Milestones: On Receiving the 15th NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Awards 2024

यत्र प्रतिभा अवसर प्राप्नोतिही। (जहाँ प्रतिभा अवसर प्राप्त करती है)

“Yatra Pratibha Avsara Prapnotihi” [where talent meets opportunity]

~ Motto of the Indian Premier League (IPL)

I’m elated to share about receiving the 15th NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award, 2024 [Jury Appreciation] for my research, advocacy, and campaign endeavours on the need for universal accessibility as an integral component for achieving disability-led and inclusive climate action, strategies, and plans (SDG 10 and 13) as we ‘build forward better’ to ensure we ‘leave no one behind’.

Visual/Image Description [Alt Text]: NCPEDP Awardee Video’s Cover Image Screenshot with the logos of NCPEDP, Universal Design Awards, and Mphasis at the top with the following texts — “Presenting ‘The Sangyan’” (Heading) and “to address climate change’s impact on disabled persons.” (Sub-heading) along with three following pictures — 1. Picture of Abhishek with G20 India 2023 facade, 2. Picture of Abhishek with G20 Brazil — Y20 Pre Summit 2024 banner, and 3. Picture of Abhishek at the G20 Brazil’s UNESCO MGIEP Dialogue Panel at Belém (Brazil).

I thank Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, for facilitating me with the certificate of the Universal Design Award during the Award Presentation Ceremony held at The Lalit New Delhi on 14th of August 2024.

Visual/Image Description [Alt Text]: Image from the felicitation ceremony of the 15th NCPEDP — MPHASIS Universal Design Awards 2024. Adv. Abhishek Kumar, is there on the stage receiving the Universal Design Award certificate from Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, along with Deepa Nagraj, Dr. Sapna Poti, Sumit Chauhan, and Major General Ian Cardozo, in the background.

I also thank all the dignitaries for gracing the occasion and for their insightful words of encouragement, including — Rajesh Agarwal, Secretary, DEPwD, MSJE; Shubranshu S Acharya, Chairman, National Small Industries Corporation Ltd.; Deepa Nagraj, Senior Vice President & Head — ESG, Sparkle Innovation Ecosystem, and Communications, Mphasis; Arvind Gupta, Jury Chair; Arman Ali, Executive Director, NCPEDP; Pradeep Gupta, Chairman, NCPEDP; Dr. Sapna Poti, Director, Strategic Alliances, Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India; Major General Ian Cardozo, Trustee, NCPEDP; and Sumit Chauhan, CSR Head, Mphasis; among others.

Visual/Image Description [Alt Text]: Image from the felicitation ceremony of the 15th NCPEDP-MPHASIS Universal Design Awards 2024, with all the awardees posing for the group photo on the stage, alongside the esteemed guests, jury members, and Chairperson and Executive Director of NCPEDP, with the event poster in the background.

I’m grateful to the Jury Members (Arvind Gupta, Jury Chair, Former Head, MyGov.in, Head & Co-Founder, Digital India Foundation; Deepa Nagraj, Jury Member, Senior Vice President & Head-ESG, Sparkle Innovation, Ecosystem, and Communications, Mphasis; Shilpi Kapoor, Jury Member, CEO, Barrier Break; Anil Prabhakar, Jury Member, Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras; Dr. Huma Masood, Jury Member, Senior Gender and Education Specialist, UNESCO; and Aravindan Madhava Murthy, Jury Member, Chief Operating Officer, ANZ) of the 15th NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award, 2024 for considering me as the recipient of this prestigious award. I also extend my gratitude to the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) Team for curating and facilitating the whole process (including hosting the Award Ceremony).

I feel honoured and humbled by this acknowledgement and recognition of my data-driven and evidence-based research, advocacy, and campaign endeavours toward the intersectionality of climate change and disability as well as for my pursuit of triggering, catalyzing and nudging law and policy formulation and its effective implementation to achieve disability-led and inclusive climate action and disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction by building climate-resilient and universally accessible society.

Visual/Image Description [Alt Text]: Screenshot from the Brochure of the 15th Universal Design Awards 2024 (Page 11) with an image of Adv. Abhishek Kumar from G20 India 2023. G20 Brazil 2024, and 18th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change (CBA18) in Tanzania. Along atr the following textual content: “JURY APPRECIATION: Adv. Abhishek Kumar, Ranchi, Jharkhand. Advocate Abhishek Kumar, a National Law University Delhi graduate and Bar Council of Delhi registrant, founded ‘The Sangyan’ to address climate change’s impact on persons with disability. An NCPEDP-Javed Abidi Fellow, he collaborated with UN India, UNICEF NYHQ, UN Women India, G20, and other international bodies. Abhishek represented India at the 18th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation in Tanzania and the G20 Brazil Youth Pre-Summit 2024. His contributions to disability advocacy include inputs to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment N° 26 and the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ General Comment on persons with disabilities in Risky Situations. He co-drafted the ‘Charter of Demands: Call to Action for Disability Justice” and the “Ink For Inclusion” Campaign, and authored “A Call for Disability-Inclusive Climate Action in India and Globally” with the Disability-Inclusive Climate Collaboration (India). He co-authored an article on accessible architecture for Harvard Law School’s symposium and penned “We need a Disability-led Climate Action” for UNICEF’s Voices of Youth. Abhishek’s work extends to access audits, publishing on law, environment, and disability, and was honored on Diversability’s 5th Annual 2024 D-30 Disability Impact List for his advocacy efforts.”

