Accessibility isn't an afterthought here; it's built in.
In a country where millions live with disabilities, India has long struggled to bridge the distance between need and access. This week, the government released draft rules proposing a centralized Assistive Technology Portal — a framework designed to bring order, affordability, and accountability to the fragmented world of wheelchairs, hearing aids, prosthetics, and emerging technologies. It is an act of institutional imagination: the recognition that access to the tools of daily life is not a privilege but a right, and that rights require systems to become real.
- Millions of persons with disabilities in India have navigated a fragmented, inconsistent landscape to obtain basic assistive devices — a gap the new portal directly targets.
- The draft rules create a three-tier certification system covering everything from wheelchairs to AI-enabled brain-computer interfaces, demanding compliance from manufacturers, importers, and distributors alike.
- A National Assistive Technology Safety Incident Database and a 30-day complaint resolution helpline — accessible via sign language, voice, and text — signal a new accountability architecture.
- Subsidies, insurance coverage, and emergency device replacement during disasters are embedded in the framework, acknowledging that losing a mobility aid in a crisis is a compounding catastrophe.
- The rules remain in draft, and their strength will depend on forthcoming consultations with standards bodies, manufacturers, and disability user organizations — a process that could sharpen or dilute the vision.
India's government has released draft rules this week proposing an online Assistive Technology Portal — a centralized system to manage the certification, procurement, distribution, and complaint resolution of devices that help persons with disabilities move, communicate, and work. The proposal represents an effort to systematize what has long been fragmented: the journey from need to a functioning device.
The framework organizes assistive technology into three tiers. Essential devices like wheelchairs, spectacles, and hearing aids form the foundation. Specialized equipment — prosthetics, cochlear implants, screen readers — occupies the middle tier. Emerging technologies, including AI-enabled systems and brain-computer interfaces, sit at the frontier. Each category carries its own certification pathway and rollout timeline, with compliance required against Bureau of Indian Standards benchmarks before any device reaches a user.
The portal functions as the connective tissue of the entire system — tracking devices from certification through distribution, monitoring availability across districts, and collecting complaints. Procurement will draw only from certified manufacturers through transparent tendering. For devices requiring fitting or customization, integration with public health supply chains is envisioned, with the explicit goal of reaching district and regional levels, not just major cities.
Affordability is structurally embedded: subsidies, reimbursements, and insurance coverage will be available through central and state schemes. Repairs and replacements are included. During disasters, essential devices receive priority replacement — an acknowledgment that losing mobility or hearing in a crisis compounds the emergency itself.
New safety mechanisms include a mandatory investigation process for injuries caused by faulty devices, and a national toll-free helpline offering resolution within 30 days — accessible through Indian Sign Language, voice, and text platforms. The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities is leading the effort, with consultations planned across standards bodies, manufacturers, and user organizations before the rules take legal effect.
India's government is building a new infrastructure for assistive technology—the devices that let people with disabilities move, communicate, and work. A draft set of rules, released this week, proposes an online portal that would handle everything from certifying wheelchairs and hearing aids to processing complaints when something breaks. It's an attempt to systematize what has long been fragmented: the path from a person who needs a device to actually getting one that works.
The framework divides assistive technology into three tiers. Essential devices—wheelchairs, spectacles, hearing aids—are the foundation. Specialized equipment like prosthetics, cochlear implants, and screen readers sit in the middle. Emerging technologies, including AI-enabled systems and brain-computer interfaces, occupy the frontier. Each category will have its own certification pathway, its own timeline for rollout. Before any device reaches a user, it must meet standards set by the Bureau of Indian Standards or another authority the government designates. Manufacturers will have to prove compliance. Importers, distributors, storage facilities—all of them will answer to the rules.
The portal itself becomes the nervous system. It will track devices from certification through procurement, monitor their distribution across districts and regions, and collect complaints. The government plans to source devices only from certified makers, using transparent tendering processes. For essential devices that need fitting or customization—a wheelchair adjusted to a person's body, a hearing aid tuned to their hearing loss—the rules envision integration with existing public health supply chains. The goal is availability at district and regional levels, not just in major cities.
Affordability is written into the framework. The Centre and state governments will design schemes offering subsidies, reimbursements, and insurance coverage. If someone pays out of pocket, they can be reimbursed. Repairs and replacements are covered. During disasters and emergencies, essential devices get priority replacement—recognition that losing mobility or hearing during a crisis is its own catastrophe.
Safety mechanisms are new. A National Assistive Technology Safety Incident Database will record accidents and malfunctions. If someone is injured by a faulty device, an investigation is mandatory. A national toll-free helpline will handle complaints, with a 30-day resolution deadline. The helpline itself will be accessible—Indian Sign Language, voice options, text-based platforms—because accessibility isn't an afterthought here; it's built in.
The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, housed within the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, is driving this. Before the rules become law, the government plans consultations with the Bureau of Indian Standards, the Rehabilitation Council of India, ALIMCO (a state enterprise that manufactures assistive devices), private manufacturers, innovators, and user organizations. The framework is still draft. What happens next depends on whether those conversations sharpen the rules or hollow them out.
Notable Quotes
The government will source devices only from certified manufacturers through transparent tendering processes— Draft Assistive Technology (Standards and Accessibility) Rules, 2025
Special provisions ensure immediate replacement of essential assistive devices during disasters and emergencies— Draft rules framework
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does India need a new framework now? Hasn't assistive technology been available?
It has, but scattered. A person in Delhi might find a good hearing aid; someone in a rural district might not. There's no common standard, no way to know if a device is safe, no clear path to get help if it fails.
So this portal is really about making the system visible?
Exactly. Right now, access depends on where you live, how much money you have, whether you know someone. The portal creates a single entry point. You know where to go, what to expect, what the device should meet.
The three categories—essential, specialized, emerging—that seems like it could create a hierarchy. What if someone needs an emerging technology?
That's the tension. Essential devices get faster rollout, more subsidy, integration with health systems. Emerging tech like brain-computer interfaces will take longer. But the framework at least names them, which means they're not invisible anymore.
What about the safety database? Is that reactive or preventive?
Both. It records what goes wrong—a wheelchair breaks, a hearing aid malfunctions—so patterns emerge. If a manufacturer's devices keep failing, that becomes visible. It's not perfect, but it's accountability where there wasn't any before.
The 30-day complaint resolution—is that realistic?
It's ambitious. But it sets an expectation. Right now, if your device breaks, you might have no recourse at all. Thirty days is a floor, not a ceiling. Whether it holds depends on whether the government actually staffs the helpline.