India Inc's HIV bias revealed

[Guest guest]

India Inc's HIV bias revealed

Divya Iyer, CNN-IBN. Updated Friday , July 21, 2006 at 21:49

New Delhi: It's been three years since 24-years-old Seema was asked

to leave the I-T company she was working in. The reason: Her

employers found out that she was HIV-positive.

" People in the canteen would not talk to me. They would not eat with

me. Then they told me in office that I should not come in any more, "

Seema recalls.

Since then, Seema has been working in an NGO, caring for others like

her. She is now struggling to support herself and her HIV-positive

husband. Seema's is not a one-off case.

A recent study by the National Council for Applied Economic Research

and United Nations Development Programme reveals a horrific picture.

While 29 per cent of HIV-positive people have been refused loan

facilities, 30 per cent others have been denied promotions and 16

per cent forced to quit jobs.

These findings come at a time when a draft Bill called the HIV-AIDS

Bill 2005 is waiting a green signal from the Union Health Ministry.

The bill, for the first time, will be looking at discrimination

against HIV-positive people at the work place. The bill is expected

to be tabled in the monsoon session of Parliament.

" Discrimination which flows from stigma is rampant both in the

public sector and mostly in the private sector. Now in order to

tackle discrimination in the private sector, you have to have a law

and there is no such law, " a lawyer, Anand Grover says.

Others like 36-year-old , who was working as a bartender at a

five-star hotel in Delhi, chose to leave on their own before their

bosses could humiliate them.

" I got the feeling that if they found out, it would be hell for me.

I knew there would be loads of discrimination, people would say

nasty things. So, I didn't take a chance. I just quit on my own, "

says .

There are lakhs of people across India, who prefer to keep their HIV-

positive status a secret because of societal prejudice. As a result,

they even lose out on the medical benefits they are entitled to.

While blatant forms of discrimination may have faded, less visible

forms like pre-employment HIV testing and denial of health insurance

remain. This despite the fact that India's corporate sector

established the Indian Business Trust for HIV/AIDS in 2001 to

address such issues.

(With Inputs from Nilanjana Bose).

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india-incs-hiv-bias-revealed/16307-3.html