Shillong, Feb. 10: Only 59 persons with disabilities have so far been recorded to be appointed to government jobs in Meghalaya under the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995.
Various departments of the state government have assured Kamlesh Kumar Pandey, the chief commissioner for persons with disabilities, that they would submit a report on the actual number of persons employed until date, and the existing vacancies vis-à-vis persons with disabilities. Hitherto, the job reservation quota for persons with disabilities is three per cent. In the 2011 census, Meghalaya recorded 44,317 persons with disabilities. Of these, the office of the state commissioner for persons with disabilities has distributed disability certificates to 35,515 persons. Pandey, who has been touring the country, held discussions with state government officials and NGOs working with persons with disabilities. He said the state executive committee, comprising government officials, had not met since April 2010, and that the state coordination committee, headed by the state social welfare minister, was last reconstituted in October. State commissioner C. Kharkongor said the executive committee is expected to meet here on February 16. These two committees are mandatory to be established under the 1995 legislation. Talking about The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, Pandey said it is expected to be implemented with effect from April 14, 2016. It will replace the 1995 law. Under the new law, the types of disabilities have been increased from seven to 21. Reservation in government establishments has been increased from three per cent to four per cent for certain persons or class of persons with benchmark disability. The chief commissioner for persons with disabilities and the state commissioners will act as regulatory bodies and grievance redressal agencies and also monitor implementation of the act. The new law provides penalties for offences committed against persons with disabilities and also violation of its provisions. Special courts will be designated in each district to handle cases concerning violation of rights of persons with disabilities. Pandey expressed displeasure over lack of adequate staff in the office of the state commissioner here and said the office should be strengthened as it is the duty of the states to implement the law meant for welfare of persons with disabilities. He stressed on the need to have more special educators across the country. While there is a need for 2.5 lakh special educators, there are only 86,000 such educators. He said he would request the state chief secretary to create an exclusive department to look after the welfare of persons with disabilities. A few states have already created an exclusive department for persons with disabilities. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More stories in North East Sabha's open session today All five were dr https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170211/jsp/northeast/story_135157.jsp -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
