Rehabilitation Council of India
The RCI was constituted by an Act of Parliament. The Indian Parliament passed the RCI Act of 1992 that came into force in 1993. It is now mandatory for all categories of persons notified by the Act to come under the purview of RCI.

The subject of disability has been neglected for the past 50 years. The nation has not been able to address the basic issues of prevention, intervention, promotion and rehabilitation in an adequate manner. In order to meet the manpower requirements of the nation all the 19 professions that have been recognised by the Act need to be upgraded and professionalized.

India is a vast country and has a very large rural population. Services have so far mostly reached urban areas. There is an urgent need for these services in the rural areas. Support and cooperation from medical colleges, universities, NGOs, State Governments, other institutions and foreign agencies is essential for achieving these objectives This calls for coordinated efforts from various organizations for converging services at individual, family and community levels.

RCI is taking a step towards this by playing a positive role in the standardization of training programmes and in the development of manpower in the field of special education and rehabilitation.

The RCI has conducted the Bridge Course in order to clear the backlog of untrained personnel working in the area of disability. Besides this the RCI will also conduct orientation training of PHC doctors/para-medicals in order to equip them with the knowledge on social and economic independence of people with disabilities. RCI also plans the development of manpower through new centres and by doubling the capacity of existing training centres.

RCI also proposes to constitute RCI Fellowships for students doing advanced studies in the field of disability in India and abroad to promote the professionals with a scientific temper.