The Bill pending on HIV/AIDS for almost two years has been demanded by the society of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) to the government to table it in the forthcoming budget session of Parliament.
The PLHIV activists and the Lawyer’s Collective representatives orchestrated a press conference here to keep forwarding plight of the infected persons and said the proposed legislation would support the issue of discrimination and protect the HIV-positive people’s right.
The Indian Network for PLHIV said that it would submit a letter having signature with 20,000 contenders to the Prime Minister’s Office in support of the proposed legislation.
They were of the view that only a law could bring assistance to millions of HIV positive suffering people and could provide justice against discrimination to them at the workplace and in hospitals.
Discrimination is a big issue. Since it is not applicable to the private sector there is need of a law applicable to the private sector. We have based our laws on the policies but policies cannot overwrite other laws, so you do require a law, said a representative of the PLHIV.
Many people infected with HIV have lost jobs, been thrown out of homes and been refused treatment, waiting for government bureaucracy to clear the final draft of the HIV/AIDS Bill in Parliament.
The HIV/AIDS Bill was drafted by the Lawyers’ Collective (HIV/AIDS) unit after extensive research and nationwide discussion with diverse stakeholders. The final draft was prepared in 2006 and since then the bill has been lying with the Union Law Ministry.
India has nearly 2.5 million people infected with HIV. According to the latest data of the 1.1 billion population of India, the people infected with HIV cases are far less than South Africa and Nigeria.
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