A Tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), the Government of India, Skill Council for Persons with Disabilities (SCPwD), and Amazon Seller Private Limited.
The main objective of this MoU is to jointly provide skill training and employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in the e-commerce sector. It envisages mobilization of PwDs for skill training by the DEPwD, designing job roles for the e-commerce sector by SCPwD, and providing skill training and hiring of PwDs by Amazon.
Union minister of social justice and empowerment Dr. Virendra Kumar said, “This initiative will empower and create a brighter future for People with Disabilities. The private sector’s empathy and participation will assist in providing more job and entrepreneurship opportunities,”
“The social and financial empowerment of PWDs is extremely important in realising the Prime Minister’s vision for a self-reliant nation. I welcome Amazon India’s initiative towards building a more inclusive workforce,” he added.
Such initiatives of all the parties would create better opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) by imparting job-specific, practical, and e-commerce skills in the supply chain sector to enhance their sustainable employability in the job market as well as to enable them to become entrepreneurs.
On the occasion, Minister said that it is also desired by Prime Minister that private companies should be associated with empowering PwDs by providing them employment opportunities and making them self-reliant. Minister said keeping in mind Aatm Nirbhar Bharat, not only private companies such as Amazon but also Society should come forward and together to make Divyangjan Aatm Nirbhar (Self-reliant).
Akhil Saxena, vice president of customer fulfillment at Amazon, said, “At Amazon India, we foster a culture that is conducive to growth and offers people equal opportunities to unlock their full potential. Persons with Disability in India face many challenges when looking to develop employable skills and in gaining meaningful employment.”
“With this project, we aim to focus on skilling and livelihood-oriented empowerment for PwDs, over a period of 12 to 24 months. This complements our existing programs to provide direct employment opportunities to under-represented cohorts,” Akhil Saxena added.
Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, DEPwD while appreciating SCPwD and Amazon for joining hands with Department in its endeavor to make PwDs empowered, said several trained/employed PwDs under the programme should be tracked and efforts should be made to provide employment opportunities to PwDs from Jobs in warehouses to make them entrepreneurs.
In addition to this emphasis on skilling PwDs, Amazon conducts a variety of initiatives for varied underrepresented cohorts, including women, military veterans, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, it said in a statement.
