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Corporate India gives the cold shoulder to disabled people

Corporate India has largely ignored the statutory reservation for disabled persons, violating the Disability Act 1995 by employing only a handful of disabled employees.

This was the finding of the study on employment practices of the corporate sector (conducted on a sample of super 100 companies) with reference to people with disabilities conducted by the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People.

The study reveals a dismal trend in current employment practices in the corporate sector with regard to the disabled.

The government's attitude is also reflected in the miniscule percentage of disabled employees even in public sector organisations that have a larger workforce and for whom it is mandatory to have three per cent reservation for disabled persons.

The study found that out of the 70 respondent companies, 20 companies do not employ any disabled person at all.

These include such companies as Castrol India Limited, with a workforce of 1,300; Colgate Palmolive India Limited, with a workforce of 1,300; EID Parry India, with a staff of 4,700; and the Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Company Limited, with a workforce of 10,000.

The average percentage of employees with disabilities in the respondent companies was found to be 0.40 per cent. Out of the 70 respondent companies, only 10 were found to have one per cent or above disabled employees.

In a majority of the respondent companies (40 out of 70), the percentage of the disabled workforce ranged between 0.01 per cent to 0.99 per cent.

The study said that percentage in most cases does not reveal the truth. Amongst the 60,205 employees of Tata Steel, there are only eight disabled employees.

Hindustan Lever is the worst with only four disabled employees in its the 40,000 strong workforce. It is also disheartening to note that there is no company amongst the super 100 where even two per cent of the workforce comprises disabled persons, the study said.

It has also found that the percentage of people with locomotor disabilities was found to be the highest amongst the disabled employees, giving rise to the suspicion that their disability is likely to be minimal or negligible.

The average percentage of employment of people with disabilities in the public sector is 0.54, in the private sector 0.28 per cent, and in multinationals just 0.05 per cent.

It is surprising to note the extremely low percentage of disabled employees in the multinational companies since most of them are from countries that have strict laws for employing people with disabilities.

UNI

Business