SARTHAKWEBINARSERIES

JUNE 19,2020

Dhristikone- Levelup strategy 2020for disabilityempowerment

Digital & Outreach partner Knoweldge Partner

Sarthak Educational Trust - #Dhristikone

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COVID-19 pandemic is creating a havoc acrossthe world and expected to continue for quitesome time. At Sarthak, we have always beenhighly aware of our responsibility towards thenation and are committed to provide allpossible support to India’s response to theCOVID-19 challenge in the domain of disability.We believe in taking measurable steps totackle the urgent need of the hour and ourresponse to the pandemic is also built aroundthis approach.One of the objectives underSarthak Response to COVID-19 is knowledgesharing and generating awareness to combatCOVID-19 considering all spheres andsegments of disability.Sarthak and NAAI is organizing webinar seriesto initiate a dialogue with national andinternational leaders to ponder on requiredinitiatives to empower disability sector.

ABOUTDhristikone

WEBINAR DETAILS- JUNE 19

#Webinar 1: Government support todisability community during COVID-19

#Webinar 2: Aftermath of economicdisruption on disability diversity andInclusion

#Webinar 3: Media Lens on disabilityduring COVID-19

Sarthak Educational Trust - #Dhristikone

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Tarika RoyIRAS, JS, DEPwD,MSJE, Government ofIndia

Padma Bhushan Dr. MB AthreyaManagement Guru and Mentor Sarthak

Dr. Muniraju S.B.Dy. Adviser, Niti Aayog

Lov VermaFormer Secretary, DePwDGovernment of India,

Krishan KalraPresident NAAI

Dr. Jitender AggarwalFounder CEO Sarthak Educational Trust

Tarika Roy highlights following points:Clarified the status of various governmentinitiatives underway for PwDs. 

She stressed on ‘fast learner approach’, whichher dept has adopted for a situation where thelearning curve was very steep.

  For database preparation - UDID card has beengiven out to over 44.8 million PwDs already fromamongst 83 million, which are registered withthem.

Sensitizing RWA is one of the initiatives whichDePwD is adopting. 

Comprehensive Guidelines are being drawn byDePwD for obstacle free access to medicalfacilities at State and national levels

GOVERNMENT SUPPORTTO DISABILITYCOMMUNITY DURINGCOVID - 191000 Hours- June 19

PANELIST &MODERATOR DETAILS

The webinar aimed at raising mass awarenessabout the impact of COVID on PwDs and tounderstand about initiatives taken by theGovernment so far for strengthening of disabilitysector. Shri. Krishan Kalra initiated the paneldiscussion by addressing the webinar objective toother panelists.

Dr. Jitender Aggarwal highlights Sarthak’sresponse to COVID-19 which included knowledgesharing and generating awareness. Further hementioned about the the Mobile App is also beingdeveloped for PwDs to have easy access toinformation on schemes, jobs and seek real-timehelp whenrequired.

Dr. Muniraju SB shared    when the Covid-19situation arose, Niti Ayog reached out to all CivilSocieties registered with them to help out PwDsand advance of INR. 3000/- is being made toPwDs for their medicines and health care support.

Padma Bhushan Dr. MB Athreya shared through apresentation on Impact, Needs and Opportunitiesand stressed on Information Delivery throughvarious channels being crucial in currenttimes.Further mentioned about need for anupdated database to reach out to PwDs so thatservices can be provided seamlessly.

Lov Verma shared , portion of CSR should beallocated to PwDs by corporates and PSUsspecifically and should not be mixed with otherinitiatives. Further stressed on RPwDAct 2016which needs to be implemented faster.

