Online database for handicapped job seekers

Headhunters who source their needs from various portals will get a new option shortly to meet the requirements of their socially-conscious corporate clients.

The Mumbai-based AYJ National Institute for Hearing Handicapped (AYJNIHH), under the guidance of the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment, is setting up a portal called www.jobsfordeaf.com which will have a database of physically-disabled job seekers.

District disability rehabilitation centres (DDRC) across the nation from about 130 centres recently kick started data collection for this.

"People who are partially disabled can be employed at various positions on back office assignments where a hearing-impaired person can handle jobs such as register maintenance and data entry. It has been observed that people with such deficiency has better concentration. The project which focuses on hearing-impaired will be taken further for people with other deficiencies too," said Manoj Kumar, engineer at DDRC Vadodara.

According to the national sample survey conducted in 1991, about 1.9 per cent of the total population in India is physically disabled. The Disability Act, 1991, says disability includes partially disabled, patients cured of leprosy and those with mental disorders.

However, the exact number of partially-disabled persons in the country is not available.

AYJNIHH will upload the database of hearing-impaired people, collected by DDRC from the Internet in a specific format where human resource people will be able to source suitable candidates.

At a later stage the portal would display the database of potential candidates with other physical deficiencies.

Smita Goswami, head of Vadodara-based HR consultancy firm H R Solutions, said: "The database of hearing-impaired people can be a successful model. Normally non-profit organisations working in the field of rehabilitation approach corporate houses with the database. Such websites can reduce the burden of head hunters who can refer the database to their clients."