IT, hospitality, retail lead the way in providing employment for people with disabilities

Infosys Ltd, Vishal Mega Mart, Subros Limited are among the corporate winners of the prestigious NCPEDP- Mindtree Helen Keller awards 2019.

Delhi, 2nd Dec 2019

The NCPEDP Mindtree Helen Keller Awards were given away on 2nd December 2019, in Delhi on the eve of the World Disability Day (3rd December) to twelve exceptional individuals and organisations who are role models in furthering employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.

In its 20th year now, past awardees of the NCPEDP Mindtree Helen Keller Awards have prominently featured IT services, hospitality and retail companies such as Accenture Services Private Limited, Cisco Systems India Private Limited, DELL EMC, Trent Hypermarket, Squaremeal Foods Pvt. Ltd, Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Arman Ali, Executive Director, NCPEDP said "For over twenty years, NCPEDP has been working relentlessly to create a discourse on employment of people with disabilities. We are at that point now, where people with disabilities can no longer be ignored. The private sector should recognise people with disabilities as a talent pool and hire them as a mainstream part of HR Operations and not as CSR. The challenge is access to education for people with disabilities, lack of awareness on disability issues and accountability of private sector—this cannot be just an urban phenomena."

IT company Mindtree has been a major supporter of the initiative. " The inclusivity of differently-abled people is a crucial part of Mindtree's charter, and the Mindtree Foundation is doing extensive work in developing technologies to assist them. In fact, when Mindtree was created 20 years ago, our first logo was designed by 17-year old Chetan, who has autism. Today, we work with over 45 differently-abled colleagues, with amenities provided to them so they thrive in their roles and feel they are a big part of the organization," said Debashis Chatterjee, CEO & MD, Mindtree.

Tarika Roy, Joint Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities in her address as a guest of honor said, " I sincerely feel that for persons with disabilities to be finally and wholly rehabilitated then - ultimately an employment makes them self reliant, independent. The way to go about it is to mandate section 34 and 35 of Rights of Persons with Disability Act 2016 a ground reality."

Congratulating the awardees, the chief guest on this occasion Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman NITI Aayog said "Disability is one sector which is still not in our consciousness. World Bank figures say that there are more than a billion people with disabilities and 80 % of them are in developing economies such as ours."

Over the years, the Helen Keller Awards have emerged as a credible barometer to map the progress being made year on year towards greater dignity and empowerment of India's disabled citizens; there is a lot to be done. 73% of India's courts are inaccessible. India's public transport - trains and buses are inaccessible - 80% of persons with disabilities are abused physically or verbally- about 60 million are missing from the census. It's time that we leave no one behind - not including persons with disabilities in education and employment impacts the GDP negatively - time to demand 'equal' rights and representation to every member of society.

This year's awardees include:

Category A: Role Model Persons with Disabilities:

Disabled persons from within the disability sector and outside who have been active as ambassadors of the cause of employment for disabled people and are a positive role model for others.

1. M Ummul Khair- Coordinator, Disability Legislation Unit and Legal Aid Cell, Vidya Sagar, Chennai. 2. Aditi Verma- Owner, Aditi's Corner, Mumbai.

3. Shriram Parthasarathy- Marketing Communications Manager (Social & Digital Media, and Customer Advocacy), Microsoft, Mumbai 4. Vineet Saraiwala- Inclusion Lead, Big Bazaar, Mumbai

Category B: Role Model Supporter of Increased Employment Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities: Individuals from within the disability sector or outside who have contributed substantially to the cause of promoting employment opportunities for disabled people over an extended period of time.

1. Alina Alam- Founder- CEO, Mitti Café, Bengaluru

2. Avinash Dugar, Founder & CEO, La Gravitea, Jamshedpur 3. Surender Singh- Manager (Employment), Muskaan, Delhi

Category C: Role Model Companies/NGOs/Institutions: Organisations from the disability sector or outside who have shown their commitment towards promoting equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

1. The Association of People with Disability (APD), Bengaluru

2. Vishal Mega Mart, Gurgaon 3. Infosys, Bengaluru

4. Subros Limited, Manesar, Gurgaon 5. Sense International India, Ahmedabad

"While I see more organisations being open to hiring people with disabilities, there is still very little understanding of Equal Employment Opportunity Policy and reasonable accommodation. There needs to be a major shift in the perceptions about disability for workplace to be inclusive—and this should not just be limited to metros," adds Arman.

The retail sector is also catching up as an employer; with hiring up by 53% between 2011 and 2018 as per the TRRAIN HSBC report 2019.

PWR

PWR

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)