ability to win

The Way We Perceive Life

2012-01-18T03:53:00.000-08:00

Aweary traveller lost in the jungle one night slips and falls into an unused,dry well.During the fall he clutches to the root of the nearby banyan tree and is hanging midway.The whole night he spends in this precarious state.In the morning he begins the attempt to climb back to safety.He looks up and is terrified to find a tiger standing at the mouth of the well,looking hungrily at him.

So he decides to climb down and wait for the tiger to leave but sees a huge python at the base just coming out of hibernation and looking for something to swallow.And as his fate should have it the root of the tree which he was holding starts to snap.

In this situation he was not in a position to think clearly of what he should do.Just then a thick substance falls on to his nose and drips to his mouth.Unwittingly he licks at it and is surprised to find it very tasty and to know what that was he lifts his head.He notices a bear on the branch of the banyan tree.The bear is trying to drink the honey that was in the hive on the branch of the tree.

Now this man who thought he was in a horrible situation a moment ago is waiting for more drops of honey to fall on his nose so that he can lick and relish it.Life is almost like this situation;there are problems everywhere but it is wisdom to notice the small memorable incidences and enjoy those.Each one has a different way of perceiving life and relating to it.And this depends on inner personality,not external situations.

To make a living in this material,competitive world an individual tries to perceive life and relate to it through his ego personality that is fed by vanity.Here he might be satisfying the ego in a positive or negative way depending on the situation.He feels the need to be appreciated by others,in order to feel triumphant or superior.This is how the ego gets inflated.Once attached to his ego personality,he strives to cling to it.

A spiritual person leads life influenced by his soul,.Normally a person looks at the world as a racing track and life as a marathon.His only intention is to win the race and so he is looking at the one who is catching up with him.His energy is expended in ensuring that he is not

overtaken.He is hurt when his

overtakes him or he is overjoyed when he touches the finish line.

However,a spiritual person accepts the world as a stage and sees himself as a performer along with others.He is supportive of others.He acts well and lets others to do their best.His energy is vibrating and gels with the other.He is neither hurt nor pampered by the line in the script.

When we allow the ego to take the place of soul,we get confused over our identity.You recognise your true identity by shunning ego and becoming a participant instead of competitor.We do justice to the role scripted by the Absolute and by so doing find that we have no anxiety in letting go when the time has come to exit from the stage of life.We do so gracefully.

2012-01-17T06:31:00.001-08:00

2012-01-17T06:30:00.001-08:00

Limiting The Infinite

2012-01-10T08:36:00.001-08:00

jan lokpal

2012-01-09T08:16:00.001-08:00

Sex in Pakistan

2011-12-31T08:46:00.001-08:00

worry

2011-12-27T02:26:00.001-08:00

EUREKA EUREKA INDICA

2011-12-20T05:42:00.000-08:00

Things Not To Say To Parents Of Kids With Special Needs

2011-11-11T07:36:00.001-08:00

Oh, I’m sorry.” Word: Our kids are not tragedies. They are our kids. There’s no need to feel sorry about them.

• “You must have it so hard.” Please don’t feel sorry for me, either. Sure, I’ve got a lot to juggle: Parenthood is a big job for any mom or dad (in case you didn’t get the memo). But I’d prefer if you didn’t make it seem as if I’m digging ditches for a living or something. I may have to do extra things for my child, but he is not a hardship.

• “Is he talking/walking/whatever-ing yet?” This is a tough question to hear, as often our kids are not yet doing whatever the asker is inquiring about. The “yet” is the part that makes me cringe, as if my child is on a timeline. There is no What To Expect: Kids With Special Needs edition for a reason. Our kids on their own timeline, and focusing on the finish line isn’t the point—it’s about the progress they make, every step of the way.

• “It’s so cute how he tries to talk/walk/jump/whatever.” Awesome effort, yes. Inspiring? Yes. Cute? No. There’s nothing cute about seeing a child struggle mightily to surpass his challenges.

• “He looks so normal!” You know why? It’s because my child with special needs IS normal. HIS normal. OUR normal. What exactly IS normal, anyway?

• “It’s great to see how much he enjoys ice-cream.” What does that mean? Is it implying that it’s a good thing my son is relishing the Stone Cold Creamery Chocolate because there’s little else in life he can enjoy? My child takes pleasure in the same stuff any kid does, from playing with trucks to laughing at Daddy’s obnoxiously loud burps.

• “You are a saint.” Hardly. I am just like any other parent, trying my best to help my child succeed in this world. For that, I do not deserve sainthood. But if you’d like to buy me a fruity cocktail, I’d be fine with that.

OK, people, what’s on your list?

Sai Padma

2011-11-02T04:39:00.000-07:00

Sai Padma is a polio survivor with 70 per cent disability. She is a disability activist and had gained experience in the management of Not for Profit organization that focuses on health and education in coastal based rural, tribal and semi-urban communities. She administered and monitored Pratham, Home & Community based care and support, child labor school, Urban Health Center, Andhra Pradesh AIDS Control Society Projects and also worked for the management of persons with disabilities. She is instrumental in conceptualization and establishment of boys and girls hostel in rural area. She has been serving as executive trustee of LFWPT handling project, legal and finance areas.

