DEPwD, ALIMCO and EkStep Sign MoU for Purple Dots Digital Inclusion Initiative

The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, the Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO) and EkStep Foundation, Bengaluru, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in New Delhi to create an institutional framework for the Purple Dots – Unified Benefits Interface (UBI) Initiative.

Conceptualised by DEPwD, the initiative addresses a gap that goes beyond the mere existence of benefits and services: whether a person with disability can find the right opportunity, service or support at the right time and place.

At the centre of the design is a simple digital profile, called a Purple Dot, through which a person with disability can indicate who they are and what they need — employment, assistive technology such as a wheelchair, skill development, training or other support. Employers, service providers, NGOs, philanthropic organisations and other institutions can create their own dots to signal the opportunities, services and resources they offer.

By linking these profiles through an open and interoperable digital infrastructure, the initiative aims to build a connected ecosystem where needs and opportunities can find each other locally and efficiently. An open digital protocol is intended to let ecosystem stakeholders respond to identified needs in real time, shifting disability inclusion from fragmented access towards seamless discovery, linkage and participation.

The MoU sets out a collaborative framework to take the initiative from concept to implementation and scale. It envisages helping persons with disabilities discover and connect with government entitlements, services, employment opportunities, training programmes, assistive devices and support systems offered by government departments, private-sector entities, civil society organisations, NGOs, philanthropic institutions and other partners.

Rather than building isolated systems for individual schemes or institutions, the initiative seeks to let different actors in the disability ecosystem connect through an interoperable framework, improving the visibility and reach of services and opportunities that already exist.

EkStep Foundation, a philanthropy involved in conceiving and architecting Digital Public Infrastructure and Digital Public Good initiatives for large-scale societal transformation, is partnering with DEPwD and ALIMCO to bring its experience of building open and collaborative digital ecosystems to the disability sector. The partnership aims to strengthen the ability of local ecosystem players to discover one another and connect persons with disabilities with relevant services, opportunities and support, building on capabilities that already exist across the country.

The collaboration brings together DEPwD's mandate and nationwide reach, ALIMCO's experience and capabilities in the disability sector, and EkStep Foundation's work in enabling ecosystem-led digital innovation at scale. The partners seek to make support and services more accessible, discoverable and connected for persons with disabilities across districts, while strengthening the participation of government, industry, civil society and other stakeholders.

The MoU-signing ceremony was attended by Ms. Manmeet Kaur Nanda, Additional Secretary; Shri Ashish Thakre, Director; Shri Pradeep A., Director; and Shri Sandeep Kumar, Under Secretary, from DEPwD. From ALIMCO, Shri Pankaj Dwivedi, Assistant Manager, and Ms. Priya Grover, Assistant Manager, were present. Shri Ikpreet Singh, Director, and Shri Gaurav Gupta represented EkStep Foundation, Bengaluru.

The initiative envisages a future in which a person's need does not remain invisible and an available opportunity does not remain undiscovered, with digital connectivity acting as a practical bridge between persons with disabilities and the ecosystem of services, opportunities and support around them.