A clause in the HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill 2012 that HIV testing cannot be a precondition for employment has raised some practical roadblocks in the recruitment process of the paramilitary forces and police, and become a bone of contention between the ministry of home affairs and the department of AIDS control. The MHA holds that it is not possible to recruit HIV-positive people in the paramilitary forces because of the high physical requirement standards and because community living may spread the infection through “cuts and bruises”. Countering this, the AIDS control department says the spread of the disease through common cuts and bruises is “minimal”. It has put forward an instance where countries like Canada, Belgium, Ukraine as well as the United Nations have stopped discriminating people on this ground in their armed forces.

In the light of the arguments by the MHA and the AIDS control department, do you think HIV-positive people should be considered for the paramilitary forces where rigours of life are high?