She is Founder-President of Global AID ( www.globalaid.in) a registered organization that aims to bring change in the lives of persons with disabilities facilitating Mobility, Accessibility, Employability and Sustainability.

She is a writer/singer/fund-raiser for causes. Her articles on areas of disability in India were published in ILO journal, India Disability journal, Indian Women Online etc.. Short collection of her poetry titled “LIFE” was published.

She graduated in commerce and law. She is in the process of completing M.B.A. Finance and CA Final.She lives in an accessible home that stands as a model home in Visakhapatnam, India. She is married to Mr. Pragnanand Busi, a Development Professional and into Human rights activism
http://facebook.com/saipadma

Abha Khetarpal : A counselor with a Difference

2011-11-02T04:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you meet people, who are authoritative, filled with leadership qualities, so much vibrance, energy, driving people left and right…oh! Wow!! I met so many such kinds everywhere including persons with disabilities. But when we meet Abha, you feel like quenching the thirst after radiant sun rays have played havoc on you! You don’t need frills then, you just need a home to relax, water to drink, home-made food to eat….am I right?

Well, meet Ms. Abha Khetarpal, aged eighteen (that’s when she started writing poetry in Hindi, so the way she has grown is just biological number), founder and principle counselor of Cross the Hurdles, a resource and counseling website for persons with disabilities, a triple masters degree holder, a teacher to the university level students, a compassionate company to her friends around the globe, a counsellor with a difference, above all a person with disability due to polio and suffering from post polio syndrome, above all, a loving friend and great woman!!

Abha contracted polio at the age of two and half years. Her parents being migrants from Burma were not aware of the disease and vaccine was not administered and she was affected with polio in a train journey. Nothing could be done really for the fatal loss which reduced Abha’s mobility completely and limiting her to wheelchair finally. My parents tried every thing Abha says with a determined acceptance and a loving tone, “There was a period when I got all, massages from pig fat to the innumerable assistive devices in the name of rehabilitation”- Abha confirms the plight of a person with disability even residing in capital of country and only daughter of academicians. “I am glad they were into academics.. I inherited the love towards studies naturally”- she reiterates like a happy student who understood the real fun in academics, which led her romance with studies and writing on various subjects including most intricate counseling, psychology, literature, poetry among other subjects like economics. “Teaching is my bread and butter i.e… sorry daal chawal”, Sweetly laughs Abha. She runs a coaching centre for graduate and post graduate level students, which is the career path she has chosen.

As a kid, studies eluded her as schools were not accessible, they couldn’t include a person with disability. One school agreed finally, but post those schools again distance mode education. But acceptance of condition and adapting to it is so necessary, declares abha… that gives enough strength and see the life from different perspective. Numbers of surgeries were done on her including a spinal cord surgery to help her stabilize where now she has to live with 8 inch iron rod in her spine for the rest of her life. That’s the surgery that was prescribed to protect my lungs… Abha says matter-of-factly. Traversing the virtual world, like a fish in sea of smiling faces, who sees only ability but not disability, made Abha continue her writing and counseling with sheer determination to help others. She wanted to ease pain of others, make their journey easier and fun! Hence there was the birth of Cross the Hurdles www.crossthehurdles.com which is soon going to be a registered Non-profit. Abha is trying to get her romance with words in black and white…she is trying to get her books published. We see the accomplishments of a person, and say,,,What a wonderful work she has been doing! A friend said sometimes back, by saying so, people closes their share of responsibility and a common understanding and sharing and trying to respect and help. People just simply say- you are great, you can do that!!. Such things are common in every disabled person’s life, especially woman, their emotional needs are grossly neglected Abha says. To help many such persons who are living, buried in their own fear prisons, Abha started free counseling through her website. She believes in virtual counseling. When asked, “Will that be helpful?” She confidently says, “YES…they confide in a voice than a person who is face-to- face and sometimes they confess their innermost fears, including their sexuality problems etc…” Kudos to Abha, who is doing the job of listening patiently, she puts an unimaginable 30 hours per week on social work, without expecting anything in return. It’s my job; she answers calmly, “I can understand us better!”- is Abha’s motto in continuing her relentless counseling sessions. “Now I don’t plan too much, Abha says with enlightened acceptance, I like to do one by one, to the extent of my energy, I don’t fear anything anymore”- Abha confirms.

career is one problem many persons with disabilities facing on a daily basis, Abha sighs. Most of the options available are not accessible at all, and if they are, most of the disabled can’t afford it! She is of the opinion that, India needs many more committed leaders with the same focus so that many students with disabilities can contribute in the process of development.

“Marriage and finding a companion is another problem we face”, she opines. “We are not a society conducive to open talk about issues and further the expectation on a wife/companion is much higher with a stereotype belief that women with disabilities are a burden, they can’t bear children. That belief is there among disabled men also”- Abha says with a wry smile. “Society thinks a Pwd is asexual, family thinks we only have career needs, men with disabilities think they can love us only if we are not disabled, friends think we are great… all leading sometimes to our own self-portrait more scary than we really are!’ Abha summates her experiences in a nutshell. And further adds, “I don’t want any disabled person to succumb to helplessness and deep depression. I wish to help as many as I can to come out of that abyss!”

