Economic Political Weekly September 8, 2012 vol xlviI no 36 EPW Ranjita Dawn (ranjitad...@yahoo.co.in) is with the department of education, Loreto College, Kolkata.
The fast-changing socio-economic scenario in the country has exposed the vulnerable and the disadvantaged to a host of adjustment issues. In view of this the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken several initiatives to protect the rights of the disabled. A number of legislative measures have been initiated for the r ehabilitation and empowerment of certain categories of disability such as the Rehabilitation Council of India Act (1992), Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995, and the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act (1999). India being one of the signatories of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol adopted on 13 December 2006 at the United Nations, is obliged to organise, strengthen and extend comprehensive habilitation and rehabilitation services and programmes, particularly in the a reas of health, employment, education and social services (Article 26). In 1997, the Government of India incorporated the National Handicapped Fin ance and Development Corporation (NHFDC) in order to help entrepreneurs with disabilities through fi nancial assistance. Besides the policies emphasising vocational empowerment, employment exchanges under the National Employment Services as well as special employment exchanges have been entrusted with the responsibility of placement of persons with disabilities (PWD). These exchanges attempt to secure for the disabled the most satisfying form of employment suitable to their physical and mental poten tialities. At present, 42 special exchanges are in operation. In addition to this, 41 special cells for disabled persons with a special placement offi cer attached september 8, 2012 bilities in India: From Commitments to Outcomes” (2007) report that there has been a 5% drop in the employment rate of people with disabilities in the decade leading up to 2002. The fall in the employment rate of working age disabled people has been from 42% in 1991 to 37% in 2002. What are some of the issues causing this backlog? The differences in the estimates of the disabled population as well as differences in definitions of disabilities adopted by the Census of India 2001 and the National Sample Survey 58th table with 5 columns and 3 rows round have serious implications for national policies and initiatives on essential issues (Table 1, p 21). table end Among the various factors restricting the enforcement of legislative provisions for empowerment of people with disabilities has been the lack of follow-up procedures. In many cases this has been primarily left to the courts. Although it is legally mandatory only for public sector undertakings (PSUs) to have 3% reservation for PWD in their workforce the PSUs that have toed the line such as the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and National Thermal Power Corporation have primarily done so in back-end jobs requiring low-level skills. This also highlights loopholes in the legislative measures both in principle and practice with regard to requirement of specifi c post identification. The list of identifi ed jobs is restricted, often arbitrary and based on the assumption that the characteristics of impairment are exclusive determinants of an individual’s ability to hold a position at a particular skill level. This signifies the tendency to ignore the potential influences of individual characteristics, access to employment services, and the characteristics of the workplace and the labour market. Another significant feature of the q uota policy is that it is applicable only vol xlviI no 36 EPW Economic & Political Weekly COMMENTARY to three types of disability: locomotor, visual and hearing with 1% reservation for each. The number of PWD registered and mentioned on the live register of the special employment exchanges and other exchanges from 1994 through 2003, make it clear that the placement ratio both in the special exchanges and other exchanges is very low, i e, 0.9% and 0.7% respectively in 2003. This refl ects a significant fall in job opportunities in the public sector. Interestingly, the 1995 PWD Act also offers incentives to employers who ensure that at least 5% of their workforce is composed of PWD. So far, the government has not declared any sops nor is the private sector bound by any legal compulsions to employ disabled persons. In addition to this, there is no appropriate information on the status of the implementation of the 3% reservation in government jobs provided under the 1995 Act in the annual reports of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, the Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Labour over the last four years. The Census 2001 shows that 49% of the disabled population is literate and only 34% is employed indicating that even government organisations have not managed to meet the 3% job reservations for PWD. A 1999 survey by the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) in 100 major companies found that the average employment rate of the disabled in the public sector was 0.54%, 0.28% in the private sector and a mere 0.05% in multinational companies. This shows that despite the increase in figures during the last eight years there is still a long way to go before the Disability Act’s recommended 5% rate of employment can be achieved. The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report on Disabled Persons, 58th round, July-December 2002 also shows a dismal picture of the employment of the disabled persons