The Government of India is the biggest employer of labour. The Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Telecommunications employ the largest number of people. The Govt. of India has reserved 3% vacancies for the challenged out of which 1% for the persons with visual impairment, 1% for those with hearing impairment and 1% for those with physical disability. The various organizations representing persons with mental disability are trying to secure l % reservation in the Central government jobs for adults with mentally challenged. This is justified to some extent because the Government is committed to social justice and to help and support all citizens including those with mentally challenged. Its primary aim is not to make money and therefore it should allocate some resources for generating employment opportunities for adults with mentally challenged.
There are various jobs, which can be easily carried out by persons with mentally challenged. These are jobs, which do not require high level of literacy. Some jobs require minimum supervision and no assistance and have no risk involved. Unskilled jobs, which are performed by groups of persons with necessary assistance and supervision, can also be given to the person with mentally challenged. There are some jobs, which are easy to perform and persons with mentally challenged can be trained to do them, such as those of Peon, Messenger, Cleaner, Gardener, Retiring room attendant, Waiting room attendant, Helpers, Labourers etc.
However, even for these jobs, the minimal requirement laid down by the government is literacy up to class 8. This criteria is not realistic and needs to be relaxed/removed by the Department of Personnel.
Private Sector
The various vocational training schools should interact with the private sector and together identify jobs which the persons with mentally challenged can perform and train them for taking up these specific jobs. In-house training for a period of 3-6 months before they are offered employment could follow this. The persons with mentally challenged are generally considered to be sincere and devoted workers. However they need to be provided the skills and also they need to be paid for the work they do. Such a plan is feasible and the organizations working for the welfare of the persons with mentally challenged should take the lead to forge such a partnership and create opportunities.
