India’s disability welfare system does not suffer from a lack of schemes or resources. The problem is that central and state programmes often work in parallel rather than together.
This ecosystem is built around a simple goal: enabling persons with disabilities (PwDs) and senior citizens to live with greater independence, dignity, and participation. Central to this is timely access to assistive technology and support services.
Delivering these services requires a broad network of stakeholders. The Union government frames policy, provides funding, and supports implementation through specialised institutions. State governments deliver welfare through social welfare departments, district administrations, rehabilitation centres, and partnerships with civil society organisations. Together, they form a layered architecture of schemes, delivery mechanisms, and digital platforms.
This institutional depth is one of India’s greatest strengths. It has expanded the reach of disability welfare over the past decade. Yet the same federal structure also presents an opportunity for stronger coordination.
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The case of Tamil Nadu
Central and state programmes often function as distinct systems, with separate administrative processes and beneficiary databases. As a result, agencies have limited visibility into each other’s coverage.
Greater administrative convergence can reduce duplication, strengthen last-mile delivery and improve beneficiary access. Tamil Nadu illustrates both this challenge and the opportunity to address it.
In 2025-26, the state announced a Rs 125 crore programme to provide advanced assistive devices for people with disabilities, as part of a longer running scheme. This already runs alongside the Centre’s Scheme of Assistance to Persons with Disabilities for Purchase/Fitting of Aids and Appliances (ADIP) and Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana (RVY). Both are implemented through the Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO) and registered on a shared central portal, ARJUN.
The recently announced Divyang Sahara Yojana further aims to strengthen the production and availability of high-tech assistive devices such as myoelectric hands, e-Braille readers and smart hearing instruments.
Overlap exists elsewhere in Tamil Nadu as well. In 2022, Tamil Nadu launched the World Bank-funded Tamil Nadu Rights Project, which uses door-to-door enrolment, digital integration and block-level one-stop centres to improve disability service delivery. These mechanisms closely resemble the ARJUN portal and the Pradhan Mantri Divyasha–Vayoshri Kendras at the Union level.
Comparing the two governments’ device lists shows the extent of the overlap: nine of the 15 major categories distributed by Tamil Nadu are also provided under ADIP. Essentially, two well-functioning systems are addressing the same need through separate administrative pathways.
Without a shared beneficiary verification mechanism, the Centre and the states cannot accurately track coverage, resulting in gaps in last-mile delivery and the possibility of duplicate provisioning.
Primary ground observations suggest that, in some cases, beneficiaries received devices through ADIP where the corresponding state mechanism had not reached them. This shows the value of overlapping coverage in filling last-mile gaps. But without a shared beneficiary-verification mechanism, there is no way to tell whether others have been missed entirely, or whether some have received assistance twice.
India’s greatest opportunity, therefore, is not to create new schemes but to administratively converge the institutions that already exist.
Services for PwD are not like crop insurance
This is not an argument against the constitutional division of powers, or about co-branding vs federalism. Assistive technology is not an ordinary welfare benefit. It enables education, employment, mobility, communication and independent living. Delayed access can have lasting consequences for persons with disabilities. Ensuring timely access is therefore not simply a matter of administrative efficiency. It is central to enabling people to exercise their rights and participate fully in society.
States have historically maintained customised regional models for welfare programmes such as health insurance or crop protection. Some, such as Bihar and Jharkhand, have also at different times opted out of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
But assistive technology presents a different policy case. The need for wheelchairs, hearing aids, prosthetic devices, and other assistive technologies does not vary across states in the way agricultural risks do.
Where convergence has remained limited, fiscal constraints have often been a greater challenge than policy differences. This is especially true where states are expected to share implementation costs.
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Toward cooperative administration
The solution does not require institutional redesign, but cooperative administration. The fixes that matter most already exist in law, waiting to be used rather than invented.
The first practical step is simple: bring more states onto the ARJUN portal. Today, applying for an assistive device under Tamil Nadu’s state scheme still relies on manual processes. Digital integration can make this process easier. While state onboarding progressed gradually after the portal launched in 2022, momentum is now building. Recent adoption by Delhi and Rajasthan is a move toward this collaborative approach.
A shared platform gives both the Union and the states access to a single, unified beneficiary database. Crucially, this model preserves state autonomy and full administrative leadership. The payoff is immediate and undeniable. It strengthens last-mile delivery, optimises public spending, and ensures welfare reaches every intended citizen.
Second, ADIP does not need to become a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to deepen state participation. Such a change would only reintroduce the problem of matching funds.
The precedent already exists. Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana (AVYAY) allows states to implement a Central Sector Scheme without mandatory financial contributions. ADIP also has this flexibility. For devices costing above Rs 30,001, the Government of India bears half the cost. A state government, an NGO or another agency may cover the rest, subject to approval. In other words, the legal framework for greater state participation already exists. It could also be supported by joint annual planning between the Centre and the states, as seen in schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM-AJAY).
The building blocks already exist. We simply need to connect them. As India enters the era of the Divyang Sahara Yojana and expands access to advanced assistive technologies, governance will matter as much as innovation. I believe India’s next breakthrough is better coordination, not another scheme. Administrative convergence may not make headlines. But it can improve access, strengthen public spending and power India’s emerging purple economy.
Saundarya Shrotriya is a Fellow with the Embark India Development Fellowship, placed with the ADT Section, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE), Government of India. This article was developed as part of the fellowship, with mentorship from the Department of Youth Affairs and the Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement (GRAAM). Views are personal.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)