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India

Last Updated: 09 December 2014

Casualties and Victim Assistance

Casualties Overview

Total known casualties by end 2013

3,166 (1,077 killed; 2,088 injured; 1 unknown)

Casualties in 2013

23 (2012: 78)

2013 casualties by outcome

3 killed; 20 injured (2012: 11 killed; 66 injured; 1 unknown)

2013 casualties by device type

16 antipersonnel mines; 7 other explosive remnants of war (ERW)

In 2013, the Monitor identified 23 casualties from mines and other ERW in the Republic of India. Of the total casualties for which the age and sex were known,[1] all were men, including 14 military/security personnel. There were nine civilian casualties, including seven child casualties or 78% of all civilian casualties. There were no recorded female casualties, although the sex of four casualties remained unknown. Nearly all incidents occurred in the region of Jammu and Kashmir, with one single casualty recorded outside the region, in Chhattisgarh.[2]

The 23 mine/ERW casualties identified in 2013 represented a significant decrease from the 78 casualties in 2012 and 51 casualties in 2011, but was similar to the 26 casualties recorded in 2010. Such fluctuations in annual casualty figures are not necessarily indicative of trends and can be attributed to the challenges in collecting consistent and accurate data from media and local sources, since India lacks a systematic data collection system.

The cumulative number of casualties in India is not known. Between 1999 and 2013, the Monitor identified 3,166 victim-activated mine/improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and ERW casualties in India (1,077 killed; 2,088 injured; 1 unknown). Nearly half of these casualties were civilians.

Victim Assistance

The total number of survivors is unknown, but at least 2,088 people were injured through the end of 2013.

Assessing victim assistance needs

No efforts were made to assess the needs of mine/ERW survivors in 2013.

Victim assistance coordination

Government coordinating body/ focal point

None; for all persons with disabilities: the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment’s (MSJE) Disability Division

Coordinating mechanism(s)

None

Plan

None

India does not have any specific coordination mechanisms or national plans for mine/ERW victim assistance.

The MSJE coordinated the Indian physical rehabilitation sector. A new Department of Disability Affairs within the MSJE went into effect from May 2012. Its role is to facilitate the empowerment of all persons with disabilities, to regulate physical rehabilitation services and various disability funds, as well as to develop and implement India’s legal framework as it relates to physical disability.[3] The MSJE formed a committee in 2011 to draft new legislation for persons with disabilities to replace the present Persons with Disabilities Act (1995). On 7 February 2014, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill 2014 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India. However, as of October 2014 the bill had not been passed. [4]

In 2014, India stated that “Mine victims are also assisted in rehabilitation through the provision of financial compensation, employment and health assistance. India’s ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) underscores the importance that we attach to victim assistance.”[5] Previously, in 2010 India had similarly reported that “mine victims are assisted with rehabilitation inter alia through financial compensation employment and health care including by providing prosthetics.”[6]

At the Mine Ban Treaty Third Review Conference in Maputo, India stated that its ratification of the CRPD underscores the importance it attaches to victim assistance.[7] India’s Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) Amended Protocol II Article 13 report for the period from April 2013 to March 2014 did not include details of victim assistance provided, and India noted that the situation had remained unchanged since 2006.[8] As in past years, India stated in its CCW Protocol V Article 10 report that reporting on the protection of the civilian population from the effects of ERW was not applicable for India.[9]

Survivor inclusion

Associations of mine survivors were included in the consultative process to draft the national Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill.[10]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[11]

Name of organization

Type of organization

Type of activity

Composite Regional Center

Government

Rehabilitation Center in Poonch, Kashmir

Preetam Spiritual Foundation

National NGO

Support for prosthetics for persons with disabilities, including mine survivors, in Poonch, Kashmir

Hope Disability Center

National NGO

Outreach, referral, prosthetics and orthotics, rehabilitation

Jammu & Kashmir Landmine Survivors (JKLS)

Survivor Association

Support to survivors to obtain legal benefits from the government

Control Arms Foundation and Human Rights Law Network

National NGO

Legal support and advocacy for the rights of mine survivors and other persons with disabilities

Indian Red Cross

National Society

Emergency medical response and transport; referrals for mine/ERW survivors to rehabilitation centers

Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF)

International NGO

Psychosocial care to people wounded by violence and their families in Kashmir

Handicap International (HI)

International NGO

Providing rehabilitation and referral services at the Hope Disability Centre in Gandarbal, Jammu, and Kashmir; promoting the rights of persons with disabilities among local government and communities

ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD)

International

Organization

Training and materials for two training institutes; covered costs of treatment for destitute persons with disabilities at both institutes

ICRC

International Organization

Support for emergency medical response and healthcare in regions affected by violence; provision of materials and training and support for accommodation and transportation for two rehabilitation centers in Jammu and Kashmir; support for the opening of a district rehabilitation center in Nagaland

In 2013, the ICRC continued to provide support for three prosthetic and orthotic centers in Jammu and Kashmir: the Artificial Limb Centre at the Bone and Joint Hospital, Srinagar; the Artificial Limb Centre at the Governmental Medical College, Jammu; and the Voluntary Medicare Society. These ICRC-supported centers assisted 64 mine/ERW survivors to obtain prosthetic limbs in 2013, compared to 23 survivors in 2012 and 50 in 2011. This continues to represent a significant increase in contrast with the period 2000 to 2010, when just 95 survivors were served all together. The ICRC also supported a center in Nagaland and another in Chhattisgarh. However, in May 2013 support to the center in Nagaland was terminated because it had suspended operations, the staff not having received their salaries on time. Overall, 1422 people benefited from various services at ICRC-assisted centers in 2013, which constitutes an increase of up to 15% compared to 2012.[12]

The MSJE reported that the government had established more than 200 district disability rehabilitation centers throughout India. These centers provided comprehensive rehabilitation services for medical problems as well as educational services, vocational training, and community awareness. However, these services were concentrated in urban areas.[13]

Despite prosthetics being, in theory, available to anyone at no charge through the public health system, access to rehabilitation remained difficult for the poorest persons with disabilities due to a range of factors, including the lack of facilities in rural areas; most facilities not being fully operational because of insufficient equipment, materials, and professional staff; long waiting periods to receive care; a lack of awareness of existing services and rights among potential beneficiaries; the need to cover costs for transportation as well as for accommodation and food during treatment; or lack of knowledge of existing opportunities to have those costs covered. [14]

There was reported to be an urgent need for a long-term rehabilitation policy addressing the needs of child survivors and children with disabilities in Jammu and Kashmir.[15]

While many survivors were reported to be receiving a monthly disability allowance, this was considered insufficient to live on.[16]

The government has stated at international meetings that mine survivors and families of those killed by mines are entitled to compensation.[17] Monetary compensation to landmine survivors and family members of people killed is distributed by the Ministry of Defence under a 2006 decree. However, many survivors have not been successful in applying for compensation.[18] A local activist was quoted as saying that a concrete rehabilitation policy for survivors was needed because “The process of compensation is quite tedious. By the time it is complete, people are tired, insane or dead and only a handful of people have actually benefited.”[19] Cases have been brought before the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) which ruled in favor of survivors and for the Ministry of Defense to provide compensation. However, reports show the rulings of the SHRC have remained without effect.[20]

The standard one-time compensation payment from the government is the equivalent of US$1,500, which is inadequate to cover treatment and the future needs of survivors.[21] To pay for medical expenses, families often have to sell their land or livestock, resulting is worsening economic situations overall with no support for livelihoods.[22]

The government program for the universalization of elementary school education, the Education for All Movement (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, SSA), has provisions for paying special attention to children with disabilities.[23] However, SSA was not addressing the needs of child mine/ERW survivors in Poonch district.[24] There were no known economic inclusion initiatives such as livelihoods training or employment measures targeting, or inclusive of, mine/ERW survivors in 2013.[25]

Psychosocial support for survivors continued to be limited. MSF provided mental health and psychosocial care, particularly for conflict and weapons victims at five fixed locations in Srinagar and Baramulla districts of Jammu and Kashmir. Teams also visited victims of violence in Srinagar hospitals and provided psychological first aid, thereby ensuring basic psychological, social, and material needs were being met. In 2013, MSF launched counseling services.[26]

India’s Persons with Disabilities Act 1995 protects the rights of persons with disabilities. However, discrimination in employment, education, and access to healthcare remained pervasive, especially in rural areas. Legislation requires that all public buildings and transportation be accessible for persons with disabilities, though accessibility remained limited.[27]

India ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 1 October 2007.

 



[1] The age of all casualties and the sex of 19 casualties were recorded.

[2] Monitor media monitoring 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2013. For casualty data from previous years, see previous Monitor country profiles for India available on the Monitor website.

