Acid victims to get reservation in govt jobs, promotions

People with autism, mental illnesses and intellectual disability as well as victims of acid attacks may get quotas in jobs and promotions in the Central government.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has proposed quotas in vacancies and promotions and age relaxations for those with disabilities in a draft policy.
The move, however, may stoke controversy as reservation in promotions for persons with disabilities is before the Supreme Court of India.
The vacancies earmarked will be for the posts of office assistants to Indian Administrative Service officers.
Those with benchmark disabilities -- that is, not less than 40 per cent of a specified disability -- will be eligible for reservations in posts or services, the draft said.

"In the case of direct recruitment, four per cent of the total number of vacancies in the cadre strength" in different employee groups in the government "shall be reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities," the DoPT said.

One per cent of all vacancies will be reserved for those suffering from blindness, low vision, deafness, hardness of hearing, locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, dwarfism, muscular dystrophy and cured leprosy.
Acid victims, those with autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability, mental illnesses and deaf- blindness (a combination of sight and hearing loss) will also be entitled to a one per cent reservation.

Intellectual disability is a condition characterised by limitations both in intellectual functioning (reasoning, learning, problem solving) and in adaptive behaviour which covers a range of everyday skills.
In the case of promotions, four per cent of the total number of vacancies in two groups of government employees will be reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities, the draft guidelines said.
Age relaxations will vary between 10 and 13 years, the draft said.
The proposed norms follow the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act passed last December. It had mandated 3-4 per cent reservations in government jobs for persons with benchmark disabilities.

The types of disabilities were increased from seven to 21, including acid attack victims, in the new law.
According to the 2011 census, there were about 2.68 crore disabled people, including over 20 lakh children.
In the draft DoPT policy, provisions have been made to ensure that reservation for people with disabilities is not adjusted against posts meant for those from Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes.
Reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs is called vertical reservation and the reservation for categories such as persons with benchmark disabilities and ex-servicemen is called horizontal reservation.
"Horizontal reservation cuts across vertical reservation (in what is called interlocking reservation) and persons selected against the quota for persons with benchmark disabilities have to be placed in the appropriate category viz SC/ST/OBC/General candidates, depending upon the category to which they belong," it said.

The DoPT has sought suggestions on the draft policy from all central government departments within 15 days.