Top notch companies offer jobs to people with disabilities at the regional Abilympics in Kolkata

According to the organisers, in this edition of the Abilympics more than 25 corporate companies such as Capgemini, Genpact, IHG, Big Basket, Reliance, Flipkart, Amazon, Lemon Tree, Hindustan Unilever, Hyatt Hotel, etc. came forward to offer jobs to persons with disabilities.

The event was organised by the National Abilympics Association of India (NAAI) with support from Sarthak Educational Trust and The Hans Foundation.

The Abilympics included competitions across a wide spectrum of skills and job fairs for PwDs.

Debabrata Chattaraj, State Commissioner of Disability, Government of West Bengal was present at the inaugural ceremony along with Nirmalya Khan, Vice President, Capgemini, Lov Verma, former Secretary, DePwD, Dr. Jitendra Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, Sarthak and Secretary General - NAAI, Siddhartha Rastogi, Managing Director, Ambit Capital and Dr. Sudhir Gupta, Vice President, NAAI.

The East Zone Abilympics was attended by participants in the age group of 18 to 35 years from West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.

The participants were tested for 10 vocational skills, which included Information and Communication Technology or ICT (character designing, desktop publishing and e-sports), crafts (floral arrangements), food( cooking and bakery), services (jewellery, tailoring/dress making and beauty therapy).

Dr. Jitendra Aggarwal, Founder & CEO of Sarthak Educational Trust, said, "Our aim is to provide vocational skills to the differently abled people, enabling them to have successful employment opportunities. Census data shows that unemployment rate among PwDs is over 63 per cent and every second person among them is illiterate. We cannot afford to continue to ignore this vital segment of society as its empowerment can not only make them self-reliant but will also tremendously contribute to India's sagging GDP. " 

Siddhartha Rastogi said that dedication of PwDs compared to abled person was much greater.

Sarthak and NAAI conjointly function to help people with disabilities with inclusive education, skill building, sustainable employment, advocacy and awareness, that they can earn a living and be independent as far as possible.

Dr. Jitendra Aggarwal while addressing the parents of differently-abled children, said, "Of course they are differently abled but they have lot of abilities, so don't focus on the disabilities. Focus on their abilities. Educate them, give them the ecosystem and let them work in a corporate house to gain a exposure and create awareness that this people can do each and every thing in this world and nothing is impossible for them."

Winners of National Abilympics will represent India at International Abilympics to be held in Russia in 2020.  

(Reporting by Subhashish Roy, Images by Soumo Das)