The Road Transport & Highways Ministry Of India (MORTH) has amended the motor vehicle norms regarding the driving license (DL). As per the new modified norms now a person with mild or medium color blindness can apply for a driving permit.
The Notification
The press release dated 26 June 2020 notifies us of an amendment regarding the eligibility of partial color blind citizens to apply for a driver’s license. The ministry has marked this incident as a major decision towards empowering ‘divyangjan’. The notification also goes along to mark that
“The Ministry has been taking many measures to enable divyangjan citizens to avail transport-related services and especially relating to the obtaining of the Driving Licence. The Advisories issued in regard to facilitating driving licence to the divyangjan and further an advisory for people with monocular vision have been issued earlier.”
The ministry has stated that they took up this discussion after some representations presented to them which pointed towards the difficulties faced by mild or partially color blind citizens while applying for driver’s permit because of some restrictions imposed through the declaration of physical fitness or medical certificate.
The government also laid emphasis that this decision is in compliance with the recent medical considerations. They sought advice from experts in the field and the recommendations pointed towards this very conclusion. They also mark that we are matching up with other countries with this decision, as a lot of them already banished the restriction.