Enabling environments

The differently-abled remain excluded

Indians can justifiably take pride in the country's stellar performance at the 2024 Paris Summer Paralympics with 29 medals - seven gold, nine silver, and 13 bronze - participating in just four of the 23 disciplines on 19 at Tokyo, with India shooting up on the medal tally rankings from 24 to 18. India is only the third developing country to figure among the top 20 in the medal tally at Paris, behind Brazil (at number 6) and Uzbekistan (at number 13). Much of this success has been attributed to robust support from the Government of India, which spent 274 crore on this edition of the Paralympics, up from ₹26 crore spent during the Tokyo games, and hired 77 coaches (as against 45 at Tokyo). All 84 athletes representing India were backed by government schemes with access to international coaches and exposure to international events. This year, a recovery centre was established at the Games Village for Indian para-athletes.