Corporate India Employs Very Few Disabled People

Below are excerpts from an April report that can be read at www.rediff.com/business/2000/apr/25disabl.htm
 

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 100 major 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 workers.