| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
|
| Year : 2022 | Volume
: 26
| Issue : 4 | Page : 230-233 |
Unequal representation of persons with disabling mental health conditions in the quota-based employment reservations notified by a public service commission
Hareesh Angothu1, Sharad Philip1, Prabhu Jadhav1, Deepak Jayarajan1, Aarti Jagannathan2, M Krishna Prasad1, Jagadish Thirthalli1
1 Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
2 Department of Psychiatric Social Work, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Hareesh Angothu
Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru - 560 029, Karnataka
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/ijoem.ijoem_239_21
Introduction: The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act 2016 of India intends to achieve greater representation of persons with benchmark disabilities (PwBD) at government establishments and reserve at least 4% of employment vacancies for PwBD. Of this 4%, 1% is reserved for PwBD with disabling mental health conditions (PwBD-MHC) and multiple disabilities, and 1% each for PwBD due to other disabling conditions like blindness, hearing, and locomotor impairment. Methods: We analyzed all the employment vacancy announcements (EVAs) made by the Indian union public service commission (UPSC) during the calendar year 2020 for their adherence to quota-based employment reservations (QBER). Results: Eighteen vacancy advertisements made during the year 2020, for a total of 1370 posts under various departments, announced a total of 57 posts as reserved for PwBD under the QBER system, satisfying the minimum 4% quota. However, none of these posts is reserved for PwBD-MHC. Further, only 7 out of 1370 were described as suitable for PwBD-MHC, implying that 1363 are not suitable for them. Conclusions: The QBER system and the subdivision of quotas are well-intended to achieve the minimum representation of PwBD across all categories of jobs. However, the EVAs by UPSC in the year 2020 did not reserve any posts for PwBD-MHC and perhaps inadvertently excluded them from consideration for the majority of posts announced even under the unreserved category.
[FULL TEXT] [PDF]*
|
