COIMBATORE: My brother has been selected as a senior executive at the Flipkart warehouse. He has gotten a job after a long struggle,” exclaimed a proud and ecstatic G Vignesh. Arun Elanchezhiyan (29), Vignesh’s brother, was one among the 15 disabled persons who got placed in Flipkart during a recent recruitment drive which was a joint initiative of the district administration and an NGO, We Are Your Voice.
“Arun has completed B.Com, CA and a diploma in Cooperative Management. Owing to his disability, he was unable to travel to Coimbatore from Pollachi regularly. He had registered at the counselling centre at the Collectorate hoping to find a job and now he landed the gig,” said Vignesh.
Earlier on September 1, a counselling centre for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) was launched to find suitable job opportunities for them. The centre, a pilot project launched in Coimbatore, Tiruvallur, and Madurai districts, has been actively collecting the details of people seeking jobs.
Unmindful of the pandemic, the district administration and the NGO have been busy matching their job profiles with suitable job offers. The initiative aims at skilling PwDs for employability and helping them create bio-data and also get small loans for self-employment. In the last two months, 52 PwDs have got jobs through the counselling centre, said the organisers.
“We are also guiding them to become entrepreneurs. Most of them are highly skilled. We are simplifying the job-seeking process,” said Kasim Basith, founder of We Are Your Voice. Recently, the centre had approached Flipkart after learning about job openings in its Coimbatore warehouse. “We informed the applicants and ferried them to an interview. Of the 21 people who applied, 15 got selected and the employer has assured a decent salary along with transportation facilities,” said R Martin, the centre’s project officer.
Basith pointed out The Right of Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016 recommended private employers to follow an equal opportunity policy for PwDs while offering jobs. It recommends those companies that have more than 20 employees recruit at least four to five per cent of PwDs. “If employers come forward to adopt it, many people would benefit,” he opined.
Calling the counselling centre a bridge between job seekers and employers, Coimbatore Collector, GS Sameeran, encouraged the PwDs to make use of it. Following positive responses to the activities, the government has planned to expand the centre’s services. “We have planned to start this in all districts. A Differently-abled Employment and Livelihood Centre (DELC) would be set up in six zones as the head office with the help of Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation,” said Johny Tom Varghese, director of the Commissionerate for the Welfare of Differently-abled.
The DELC would work to ensure the five per cent reservation for disabled students in private colleges and implement equal opportunity policy in private sectors companies. The question that arises is if equal employment would be enough to support PwDs. People working for the welfare of the disabled demanded that the State draw a plan considering their basic needs while implementing such projects. “It is a good initiative. However, in private jobs, the equal opportunity policy should be holistic, right from recruitment till post retirement. Also, private-sector jobs should be identified and catalogued for the benefit of corporate HR planning with the help of professional bodies,” suggested TMN Deepak Nathan, president of the December 3 Movement.