Showing posts with label IAS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IAS. Show all posts

Thursday, July 30, 2009

DoPT fails to give IAS post to Hearing Impaired Aspirant despite clearing the exam thrice!

Dear Friends,

We saw a similar fight by few others including Shri Ravi Kumar, a candidate with Low vision who cleared Civil Services exams almost thrice and was denied by DoPT because no post was identified for disabled! Even after court's verdict, the PMO had to intervene and issue a consolation that posts have been identified for the disabled.

However, this case of Shri Maniram reveals the inherent apathy and lackadaisical attitude of the Govt. of India to include people with disability in the mainstream despite clearing their exams and competition at their own merit - forget about reservations and relaxation of standards!!

Such incidents only indicate that MSJE and GOI have failed the disabled segment, the PWD Act and the UNCRPD that India signed with so much fanfare! When this Government would stop looking at Disability from a medical angle of percentages ? If the person can prepare and clear the exams at his own merit at 100% disability then what is the fun of insisting a 70% disability to be eligible for which he has been made to undergo a cochlear implant? Now none of the Govt. Hospital has facility to measure the degree of disability!

It may be relevant to mention here that Shri Maniram is already working satisfatorily in Rajasthan Administrative Service having proved his mantle there but DOPT and Central Civil Services seem to purposefully perpetrate discriminatory exclusion agaisnt those with disabilities.

Is this because the central bureaucracy doesn't want the disabled segment in its fold? Is it because the DoPT doesn't know about abilities inherent in the human diversity such as those with hearing disability ? The issue is of attitude and approach which is negative and unwelcoming to those experiencing disabilities and should be condemned.

Such practices should be discouraged in the strongest words possible as these perpetrate the age old practice of looking at disability from medical model. Why can't the assistive aids and devices with modern technology be used to provide reasonable accommodation to Maniram to facilitate him a better and congenial working atmosphere?

I think the Govt. doesn't seem to have understood the concept of reasonable accommodation and their ignorance is proving to be so dear to thousands of aspirants. The inaction on the part of Govt. deserves shame and the sector should stand up united against such discrimination.

This is a fit case where he should be appointed immediately with all benefits like seniority of service, back pay and other benefits besides compensation for the mental agony and harassment suffered.

DoPT should be penalised for failing to facilitate his appointment since 2005 despite clear cut rulings of Courts, Directives from PMO and stated legal position! Has the gentleman filed any case in the court of law seeking immediate appointment and compensation?

Warm regards

S C Vashishth, Adv

Click here to read the article from source: Govt deaf to Maniram's cry for justice

Rema Nagarajan, TNN, 26 July 2009, 05:31 am IST

He's deaf and has cleared the civil services exam three times — in 2005, 2006 and 2009. And yet, he continues to be cheated of his dream job — joining the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). The first time, Maniram Sharma was turned away by the department of personnel and training (DoPT) because there was no policy of accommodating a deaf candidate. The second time he cleared the exam, the policy bottleneck was sorted out. But with a rider — only candidates with less than 70% hearing disability qualify for the IAS provided they cleared the exam. Maniram, being 100% deaf, was not eligible for the service. But he didn't give up.

To improve his hearing, Maniram had a surgical cochlear implant, costing Rs 7.5 lakh. He appeared for the IAS again this year and achieved the highest score in the hearing-impaired category. But his medical examination categorized him as 70% disabled — just a shade higher than the qualifying disability level. The finding itself was strange. Of the 791 candidates selected this year, Maniram's score in the interview was among the top 50 (220/300). And he scored these marks in an interview that required direct interaction — an improbable feat if he were 70% disabled.

Previously, when Maniram had cleared the written exam and reached the interview stage, an LCD projector was used to put questions on a screen. That was in 2005 and 2006 when he was 100% deaf. ENT doctors in Delhi's RML Hospital, where he had his cochlear implant, have certified he has a 100% permanent hearing impairment, discounting the implant done by its own doctors which has now helped him hear.