Sarthak Educational Trust - #Dhristikone

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Bijay ThakurHead HR, The Leela Palace- Chennai

Nandini MehtaVice President HR, Lifestyle InternationalPvt Ltd

Gayathri RamamurthySenior Director & Diversity & InclusionLead, Capgemini

Dr. SM GuptaGCPO, Startek

Sandeep BhargavaFormer EVP, Vodafone Idea Ltd

PANELIST &MODERATOR DETAILS

AFTERMATH OF ECONOMICDISRUPTION ONDISABILITY DIVERSITY ANDINCLUSION1400 Hours- June 19

The webinar aimed at raising awareness about theadverse effect of COVID on PwDs personal andprofessional front and further deliberation onother vital aspects such as inclusion of PwDs atwork place post-COVID survival and revivalpackages, counseling services, skill-building,newer opportunities, work from home model etc.

Mr. Sandeep Bhargava, welcomed the panelistand sets the context for panel by introducing themoderator Mr. SM Gupta. Further, Mr. Guptastarted the session by with his comments thatthere are three major with PwDs challengescurrently – Accessible Healthcare, Employabilityand Financial support.

Gayathri Ramamurthy mentioned about organization has adopted a 4 pillar approach forPwD employees – a) Accessibility b) Career –and attract talent c) Engagement – PwD withproject teams  d) Evangelize – What is happeningoutside the system. There is an urgent need forde-stigmatizing the talent pool of PwD’sand identifying their skill set as per theecosystem, to hire them.

Shruti Mishra shared "what we are seeing today is business at its mostAgile. The shift in business practices, strengtheningof digital infrastructure, work place & scheduleflexibility, access to multi-geo talent pool, allowpeople with disabilities to not only participate, butto thrive, in business. I strongly believe this“Inclusion Revolution” will have a strong businessimperative but an even stronger moral one."

Bijay Thakur informed lots of training hashappened, using digital platforms during lockdownand over 840 touch-points have been identified toenhance workplace precautions in the hotels andtaken care of, to minimize COVID transmission. Further, PwDs staying alone in bacheloraccommodation are being taken care of for foodand other requirements and most importantly     TheLeela Palace, chennai  have ensured no lay-offs ofemployees.

Nandini Mehta, stressed on completeaccountability by the organization, with uniformpolicy in treating any employee with increasedsensitivity towards their disability. Further onlinedeliveries have been introduced recently so currentemphasis is on communicating with customers onproduct safety and deliveries.

Sarthak Educational Trust - #Dhristikone

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Devina GuptaSenior Journalist and Presenter, BBCWorld News

Sujatha RaghunathSenior Assistant Editor, The Hindu

Subrata ChakrabartyDirector, Advanced Institute of DigitalMarketing

Saurabh JoshiFounder Editor, Stratpost.com

Atul BhatnagarFormer COO, NSDC

PANELIST &MODERATOR DETAILS

MEDIA LENS ONDISABILITY DURINGCOVID-191600 Hours- June 19

Social distancing is not an option for many as theyrely on others including personal support workersand caregivers to support their basic needs. Thewebinar  aimed at highlighting the requirementsof disability sector during COVID and discussingrole of media in voicing concerns/ challenges/requirements of PwDs.

Shri Saurabh Joshi initiated the panel discussionby setting the context to the panellists.

Devina Gupta, highlighted PwDs need to be givenjob opportunities where they can work withdignity. She also mentioned about need to besensitive to PwDs and ask the right question tounderstand their issues

Sujatha Raghunath mentioned that PwDs andNGOs should approach mainstream media withstories or issues to be raised as due to lockdownit was very difficult for media reporters to findgenuine stories for publishing.

Subrata Chakrabarty stressed on the point tomonetize their talent and create a livelihood forthemselves, by using different digital platforms. asdue to COVID a new normal has formed where thePwDs can work from home now and even smallcity workforce can now contribute without havingto relocate, using digital modes.

In the end, Atul Bhatnagar  summarized the daysdeliberations and offered the vote of thanks to allthe esteemed panelists, The American Center(Digital & Outreach Partner), UNICEF- Yuwaah(Knowledge Partner) and sarthak team fororganizing the highly fruitful webinar.