CDS Report of Human Resource Development Meeting

Agenda before the Sub-Group

The sub-group was primarily required to deliberate upon which of the recommendations of the base document should be incorporated in the law and the reasons for such Incorporation. This question was primarily dictated by the need to distinguish between those policy recommendations of the base document which were desirable and should settle the direction of the future and those which should have the force of the law.

Statutory Duty to Provide Training

The base document spoke about the human resource needs of the sector from the grass root to the tertiary level and the best way of obtaining this result. Even as the mandate of inclusion would require large scale capacity building of existing personnel the sub-group was concerned that such training may be reduced to the inductions of a couple of modules in existing programs which may not be executed effectively. In order to prevent such an outcome the sub group decided to include in the law a statutory duty whereby disability sensitization and awareness had to be built into all training programs. Such a statutory provision it was hoped would inject disability rights into the DNA of the existing cadres. The sub-group decided to incorporate the provision mandating training into the legislation whilst recognizing that the provision was being incorporated in the law in order to assist advocacy as just placing a provision or an obligation in the law may be insufficient to obtain implementation.

National Disability Service

Even as the group recognized the necessity and value of training existing cadres; it also recognized the limitations of the strategy. The need for a service which was dedicated to disability inclusion was accepted. In order to escape the philanthropic and charitable stereotype which surrounds work in the disability sector, the idea of establishing a Register of Disability Volunteers was not considered acceptable as the method by which the personnel needs of the Disability sector should be met. Consequently, the possibility of establishing a National Disability Service which would be dedicated to ensuring and implementing rights of persons with disability as a separate service under the All India Services Act was considered. The sub-group was informed that the establishment of a National Disability Service could not be established in the new Act. Any initiative to establish such a service could happen only after a resolution to that effect was passed by a two thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha. Consequently, the sub-group decided to make a strong recommendation to this effect in the Report of the Committee. The Group also decided to research further in the matter on the kinds of cadres and post required in the service. This research on cadres and posts it was felt would strengthen the justification for the recommendation

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