Critical to the disability justice movement, the Sugamya Bharat App usage decline raises concerns

Accessibility is critical to the disability justice movement and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016 (RPD Act). While the Act does not define accessibility, it relies on it as a core principle rooted in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

Equal access ensures that individuals can fully and easily use, enjoy, and participate in buildings, facilities, programs, services, job opportunities, and technology. It also requires that everyone, regardless of ability, is provided the same priority, security, and safety level in accessing these spaces and services.

Section 40 of the Act requires the Central Government to establish accessibility standards for the physical environment, information, and communication. The AIC responds to this obligation, focusing on these three aspects as key verticals to promote an inclusive and accessible society.

What kinds of complaints can be made through it? How are these complaints resolved?

The Sugamya Bharat mobile application is an initiative under the Accessible India Campaign, rooted in jan-bhagidari (people’s participation), a key element of many policies under the Modi government. Jan-bhagidari emphasises collective action, harnessing citizen power to aid in policy implementation. It encourages citizens to monitor issues, flag concerns to the government, and inspire others to contribute to governance.

The app provides a platform for disabled and able-bodied citizens to report accessibility issues, offering access in 23 languages, photo uploads and geo-tagging features. Once a complaint is filed, it undergoes an initial screening and is forwarded to the relevant authorities. The designated nodal officer then engages with the property owner, whether government or private, to resolve the issue. The complaint is escalated to a higher authority if no action is taken within a set timeframe. Throughout the process, the complainant is to be kept informed of the progress.

What does the data suggest?

Recent RTI data shows that the Sugamya Bharat App has achieved a 75% resolution rate for complaints. However, the data also highlights fewer complaints and a decreasing resolution rate over the past three years.

In the 2023-24 period, the app received 264 complaints, less than half of the 647 complaints recorded in the 2021-22 period. Although there has been a reduction in the total number of complaints, the effectiveness of resolving these complaints has notably decreased.

In 2021-22, 87.6% of complaints were resolved, reflecting a relatively high level of effectiveness. However, by 2023-24, the resolution rate plummeted to 46.6%. This significant decline indicates that fewer complaints have been filed, and the ability to address and resolve these issues has deteriorated substantially over the same period.

An app user in Karnataka who used the app to flag an accessibility concern regarding the infrastructure of the State Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities (SCPD) Karnataka — ironically, an office mandated to take action against private and government authorities for violations of the RPD Act, including accessibility in built infrastructure — mentioned, "Despite repeatedly raising complaints through the government app since 2021, I have yet to receive any updates or actions taken on my issues. The platform is plagued by technical errors, and ultimately, it fails to serve its purpose, leaving users frustrated and without recourse."

This decrease in resolution efficiency means that, even though fewer complaints are being reported, the app needs help effectively addressing these issues. This suggests a need for improvements in the process to better handle and resolve complaints despite reducing the number of reports.

Reflecting a pattern of missed targets under the AIC

This data is concerning, especially regarding the broader issues facing the Sugamya Bharat Campaign (Accessible India Campaign). Not only have the campaign's targets for making buildings and services accessible been missed—violating the statutory deadlines of five years for buildings and two years for services—but the campaign has also failed to meet its own goals despite receiving three extensions.

When the Accessible India Campaign was launched in 2015, it set ambitious goals to improve accessibility for persons with disabilities. Specifically, the campaign aimed to make 50 to 100 government buildings in each state accessible, enhance accessibility at airports and railway stations, and ensure that 25% of government-owned public transport carriers were fully accessible by mid-2017.

However, the campaign needs further intervention to meet its targets. Initially set for 2017, 2018, and 2019, the deadlines for making government buildings, transport, and websites accessible were extended to March 2020 and June 2022. This reflects ongoing difficulties in achieving the campaign’s goals.

Data shared in Parliament in 2022 highlighted that progress could be faster.

While nearly half of the State and Union Territory government buildings identified for accessibility improvements during audits in 2016-2017 have been made accessible, only about 8% of public buses are fully accessible. The campaign, which was supposed to conclude in June 2022, has yet to meet these key targets.

As per the recently released 2024 annual report of the empowerment of persons with disabilities department, only 95 central government websites have been made accessible.

Additionally, of the 6,700 state and Union Territory (UT) government websites, just 676 are reported as accessible. However, only 476 of these accessible websites are live—meaning they are fully functional, available for public use, and not under development or maintenance. Therefore, less than 10% of websites are accessible and available for public use.

As the discourse shifts towards integrating AI and other technological enhancements, it is imperative to address these foundational issues. While digitisation offers substantial potential for improving efficiency, it must be implemented with a keen awareness of its limitations. There is a risk of technological solutions detaching from the lived realities of individuals with disabilities for whom these interventions are intended.

Rahul Bajaj, advocate and co-founder of Mission Accessibility, an organisation working with the department to revamp the app, noted, “We are actively redesigning the app to make it fully accessible for persons with disabilities, with the support of ISTEM. An accessible version has already been launched on both Android and iOS platforms. Moving forward, we are continuously addressing any impediments users face and remain committed to supporting the government in every possible way to ensure the app is more effective and that complaints are resolved promptly and efficiently.”

Shrutika Pandey is a lawyer and researcher specialising in access to justice. She engages in developing strategies to advance the rights of undertrial prisoners through legal representation, research, and advocacy. The views expressed are personal.