New policy should not neglect 4% job reservation for PwDs in Meghalaya: Bethany Society

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaOctober 3, 2024

Secretary of the Bethany Society Carmo Noronha on Thursday said the new state reservation policy should not neglect the 4 percent job reservation for persons with disabilities (PwDs) in the state of Meghalaya.

After making a submission before the Expert Committee on the State Reservation Policy during a public hearng here, Noronha said, “The points we were raising was that the state reservation policy must also be in line with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and also the Meghalaya State Policy for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.

Both the policy and the law ensures that there is 4% reservation in all government jobs for PwDs.”

“Our submission was irrespective of what is the state policy, the state policy cannot neglect the 4% reservation because at the moment the 4% reservation, the government is trying to follow it but its really not being followed and we feel it should be there at the district level for all PwDs as per the law and as per their  qualification and the posts for the various cadres and right across the government must be identified and the reservation must be followed…,” he added.

Asked on the population of PwDs, Noronha said, “Officially as per the census, its about 2.1 percent but we believe it is much more than that…If you go by international figures and so on, it could be between 8 to 10% but government is going by the census figures, which is 2.1%. That again is a challenge on the actual proper identification of PwDs.”