This is the journey of simpleton Abha Khetarpal, a small, slow and sure candle turning into great radiance, that’s what her name means- Radiance. ““now days, I don’t plan too much, Abha says with enlightened acceptance. “I like to do one by one, to the extent of my energy, I don’t fear anything anymore”- Abha confirms. On responding to question how she wishes to death should knock her door, she says, “While I am sleeping!!” and what her epitaph should say, she answers instantly-

“ABHA OR THE RADIANCE WOULD NEVER DIMINISH!”

You can read more about her views and news on www.crossthehurdles.com and www.abhakhetarpal.in Talking to Abha made me think about Lov’Ability of disability. Presenting my version of sheer respect to the hidden love that world needs

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/profile.php?id=1171398818¬if_t=friend_confirmed

Formula One racing is a sport for the super rich

2011-11-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

Please Include DMD in 2011 census

2011-10-29T04:30:00.001-07:00

To: Home Minister of India

Email: hm@nic.in

websitemhaweb@nic.in

Honorable Shri. P. Chidambaram

The Home Minister of India

Ministry of Home Affairs

North Block

Central Secretariat

New Delhi -110001

Phone: 23092011, 23092161

Fax: 23093750, 23092763

Respected Sir,

Subject: Pleading to include Muscular Dystrophy as one of the types of disability in the Census 2011 questionnaire.

This representation is being made on behalf of hundreds and thousands of Muscular Dystrophy patients and parents in India. Muscular Dystrophy community in India remains marginalized and unheard even within the disability population for want of awareness and lack of an official data with the government/s and as well as civil society organizations. An empirical data gathered by Muscular Dystrophy Associations world wide mentions the occurrence of Muscular Dystrophy to be one in every 2000 children population; neither India nor any of its states has any data about it. However, on the same scale of 1:2000, if not more for the poor living conditions and lack of awareness, one could well imagine what could be the number of Muscular Dystrophy children in India with its 1.2 billion populations.

While the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) Children in developed countries could live up to 23-28 years of age, most often the DMD children in India die during 13-17. None of the clinical trials being in progress globally prefer to recruit patients from India.This could well be attributed to lack of official recognition to the disease along with many other reasons. As parents of muscular dystrophy patients, we are genuinely afraid that the absence of an official data on muscular dystrophy might constraint our access to cure that is to come in the near future. The forthcoming population census would be the best opportunity to enumerate muscular dystrophy patients since it would also provide the scope for correlating and analyzing the socio-economic conditions of the muscular dystrophy patients in India.

It is therefore, we hereby request the honorable minister to include Muscular Dystrophy as one of the types of disability listed within the questionnaire which is to be used for the population census commencing on 9th February, 2011.

This would surely help not only enumerating the Muscular Dystrophy Patients in India, but also provide a scope for accessing cure that is to come soon. Failing to include Muscular Dystrophy in the Census 2011 would make us wait for another 10 years until the next census and by the time we would have lost many children.

Hope the honorable minister would kindly appreciate our request and provide suitable orders to include Muscular Dystrophy as one of the types of disability in the forthcoming census 2011.

Look forward to your kind support and favorable actions in this regard.

Sincerely,

http://www.petitiononline.com/mdfindia/petition.html

Some the best websites or organizations where people with disability can Contact other disabled person

2011-10-18T02:36:00.000-07:00

What r the best websites or organizations where people with disability can

Contact other disabled person

Some of these websites have general Disabilities message boards and the other websites have Specific Disabilities message boards that you able to talk with various PWDs .***

www.disaboom.com

www.lovebyrd.com

www.disabilities-r-us.com

www.disabled-world.com

www.disabledonline.com

www.wapd.org

www.youreable.com

www.disabledunited.com

www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/

www.apparelyzed.com

www.wheelchairjunkie.com

www.tbihome.org

www.alsforums.com

www.alldeaf.com

www.deafparent.com

www.afb.org

www.aspiesforfreedom.com

www.wrongplanet.net

www.alz.org/index.asp

www.amputee-coalition.org

http:// brain.hastypastry.net/forums/index. php

Kedar Indurkar

2011-08-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

Henry David Thoreau once said, “Men are born to succeed, not fail.” And with display of courage, strength, patience, and controlled aggression, an individual can create wonders by emerging victorious against all odds. One such example of human valor is Pune-based 33-year old Kedar Indurkar. Lack of education, facilities and necessary support for children with cerebral palsy did not prove to be a hindrance for Kedar, who bagged the National Award for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. He was felicitated by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment with the additional national award in the self employed-cerebral palsy category in Delhi on the World Disability Day on December 3.

Kedar has typed and translated twelve books in three languages into Braille. His works are proving extremely beneficial and are adding to the knowledge and education of the visually impaired in institutes in Karnataka and Maharashtra. The translated works include eight books of a noted writer and social worker, Sudha Murthy, and few other books in Hindi and Marathi.

Kedar won this award for translating his interests in computers into an avenue for earning with his hard work and determination. Kedar’s journey with computers began when his father Vasant Indurkar, a chartered accountant, and mother, Dr Suhasini Indurkar, a pathology professor, introduced him to the computers when he was a child. “He was always very good in languages and we decided to concentrate on improving his mental and thinking capacities. He has passed the 10th std exam quite satisfactorily,” said his father.

