260 Banking and Financial Words Added to ISL Dictionary
Indian Supreme Court's Landmark Decision: Granting Interpreter for Deaf Lawyer During Virtual Hearing.
In a unique gesture, Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud in the Supreme Court of India allowed an interpreter for a Deaf lawyer during a virtual hearing on 22nd September 2023. During the proceeding, advocate Sanchita Ain asked the Chief Justice for his permission to allow an interpreter for the benefit of her Deaf colleague, advocate Sarah Sunny, who was appearing online. Sarah Sunny was appearing in item number 37 in the court list, which dealt with a petition filed by the Javed Abidi Foundation seeking equal participation and implementation of rights of the disabled population. Chief Justice Chandrachud agreed readily to the lawyer’s request. The court immediately opened a separate online window for the interpreter, Saurav Roychowdhury, who was seen using sign language to communicate the court proceedings. He did not wait for item number 37 to begin, but began interpreting every case that the court heard. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and CJI both commended the interpreter. Meanwhile on the occasion of International Day of Sign Languages, to equip the deaf with the vocabulary to understand and communicate on terms related to bonds, equities, trade life cycle and financial markets and retail banking, the government has included 260 signs of financial terms in the Indian Sign Language dictionary. Developed by Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC) in collaboration with Societe Generale and V-shesh, the financial terms have been developed and validated by deaf persons and the employees working in banks and financial companies. Officials at the DEPWD said that inclusion of financial terms for the first time in ISL will be useful for deaf and even hearing people working together in the financial and banking sectors and will help improve the employment prospects of deaf job-seeking youth. The ISL dictionary currently has 10,000 terms. The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPWD) under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said that the aim is to reach a total of 30,000 terms in the years ahead. In another good news, 4 representatives from the All India Federation of the Deaf met President Droupadi Murmu on the occasion of International Day of Sign Languages. The team spoke to the President on various topics related to the Deaf community such as education, training, employment and even recognition of ISL. The President gave a positive response to the requests.
