Union Minister for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Dr Jitendra Singh today informed that from the year 2018 to 2021, 4798 persons with benchmark disabilities have been recruited through direct recruitment in the posts and services of the Central Government.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today, Dr Jitendra Singh said, several measures were initiated by the Government to create public awareness and assist candidates with benchmark disabilities in applying for relevant posts.
The Minister informed that facility of Scribes for written examination / computer based examination are provided to the Persons with Benchmark Disability candidates having benchmark disabilities in the category of blindness, locomotor disability (Both Arms Affected) and cerebral palsy if desired by the candidates and to the remaining candidates of Persons with Benchmark Disabilities on production of certificate from the Chief Medical Officer/Civil Surgeon/ Medical Superintendent of a Government Health Care Institution at the time of examination.
Compensatory time of twenty minutes per hour is also provided to such candidates and all such provisions are included in the notices of examination.
On the question of measures being taken by the Government to create accessible workplaces for persons with benchmark disabilities, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the measures already specified as per “Harmonised Guidelines & Standards for Universal Accessibility in India 2021”, “Handbook on Barrier Free and Accessibility” and other manuals issued by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs/Central Public Works Department from time to time are being followed to create accessible workplace for persons with benchmark disabilities.
Filling of vacancies for persons with benchmark disabilities is a continuous process. With the enactment of ‘The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016’, four per cent of the total number of vacancies to be filled up by direct recruitment, in the cadre strength, in each group of posts, i.e. Group A, B and C, are reserved for such persons in the following manner-
| Categories | Percentage | |
| (a) | blindness and low vision | 1% |
| (b) | deaf and hard of hearing | 1% |
| (c) | locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy |
1% |
| (d) | autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness |
1% |
| (e) | multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d) including deaf-blindness in the posts identified for each disability | |
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