Karnataka   

Very little career mobility for the disabled in Karnataka

Bangalore: Eshwar, a physically challenged person, has received training as a fitter. But despite having passed the entrance test at a public sector organisation, he has not been recruited.

Ambika (name changed), who is polio-stricken, works with a non-governmental organisation as a disability counsellor. But she wants to quit as she has to climb two flights of stairs to get into her office.

Moreover, she is distressed by the insensitive attitude of some colleagues.

It is more than a decade that the Persons with Disability Act 1995 came into force. But on World Disability Day (December 3), it seems that for the differently-abled people, such opportunities are still a dream with only a small percentage being employed by the government and private sectors.

Consider this: only 36 per cent of persons with disabilities in Karnataka are economically active.

Despite the State bringing in reservation of five per cent for disabled persons in the Groups C and D categories in government jobs in the year 2000 and a three per cent reservation in Groups A and B in 2004, this is what M.V. Vedamurthy, Director for Welfare of Disabled and Senior Citizens, has to say: “We do not have the exact percentage of the number of people with disabilities employed in government departments, but about 5,000 have been recruited so far. We do not know how many jobs have been offered to persons with disabilities in the private sector but we are making efforts to see that such persons get gainful employment.”

According to the Karnataka Public Service Commission, which is responsible for recruitment for Group A, B and C categories, only 58 persons with disabilities were recruited in just 18 departments.

The Office of the Commissioner for Disabilities has been making efforts to ensure that government departments recruit disabled persons according to the quota. “We have asked government departments to furnish data on jobs given to persons with disabilities. We found that most departments have not implemented the quota properly and, moreover, the roster system adopted for their recruitment is too complicated and does not serve the purpose at all,” said Das Suryawanshi, State Commissioner for Disabilities.

The situation is not very different in the private sector. “Recently we had invited IT and ITES companies in the city to hold discussions on employing persons with disabilities, but we did not get a single response. When we tried again, of the around 5,000 companies, only 18 responded,” he said.

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