“Secondly, if the basic principle is that a woman who is pregnant three months or more will be deemed unfit for hiring for service, what about women who are already employed with SBI who would become pregnant or are currently three months pregnant? After 3 months of pregnancy, will they also be considered unfit for service and will they be not paid for doing their job?” Nayak added.Under the 30-year-old sexist norms, which existed until 2009, SBI used to insist on women candidates and serving women to undergo medical examination at the time of recruitment/ promotion to determine whether they were pregnant and submit a declaration giving details of their menstrual cycle so as to defer posting/promotion during pregnancy.Women candidates were also required to declare their menstrual history and give an undertaking on any evidence of pregnancy and history of any disease of the uterus, cervix, ovaries or breasts.The second issue in the latest SBI recruitment guidelines is with the category of persons with disabilities. The existing guidelines state that only the following categories of physically challenged persons will be recruited in clerical cadre: loss of one arm, provided the candidate can write and work with the other hand; loss of leg(s), provided the candidate can move with artificial leg, crutches, wheelchair.However, these recruitment guidelines are in violation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, which states that at least 4% of the total number of vacancies in government establishments in specified categories (and 1% in certain others) must be reserved for their employment.
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