Awards for those working on employment opportunities for disabled

New Delhi, Oct 23: MindTree, a global digital transformation and technology services company, on Monday announced the winners of the second edition of the "NCPEDP-Mindtree Helen Keller Awards" that honours individuals and organisations doing exemplary work to bring employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.

The National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP)-Helen Keller Awards were initiated in 1999 to bring awareness on the issue of employment for people with disabilities. However, MindTree began its association with NCPEDP in 2016.

This year, 10 awards have been announced for individuals and organisations under three different categories.

In the category of "role model disabled persons", the awards were bagged by Charudatta Jadhav, Head Accessibility COE, Tata Consultancy Services Limited; Devanshi Joshi, Store Assistant, Gram Bharat; Nirmita Narasimhan, Policy Director, Centre for Internet and Society; Pradip Sinha, Executive, Issue Retrieval Centre in IT Asset Management, Dell-EMC.

The two winners in "role model supporters of increased employment opportunities for disabled people" category are S.V. Krishnan, CEO, Dialogue in the Dark at ACE Social Foundation; Swaminathan Subramanian, Manager, Payments and Operations, at ANZ Bengaluru Service Centre.

In the category "role model companies/NGOs/institutions", BarrierBreak Solutions; Hatti Food and Beverages; The Lemon Tree Hotel Company; and Vindhya e-Infomedia won the awards

"It is heartening to see the increasing number of corporates being nominated for the awards. It is a proof that inclusivity is being taken up on priority," Krishnakumar Natarajan, Executive Chairman, MindTree, said.

The awards will be given away on on December 2, the eve of World Disability Day.

In India, not many persons with disabilities are applying for corporate jobs. This is definitely a concern, because it opens the conversation beyond employment, to lack of education and infrastructure for persons with disabilities.

"Currently, not even one per cent of applicants for open positions are persons with disabilities," said Abraham Moses, General Manager at MindTree Foundation.