Kedar, pretty early in life, got hitched to the computers and after learning typing, he typed out his mother’s pathology notes. For typing he uses only three fingers of his right hand.

“I was reading Sudha Murthy’s – Infosys founder Narayana Murthy’s wife – book ‘Wise and otherwise’ and thought that Kedar could translate it into Braille. So we decided to contact her, and after hearing our idea, she readily agreed,” said Suhasini Indurkar.

This was way back in the year 2006 and since then using different software, Kedar has translated into English Braille, eight of Murthy’s books and he also went ahead to learn Devnagari script to translate two Hindi and Marathi books, respectively into Braille as well.

“I don’t usually like reading for I tend to forget what I read, but I do like working on the computer a lot,” said Kedar. The translated books have been given to various blind schools in Pune.

“We are extremely proud of Kedar. He has tried his level best to learn what was taught to him and the exposure he got did help him a lot. Still, commuting is one of the major problems he faces in this country. The disabled are not integrated into the mainstream here and the attitude of people is also a bit prejudiced. Furthermore, there are no ramps in our buildings and buses or care provided for them unlike what we experienced during a visit to the United States,” said Vasant Indurkar.

Kedar has made friends all across the globe through social networking sites. When he is not working on the computer he is busy watching cricket or a movie. He loves non-vegetarian food and he was very impressed with the facilities available for the handicapped in the US, which he experienced during his family tour and wishes that it happens in India too. His favorite cricket player is Rahul Dravid, whom he has met in person.

facebook link

Look, I can swim

2011-07-31T06:35:00.000-07:00

OFFBEAT ‘Yes we too can' — Madhavi Latha's initiative encourages persons with disabilities to pursue some form of sport

A conversation with Madhavi Latha is revealing. You don't just get to know about her initiative ‘Yes we too can', but also about this mellow 41-year-old whose answer to all her challenges is a generous smile.

Madhavi was only seven months old when she suffered an attack of poliomyelitis, which left her with 80 per cent disability.But that didn't stop her from acquiring a long list of professional qualifications, driving to work everyday and fighting to beat the odds. She is a Senior Manager at Standard Chartered Scope International.

Surgery suggested

However, four years ago, she developed complications and the doctors weren't too hopeful. “I had severe back pain and other complications. The doctor told me that if I did not undergo surgery, within a year, my life would be at risk. The chances of the surgery being successful were minimal and I didn't want to risk it. Desperate, I visited a physiotherapist, Ananda Jothi, who changed my life,” she reveals.

Ananda Jothi recommended that she tryhydrotherapy, and for the first time in Madhavi's life, she was engaged in sports. “The benefits I've derived from swimming are astounding. My back pain has disappeared, and I am able to move better. The physiotherapist told me that this therapy has been in the textbooks for ages but isn't extensively used. If I can derive the benefits at my age, you can only imagine how well it would work on younger people,” she says.

That's how ‘Yes we too can' began. “People with disabilities lead a sedentary life. This eventually leads to a lot of health complications. Physical exercise is very important to any person but often parents don't realise it. They're apprehensive about their children involving themselves in sports, unlike the West,” says Madhavi, adding, “when I began swimming, my parents would accompany me everyday, with their hearts in their mouth. Eventually, they realised that I could swim and understood how it helped. I want parents of differently-abled children to know that it's important to engage them in physical activity.”

Her initiative aims at creating awareness about the benefits of disability sports, counselling the physically-challenged and supporting those from the economically weaker sections. As part of the initiative, she has obtained permission from the Shenoy Nagar swimming pool to hold coaching classes. “I've been going around giving talks in schools and colleges. And the response to my initiative has been overwhelming. My company is willing to arrange transportation to the pool and back. We're just waiting for students to enrol.”

A colleague, who is also physically challenged, took a leaf out of Madhavi's book and went along with her for swimming. “He wondered whether he would ever be able to swim. I told him that if I could, so could he. Now he's very happy and confident he can handle himself better. In the West, there's badminton, basketball and every other sport for people like me,” she says.

Dream come true

Madhavi recently participated in the Corporate Olympiad and won the bronze in the 100m swimming category and hopes to be part of the Paralympics soon. “I always thought Madhavi and sports were two different worlds. I wondered if they would ever meet but swimming has helped me realise that dream. I recently participated and won the Corporate Olympiad and people began to refer to me as a sportsperson. It feels wonderful,” she smiles.

But Madhavi's dream is to start a sports school for persons with disabilities. “While I'd like to start a school, my immediate goal is to spread my message across the country. I would like to do everything possible to make sure that other people with disabilities don't go through what I did. Sometimes, we tend to feel excluded from society. With a little bit of support from people, I'm sure we can get over anything.”

