RESERVATION ROW : PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

[kodakkal]

New Delhi, Aug. 13: For the first time, a job quota will be thrust on
the private sector if the government accepts a panel’s recommendation
for reservations for the disabled and turns it into law.

The government-instituted committee has suggested extending to the
private sector the 3 per cent reservation for the physically
challenged that now exists in government jobs.

It also wants a 5 per cent quota introduced for disabled students in
private educational institutions and an additional 1 per cent
reservation for wards of the disabled.

These quotas will also apply to government institutions that now
reserve 3 per cent of their seats for the disabled.

The suggestions came yesterday at a committee meeting attended by
social justice and empowerment ministry officials.

The Centre had formed the committee in April this year and asked it to
draft a law to replace the Persons with Disabilities (Equal
Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.
The panel is headed by Sudha Kaul, founder of the India Institute of
Cerebral Palsy, Calcutta.

A ministry official said the government was likely to accept the
recommendations. “The private sector too has some social
responsibilities and the government believes that there needs to be a
joint effort for the uplift of the disabled,” he said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had earlier said that affirmative action
should not be “pushed down anybody’s throat” but reminded corporate
houses of their social responsibilities. But sources said the
government’s attempts to lure industry with incentives — such as tax
exemptions and other benefits — to employ more people from
disadvantaged sections such as Dalits and the disabled had not worked.

The government had promised to pay, for three years, the employer’s
contribution to the Employees Provident Fund and Employees State
Insurance for physically challenged employees in the private sector
with monthly salaries up to Rs 25,000.

“The incentive scheme was not effective at all. The disabled will be
benefited only if it is made mandatory,” said a committee member,
Bhushan Punani of the Blind People's Association.

However, experience has shown that even reservation may not always
work.