As world observes the International Day of Persons with Disability on Tuesday, the Centre faces the uphill task of filling up by January 8 nearly two lakh posts in the disabled category — both in Government and public sectors.
On October 8, 2013, the Supreme Court ordered that three per cent reservations are to be carved out from the existing Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, OBC and general category seats currently lying vacant. A current status report of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) shows that out of 26,98,762 post, only 10,130 are filled by people belonging to the differently-abled category. This translates to 0.38 per cent of total posts.
Similarly for the public sector units, the total number of posts is 45,27,293, out of which only 26,242 posts have been given to differently-abled. Despite the vacancies, the MSJE is pushing for increasing the reservation from the existing three per cent to five per cent in a proposed bill. The current Status of reservation for Government in various Ministries/ Departments against identified posts in Group A, B, C & D is 3.07 per cent , 4.41 per cent, 3.76 per cent and 3.18 per cent respectively.
In PSUs, the reservation status in Group A, B, C & D is 2.78 per cent, 8.54 per cent, 5.04 per cent and 6.75 per cent, respectively. The Government is providing reservation in identified posts in the Government sector, including public sector undertakings, in accordance with the provisions of the PWD Act, 1995.
“This is not a secret that the Government has not been able to fill up the existing vacancies but all laws are made with a long-term vision. The Government is aggressively working on capacity building — we are working hard on inclusive education, doling out higher education scholarships for the disabled and building more institutes. With the passage of time, once we have built capacity it will not take any time for these vacancies to be filled up,” said the official.
“We have also asked the Department of Personnel and Training to identify more posts for the disabled,” said the official. “It is high time that the Centre filled up the vacancies. Even their plan to increase seats is a very positive step. Not having a good implementation mechanism certainly does not mean we should not have good lawsIJ” asked Javed Abidi, Director, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disability rights groups.
“In the coming decade, with more inclusive education involving the disabled, we will see a demand of jobs,” he said. Social workers welcomed the SC and the government’s decision but asked the government to ensure the right to education for the differently-abled. “The SC’s judgment is welcome and so is the government’s proposal for increase in reservations in jobs for the differently-abled. But before that the government should ensure that the right to education is made applicable to all and must be extend to all people with disabilities,” said Sminu Jindal, founder Svayam, NGO working for the causing of building inclusive public infrastructure.