All India Central Government Deaf Employees Association
(Registered and Affiliated to Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers)
As on now the law provides for 3% of reservation for the persons with disabilities as per the Act 1995, wherein the visually handicapped is entitled for 1%, Orthopedically handicapped 1% and for hearing impaired 1%. However, this is not reflecting the actual percentage of persons with disabilities available in the Society and as such there is a necessity to increase the percentage to 3% for each category and as such atleast 3% of jobs have to be reserved for the hearing impaired for those who are leaving the School for the Deaf, India Training Institute for the Deaf and College for the Deaf. Further, the sections dealing with recruitment of persons with disabilities shall also have staff from the persons with disabilities, viz., the Recruitment Cell dealing with the Deaf should have the Staff with these disabilities so that they can take objective assessment using BERA/ASSR Tests for arriving at the deserving persons. Presently the Recruitment Cells are insensitive and ignorant of the language of the Deaf and Dumb and as such it deserves that these Units are equipped with the persons with the disabilities so as to communicate and assess the eligibility and consider the cases with due compassion and sympathy.
2. Departmental Promotion Quota to Deaf and Dumb Employees:
Presently though there is an inadequate reservation for the Deaf and Dumb in the Central and State Government and Public Sector Units, there are no provisions for promotion to the persons with these disabilities. In order to provide a sense of dignity and a sense of full participation and to feel proudly as the citizens of India it is just and necessary that certain percentage of posts are reserved for the Deaf and Dumb. In view of the inability of the persons of these categories to compete with the other general category persons it is also just and necessary that there is a provision for accelerated promotion for the Deaf and Dumb along with other categories of persons with physical disability. In order to obtain the equality clause provided under Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India it is high time that the State recognizes the rights of the persons with disabilities, more specifically the persons with Deaf and Dumb be provided Schemes for accelerated promotions at every interval of 5 years.
3. Transfers and Postings:
In view of the specific inability of the Deaf and Dumb persons the State has to evolve a reasonable and scientific policy in the matters of the transfers and postings of the Deaf and Dumb. The State has to consider the necessity of these category of persons to be posted at their nearest place of choice and to continue them even on promotion for posting them at their place of choice.
4. Attendance of the persons with physical disabilities:
In the competitive world of the present day, and more specifically the inadequacy in the public transport system and the inability of the persons with disabilities to invoke private transportation, the State shall make alternative measures to provide proper arrangements for taking care of late attendance of these categories of persons. Normally the other categories of employees have the provision for three (3) late attendance in a month and equating the persons with disabilities on par with these categories of persons results in a clear discrimination. Hence the persons with disabilities (Deaf and Dumb) deserve atleast ten (10) opportunities for late attendance without any cut in the wages or without any cut in the leave at credit.
5. Improvement of knowledge the rules and regulations of the Department:
Normally all the staff are regularly sent for trainings in the matters of departmental procedures and to improve their skills. But the Deaf and Dumb persons working in various departments have no adequate means of training in these aspects. The State has to take affirmative action in the matters of providing in-house training or if necessary by employee institutions specially meant for training the Deaf and Dumb for training these categories of people in order to improve their skills and the knowledge of the departmental subjects. The Central and State Governments shall take special note of the urgent necessity of providing training to these people by engaging the special institutions for these purposes.
6. Posting Welfare Inspectors (Interpreter of Signal Language):
The Deaf and Dumb employees are put to disadvantage in the matters of expressing their grievances to the administration due to the absence of trained Welfare Officers / Inspectors for the Deaf and Dumb. The State shall take appropriate action for appointing Welfare Officers / Inspectors trained in the Signal Language of the Deaf and Dumb so as to coordinate and appreciate the grievances of the Deaf and Dumb in the administrative matters and to communicate the same to the administration and to actively participate in dissolving the grievances of the Deaf and Dumb. In the absence of such trained Interpreters / Welfare Officers / Welfare Inspectors there is a regular phenomena of misunderstanding the grievances of these categories of persons resulting in unwarranted inconveniences including resulting in occasional disciplinary proceedings.
7. Grievance Settlement Mechanism for Deaf and Dumb:
Every establishment / department in the Central / State shall constitute a special grievance settlement mechanism for the Deaf and Dumb, in the absence of which the improper communication between the administrators and the persons of this category is resulting in unwarranted disciplinary actions. The administrative authorities are insensitive to the needs of grievances of the Deaf and Dumb in the present system of administration.
8. Increase in the non-taxable income:
Presently the government is providing preferential treatment to the women in the matters of additional non-taxable income. It is just and necessary that such additional non-taxable income has to be considered in the case of the Deaf and Dumb also. This Association demands that the taxable limit of the income in the case of the Deaf and Dumb should be increased to Rs.5,00,000/- per annum.
