The Narendra Modi government has run into allegations of recycling its own scheme after education minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched a direct-to-home (DTH) channel dedicated to Indian sign language training for hearing-impaired students, six years after asimilar channel had been floated.
Activists and academics have said the new initiative merely repackages an existing programme for publicity.
On December 6, 2024, Pradhan unveiled Channel 31 on DTH, aimed at supporting individuals with hearing impairments. A government press release said that according to the 2011 census, 2.68 crore people in India have disabilities, with 19 per cent of them experiencing hearing impairments. The new channel, which aligns with the National Education Policy (NEP), seeks to promote and standardise Indian sign language across the country, fostering a more inclusive educational environment.
However, information obtained through an RTI query revealed that a channel called Gyanamrit was launched in October 2018 and was managed by the National Institute of Open Schooling (Nios). The RTI response also said: “The Gyanamrit channel is not operational as of now.”
According to the Nios 2020-21 annual report, Gyanamrit aired educational content for deaf and hard of hearing students on the Swayam Prabha DTH channel number 30, featuring 270 videos in Indian sign language.
“For deaf and hard ofhearing students, 270 videos in Indian sign language have been created, with 30 videos at the secondary level (data entry operation, business studies) and 240 videos at the senior secondary level (Hindi, English, home science,business studies, painting and data entry operation),” the report said.
The content for the new channel has been developed by the NCERT.
Muralidharan, the general secretary of the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled, said the government was recycling and rehashing the existing schemes. “Since 2015, they are trying to project they are champions of disability. But they are creating more noise than taking desired actions,” he said.
An academic said the recycling of the scheme was aimed at publicity.
An email has been sent to school education secretary Sanjay Kumar to understand the rationale behind the channel relaunch. His response is awaited.