I also congratulate all my co-awardees (Dr. Aditya Sanjay Lohiya, Swarnalatha J, Minal Singhvi, Anand Kishore Malakar, Ar. Kavya Poornima Balajepalli, Mohamed Yasir. N, Sunil Kumar Jain, Hasin Vaidya, Dr. Sagar Bhalerao, Akumen Artificial Intelligence Pvt. Ltd., Dextroware Devices Pvt. Ltd., Museum of Art & Photography, Orkids Foundation, National Association for the Blind, Delhi and Ms. Radhika Alkazi), nominees and other disability leaders for their impactful work towards our shared goal of universal accessibility, disability inclusion and justice, and sustainable development that have a spillover effect encouraging one and all within and beyond the sector and community to continue our journey towards a just and fair society.

Visual/Image Description [Alt Text]: 15th NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award, 2024 Winner List.

Ultimately, I offer my salutations to Maa Saraswati for her blessing in my Yatra of finding Swadharma, performing Puruṣārthas, and fulfilling ‘Pancha Rna’.

I thank my incredible friend and colleague, Ar. Kavya Poornima Balajrpalli, for working together towards a Climate-Resilient, Universally Accessible, and Inclusive India (Bharat), that has greatly contributed to shaping my personal and professional journey.

References —

1. 15th NCPEDP — Mphasis Universal Design Awards 2024 [https://ncpedp.org/15th-ncpedp-mphasis-universal-design-awards-2024/]
2. Brochure of the 15th Universal Design Awards 2024 [https://ncpedp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/WEB-Brochure-2024_web.pdf]
3. Live streaming of the 15th NCPEDP-MPHASIS Universal Design Awards 2024 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShjJj0nj5d0]

Visual/Image Descriptions [AltText] —

Image 1: NCPEDP Awardee Video’s Cover Image Screenshot with the logos of NCPEDP, Universal Design Awards, and Mphasis at the top with the following texts — “Presenting ‘The Sangyan’” (Heading) and “to address climate change’s impact on disabled persons.” (Sub-heading) along with three following pictures — 1. Picture of Abhishek with G20 India 2023 facade, 2. Picture of Abhishek with G20 Brazil — Y20 Pre Summit 2024 banner, and 3. Picture of Abhishek at the G20 Brazil’s UNESCO MGIEP Dialogue Panel at Belém (Brazil).

Image 2: Image from the felicitation ceremony of the 15th NCPEDP — MPHASIS Universal Design Awards 2024. Adv. Abhishek Kumar, is there on the stage receiving the Universal Design Award certificate from Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, along with Deepa Nagraj, Dr. Sapna Poti, Sumit Chauhan, and Major General Ian Cardozo, in the background.

Image 3: Image from the felicitation ceremony of the 15th NCPEDP-MPHASIS Universal Design Awards 2024, with all the awardees posing for the group photo on the stage, alongside the esteemed guests, jury members, and Chairperson and Executive Director of NCPEDP, with the event poster in the background.

Image 4: Screenshot from the Brochure of the 15th Universal Design Awards 2024 (Page 11) with an image of Adv. Abhishek Kumar from G20 India 2023. G20 Brazil 2024, and 18th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change (CBA18) in Tanzania. Along atr the following textual content: “JURY APPRECIATION: Adv. Abhishek Kumar, Ranchi, Jharkhand. Advocate Abhishek Kumar, a National Law University Delhi graduate and Bar Council of Delhi registrant, founded ‘The Sangyan’ to address climate change’s impact on persons with disability. An NCPEDP-Javed Abidi Fellow, he collaborated with UN India, UNICEF NYHQ, UN Women India, G20, and other international bodies. Abhishek represented India at the 18th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation in Tanzania and the G20 Brazil Youth Pre-Summit 2024. His contributions to disability advocacy include inputs to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment N° 26 and the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ General Comment on persons with disabilities in Risky Situations. He co-drafted the ‘Charter of Demands: Call to Action for Disability Justice” and the “Ink For Inclusion” Campaign, and authored “A Call for Disability-Inclusive Climate Action in India and Globally” with the Disability-Inclusive Climate Collaboration (India). He co-authored an article on accessible architecture for Harvard Law School’s symposium and penned “We need a Disability-led Climate Action” for UNICEF’s Voices of Youth. Abhishek’s work extends to access audits, publishing on law, environment, and disability, and was honored on Diversability’s 5th Annual 2024 D-30 Disability Impact List for his advocacy efforts.”

Image 5: 15th NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award, 2024 Winner List.

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