To observe the seventh anniversary of the enactment of the Disability Act 1995, a day-long dharna was organised outside the office of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on February 7, 2003. This dharna was organised by Disabled Right Group (DRG), a cross disability advocacy group, working for the rights of disabled people as their first programme of the month long campaign against the private sector to protest against their callous attitude towards disability issues. Disabled people, parents and NGOs participated in the dharna.

The dharna started at 10 am and continued till 4pm. Around 250 disabled people participated. Among the organisations that participated were Action for Abilities Development and Inclusion (AADI), Delhi Deaf Friendship Club, Swavalamban, The Leprosy Mission and Deepalaya.

The Disability Act 1995 was enacted on 7th February 1996, which instilled a ray of hope in the disabled population. The Act provides the disabled people right to education, employment, etc. According to the Act, the Private Sector should employ 5% disabled people in its total work force. It also says that all public places should be made accessible to them. The Act placed the responsibility on the society for providing an amicable environment and equal opportunities for the disabled.

The press release issued by the DRG states that the disability sector, to a fair extent, has been successful in negotiating with the Government and public sector for equal opportunities for disabled people. Unfortunately, due to the sluggishness of the Private Sector, this issue has not been taken seriously.

According to a Survey conducted in the top 100 companies in India by the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) in 1999, various surprising facts figured up which state that many private sector companies do not employ even a single disabled person. The average employment rate of physically challenged people in the private sector according to the report was just 0.28%. Jawed Abidi, Convenor of DRG said, "When this survey was conducted, an average rate of disabled people employed was found to be 0.4%. In multinational companies, the average was much lower too with 0.05 % and in private sector it was 0.2%." He added, "The section 41 of the Constitution says that private sector should employ 5% of disabled work force. In India 6-7% of the population are disabled and 70 lakh among them are educated and skilled. They are capable and yet discriminated due to disability."

Mr Javed Abidi said that to sensitise the private sector for opening up their doors for disabled people, umpteen numbers of seminars, workshops and conferences had been conducted. Due to indifferent attitude to the issue by the private sector, the job opportunities to the physically challenged people were not provided. He said, "Rahul Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director of CII and several people from CII have attended and delivered speeches in our seminars and workshops. Now the time has come to translate their thoughts and words into actions."

Pankaj Kapoor from AADI said, "Jobs are limited in private sector for the disabled. Even if the jobs are provided, there is an accessibility problem. I am on the wheelchair. If I get a job in private sector; will they provide accessibility to me? Even though problems may not solved but it is a beginning of a bargain with the private sector."

Madhu Grover, from ADDI, said, "if disabled are earning they are contributing to the economy of the country. If a disabled person is given a job, a conducive environment must be provided to him. We all are 'temporarily abled'. All of us will become disabled when we grow old. Therefore, it is not a minority group."

A delegation of twelve members met the Director General, Mr Tarun Das and Deputy Director General Mr S Sen and they agreed to the following points:

a)      An internal core group on disability would be set up as the CII does not have a framed structure on disability at present.

b)      CII shall soon work on framing a policy on incentives for companies in the private sector for employing disabled people.

c)      CII agreed to draw a programme on Access under their construction division headed by Ajit Gulabchand for sensitizing the architects, corporates, and construction firms, etc.

d)      CII agreed that there is a need for an anti-discrimination policy vis-à-vis employment of the disabled people in the private sector.

e)      CII agreed to write to the finance minister regarding the issue of exemption of customs/ excise tariffs on aids and appliance used by the disabled people.