9. Representative of persons with disabilities (Deaf and Dumb) in the Committees for selection for appointment / promotion / transfer:
The Association demands that a fair deal can be achieved for the persons with disabilities if and only if persons with disabilities (Deaf and Dumb) are available in the Committees appointed for selection at the time of new recruitment, promotion and transfer etc., so that the grievances of the deaf and dumb can be considered adequately and with deserving seriousness by these committees.
10. Night Duties for Deaf Women Employees:
In many of the departments the Deaf and Dumb Women employees are posted for night duties without appreciating their specific disability in performing such duties during the night hours. This Association demands a complete ban on employment of Deaf and Dumb women in the matters of night duties.
11. Payment of Full Tuition Fee and Additional Tuition Fee:
The Deaf and Dumb employees have a disadvantage in educating their children on par with the children of other categories of employees. This results in a clear social disadvantage to the wards of deaf and dumb. To adequately compensate the situation, this Association demands that the wards of deaf and dumb employees shall be provided with full and additional tuition fees.
12. Concessions in the Departmental Examinations:
This Association demands that the Deaf and Dumb employees may be provided with relaxation in standards in the promotional examinations or departmental examinations for any purpose on par with SC / ST employees.
13. Increase in special casual leave for physically handicapped persons:
The Deaf and Dumb employees deserve the grant of special casual leave of atleast 20 days in a year for them to take care of their normal transactions in the life such as Banking, Post Office etc.
14. Exclusion of the Deaf and Dumb employees from the new pension scheme:
The new pension scheme has come into operation w.e.f., 01.01.2004 in all the Central and State Government and PSUs. The Deaf and Dumb have been effectively realizing their full participation in the Civil Society and in the Public Employment of late, especially after the enactment of the 1995 Act. Now the introduction of the new pension scheme is virtually taking away the rights of the very first generation of the deaf and dumb employees. Hence it is demanded that all the persons with physical disabilities including the deaf and dumb may be excluded from the purview of the new pension scheme and may be allowed to be in the old pension scheme so as to lead a normal life at the end of their service.
15. Compassionate appointments for wards of Deaf and Dumb Employees:
As on now the wards of Deaf and Dumb employees are treated on par with any other ward of an ordinary employee seeking compassionate appointments which is unjustified and strikes at the clause of equality in the constitution. The Deaf and Dumb employees are already subjected to disadvantage in the society and they cannot on their own help their wards for better education and as such it is just and necessary that a special dispensation is made in favour of deaf and dumb employees towards consideration of compassionate appointments to their wards in the case of the death of deaf and dumb employee. It is necessary that the State shall make certain further relaxations of standards in the assessment of the cases of the wards of the deaf and dumb employees when the committees for appointment on relaxation of recruitment rules meet.
16. Special consideration in the matter of employment for deaf and dumb women:
The deaf and dumb women are at a serious disadvantage in the matters of marriage and as such are forced to remain as either bachelors or unmarried and as such the State shall make certain provisions for preferential considerations of deaf and dumb women in the public employment.
17. Opportunities for the Deaf and Dumb employees in the matter of Group A and B posts in the Central / State / PSUs:
Presently the system of reservation to the Deaf and Dumb employees is restricted only to certain cadre of Group C and D posts. However, in the growth of consciousness of the rights of the deaf and dumb it is necessary that the deaf and dumb shall have opportunities to be recruited to the posts of Group A and B in order to provide equal opportunities to them in the society and also shall have the opportunities to reach these positions by promotion.
18. Exemption of oral test to Deaf and Dumb employees in the matter of promotions and appointments:
As the Deaf and Dumb employees have a natural inability to participate in the oral test in the matters of recruitment and promotion, it is just and necessary that they are exempted from oral tests in the departments both at the time of recruitment and at the time of promotion.
19. Grant of additional increments for Deaf and Dumb employees:
As on now there are certain provisions for the other categories of employees for awarding additional increments at the time of recruitment or later for achieving higher skills / qualifications. The deaf and dumb are not considered for such increments when they acquire such higher qualifications. Similarly when the deaf and dumb participate in the Sports meant for persons with disability at the State / National / International levels there is no dispensation of either giving concessional appointments to them or awarding additional increments to them if they are already working in the departments. Hence it is just and necessary that Deaf and Dumb employees shall be awarded additional increments when they acquire higher qualifications in their own fields and they should also be given preferential treatment in terms of appointments and increments when they participate in the State / National / International events in the Sports.
20. Subsidized/Free Travelling Allowance for the Deaf and Dumb employees:
In view of the specific disadvantage faced by the deaf and dumb employees, the Centre/State/PSUs shall consider granting free train pass or modes of conveyance to all the Deaf and Dumb employees.
