Job scheme for disabled elicits little response

Though these figures should be mutually consistent as an employer should be claiming benefits for the same employee from both entities,it appears there are discrepancies in their calculating mechanism. While the ESICs beneficiaries are immediately reflected in the records,the EPFO database is only updated annually. In fact to avoid this,the HLMC had,in its first meeting asked both parties to submit quarterly reports.

Javed Abidi,honorary director,NCPEDP,feels that the scheme is inherently flawed. How can you hope to cater to the needs of the 70 million disabled in India by offering companies a maximum of Rs 3,000 in exchange for a mountain of red tape? said Abidi.

MK Acharya,secretary,Ministry of Social Justice,countered,If a company does not want to avail the incentive that is not the fault of the scheme. Like with reservation,I may be eligible but I can always choose to forego it. Instead he attributes the lacklustre response to the scheme coinciding with the slowdown.