North Zone RegionalAbilympics in Lucknow Celebrates Skills of Persons with Disabilities; Disability Empowerment Minister Narendra Kumar Kashyap Pledges Support for Bigger Vision
Lucknow — The North Zone Regional Abilympics& Conference 2025 commenced today at the Atal Convention Centre, Lucknow, celebrating the exceptional skills and aspirations of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) from across eight northern states — Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Delhi.
Organized by the National Abilympic Association of India (NAAI) in collaboration with Sarthak Educational Trust, and supported by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), TPCDT, and IndusInd Bank, the event brings together over 100 participants to compete in trades including Photography, Painting & Decoration, Basket Making, Crochet, Massage, Hairdressing, Cake Decoration, Character Designing, Engineering Design, and more.
Inaugurating the event, Narendra Kumar Kashyap, Minister for Backward Classes Welfare and Disabled Empowerment, Uttar Pradesh, applauded the initiative, saying, “I applaud the Abilympics initiative, a strong step toward skilling and job mapping for Divyangjan as they work toward the 2027 Finland goal. Sarthak’s efforts to empower Persons with Disabilities through skills and employment are commendable. The state is eager to collaborate with organizations like Sarthak to achieve a larger vision of sustainable empowerment for every Divyangjan. Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh is complementing these efforts with several welfare schemes. With a ₹1950 crore budget focused on early interventions, vocational training, and livelihood opportunities, the state is committed to ensuring that every Divyangjan thrives and contributes to our shared progress.”
Widely known as the “Olympics of Abilities” or the “Work Skills Olympics for People with Disabilities,” the Abilympics are designed to celebrate talent, resilience, and vocational excellence among PwDs while building pathways to employment and inclusion.The event also includes a National Conference bringing together leaders from government, corporates, NGOs, and academia to discuss inclusive skilling, employment gaps, and sustainable systems of empowerment.
Dr. Jitender Aggarwal, Secretary-General of NAAI and Founder & CEO of Sarthak Educational Trust, stated, “This is more than a competition. It’s a movement to unlock economic dignity, confidence, and careers for millions of PwDs across India. At Sarthak, we are not just building skills—we are building futures. Our mission to empower 10 million PwDs and facilitate over 2 lakh sustainable job placements by 2027 is what drives our every effort.”
The event also highlighted findings from Sarthak Educational Trust’s Global Resource Centre, which revealed alarming gaps. “Over 64% of India’s 2.68 crore PwDs remain unemployed, with a 70% shortage of trained rehabilitation professionals and fewer than 60 accessibility auditors nationwide. These insights stress the urgent need for systemic reforms in skilling and employment”, added Dr Aggarwal. Sarthak, over the years has trained around 1lac Divyangjan and placed them in various job profiles in noted organisations in India.
With a vision 2030, Sarthak Educational Trust is planning to launch Sarthak Global University, which is aimed to fill in the gaps in Early Intervention and therapy for infants and children, shortage of rehabilitation professionals and more. The plan is to start with 5 schools in 20 departments providing 200+ courses which is aimed to train 10,000+ professionals specializing in Disability rehab, inclusive education, assistive technology and more. This will enable 100,000+ PwD’s through education, vocational training, and skill development programs.
“I have a locomotor disability and don’t have proper limbs but through my craft, I’ve found confidence and independence. Competing at the Abilympics made me realize that our abilities can create opportunities. I’m excited to take this energy to the Nationals and hopefully represent India in Finland”, shared participant Bharti Saini from Nainital (Uttarakhand) who participated in Painting.
The winners from this regional round will advance to the National Abilympics 2025 to be held in Gurugram this November, where Team India will be selected to represent the country at the 11th International Abilympics in Finland (2027).
This edition of the North Zone Abilympicscelebrates skill and reinforces a powerful message — when given the right platform, Persons with Disabilities can lead, innovate, and thrive.