21. Extension of the age of retirement to the Deaf and Dumb employees’ upto
65 years:
The Deaf and Dumb employees are already under disadvantage in the matters of public employment due to very low percentage of reservation. Most of the employees are appointed around the age of 30-35 years and under these circumstances they are at disadvantage in terms of their qualifying service for pension and pensionary benefits as most of them are not completing the requisite 33 years of qualifying service. Hence it is very much necessary that their age of retirement be increased to 65.
22. Medical Assistance / Additional Medical Allowance to the Deaf and Dumbemployees:
In view of the necessity of the Deaf and Dumb Employees visiting the specialist doctors for their treatment and regular upgradation of their medical aids, they incur additional expenditure in terms of medical expenses. Hence it is necessary that they may be allowed medical assistance / additional medical allowance.
23. Disability Allowance to the Deaf and Dumb employees:
The persons with the disabilities including the deaf and dumb deserve grant of disability allowance to compensate the additional expenditure involved for them in the matters of leading normal life in the society and as such it is demanded that the deaf and dumb and other persons with physical disability may be awarded disability allowance to the tune of 20% of their pay.
24. Seniority on transfer on their own request:
The present rules provide that if a government employee seeks a transfer on his own to his place of choice he loses his seniority and joins in the bottom most seniority in the new unit of posting. However, the persons with disability including the deaf and dumb require transfer to other units especially when marriage or other contingency arises in their life. Under these circumstances it is demanded that the persons with the disabilities seeking transfer on their own shall be exempted from the loss of seniority.
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25. Creation of Central Government Employees Training Centre for Deaf and Dumb at Hyderabad:
26. Recognition of the Association of Deaf and Dumb Employees as a separate unit and providing for interpreters preferably persons trained from NIHH, Mumbai, etc., for assisting the representatives of the Association:
The present establishment recognizes unions / service associations in the general form. There are some establishments which recognize the other socially disadvantaged groups such as SCs / STs and other OBCs, whereas there is no mechanism to recognize the persons with disabilities as a separate Union / Association. Necessary changes are required to be made in the CCS (RSA) Rules 1993 for grant of separate entity for Deaf and Dumb employees Association. Further the Deaf and Dumb employees Association deserves not only special recognition, but also interpreters, more specifically persons trained at NIHH, Mumbai, etc., when they represent their grievances with the management.
27. General Holidays on 2nd / 4th Saturday of every month for Deaf and Dumb employees for taking care of their needs relating to works like Post Office / Banking etc:
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As on now the 2nd Saturday is recognized as a closed holiday in many establishments of the Central Government and however, on the same day it so happens that the Post Offices and Bank also have less working hours. It is just and necessary that an additional holiday of 4th Saturday may be provided for the persons with physical disability to take care of their personal needs with the Banks / Post Offices etc.
28. Additional relaxation in the matters of Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme:
In the matters of MACPS the rules uniformly apply to all the categories of employees without any special dispensation in the case of the persons with disabilities. As on now the MACP Scheme provides for advancement / upgradation at every 10/20/30 years of service. As explained above due to the paucity of reservations for the persons with physical disability most of the employees of these categories join very late in the departments / organizations and as such it is demanded that for the persons with physical disabilities (including deaf and dumb) may be provided with relaxation of the application of the scheme with 5/10/15 years.
29. Issuance of Departmental Books / Laptops / Newspaper / Internet Charges:
In view of the advanced stage of communications in the order of Globalized world the persons with physical disabilities cannot lack behind in their access to the Technology. Hence the Association demands supply of departmental book / laptops with internet facility / newspaper etc., to the persons with physical disability including deaf and dumb.
30. Grant of Special Casual Leave for Deaf and Dumb employees:
Relaxation at workplace cannot be the only right of normally abled persons. Even the persons with physical disability including deaf and dumb require cultural activities, sports events and they also need time for assessing their position in the society and the stage of their demands at regular intervals. They require regular meetings of the Associations. For taking care of these requirements there is a need to have 30 special casual leaves for the persons with disabilities including the deaf and dumb for organizing their Association activities (for Central Government Deaf Employees Association), cultural activities and sports events.
31. Grant of full pension payment to Deaf and Dumb employees:
In order to overcome the disadvantages of the persons with physical disabilities (including deaf and dumb) in their employment and social status it is just and necessary that the persons with disabilities are provided with the double the pension of the normal able bodied person.
32. Creation of hearing handicapped fund to the Association:
The State has the duty to take affirmative action by creating fund for the Associations for the hearing impaired as on their own they cannot afford to build proper and strong organizations. Hence it is demanded that the Central Government / State Government shall allocate certain funds as a part of affirmative action so as to help the hearing impaired to form Associations and to organize them with proper dignity.
33. Issuance of visit card / free railway pass to President and General Secretary / one Officer Bearer with Interpreter of Association:
The Association demands that the Government shall provide visit card / free railway pass to the President / General Secretary of the Association along with one Office Bearer and an interpreter trained at NIHH Mumbai for effectively communicating the grievances of the members of the Association of deaf and dumb.
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