People with Disabilities in India: From Commitment to Outcomes

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exchanges, 0.9 percent and 0.7 percent of registered PWD respectively in 2003, and has roughly halved over the past decade. The downward trend reflects shrinking job opportunities in the public sector, and a general failure of exchanges to reach out to private employers. 29. A financial assistance program for entrepreneurs with disabilities exists, but few beneficiaries have been served. The National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC) was established in 1997 to provide financial assistance to disabled entrepreneurs. However, between 1997 and 2005, the number of NHFDC beneficiaries was negligible - only 19,643. Even among the small client base, there is a strong gender and disability bias. In addition, disbursements have been very low, in part due to long lags between receipt of funds and loan disbursement. If NHFDC is to reach more beneficiaries, the structure of the schemes needs to be revised so as to give channelling agencies, MFIs and banks better incentives to participate, together with improved accountability for channelling agencies. Equally, awareness of schemes among potential beneficiaries is very limited. 30. GoI provides vocational services to disabled people, but coverage is low and its impact is not known. Vocational Rehabilitation Centers (VRCs) have been established in state capitals to provide vocational training to disabled people based on a PPP model. The main tasks of VRCs are to make vocational assessments of PWD and to provide short term training. Some also provide job placement services. VRCs generally do not seem to make regular efforts to update the skills imparted along with shifts in labor demand. Like other active labor programs for people with disabilities, the size of the VRC program is very small, rehabilitating only about 10,500 persons a year. In addition, there seems to be a lack of focus on placement, with no evidence to date of net positive impacts on labor market outcomes for trainees. 31. An expanding number of NGOs have become active in vocational training of PWD and direct employment generation, but the majority with no accreditation process. The majority of NGOs are oriented towards skills for sheltered, group and self-employment rather than employment in the organized sector. There are a range of good practice examples like the WORTH Trust that can be built on in the future. At the same time, several common weaknesses of NGO programs can be observed. First, most have a strong urban bias, as well as underrepresentation of women trainees. Second, many NGOs acknowledge a lack of qualified trainers. Third, as in the public sector, NGOs frequently failed to undertake sufficient assessment of the local labor market conditions in determining courses for PWD. Monitoring of employment and wage outcomes for PWD trainees tends not to happen. Despite their challenges, NGO experience overall seems more positive than public sector interventions to date in promoting skill and employment for people with disabilities. Social Protection (Chapter 6) 32. The social protection system for PWD consists of social safety net and social insurance interventions, but these have had only small impacts on welfare levels of the disabled poor. There are a range of social protection schemes targeted to PWD: These programs include (i) Safety nets: reservations under various centrally-sponsored anti-poverty programs, unemployment allowances for PWD, and “social pensions” for destitute PWD, i.e. monthly social assistance cash benefits and (ii) Insurance: different forms of insurance in cases of disability, including schemes for civil servants and the formal private sector, and schemes for informal sector workers. xviii
Safety Net Schemes 33. Safety nets for PWD offer low coverage and limited financial protection. The PWD Act commits to reservations for PWD of not less than 3 percent in all poverty alleviation schemes, but it appears that PWD are well below 3 percent of beneficiaries in all schemes. For example, SGSY coverage rates between 1999 and 2004 were around 0.8 percent of total program beneficiaries, accounting for only 0.7 percent of the working PWD population. For IAY, the beneficiary share in recent years has been around the same. For SGRY, in the budget years 2002- 04, the share of works for disabled was between 0.2 and 0.9 percent of total, and the new National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has dropped the provision for reservations for disabled people. India also has social assistance cash payments for destitute elderly, widows and PWD. All states/UTs for which data are available have disability social pension schemes, though coverage in different states exhibits wide variations. Nonetheless, it is estimated that around 14 percent of PWD receive a disability social pension, which makes it the most significant cash transfer program for this group. While the unemployment allowances for PWD are anticipated in the PWD Act, few states have such schemes. 34. Several factors limit the effectiveness of safety net programs. Low program impact is a product of low awareness among PWD of programs, weak channels for increasing demand (e.g. linking SHGs of disabled people to targeted credit), and in many states a lack of focus on the area of social protection for PWD (as absence of UA and low social pension coverage indicate). The disability social pension appears to date to have the most effective outreach in several states. In contrast, the system of reservations under poverty alleviation schemes has clearly failed to achieve the desired outcomes. Disability Insurance Schemes 35. Disability insurance schemes have low coverage, with financing mainly from the budget, but have considerable latent demand. There are two main problems with the current arrangements for social insurance, including disability insurance. The first is related to the small share of the formal sector. Coverage is therefore low and concentrated in the top half of the income distribution. The second problem relates to financing. In the case of civil servants, the financing comes directly from the budget, with no reserves set aside. This is starting to change however, as a new defined contribution scheme is being phased in for new civil service hires. Demand for disability insurance among the unorganized sector is evidenced by the growing number of SHGs, welfare funds and micro-insurance offerings in this area, as well as public schemes like JBY which in 2006 covered around 3.6 million workers. However, membership in group schemes is limited (less than 5 per cent) and not all offer disability benefits. The prevalence of disability benefits in micro-insurance schemes appears to be even more limited, with only one quarter offered disability benefits (almost always lump sum payments). There is very little solid analysis available on how well these schemes function. 36. As of 2006, two initiatives may lead to significant changes in the coverage and financing of disability insurance in India. The first initiative is a bill for social security for the unorganized sector, submitted to GoI in May 2006 by the National Commission on Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector. The proposal includes benefits for old age, death, maternity, health and disability, and is proposed to be contributory. While the proposal is very ambitious, it is the first such national initiative which grapples with the core challenges of administration that social insurance for the unorganized sector implies. Draft legislation has subsequently been prepared by MoLE which seeks to realize the objectives of the NCEUS initiative in a manner consistent with fiscal and institutional capacities. As a precursor to this, GoI announced in the 2007/08 budget xix