in India in various professions and sectors. As far as the promotion of selfemployment among PWD is concerned, the number of the National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC) beneficiaries between 1997 and 2005 has been very low, i e, 19,643. Apart from this even the disbursements have been very low ranging between 23% and 26% of the available funds in 1997-2002 partly due to long gaps between receipt of funds by the State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) and the loan disbursement. Moreover with nearly 80% of the beneficiaries being male and nearly 90% of them being persons with orthopaedic disabilities it is apparent that disbursement is driven more by institutional factors rather than the size of the disabled population, or the limitations in the credit markets, etc. Section 47 (ii) of the PWD Act categorically mentions non-discrimination in the matter of promotion in the area of employment on the grounds of disability. Even the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) prohibits any discrimination on the basis of disability concerning employment, including conditions of recruitment, hiring and employment, continuance of employment, career advancement and safe and healthy working conditions. However in reality the recruitment rules regarding the medical standards to be met by a successful candidate for a given post impede the employment of disabled persons on various occasions. For instance, the selection test for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre disqualified visually disabled persons until the rule was struck down by the Supreme Court on a petition filed by the National Federation of the Blind in 1993. Section 3 of the Apprenticeship Act 1961, by implication, debars persons with disabilities from availing of training opportunities as it lays down that a person shall not be qualifi ed for being engaged as an apprentice to undergo apprenticeship training in any designated trade, unless he (a) is not less than 14 years of age and (b) satisfi es such standards of education and physical fitness as may be prescribed. Table 1: Distribution of Working Age Persons with Disabilities by Usual Activity Status (15 to 64 Years) in 2002 table with 17 columns and 24 rows All Male Female Rural Rural Urban Urban Mental Mental Visual Hearing Speech Loco- Multiple Male Female Male Female Illness Retardation motor Employed 37.6 51.0 16.1 38.4 51.7 16.8 34.9 48.6 13.6 9.6 15.6 21.7 58.8 49.8 41.7 33.3 Self-employed as an own account worker 14.1 20.8 3.2 14.4 21.4 3.0 12.9 18.8 3.9 1.2 4.2 8.5 20.0 12.8 17.4 8.5 Self-employed as an employer 0.4 0.5 0.1 0.4 0.5 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.3 0.7 0.1 0.4 0.3 Self-employed as helper 6.5 8.1 3.9 7.5 9.2 4.7 3.1 4.3 1.4 4.2 3.7 3.5 8.7 12.2 6.5 8.4 Regular wage/salaried employee 4.8 6.5 2.1 2.9 3.9 1.2 11.3 15.4 4.9 0.5 1.1 2.1 3.8 3.7 6.6 3.2 Casual labour in public works 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.2 Casual labour in other types of works 11.7 14.8 6.7 13.1 16.4 7.7 7.0 9.3 3.3 3.6 6.4 7.2 25.5 20.6 10.7 12.8 Unemployed 1.2 1.6 0.5 1.0 1.3 0.4 1.9 2.7 0.7 0.1 0.2 0.6 0.6 1.9 1.7 0.6 Not in labour force 61.2 47.4 83.4 60.6 47.0 82.7 63.2 48.8 85.8 90.4 84.3 77.8 40.6 48.3 56.7 66.1 Educational institutions 6.4 7.5 4.7 5.7 7.0 3.7 8.8 9.2 8.2 2.7 1.1 3.0 2.4 8.0 9.2 3.0 Domestic duties 13.4 0.8 33.8 12.7 0.7 32.2 15.8 1.1 39.0 4.8 6.9 12.5 20.7 16.3 13.7 12.5 Domestic duties and free collection of goods 3.5 0.7 8.2 4.1 0.8 9.4 1.7 0.2 4.0 0.9 2.8 2.8 6.9 6.8 3.2 3.6 Rentiers, pensioners, remittance recipients 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.3 1.7 2.2 1.0 0.2 0.7 2.2 2.2 0.6 1.2 0.8 Not able to work owing to disability 30.2 30.9 29.0 30.6 31.2 29.6 28.8 29.9 27.1 69.7 61.9 46.0 3.9 10.7 24.7 38.7 Beggars, prostitutes 0.7 0.8 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.4 1.2 1.2 1.3 0.2 0.4 1.7 0.2 0.2 0.6 1.7 Others 5.7 5.5 6.0 5.9 5.6 6.3 5.1 5.0 5.2 11.9 11.0 9.6 4.4 5.8 4.1 5.7 Total 46,731 29,000 17,727 30,076 18,693 11,383 16,655 10,311 6,344 2,318 4,395 4,392 4,255 2,140 24,291 4,940 Source: NSSO Report on Disabled Persons, 58th Round, July-December 2002. Economic & Political Weekly september 8, 2012 vol xlviI no 36 21 table end EPW COMMENTARY Efforts need to be made to ensure use of existing vocational services, guidance and training, placement in employment and related services for workers. In addition to this there is the need to specify procedures conforming to their employment, salary standards as well as supportive and incentive measures. There is also the need to extend provisions for formal employment, self-employment cooperatives and other group incomegenerating schemes. Moreover it is imperative that the policies for promotion of training and employment of the disabled and nondisabled persons should be adopted on an equal basis for women. The 3% allocation of the budget needs to be reconsidered to mainstream people with disabilities into the employment scenario. This also calls for the need to strengthen the monitoring mechanisms to supervise the progress. However the most important initiative needed is a change in the mindset of those involved in the recruitment/appointment of the disabled. september 8, 2012 vol xlviI no 36 EPW Economic & Political Weekly http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/2012_47/36/Challenges_in_the_Employment_of_Persons_with_Disabilities.pdf -- Avinash Shahi MPhil Research Learner Centre for the Study of Law and Governance Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi India Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
