An Urban Obstacle Course
For many, navigating an Indian city on foot is a game of hop, skip, and jump. Footpaths, where they exist, are rarely just for walking. They serve as parking spots, extensions for shops, garbage dumps, and sites for electricity transformers. Uneven paving
slabs, open manholes, sudden high kerbs, and missing sections force pedestrians onto busy roads, risking their safety with every step. This isn't just an inconvenience; it's a dangerous reality. The Supreme Court has affirmed that citizens have a fundamental right to safe footpaths, yet the gap between policy and reality remains vast. This daily struggle highlights a critical failure in urban planning, turning a simple walk into a hazardous journey for everyone.
More Than Just Wheelchairs
When we talk about step-free access, the image of a wheelchair user often comes to mind, but the beneficiaries of accessible design are far more numerous. Parents with strollers, elderly citizens, people with temporary injuries on crutches, delivery workers with carts, and even someone carrying heavy shopping all benefit from smooth, unobstructed paths. Universal design, a principle that advocates for creating environments usable by all people to the greatest extent possible, argues that inclusivity benefits society as a whole. By designing for the most vulnerable, we create a safer and more convenient environment for every single person navigating the city. An accessible city is simply a better-designed city.
Rights on Paper, Reality on Pavements
India has strong legislation in place. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016, is a comprehensive law that mandates equal opportunity and accessibility. It specifies that public infrastructure, including buildings and footpaths, must be made accessible. The Act replaced a 1995 law, expanding the definition of disability and setting a five-year deadline for existing public buildings to be retrofitted. Campaigns like the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) were launched to achieve these goals. However, implementation has been patchy. Audits repeatedly find that even when features like ramps are installed, they are often too steep, poorly located, or unusable. The journey from legal mandate to lived reality is proving to be a long and difficult one for millions.
Technology and Citizen Action
Frustrated by the slow pace of change, citizens and organisations are turning to technology to highlight the problem and drive accountability. The Sugamya Bharat app, launched by the government, allows users to report accessibility issues in infrastructure. Other initiatives, like the AI-powered 'YesToAccess' app, empower a wider community of volunteers to conduct accessibility audits by simply taking a photo. These community-led assessments have created a vast database, mapping out barrier-free and problematic spaces across the country. By crowdsourcing data on a massive scale, these platforms offer a real-time picture of how accessible India truly is, putting pressure on authorities to act.
