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Industry shows growing sensitivity

The most enduring legacy of the N.C.P.E.D.P.-C.I.I. partnership are the Helen Keller Awards, distributed since 2000 to corporations and individuals who level the working field and provide equal opportunity employment to the disabled.

N.C.P.E.D.P.’s efforts at promoting the employment of disabled persons received an enormous boost when Mr. Rajesh V. Shah, newly elected president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (C.I.I.), made a remarkable declaration on May 6, 1998. At a seminar on ‘Employment opportunities for people with disabilities’ organised in Mumbai that day by N.C.P.E.D.P. and the C.I.I., Mr. Shah announced that henceforth disability would be a part of the corporate social agenda. This commitment came about as a result of some serious thinking about the social responsibility of corporations, which still continues, and which has definitely bettered employment prospects for the disabled.

Later that year, at the ‘National advocacy workshop for effective and speedy implementation of the Disability Act’, the C.I.I. once again reiterated its support for the cause of employment for the disabled. Mr S. Sen, Deputy Director General of the C.I.I., said that companies must change their policies and absorb some percentage of the disabled population in their workforce. He also said that the industry could train disabled people and develop their entrepreneurial and marketing skills.

Though the C.I.I. was now committed to the cause of disability, it was hugely disappointing when a survey conducted by N.C.P.E.D.P. revealed the bleak employment scenario for the disabled in the ‘Super 100’ companies. The average percentage of employees with disability in the 61 respondent companies was 0.35 per cent. Twenty of these had no disabled employees at all, and only nine had 1 per cent or above disabled employees.

N.C.P.E.D.P. and the C.I.I. held a core group meeting on March 24, 1999, to address the issues raised by the corporate report. An Action Plan was developed to spread awareness of the disability cause in the corporate sector, and to give the corporate sector more incentives for employing the disabled.

The N.C.P.E.D.P.-C.I.I. core group on disability issues comprised:

1. Dr V Krishnamurthy, Chairman, Executive Committee, N.C.P.E.D.P.
2. Mr Brijmohan Lall, past President, C.I.I. and Chairman, Hero group
3. Mr Subodh Bhargava, past President, C.I.I. and C.E.O., Eicher group
4. Mr Deepak Singh, Chairman, C.I.I. Public Policy Committee and Chairman and President, Inalsa Limited
5. Mr S Sen, Deputy Director General, C.I.I.
6. Mr Javed Abidi, Executive Director, N.C.P.E.D.P.

Some of the ideas put forward in the Action Plan were:

• Tax breaks should be given by the government to encourage industry to employ disabled people.
• Private companies launching new projects should be approached, as there would be greater opportunity of providing jobs.
• The C.I.I. and N.C.P.E.D.P. could publish a joint newsletter, featuring success stories of companies who have employed disabled people.
• It is very important to identify the type of job people with disability can handle. The C.I.I. should network with A.S.C.O.N. to determine the type of work the different sectors of the industry required, which could be done by the disabled.
• Since Titan and T.I.S.C.O. have employed many disabled people for their factories, they should give a presentation on recruitment methods. Titan could also set up a ‘Centre of Excellence’ for research.

The N.C.P.E.D.P.-C.I.I. partnership has endured, the best expression of which is the Helen Keller Awards, distributed since 2000 to corporations and individuals who level the working field and provide equal opportunity employment to the disabled.

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