To register for classes or to contact Madhavi, visit her blog http://yeswetoocan.

blogspot.com or email her at madavi.prathi@gmail.com

ANUSHA PARTHASARATHY

I want parents of differently-abled children to know that it's important to engage them in physical activity

A fighter called Siddharth

2011-07-31T06:29:00.001-07:00

http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/mar/30spec.htm

अरुणिमा के हौसले को सलाम

2011-07-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

आखिरकार अरुणिमा को एम्स के ट्रॉमा सेंटर से लंबे इलाज के बाद छुट्टी मिल ही गई। करीब साढ़े तीन महीने बाद अरुणिमा ने अपने पैरों पर खड़े होकर फिर नई जिंदगी की ओर कदम बढ़ाए तो यह विश्वास और गहरा हुआ कि नाउम्मीदी के लिए इस दुनिया में कोई जगह नहीं। यदि दृढ़ निश्चय हो तो कुछ भी असंभव नहीं। इस नई उम्मीद के साथ देश के लोग शायद ही उस अरुणिमा को भूले होंगे जो एक समय असहाय होने के कारण पूरे देश में चर्चा का विषय बनी थी। नेशनल लेवल की यूपी की वॉलीबॉल खिलाड़ी अरुणिमा सिन्हा जिसे 11 अप्रैल को चेन लूटने का विरोध करने पर बदमाशों ने चलती ट्रेन से धक्का दे दिया था। 23 साल की अरुणिमा को बुरी हालत में पहले बरेली इलाज के लिए ले जाया गया था। वहां अरुणिमा का बायां पैर डॉक्टरों को काटना पड़ा था, क्योंकि उनके पास इसके सिवाय दूसरा कोई विकल्प नहीं था। दरअसल इसका कारण यह था कि इन्फेक्शन उसकी दूसरी टांग में भी फैल रहा था। मीडिया में उसकी स्टोरी आने के बाद खेल मंत्री अजय माकन ने सुध ली और अरुणिमा को दिल्ली एम्स लाकर भर्ती कराया गया। अरुणिमा के लिए इनोवेशन नाम की कंपनी ने करीब साढ़े तीन लाख रुपये में अमेरिका से कृत्रिम पैर मंगाया ताकि वह फिर से खड़ी हो सके और समाज के लिए एक उदाहरण बन सके। डॉक्टरों का कहना है कि इस कृत्रिम पैर के सहारे अरुणिमा बिना सहारे एक बार फिर चल-फिर सकेगी और अपने सपनों को पूरा करने के लिए प्रयास कर सकेगी। वॉलीबॉल में भारत का नाम रौशन करने का अरुणिमा का सपना बेशक टूट गया हो, लेकिन अरुणिमा का आत्मविश्वास अभी भी बरकरार है। अरुणिमा अब पैरालंपिक्स खेलों (विकलांगों का ओलंपिक्स) में भारत की नुमाइंदगी के लिए मेहनत करना चाहती है। अरुणिमा के मुश्किल के दिनों में खेल मंत्रालय, रेलवे, यूपी सरकार के अलावा क्रिकेटर हरभजन सिंह और युवराज सिंह जैसे खिलाडि़यों ने भी मदद के लिए हाथ आगे बढ़ाया था ताकि उसे एक नई जिंदगी मिल सके। ब्यूटीशियन शहनाज हुसैन ने ट्रॉमा सेंटर अपनी ट्रेनर भेज कर अरुणिमा को ब्यूटीशियन कैरियर के गुर सिखाए ताकि जरूरत पड़ने पर अरुणिमा इस हुनर का प्रयोग अपनी आय बढ़ाने के लिए और अपना आत्मविश्वास वापस पाने के लिए इस्तेमाल कर सके। नि:संदेह आज पूरा देश शायद यही कहना चाह रहा होगा कि अरुणिमा तुम्हारे हौसले को सलाम।

Rajdeep Sardesai, son of eminent cricketer Dilip Sardesai.

2011-07-26T08:38:00.001-07:00

2011-07-21T10:00:00.001-07:00

jamai raja

2011-07-16T07:44:00.000-07:00

2011-07-14T09:42:00.001-07:00

FuellingAspirations

2011-07-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

A petrol station is not exactly a place where you would expect to get a lesson in social sensitivity. Yet, Megha Kale's petrol pump, located near the Sai Mandir in Nagpur, Maharashtra, is an exception.

In the five months since it came into being, the station has generated plenty of interest amongst its customers as well as passers-by. The reason: the petrol station has seven handicapped employees, who work just as hard and as efficiently as do their able-bodied colleagues. "When I decided to employ handicapped people at my petrol pump, I didn't do it out of any sentimental ideas. It was an experiment, with highly specific goals," says the forty-two-year-old employer.

According to Megha, the petrol pump business is highly competitive. As quick and efficient service is considered essential, the handicapped are often overlooked when it comes to employment at a pump. "With each passing day, employment opportunities for this section of society are tapering out instead of opening up," she says.

For Megha, getting a petrol station allotted in her name was not easy. Most petrol companies would baulk at the idea of employing the handicapped at a pump. Over the years, her repeated applications were turned down on this ground. "But I was determined to take up this business precisely because of the competition involved," says a gritty Megha.

"Because of my familial and educational background, and also because I am married to a handicapped person (Megha's husband, Suhas, like her, has post- polio paralysis), I have encountered less discrimination than usually experienced by the handicapped," she states. Megha hails from a well-to-do business family of Amravati, Maharashtra.

The couple had once owned a telephone booth, employing handicapped people. However, Megha realized that she was perpetuating a stereotype. "Having worked with handicapped people in both the rural and urban areas, I realize that it is only the least challenging and non-competitive of jobs that are set aside for the handicapped. I had to break that mould; I had to find openings in a more challenging field, for myself and for others. Hence, the petrol pump."

