 2011)
Emergency Numbers:
National Emergency Helpline – 112
Police – 100
Ambulance – 102
Fire – 101
Women’s Helpline – 181
Disability Legislations and Policies
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD):
Ratified on October 01, 2007. 20, 2014. It has not ratified the Optional Protocol to the CRPD. India’s CRPD State Party reports submitted to the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) can be read at the OHCHR’s Website.
Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 – A rights based legislationwhich includes provisions on accessibility, education, health, employment etc. Read the Act at http://disabilityaffairs.gov.in
National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disability Act, 1999 –The National Trust Act provides for the constitution of a national body for the welfare of persons with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities. Read the Act at http://disabilityaffairs.gov.in
Rehabilitation Council of India, 1992 – The RCI Act was enacted by the Parliament in 1992 to make the Rehabilitation Council a statutory body – http://disabilityaffairs.gov.in
Various Guidelines related to disability in India: http://disabilityaffairs.gov.in
Travel Related Information
In India, the infrastructure remains highly inaccessible for persons with disabilities thus making it difficult for travellers with disabilities and older people to move around in the country. It is better to make arrangements before traveling. Recently, a few private organizations have been established to assist in accessible tourism and making the Indian travel experience easier.
Some of the accessible taxi services are:
UberWav – uber.com (Currently in Bengaluru only)
Kickstart cabs – kickstartcabs.com (Currently in Bengaluru only)
Meru Enable – meru.in (Currently in Mumbai only)
Ezymov – ezymov.com (Currently in Mumbai only)
Hotels
In 2009, the Government had made it mandatory for all hotels to comply with the needs of persons with disabilities with respect to accessibility provisions. Unfortunately, several years later the ground reality is much different.
Some high end hotels of course include 1-2 accessible rooms but bookings have to be made in advance due to the shortage of such rooms. One hotel chain that stands out with it’s excellent accessibility services and sensitive staff is ‘The Lemon Tree Hotels’ Bookings can be made via www.lemontreehotels.com
Useful Links
ZOMATO – Best app for ordering food or exploring which restaurant to eat in. The app now also includes a filter for accessible restaurants. https://www.zomato.com/india
Google Maps – Useful while traveling to any country. You can also download offline maps of any city beforehand in case you don’t have mobile data later. maps.google.com
OLA CABS – Uber is now present in most of the big cities. Apart from them, Ola is another cab hailing company which now also includes auto rickshaws in it’s fleet. olacabs.com
MAKEMYTRIP – Useful app for booking flights, trains and buses – makemytrip.com