Page 1 and 2: PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN INDIA:
Page 3 and 4: Abbreviations and Acronyms ADL ANM
Page 5 and 6: Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Page 7 and 8: Figure 5.3: Employment rates of PWD
Page 9 and 10: Box 5.4: A Jobs Fair Bringing Emplo
Page 11 and 12: NGOs, both quantitative and qualita
Page 13 and 14: Out of school rates for CWD are hig
Page 15 and 16: needs to respond more proactively t
Page 17: government strategies for promoting
Page 21 and 22: 40. In early 2006, a National Polic
Page 23 and 24: should move to implement the Act’
Page 25 and 26: 54. Addressing current and future p
Page 27 and 28: disability SHGs, which has been sho
Page 29 and 30: have comparative advantage is putti
Page 31 and 32: extent of individual functioning du
Page 33 and 34: converting income into well-being o
Page 35 and 36: 21. In light of the challenges that
Page 37 and 38: not be explained by this. The major
Page 39 and 40: Table 1.2: Disability Prevalence ra
Page 41 and 42: The share of disability impact due
Page 43 and 44: • It is also important to recall
Page 45 and 46: 1.17. A second issue with obvious i
Page 47 and 48: Figure 1.9: Employment rates of PWD
Page 49 and 50: Box 1.2: Census questions on disabi
Page 51 and 52: Box 2.1: Disability in Indian mytho
Page 53 and 54: • overall, there is low acceptanc
Page 55 and 56: Table 2.2: Positive perceptions of
Page 57 and 58: different areas, as for example the
Page 59 and 60: governmental sectors drive home the
Page 61 and 62: Box 2.4: Raising awareness and chan
Page 63 and 64: • onset of mental disabilities is
Page 65 and 66: 3.9. Locomotor disability is the ca
Page 67 and 68: B. Prevention of Disability 3.15. A
Page 69 and 70:
3.20. The NBCP, like other vertical
Page 71 and 72:
almost three times more likely to h
Page 73 and 74:
PWDs. The scheme operates in 11 cen
Page 75 and 76:
Figure 3.4: Proportion of disabled
Page 77 and 78:
Table 3.11: Type of Service Accesse
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Urban 1.46 North 1.40 South 1.10 Ea
Page 81 and 82:
Box 3.1: WHO’s “Ten Question Pl
Page 83 and 84:
3.51. (f) Financial barriers to acc
Page 85 and 86:
including for road accidents, and e
Page 87 and 88:
A. Indian and International Policy
Page 89 and 90:
4.9. A specific feature of SSA is a
Page 91 and 92:
• significant gender differential
Page 93 and 94:
Out of school rates for CWD are hig
Page 95 and 96:
Only around 5 percent of children w
Page 97 and 98:
4.30. (b) Financial performance of
Page 99 and 100:
only factor contributing to both po
Page 101 and 102:
The numbers of CWD identified by SS
Page 103 and 104:
IE training options. The impacts of
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part of the authorities to increase
Page 107 and 108:
well beyond the needs of CWD alone.
Page 109 and 110:
performance in the schooling system
Page 111 and 112:
DLROs has contributed to West Benga
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CHAPTER 5: EMPLOYMENT OF PERSONS WI
Page 115 and 116:
atios, while others such as J&K, Bi
Page 117 and 118:
Figure 5.8: Employment rates over t
Page 119 and 120:
• the relative wages of PWD to no
Page 121 and 122:
of age and disability status. Multi
Page 123 and 124:
5.23. For males in the survey, a de
Page 125 and 126:
equirement of specific post identif
Page 127 and 128:
5.34. Nonetheless, there has been u
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consistent with survey findings. Na
Page 131 and 132:
exchanges are in any event servicin
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Source: NHFDC website reporting cum
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Box 5.5: Good practice in NGO skill
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D. Conclusions and recommendations
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is set. In the case of SGSY, the gu
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Table 6.2: States/UTs with unemploy
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Table 6.4: Coverage of disability s
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Table 6.6: Contributions and benefi
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6.24. Easily the largest scheme for
Page 149 and 150:
6.35. While the design of the insur
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people. The transfer under NOAPS wa
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7.4 (a) The Persons with Disabiliti
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7.8 (ii) Sectoral policy issues in
Page 157 and 158:
• in the area of education, the p
Page 159 and 160:
awareness raising about disability
Page 161 and 162:
more formal institutions in disabil
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7.28 There is little detailed analy
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Table 7.2: Institutions providing b
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systematically related to the numbe
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• collaboration between NGOs and
Page 171 and 172:
moving to improved outcomes for PWD
Page 173 and 174:
CHAPTER 8: ACCESS FOR PEOPLE WITH D
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Box 8.1: International and regional
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The comparison of institutional arr
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laudable, there are concerns that m
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ANNEX 1: COMPARING THE INCOMPARABLE
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of prevalence estimates across the
Page 185 and 186:
person will be treated as having
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People with Disabilities in India: From Commitment to Outcomes

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