Sarthak’s 9^th National Conference on Disability

Sarthak’s 9^th National Conference on Disability was recently conducted by Sarthak Educational Trust and National Abilympic Association of India. Glocal Partnerships, Inclusive Workplaces, Training University, Mentorship Programs were emphasized at Sarthak’s 9^th National Conference on Disability. One million disabled population have been impacted, 500+ NGOs partnered, trained and placed at 51,000+ PwDs across 16 states by Sarthak Educational Trust.

Sarthak’s 9^th National Conference on Disability

The 9th National Conference on Disability hosted by Sarthak Educational Trust and National Abilympic Association of India was flagged off today at AICTE, New Delhi. The theme for this year was – Glocal Partnerships for Disability Inclusive Development.Rajeev Kumar, Chief Election Commissioner of India was the Chief Guest on the inaugural day of the 2-day conference. The event is an important step in highlighting how global and local partnerships can impact empowerment and mainstreaming of persons with disabilities (PwDs) in the country. Ranging from Early Intervention, Inclusive Education, Skill Building, Sustainable Employment and Advocacy, Sarthak Educational Trust has played a critical and crucial role in empowering people with disabilities across India.

This event brought national and global experts together to gather knowledge and practical wisdom toward the disability inclusivity movement. Sarthak Educational Trust has been working since 2008 and in the last 14 years has successfully reached out to onemillion of disabled populace in India and trained and placed – 51,000+persons with disabilities (PwDs) across 16 states to let them excel in their fields and inspire many.

Rajiv Kumar, Chief Election Commissioner of India said, “The major issue today for persons with disabilities is providing them with employment and their skilling. PwDs are more able than all of us, they are more sensitive toward society. Society has been looking at them with sympathy but what they need is equality and am happy that Sarthak has been working towards their empowerment. Currently there are 2.68cr PwDs in the country but I am sure this number is bigger and it’s our responsibility to stand by them and bring them to the mainstream economy. Elections have to be Inclusive and accessible and the election commission is working toward this cause as such partnership will give a voice to their disability rights. The dream of Sarthak to build GRC and the University, will be supported as EC is eager to support the cause of disability inclusion.”

Dr. Jitender Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, Sarthak Educational Trust shared, “Sarthak is working extensively to reach PwDs even in the remotest areas. In this direction, we have partnered with 500+ NGOs in various parts of India under India Disability Empowerment Alliance (IDEA). We have also created digital solutions that are extremely useful and benefitting 36,000+ PwDs PAN India. Next year, we will also see the launch of our dream project The Global Resource Centre (GRC), at Gurgaon, which is a first-of-its-kind accessible hub addressing all disability needs from Childhood to Livelihood for Persons with Disabilities and we appeal the corporates and the Government to support the cause.” A tie-up with SGT University, Gurugram was also announced for implementing One year PG Diploma in Disability Studies and Action (PGDDSA) and One year PG Diploma in Early Intervention (PGDEI) to create more trained human resources who can effectively and sensitively engage better with PwDs as trainers and therapists.

The Corporate Panel brought together several HR and diversity inclusion experts and leaders to discuss measures needed to be ensured to involve inclusion of PwDs, especially digital inclusion.

“We brought more of a mindset change in operations by looking at PwDs as resources. Initially, it looked as a challenge, later we realized it was an opportunity to make Amazon an Inclusive workplace. It blended well with our values and our assets like warehouses, facilities, etc. We made several structural changes to our office buildings, mapping what job positions we can offer across 21 disabilities and we zeroed down on 7 disabilities, that is how our journey to inclusivity began,” added Anuj Kaura, Director- Supply Chain and e-Commerce Fulfilment Specialist; Strategic Planner, Capability Builder and Leadership Coach, Amazon India.

“The target for this year is hiring around 5000 PwPs across all our platforms. From hiring 125 PwDs in a month we at Reliance have come a long way in becoming an inclusive workplace”, sharedAmit Rawat, Zonal HR head, Reliance Retail.

A massive online job fair for Divyanjan was also organized with top recruiters from the country like Flipkart, DHL, D’Mart, Indigo, Tata Croma, VMart, Sarathee and many more from across the country. Divyangjan can participate in this job fair for PwDs by visiting www.rozgarsarathi.org. Around 17 companies hosted jobs and almost 300 PwD participants attended the fair.

Sarthak Educational Trust has presence at 25 centers across the country at [New Delhi (4), Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Guwahati, Bangalore, Bhopal, Jaipur, Kolkata, Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Vishakhapatnam, Chennai, Thane, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Trivandrum] and are actively engaged in creating productive citizens of India through life cycle approach and early intervention, inclusive education, skill development, employment generation and advocacy programs. More information available on  (www.sarthakindia.org), https://sarthakindia.org/NCD

National Abilympic Association of India has been working to ensure excellence in vocational skills by organizing regional and national level Abilympics in India and representing India in International Abilympics since 2001 (www.abilympicsindia.org)