At present, six of Megha's staff are people who suffer from polio, while one employee is a sickle-cell patient. Of the disabled, three are women. Says Megha, "Till date, none of the customers have ever had reason to complain. It is true that they are a bit slow, but they make up with their dedication and honesty. My pump is the only one in the city where, when you buy petrol worth Rs 50, you get petrol worth Rs 50, not Rs 49.90. People appreciate that." Business at the pump is steadily picking up. Today, the daily sales are around 5,000 litres a big jump from the early 1,000 litres a day. But with business now growing, is it prudent to continue employing the disabled?

The answer comes from Rajesh, an employee, "I have a 55 per cent handicap in my leg," he says. "Initially, I used to have trouble walking quickly from one point to another. Now, I have arranged all the paraphernalia - the pump buttons, nozzles, oil can and pouches and other small instruments - in such a way that I can meet all the requirements of customers, and even collect money and hand out change standing in one place. My speed has improved ever since."

His colleague Manjusha Panbude, who has a fused knee in her left leg, says, "Customers are considerate. Many are only too glad to move their vehicles for our convenience rather than expect us to walk up to them. That, and a little organization, goes a long way in making sure that we attend to all quickly."

Most of Megha's employees agree that working at a petrol station is far more challenging than the usual work reserved for the disabled. Mamta Adyalkar says, "I have my own beauty parlor where I work in the evenings, so I am not hard pressed for money. But I work here in the day because of the exposure it brings. I get to meet a lot of people, get to work with other handicapped people, and receive more appreciation than I would in my own business."

"It is certainly better than sitting in a dark corner all day making cotton wicks, for Rs 600 a month," adds Rajesh, referring to his earlier job.

Each employee has to put in eight hours of work (which can sometimes stretch to 9 or ten) and is paid a modest salary of Rs 1,500 (US$1=Rs 40) per month. Megha admits that the amount is small, but is higher than the around-Rs 1,000 that most petrol pump employees in Nagpur usually make. "With a Rs 40,00,000- loan to pay back, it is difficult for me to raise salaries now," she admits and adds, "My employees are honest, and don't make money on 'cuts'. Maybe as the business improves I will be able to compensate them better."

Megha is working towards a group health insurance plan whereby the pump will pay half the premium, and employees will receive a substantial concession on the remaining amount. "For the handicapped, medical expenses tend to be on the higher side," she explains.

Megha dreams of having her petrol station manned entirely by handicapped staff. "I also wish to employ a blind person to make announcements and deliver social messages. I know that this last is a long way off, but I will eventually do that," promises the determined employer.

For the disabled, fuelling dreams is next to the impossible, but for this group of determined individuals, the future is definitely pumping up into shape.

buddha hoga tera bbaap

2011-07-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

save life

2011-07-04T05:57:00.001-07:00

Girl ends life to donate organs to father,brother

2011-07-04T05:55:00.000-07:00

Nadia: For days,Mumpy would listen quietly as the elders discussed how only an eye surgery could save her fathers vision and a kidney transplant her brothers life.But both surgeries were beyond the familys meagre means.So,Mumpy hit upon a plan,which to her 12-year-old mind seemed the answer to all troubles.She would kill herself,which would save the dowry,too,and her organs would give her loved ones back their lives.

Mumpy did stick to her plan.But the suicide note in which she had scribbled down her wishes was found the day after she was cremated.

The incident took place in Dhantalas Jhorpara on June 27.Her fathers and brothers ailments had left Mumpy Sarkar,a class VI student,anxious.One of the kidneys of her brother Monojit,a Class XI student,was damaged and the other was getting weak.Father Mridul Sarkar,a daily wager,was gradually losing his eyesight.The family had approached the local MLA for help.We had decided to grant them some money for the boys treatment.But the tragedy happened all of a sudden, said Dhantala panchayat pradhan Tapas Tarafdar.

Mumpy had taken elder sister Monica,a Class VIII student,into confidence and had urged her to commit suicide as well for the cause.When Mumpy told Monica about her plan on the morning of June 27,the latter laughed it off and left for school.
more

2011-06-24T22:10:00.000-07:00

Support lokpal call 02261550789

2011-06-21T05:01:00.000-07:00

सड़क हादसों की भेंट च़ढ़ती युवा पीढ़ी

2011-06-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

2011-06-10T22:46:00.001-07:00

2011-06-10T22:45:00.001-07:00

Website of civil society members

2011-06-09T07:21:00.000-07:00

ARVIND KEJRIWAL

http://www.pcrf.in/index.html

ARUNA ROY
MAZDOOR KISAN SHAKTI SANGATHAN,
/www.mkssindia.org

Its Good To Forget

2011-06-09T07:15:00.001-07:00

Everyday people face negative experiences.Whether of greater or lesser import,people generally like to dwell on these negative experiences.Once this becomes a habit,it has a negative effect.Then unpleasant experiences become a part of their active memory,till it becomes a jungle of negativity.So it is best to forget these kinds of sad events.

In your case,whatever happened was beyond your control,but it is in your hands to forget it and prevent it from becoming a part of your memory.If others are not ready to take your advice on this,you had better become its first follower.

