Achieving Success of "Accessible India Campaign" Through Universal Design Education in India

The Prime Minister, "Shri Narendra Modi" of India, launched "Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan" (Accessible India Campaign), on 3rd, December 2015. It is a nationwide flagship campaign for achieving universal accessibility for "Persons with Disabilities" and to create an enabling and barrier free environment, with a focus on three verticals; "Built Environment", "Public Transportation" and "Information and Communication Technologies" [1]. The Accessible India Campaign comprises of the following key components:- (i) Create Mass Awareness; (ii) Capacity Building; (iii) Interventions (Technology solutions, Legal framework, Resource generation); (iv) Leverage corporate sector efforts including CSR resources; (v) Leadership endorsements [1] . In the key components stated above two major components are; 1. Mass Awareness and 2. Capacity Building. To achieve both these components, the need is to develop a knowledge base through which stakeholders associated with built environment development and creation can be brought at one platform and awareness towards universal accessibility can be created among the people at large. Thus this study is an attempt to identify the possibilities to make the "Accessible India Campaign" a success through "Universal Design Education" and to establish and validate the need of universal design in making the "Accessible India Campaign" a success. The study attempts to establish the need of "Universal Design Education' in India. The need of a discipline with which the designers at all levels of design ranging from product, interiors, architecture and planning of built environment can create sustainable, accessible, living environment in India.