[3] ICRC Physical Rehabilitation Programme (PRP), “Annual Report 2013,” Geneva, 2014.

[4] PRS Legislative Research, “The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014,” undated, but accessed on 31 October 2014; and “Government introduces Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill in Rajya Sabha,” The Times of India, 7 February 2014.

[5] Statement of India, Mine Ban Treaty Third Review Conference, Maputo, 27 June 2014.

[6] Statement of India, Tenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, 29 November 2010.

[7] Statement of India, Mine Ban Treaty Third Review Conference, Maputo, 27 June 2014.

[10] Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2011, as appointed by the MSJE, “The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2011,” Hyderabad, 30 June 2011, pp. 39–48.

[11] There are hundreds of service providers (most of which are public or private health or rehabilitation centers) delivering assistance to persons with disabilities in India. The organizations listed here have some specific focus on mine/IED/ERW survivors. ICRC, “Annual Report 2013,” Geneva, May 2014, p. 340; ICRC PRP, “Annual Report 2013,” Geneva, 2014; ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD), “Annual Report 2013,” May 2014, Geneva, p. 22; Hope Rehabilitation Center; Handicap International, “Where we work – India,” undated, but accessed 31 October 2014; MSF, “International Activity Report 2013 – India,” 31 December 2013; and Athar Parvaiz, “Explosives shatter lives in Kashmir,” Asia Times Online, 21 May 2013.

[12] ICRC PRP, “Annual Report 2013,” Geneva, 2014; and ICRC, “Annual Report 2013,” Geneva, May 2014, p. 340.

[13] United States (US) Department of State, “2013 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: India,” Washington, DC, 27 February 2014.

[14] ICRC PRP, “Annual Report 2013,” Geneva, 2014; and report from Monitor victim assistance field mission to Poonch, Jammu, and Kashmir, 26 October to 2 November 2013.

[15] Ashutosh Sharma, “Kashmir: Childhood Under Threat,” Countercurrents.org, 9 July 2013.

[16] Ashutosh Sharma, “Scarred lives: The child victims of conflict,” Countercurrents.org, 3 September 2013; and Baba Umar, “Mines of war maim innocent,” Tehelka Magazine, Vol. 8, Issue 17, 30 April 2011.

[17] Statement of India, Tenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, 29 November 2010; statement by Prabhat Kumar, Permanent Mission of India to the Conference on Disarmament, Second Review Conference, Cartagena, 1 December 2009; and statement by Prabhat Kumar, Permanent Mission of India to the Conference on Disarmament, Ninth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 24–28 November 2008.

[18] Report from Monitor victim assistance field mission to Poonch, Jammu, and Kashmir, 26 October to 2 November 2013; “Mine blast victims in Poonch decry delay in rehabilitation,” Greater Kashmir News, 24 December 2013; “Heavy rainfall worsening landmine peril for Kashmiri farmers,” Thomson Reuters Foundation, 5 November 2013; and Baba Umar, “Mines of war maim innocent,” Tehelka Magazine, Vol. 8, Issue 17, 30 April 2011.

[19]The exploding reality,” The Hindu, 14 June 2013.

[20] Report from Monitor victim assistance field mission to Poonch, Jammu, and Kashmir, 26 October to 2 November 2013; “Despite SHRC recommendations, landmine victims await relief,” Rising Kashmir News, 24 December 2013.

[21] Athar Parvaiz, “Explosives shatter lives in Kashmir,” Asia Times Online, 21 May 2013.

[22] Ashutosh Sharma, “The Bruised Childhood,” Greater Kashmir, 25 August 2012; Heavy rainfall worsening landmine peril for Kashmiri farmers,” Thomson Reuters Foundation, 5 November 2013; and Athar Parvaiz, “Explosives shatter lives in Kashmir,” Asia Times Online, 21 May 2013.

[23] Ministry of Human Resource Development, “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,” undated, but accessed 31 October 2014.

[24] Ashutosh Sharma, “Kashmir: Childhood Under Threat,” Countercurrents.org, 9 July 2013.

[25] Report from Monitor victim assistance field mission to Poonch, Jammu, and Kashmir, 26 October to 2 November 2013.

[26] MSF India, “Providing mental health services in Jammu and Kashmir,” undated, but accessed 31 October 2014; and MSF, “International Activity Report 2013 – India,” 31 December 2013.

[27] US Department of State, “2013 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: India,” Washington, DC, 27 February 2014.