The 19th edition of India's Regional Abilympics was hosted by MVIRDC World Trade Center (WTC) Mumbai for two days, June14-15, 2019. This was the first-ever regional Abilympics held at the commercial capital of India. The event was organised by the National Abilympics Association of India (NAAI), under the aegis of Sarthak Educational Trust with the support of The HansFoundation.

Ms. Pooja Bhatt, Bollywood actress, producer and director said, “The size of the disabled people in India is more than the entire population of many countries. Countries such as Japan and New Zealand have developed conducive environment for disabled people.”

Ms. Rupa Naik, Senior Director, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai said, “Empowering persons with disabilities can help attain UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), directly and indirectly, promoting SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) and SDG 10 (reduced inequalities). These are guiding principles of WTC Mumbai activities.

Mr. Mahesh Bhatt, Bollywood film director, producer and screenwriter remarked, “It is indeed a humbling experience to see how people with disabilities are overcoming their challenges in remarkable ways.”

Dr. Jitender Aggarwal, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Sarthak Educational Trust & Secretary General – NAAI said, “Currently there are 2.68 crore persons with disability in India and he expects this number to increase to 10 crore by Census 2022 as Government of India has introduced new categories of disability, which is now 21.

Dr. Aggarwal informed, “Under the National Action Plan for Persons with Disability, the government aims to train 22 lakh people by 2022. However, so far, not even one lakh disabled people are trained.”

The event was also addressed by Mr. Sanjay Bhatia, Chairman, Port Trust of India, Mr. Ashish Kumar Chauhan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bombay Stock Exchange, Ms. Rosimar da Silva Suzano, Dean of Consular Corps Mumbai and Consul General of Brazil in Mumbai and Mr. Edgard D. Kagan, Consul General, US Consulate General, Mumbai, among others.

The event featured exhibitions, panel sessions, competition and job fair, where persons with disabilities demonstrated their talent to 25 national and multinational companies which included Wipro, Sutherland, Reliance Retail, McDonalds, Citibank, Tata Chroma, Comfort Furnishing etc. Of the 350 specially-abled candidates who participated, 200 were recruited for various posts.

450 persons with disability participated in competitions across 10 vocational skills such as floral arrangement, cookery, jewellery, e-sports, tailoring, beauty therapy, desktop publishing, character designing, among others.

In photo

From (L-R): Ms. Rupa Naik, Ms. Rosimar da Silva Suzano, Dr. Jitender Aggarwal and Mr. Edgard D. Kagan.