Rs 1,800-cr scheme woos pvt sector for disabled quota

Even as the UPA Government is yet to make any formal move on job reservation...

Even as the UPA Government is yet to make any formal move on job reservation for Scheduled Castes in the private sector despite hinting at it over the last couple of years, it kicked off a scheme on Thursday that gives sops to industries for hiring physically challenged persons. The Rs 1,800-crore Central scheme aimed at generating one lakh jobs per annum for the physically challenged was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

The Government will take care of the employer’s share of the Employees Provident Fund and Employees State Insurance for the first three years. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will give lump funds as advance to the Employees Provident Fund Organisation and the Employees State Insurance Corporation.

The CCEA also cleared a Rs 16-crore outlay over four years to provide adequate publicity for the scheme.

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With the number of vacancies in Government jobs declining over the years, the Government is keen that private sector be given incentives to generate employment for the physically challenged. The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 provides for incentives to employers—in the private as well as public sector—so that the physically disabled made up at least four per cent of their workforce.

In addition, the Cabinet on Thursday also approved to release an additional fund of about Rs 530 crore, which will be used to waive the overdue interests of farmers in 31 suicide-prone districts in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala covered under the Vidarbha Package announced by the Prime Minister in 2006.