SARTHAK – Regional Summit 2015 (Hyderabad)

Rakesh Paladugula addressing the SARTHAK conference

On 26th last month I had a privilege to be a part of SARTHAKExternal Website round table conference here in Hyderabad. Delegates from government, corporate and NGOs have their presence in spite of the Cricket World cup 2015 semi-final match between India and Australia.

The conference was divided into 3 modules to have concentrated discussions on various issues for the employment, trainings and skill development of people with disabilities.

In the inaugural session Dr. Jithender Agarwal Founder of SARTHAK shared his journey with SARTHAK so far and the goals ahead. Later Commissioner (FAC), Government of Telangana Mr. Jayesh Ranjan, IAS addressed the audience explaining the highlights of new Industrial policy of Telangana. He on behalf of Government of Telangana got a huge applause from the audience when he informed that the new industrial policy want to fill the 3% quota for people with disabilities before they recruit any other employees going forward. Secretary of department of empowerment of persons with disabilities Government of India, Mr. Lov Verma explained how the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and Department of Employment of persons with disabilities together with the private partnership of various NGO’s want to provide skill development trainings for people with disabilities. He explains that the national government has set a target to train 25 lack people with disabilities in next 7 years. The NSDC is soon going to establish a new sector for training people with disabilities Mr. Verma explains. Later the Senior Vice President of Tech Mahindra shared his views and thoughts on IT and related industries in employing people with disabilities.

The second category was the panel discussion on employing people with disabilities, challenges and best practices. Tech Mahindra, HCL, Cap Gemini had their representatives participated in the panel discussion. Each of them shared their views and clarified the questions participants had. The next panel discussion was on employing people with disabilities in Travel & Hospitality sector. Representatives from Lemon Tree, Western Hotels, KFC etc have shared their views and thoughts.

The final panel discussion was with people with disabilities working in private sector. I on behalf of Deque Software Private Limited and a friend from Tech Mahindra participated. As we have shared our experiences and journey so far the audience had few questions which we clarified. The major discussion here revolved on the transportation for people with disabilities.

Over all the SARTHAKExternal Website round table conference is a huge success with the discussions in the right path. Thank you Dr. Jithender Agarwal and the entire SARTHAK team for such conference and providing me an opportunity to give back to the society.