What is education Education is not just the means of making you a degree holder;it is the gateway to the art of living.Education enables you to think,to discover the principles of life,and to correctly evaluate your experiences.Education gives you the ability to know the difference between the achievable and unachievable.If you are an educated person in this sense,you will certainly discover the value of the habit of forgetting.

The choice in this context is not between forgetting and not forgetting: the real choice is between living with all kinds of bitter memories and totally freeing yourself from them.Try to forget unpleasant memories,for the alternative to this is living in bitterness and that is not a good choice for anyone.

The habit of forgetting leads you to many good things.It saves you from distraction,it economises your energy,it prevents you from wasting your time,and it shields you from negative thoughts.All these things are so important for a better life that any sacrifice to achieve it is certainly worth it.

In life your share is only 50%.The rest of the 50% is supplied by others.Living with bitter memories means that you are not ready to accept this law of nature.You cannot change the law of nature,so change yourself.This will give you the gift of a comfortable life in every situation.

If you are not ready to forget what is forgettable,then after sometime you will become addicted to this habit.Bitter memory is fed by bad experiences and so you tend to recall them everyday.This is a very bad sign.This will create a permanent obstacle to the development of your personality.

Of the two kinds of memories,good and bad,the former gives you energy,while the latter ruins your life.You have to appreciate this difference and try to live with good memories and forget the bad memories.This habit will help you achieve a good human life.

Memory is an integral part of your mind.There is no escape from memory.The only option is to try not to make memory a part of your conscious mind,but relegate it to the unconscious mind.And the forgetting habit serves that very purpose.We cannot delete our memory from our minds,but we can make it ineffective by storing it in the memory archives.

Memory when good is a positive guide,and when bad,totally negative.You have to control your memory rather than be controlled by it.Make your memory your intellectual storehouse and not the master of your daily conduct.

sholay

2011-06-09T03:07:00.000-07:00

Just do it any time ,any where….mere bhai…

2011-06-07T07:53:00.000-07:00

traffic police

2011-06-02T08:20:00.001-07:00

slumdog......

2011-05-31T09:28:00.001-07:00

TIHAR JAIL 2020

2011-05-25T06:11:00.000-07:00

2011-05-12T08:40:00.000-07:00

IPL

2011-05-12T05:33:00.000-07:00

a long journey

2011-04-27T04:12:00.001-07:00

PM SIRJEE

2011-04-25T08:58:00.001-07:00

support Anna Hazare

2011-04-21T05:25:00.001-07:00

2011-04-20T09:35:00.001-07:00

hai handsome.......

2011-04-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

men in skirts

2011-04-20T07:21:00.001-07:00

MEN AT WORK

2011-04-16T23:56:00.001-07:00

Kiran Bedi: A police chief with a difference

2011-04-15T02:09:00.000-07:00

After retirement, Kiran Bedi launched a new website, www.saferindia.com,. The motto of this website is to help people whose complaints are not accepted by the local police. This project is undertaken by the non-profit, voluntary and non-government organization she founded, the India Vision Foundation

• Kiran Bedi Official Website

• Kiran Bedi Blog

• Safer India Official website

• India Police

• Navjyoti India Foundation website

end of ....

2011-03-10T03:51:00.001-08:00

2011-03-03T05:42:00.001-08:00

BUDGET

2011-03-01T08:17:00.001-08:00

smoking

2011-02-24T07:55:00.000-08:00

Surreal experiences

2011-02-24T06:49:00.000-08:00

Pushing his great aunt along in the recent Wheelchair Marathon in Mumbai, NISHADH REGO records his impressions of the most special race of them all

W e arrived at 7.00 a.m. to take our place among the 300- odd participants of the 2011 Mumbai Wheelchair Marathon (January 15). A gully between the Times of India and BMC buildings served as our holding area; a small space for a side event on a day dominated by the usual suspects; the Standard Chartereds, the Shilpa Shettys, and CEOs.

I noticed a woman in a wheelchair beside me. She looked middle-aged, but her face bore a tired spent look. Nevertheless, she was there pushed by her husband and accompanied by banner bearers. The banner said she was a long-term spinal cancer patient (and hence paraplegic) who had started a school for young paraplegic girls. What the banner did not say was that she was also a doctor.

Genuine mission

It struck me, as I stood in the holding area, that this was no race, no Sunday stroll in the park, no hobby, no publicity stunt or tokenistic commitment to a big name corporate. These were arthritis and cancer patients, paraplegics, and polio victims who had come from far and wide on a genuine mission to spread their message; best exemplified by Jacqueline Colaco, my admirable arthritic grand-aunt, taking part in her fourth marathon. It was her wheelchair I was pushing. She had come all the way from Bangalore to raise awareness for people with disabilities. At 61, and in incredible pain, she braved the difficulties of air travel and the pace and chaos of Mumbai to participate.

The buzz among the participants; a genuine sense of excitement... cameras clicked, wheelchairs clanked, and people of every conceivable age and accent chatted, eagerly anticipating the start of this important occasion. Most ‘runners' came in groups, decked out in colourful, conspicuous uniforms, many with slogans and banners. What is more, there was a beautiful sense of solidarity among them as they exchanged greetings, pamphlets and e-mails. I felt somewhat disconnected and empathetic at the same time. I couldn't really share this solidarity because I hadn't experienced their pain and suffering, but I felt like I was beginning to understand the commitment, and dedication of my fellow participants in the face of all adversity. Yes, they were in wheelchairs or used walking sticks but were people just like me and they deserved more attention, respect and support than they got.

