News

Volume 4 Issue 10 - May 15, 2006

Ten years after Disability Act less than 0.9 per cent disabled employees in private sector

D.N.I.S. News Network - The total percentage of disabled people employed in various companies in India’s private sector is less than 0.9 per cent. More shocking is the fact that even after ten years of the passage of the Disability Act, almost 90 per cent companies do not have any policies regarding employment for disabled candidates despite the fact that the Act clearly mandates all Indian industries to ensure that five per cent of the total strength of their employees should be disabled people.

These facts were brought to light in the research study conducted by National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (N.C.P.E.D.P.) and S.R.I.-I.M.R.B. International. The report is based on a survey of more than 120 companies during the period 2004-05. The report reveals that these companies had 2,07,450 employees, but only a mere 1861 came under the category of disability.

At the close of the Conference on Disability held at Delhi’s Taj Mansingh by Confederation of Indian Industries (C.I.I.) in partnership with I.B.M., N.C.P.E.D.P. and Action Aid, N.C.P.E.D.P.’s Executive Director Javed Abidi released this employment research report.

He stated that only 12.5 per cent companies of the country had devised rules and regulations based on the Disability Act. He was astonished that two third of the companies were not even aware of the existence of such an Act, even though the Disability Act was passed by the Indian Parliament in 1995, wherein it is clearly stated (Section 41) that disabled people should constitute five per cent of the work force in private companies. Therefore the private sector has to act responsibly and ensure that more than 5 per cent of its workforce consists of disabled people.