The ENT doctors' board of Sawai Mansingh Hospital in Rajasthan, his home state, constituted to assess Maniram's hearing, has said that audiometry and other specific tests are required to assess hearing in a patient with a cochlear implant. And these were not available in the institute.

Dr J M Hans, former head of RML's ENT department, who conducted the surgery on Maniram says that the only way to measure the hearing of a person with cochlear implant is with an instrument called electrical BERA or "brainstem evoked response audiometry", which is not available in any government hospital. "The government ought to allow the test, which is available in the private sector, to be used by candidates," he says.

Dr Han's observation raises another question - if this instrument is not available in government hospitals, including RML, how did the doctors measure Maniram's hearing loss as over 70%?

Maniram is from Badangarhi, a remote village in Alwar district, which doesn't even have a school. He started losing his hearing at the age of five, becoming totally deaf by nine. His parents, both illiterate farm labourers, could do little to help. Yet, Maniram continued trudging to the nearest school, 5 km away and cleared class 10 standing fifth in the state board examination and cleared class 12 ranking seventh in the state board.

In his second year in college, he cleared the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) examination to become a clerk-cum-typist. He studied and worked during his final year and topped the university in Political Science. He went on to clear the NET (National Eligibility Test). He then gave up his RPSC job and became a lecturer. Not satisfied with that, he became a Junior Research Fellow and completed his Ph.D in Political Science during which time he taught M Phil and MA students in Rajasthan University.

Having completed his Ph.D, Maniram got through the Rajasthan Administrative Service (RAS) and while in service he started trying for the civil services. Will his efforts be in vain?

Thursday, June 11, 2009

An IAS officer, against all odds- Hindustan Times

Dear Colleagues,

A sensitized senior officer can make all that difference that is needed to accommodate the special needs and provide equitable environment to persons with disabilities to perform in education and employment. In the instant case, due a highly sensitized Director General of Academy of Administration, Mr. Sandeep Khanna who happened to serve in Ministry of Social Justice at one point of time and knew the capabilities of blind made all that difference. The DG ensured that the Academy provided an enabling environment to the trainee IAS office who was a person with visual impairment. Thus braille printer, braille translations of the revenue book circular, land Revenue Code and CC (conduct) Rules were provided to make the academy/ educational institution an inclusive set up.

Here is the story of the success of inclusive set up and of course the grit and determination of Krishna Tiwari!


An IAS Officer, against all odds 

Losing his eyesight at the age of 20 could have demoralised Krishna Tiwari. Instead, he decided to proceed with his life according to plan, becoming India’s first IAS officer with a 75 per cent visual disability. Tiwari, whose retina gradually deteriorated, leaving him legally

blind by 2001, is currently finishing his training programme at Madhya Pradesh’s RCVP Noronha Academy of Administration in Bhopal.
In a welcome change, the government is adapting itself to working with people with disabilities, rather than the other way around.

Director General (Academy of Administration) Sandeep Khanna, who has served with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in the past, made a laptop and screen reader software available to help Tiwari with his training.

The Academy also got a Braille printer and Braille translations of the Revenue Book Circular, the Land Revenue Code and the Civil Services (Conduct) Rules — the Bibles of every revenue officer.

“This is being done as part of a move to have more inclusive education,” said Khanna.

The Academy has also offered the 28-year-old the option of taking the equipment with him when he the training is over, to help him in his work.

It wasn’t always this easy, though.

Tiwari secured the 142nd rank in the Civil Services Examination, 2007, the highest rank ever for a person with a physical disability.

But in August that year, the Department of Personnel & Training told him he was ineligible to join the Indian Administrative Service on three counts: He would be unable to perform his duties as he could not see, he could not read or write and could not walk without help.

Tiwari protested, saying he was adept at handling computers and could walk in a secure area without help.

The matter was referred to the medical board and the objections were waived. In November 2007, Tiwari was finally inducted into the IAS.


Source: Hindustan Times