Global fest on empowerment for persons with disabilities to be held from Oct 9-12 in Goa

Panaji: The International Purple Fest-2025, a global event that celebrates inclusivity and empowerment for persons with disabilities (PwDs), will be held from October 9-12 in Panaji, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced on Thursday. Speaking to reporters here, Sawant said the festival aims to change mindset and encourage citizens to look at differently abled people from "sympathy to empowerment" angle. The CM, flanked by Goa Minister for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Subhash Phal Desai, emphasised that PwDs need to be empowered. "Also, just awareness about differently abled person is not enough, we need to have strong action to empower them," he insisted. The International Purple Fest is a landmark global event promoting inclusion and accessibility, Sawant noted.

The annual event is hosted by the Goa Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and the Office of the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and the United Nations. The CM said the 2024 edition of the International Purple Fest had participants from 15 countries and organisers are expecting that number to go up this year. Sawant disclosed that 12 per cent of Goa's population is differently-abled either physically or psychologically. Sawant observed that while people with physical disability manage to get formal education, challenges arise when it comes to educating persons with intellectual disability. The Goa government has decided to impart skills to differently abled persons and their training would be considered as a course on par with Class 10 or 12 education of the state board, he said. "Once they are skilled they will get certificate which will be equivalent to Class 10 or 12. That will help them in applying for jobs. There is already a provision for 4 per cent reservation for differently abled persons in jobs in government establishments," he maintained.