People suffering from blood disorders like thalassemia, haemophilia and sickle cell disease are not eligible for reservation in government jobs under the Persons with Disabilities category, the Social Justice Ministry told Parliament on Tuesday.
The three diseases were included in the list of disabilities under the Right to Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016, which had led activists to believe at the time that benefits like reservation would follow. However, with them being kept out of the ambit of reservation, activists say it defeats the entire purpose of having included them in the list.
Minister of State for Social Justice Pratima Bhoumik said that as per Section 34 of the 2016 law, “persons with blood disorders including Thalassemia are not eligible for the benefit of reservation in jobs in Government Establishments”.
The government said that the 4% reservation in government jobs is available for total loss of vision and low vision; complete loss of hearing and low hearing; locomotor disability, including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy; autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness; and people with multiple disabilities from the aforementioned categories.
Ms. Bhoumik was responding to a question from MPs Ritesh Pandey (BSP) and Shashi Tharoor (Congress), who had asked specifically about the reasoning for not including a blood disorder like Thalassemia in the list of disabilities eligible for reservation in jobs.
The government said in its reply, “Extensive consultation with concerned Central Ministries/Departments, all States/UTs and other stakeholders including civil societies was undertaken before the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 was passed by the Parliament.”
Activists working with persons with disabilities told The Hindu that they had flagged the problem to the government before as well but no action was taken.
Satendar Singh, faculty member at the University College of Medical Sciences in Delhi and a disability rights activist, said, “Including the disabilities in the Act first and then choosing not to extend benefits like reservation to all types of disabilities defeats the entire purpose. And the problem is not just with blood disorders.”
Chennai-based disability rights activist Vaishnavi Jayakumar added that the criteria used for reservations in jobs prevent people with many categories of disabilities from being eligible. “There are considerably more categories of disabilities that are eligible for reservation in education than in jobs.”
A petition to include thalassemia patients in the eligibility list for jobs had also reached the Supreme Court in 2019. The top court dismissed the plea at the time after taking the government’s response on record, while also saying that the petitioner may be allowed to approach the concerned authority with their representation.
