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April 10, 2007
Kolkata disabled group running a factory-India
The following information was downloaded from the mailing list of "Disability and Development" with a cooperation of the publisher, Mr. Soya Mori.
Source:DailyIndia.com
By Soma Mitra
Kolkata, April 6: Setting a motivational example for a lot of people about how to overcome one's disabilities, a factory located in Kolkata's Kausba Industrial Estate, is being run by a group of physically challenged people.
The workers that comprise 35 differently-abled members, many of them having speech or hearing disabilities, manufacture Soyabean nuggets at the Bengal Food Products.
According to Subrata Saha, the factory's owner, the manufacturing unit being operation for the last four months works more efficiently than the one employing able-bodied workers.
"As far as efficiency is concerned I have another factory where physically fit workers work. I think this unit is more efficient than it. There is no sound pollution in my factory. Very good work happens here and almost 35 people work here in two shifts. There is a minimum two tons of production working in two shifts in a day," said Saha.The differently-abled workers are involved in the production process, starting from running the machines to packing material.
The workers too are happy that their talents have been meaningfully utilized by the factory owner instead of considering them useless or setting them aside on the fringes of life.
"I make a decent money working here ... I can do something, make a living despite being a handicapped," said Madhai Bairagi, a differently-abled worker.
According to a government estimate about two per cent of the population has physical or sensory disabilities that include visual, speech, hearing and movement problems but volunteers working in the field put the figure at five to six percent of the population, or 50 to 60 million people.
As per the Persons with Disabilities Act of 1995, the disable in India are entitled to a host of rights that would go a long way in enriching their lives, already harassed by nature's follies.
But it has been widely noticed that even after a decade after the Act was passed, they still face discrimination in employment, even in state-run enterprises.
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/131454.php/Kolkata-disabled-group-running-a-factory
Posted by jicafriends at April 10, 2007 10:06 AM