Speaking about the initiative, Som Mittal, President of NASSCOM said, “NASSCOM and NASSCOM Foundation have been actively working in the disability space since early 2010. The Foundation realizes the importance of broadening the diversity agenda to include people with disabilities and approached the issue from perspectives of business imperative as well as a ‘rights-based’ agenda. This dual focus is helping the industry become an equal opportunities employer in the true sense of the term. We now need to find ways to scale this.”
Opportunity Network for the Disabled’ (OND) is one of the key initiatives of Wadhwani Foundation. The partnership with NASSCOM Foundation is a part of the WF-OND initiative. Sharing his views on this campaign, Ajay Kela, President and CEO of Wadhwani Foundation said “India has a very unique talent pool of an estimated two to three million educated disabled. Corporate India could derive better business value in terms of higher productivity, reduced attrition and lowered training costs by employing this proven and tenacious talent pool. Wadhwani Foundation since 2010 has been working towards promoting recruitment of the disabled as a business value proposition. NASSCOM Foundation’s initiative will help Wadhwani Foundation in fulfilling its goal to be a catalyst for skill development that is relevant to the needs of employers and at the same time enabling targeted segments of society who have been under-served.”
“The average employment rate of disabled people in the private sector is only 0.28%, while the public sector showed marginally better statistics with an employment rate of 0.54% even though the population of the disabled in the country exceeds 6%. The inherent reasons for the lack of sensitivity on behalf of the corporate sector are a matter of concern. And this lead to the foundation of our initiative”, he further added.
Encouraging organizations to adopt accessibility measures and assistive technology, Ms. Rita Soni, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation said “Accessibility is not just making the workplace accessible for a person on wheelchair; it is about creating an inclusive ecosystem which helps all employees feel connected to each other and to the organization leading to better productivity and efficiency. Diversity has been integral to NASSCOM and NASSCOM Foundation’s work and going forward we are excited to get the support of Wadhwani Foundation on this important cause. The Web Accessibility Handbook released as a first step in this partnership complements NASSCOM Foundation’s ‘Inclusivity at the Workplace’ Handbook released last year. The Web Accessibility Handbook will help companies realize the importance of making every aspect of their workplace accessible and provides concrete mechanisms to do so.”
The two-year program will advocate and facilitate recruitment of people with disabilities (PwDs) within the IT-BPO industry in India and to create an ecosystem that offers a supportive and inclusive environment through a twin focus on Employability and Accessibility.
Esteemed IT-BPO companies such as Wipro, IBM, MphasiS, eVindhya and others have been consistently honored for their focused work in equal opportunities policies, employment practices, approach to accessibility and results achieved in the space. The initiative is founded on a fourfold approach - strong leadership commitment, robust policies, capability building and creating an enabling culture in the organization. The aim is to reach every level within an organization from the top leadership to middle management to the average employee in order to bring about change in policy, change practices and a change in the behavior and mindset of the average employee towards disability.
Wadhwani Foundation was founded in the year 2000 by Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, an IIT-Bombay alumnus with a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University and an IT entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, California. The mission of the philanthropic foundation is to accelerate economic development in India and other emerging economies. [AK] This is achieved through two primary thrust area: Large Scale Job Creation and Skill Development. Entrepreneurship and Innovation focus on Job Creation whilst skilling is achieved through Skill Colleges Initiatives. Two parallel Chairs with CSIS in Washington and ICRIER in Delhi support Indo-US Policy Studies. The foundation works across the higher education spectrum, leveraging Government resources and market forces to achieve scale.
NASSCOM Foundation (NF) aims to channelize the potential of the IT-BPO industry towards inclusive development of India. It is the social development arm of NASSCOM, the internationally recognized trade body of the Indian IT-BPO industry. NF was established to transform the lives of the underserved by leveraging the resources of the IT-BPO industry. NASSCOM Foundation is a charity registered under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 and under Section 12A of the Income Tax Act.
