Date:25/01/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/01/25/stories/2007012502030300.htm

Kerala - Alappuzha

Disabled quota: Government to assess compliance

Staff Reporter

ALAPPUZHA: The Government would review whether institutions in the State have implemented the three per cent job reservation for the disabled as stipulated in the People With Disabilities Act (PWD Act) passed by Parliament in 1995, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has said.

Inaugurating the valedictory meeting of the State special school youth festival that concluded at SDV School here on Wednesday, Mr. Isaac said the problem of the disabled was not merely a humanitarian one but a problem of development. The disabled needed to be given training to support themselves by engaging in jobs which they could handle, he said.

Mr. Isaac said a survey of the number of disabled persons employed by companies in the country showed that the three per cent reservation envisaged by the PWD Act had not been implemented.

The percentage of disabled persons employed by the public sector companies was a mere 0.54 per cent of the total workforce and the situation was poorer in private sector companies where it was only 0.28 per cent, Mr. Isaac said.

The percentage of disabled in the top 100 companies in the country was only 0.4 per cent of the total work force and in the case of multi-national companies it was 0.05 per cent.

Mr. Isaac said the actual percentage of disabled in the country might be higher than the 2.13 per cent of the total population as projected by the 2001 census. The percentage might be as high as six per cent, he said.