As India’s economy booms, the country’s disabled up to 90 million people are being left behind.
This is shown in a new World Bank study, People with Disabilities in India: From Commitments to Outcomes, published Tuesday.
GANG I DEN – BARE IKKE FOR DE HANDICAPPEDE
India’s economy has averaged nearly 9 percent growth annually over the past four years.
In the process, the South Asian nation has become a top investment destination for global companies and the standard of living is rising.
But the World Bank report said low literacy rates among the disabled and widespread social stigma (stigmatisering, udelukkelse, red.) means that India’s up to 90 million disabled people are not benefiting from that growth.
KUNNE GAVNE HELE INDIEN
– Disabled people who are better educated and economically more active will generate higher growth in which everyone will share, said Philip O’Keefe, lead social protection specialist and main author of the World Bank report.
– Increasing the status and social and economic participation of people with disabilities would have positive effects on everyone, not just disabled people, said O’Keefe.
KRÆVER FÆLLES INDSATS
The employment rate of disabled people, among the most excluded in the Indian job market, has declined to 38 percent in 2002 from 43 percent in 1991, according to the World Bank.
With better education and more access to jobs, India’s 40-90 million disabled people would generate higher growth and thus benefit the country as a whole, the Bank said in the report.
Concerted efforts by the government, civil society, private sector and disabled people themselves were needed to release the untapped potential of this large group of citizens.
ANTALLET AF HANDICAPPEDE VENTES IKKE AT FALDE
The report says that while incidence of disease-induced (sygdomsrelaterede, red.) disabilities like polio should fall with economic progress, lifestyle-related handicaps and those due to traffic accidents are likely to rise sharply.
For example, the lowest reported disability rates are in sub-Saharan Africa while the highest are in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
The report recommends implementation of additional policy measures like preventive care for both mother and children, identifying people with disabilities as soon as possible after onset, and getting all children with special needs into school.
EFTERLYSER FLERE JOBS I PRIVATE VIRKSOMHEDER
Maintaining that it is not desirable or possible for the public sector to do it all, the report finds the private sector wanting in this regard.
Private sector employment incentives for hiring disabled people are few and piecemeal (utilstrækkelige, red.), it says.
In the late 1990s, employment of people with disability among large private firms was only 0.3 percent of their workforce.
Among multinational companies, the situation is far worse, with only 0.05 percent being people with disability.
As far as the states are concerned, despite approval of a national policy in 2006, only two states, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka, have draft disability policies.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
