Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya National Institute for Persons with Physical Disabilities (Divyangjan)

Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya National Institute for Persons with Physical Disabilities (Divyangjan) (P.D.U.N.I.P.P.D.) is an autonomous organisation under the administrative and financial control of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India. Dr Jitendra Sharma is the current Director. It originated from a non-governmental organisation started by Shri Nirankar Swaroop in the late 1950s to provide rehabilitation services to children and persons with disabilities, pioneering manpower development in physical and occupational therapy in northern India. The institute was formed when the Jawahar Lal Nehru Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and allied institutions were taken over by the Government of India on 22 May 1975 and converted into an autonomous body in 1976. Its aims include human resource development in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and prosthetics and orthotics, along with outpatient rehabilitation services and research. Services include degree courses affiliated with the University of Delhi, clinical outpatient services, an orthotic and prosthetic fabrication workshop, outreach camps, regional rehabilitation centres, an integrated school for disabled children, counseling services, and a printing press for information dissemination.