This morning, I got on the Palle Velugu bus from Mangalagiri to Penumaka - not as a minister, but as someone who just wanted to listen. I sat with Divyang brothers and sisters. Some were heading to work, some to the market, and some were simply going about their day. As the bus moved, so did the conversations - quiet, honest and full of the kind of strength that doesn't announce itself.
One conversation, though, stayed with me more than the rest. A young man, studying to become a special educator at JNTU, turned to me and said something I won't forget easily. He quoted Amartya Senโs โDouble Handicapโ concept, telling me that persons with disabilities carry more financial burden than the general public just to live the same life.
"This Divyanga Shakti policy doesn't just reduce that burden," he said. "It gives us the chance to contribute - to the state, to the country. That's what makes it meaningful." Here was a young man, navigating his own challenges every day, already training himself to serve others with disabilities, and he was thinking about nation-building. That kind of perspective is humbling.
Divyanga Shakti isn't really about transportation. It's about a person being able to leave their house in the morning and not have to think twice about how they'll get there. It's dignity in something as ordinary as a commute, and as that young man from JNTU reminded me, it's also an investment in what our people can give back when given the chance.
I'm grateful to Hon. PM Sri @narendramodi ji, whose belief in a truly inclusive India has never wavered, and to Hon. CM Sri @ncbn garu, who has worked hard to make that belief real on the ground - in villages, in towns, on routes like the one I travelled today.
We have more to do. But today reminded me exactly why. #DivyangaShakti