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May 24, 2006
Disabled Fighting for Jobs in Indian State
Disabled Fighting for Jobs in Indian State
Punjab government lags behind in implementing measures
Munish Nagar (munish1107)
Published on 2006-05-21 14:17 (KST)
Disabled citizens in the Indian state of Punjab are demanding the local
government meet an employment requirement set in a national act that passed
in 1995.
The Physically Handicapped Association of Punjab plans to carry out
statewide protests if their demands are not met.
The Act passed by the Indian government for the welfare of disabled people
is known as Act 1995, which went into effect a year later. It is also known
as the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights
and Full Participation) Act, 1995. The law extends to the whole of India
except the states of Jammu and Kashmir.
In every department of government, 3 percent of all jobs must be reserved
disabled people. But in Punjab, these measures have not been enforced
during the last several years. The association plans to protest against the
local government in favor of their demands.
According to Dr. Harnek Singh Rode, editor of this association, he said, "In
many government offices, many jobs are vacant from some time and despite
that, the positions have not been filled by the government yet."
The association claims that Punjab is contributing a lot of the wealth of
India due to its agriculture and other industries. Punjab has a heavy
population of disabled people compared to other states in India. Every year,
people are disabled in Punjab due to accidents. So it should be the duty of
the government to give employment to these disabled people so that they
could also contribute their efforts to the wealth of the country. They need
employment, not sympathy.
"We received a call from the chief minister's top secretary about a meeting
on May 30. If it doesn't go in our favor, then we will proceed with our
movement and we will protest across the state. We will fight for our
rights," Rode said.
The main demands of the association are:
- The enrollment of disabled people should be direct.
- The retirement age should be 60.
- Free education should be provided to disabled until the university level.
- The job reservation of 3 percent should be increased to 10 percent, as
the population of these people has increased over time. - Act 1995 should be implemented properly.
c2006 OhmyNews
You can see more details here.
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=332414&no=293291&rel_no=1
Posted by jicafriends at May 24, 2006 05:44 PM