The race itself was a surreal experience. I never imagined my first marathon being in the wheelchair category. It was inspiring to see the entire field take to the track with such zest and enthusiasm. I felt happy that Jackie seemed to enjoy herself taking photos at landmark locations from her old life in Mumbai while handing out flyers and pamphlets promoting The Association of People with Disability (APD), Bangalore, and telling her story. Participating alongside the senior citizens was also a welcome experience. It made me think of my parents who are not senior citizens but are notoriously inactive when it comes to exercise and physical wellbeing.

That said, the whole experience was much too short. We were much too sidelined to make/have any real impact on the day's proceedings, neither the media nor the crowd noticed us. I felt as though we were the time-fillers, the 30-minute opening local act, forgotten by most the moment the main performer comes on stage. The Standard Chartered cheering squad (employees/volunteers assigned by SC to cheer at strategic points in the race) was vocal and gave us momentary superficial satisfaction but the fact that SC needed to have an assigned cheer squad for the wheelchair spoke volumes.

All over

Our race happened to coincide with the end of all of the other races and, in sharing routes, we were shoved to one side of the road by our suddenly dutiful traffic police contingent and some self-important, aggressive runners. The end of the race saw us ‘marched off' back to our little gully and it was over.

I have to thank my grand aunt for asking me to push her along because I would never have had this experience. I might have been running in the main event, worrying about my water intake or my left ankle, my timing and medal, immune to everything around me. I might have been a husband or brother coming to support my spouse or sibling, or a celebrity making a fleeting appearance for publicity. Thankfully, I was a participant in the most special race of them all, a temporary insider looking out at the sympathetic, but distant, world. This is what it took for me to start thinking, “I, Nishadh Rego, could be in my own wheelchair some day, any day. How about that?”

Nishadh is a post-graduate student in Canberra, Australia

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/article1473601.ece

Wed a disabled person, get 50,000 from state govt

2011-02-07T08:52:00.001-08:00

Mumbai: It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but in India, the physically challenged have not been integrated into mainstream society. And marriage is the one institution where the stigma of being differently-abled is starkly highlighted. Now, the state government has decided to rectify this and is planning to launch a scheme where anyone marrying a disabled person will be awarded Rs 50,000. Social justice minister Shivajirao Moghe said the idea was to encourage marriages between the “disabled and the able-bodied’’.

Any person who marries a person with 40% or above disability—one who is certified as disabled—will be eligible. The government is of the opinion that the reward scheme will promote greater integration of physically challenged people into mainstream society, and will be implemented across Maharashtra. According to the 2001 census, there were 15.69 lakh persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the state. No data was available on unmarried PWDs.

While the plan has been welcomed in some quarters, many NGOs and activists have expressed their doubts over whether a monetary incentive is the way to go. Naysayers include Raju Waghmare, who is employed as a programme officer for handicap rights with the Human Right Law Network. “The scheme will encourage an able-bodied person to marry a financially independent disabled person for monetary gain,’’ he said. ‘We must go out to find partners’

Varsha Ahuja, trustee, ADAPT, an action group that promotes the cause of the disabled and others working and living together, felt that first priority should be given to creating awareness, promoting a disabled-friendly environment, and sensitizing society towards the abilities of the physically challenged. “Marriage will follow,’’ she said. On the other hand, the Handicap Welfare Association—a non-profit organization for the disabled by the disabled-—has welcomed the move. “If implemented in letter and spirit, the scheme could be a step towards the empowerment of the differently abled,’’ said Ravi Subbaiah, president of the association. To increase the reach of the welfare scheme, he cited the need to set up a disabled-friendly public infrastructure. “The disabled need to go out and interact with people in order to find a partner,’’ he said. Unfortunately, most cities in India do not have this infrastructure.

Maharashtra is not the first Indian state to award reward schemes. Goa and Karnataka governments have already taken steps by providing tax rebates and perks to corporates employing PWDs, a move that Waghmare believes is more effective towards integrating the physically challenged in society. Goa also has a similar marriage reward scheme.

To prevent misuse of funds, social welfare officers will be in charge of implementation. The social justice and special assistance departments have a prepared a detailed proposal, which has been forwarded to the planning department for fund allocation.

.timesofindia.

More than ramps needed to make education barrier-free

2011-02-07T08:45:00.000-08:00

The state government’s recent announcement that it will focus on making secondary school education barrier-free has been welcomed by activists though they add that more than just ramps and resource centres are needed to make the education system truly inclusive.

"We need to change exam methodology to make it more inclusive as well as have a curriculum that allows for people with different abilities," says disability rights activist Rajiv Rajan. "It’s mainly the special schools and NGOs that offer vocational training and skill development like carpentry or food processing." These NGOs are mostly based in urban areas, while a large proportion of disabled children live in villages.

The state government recently said it plans to introduce ramps, modified toilets and resource centres for disabled children in classes IX to XII. The project will be part of the centrally-sponsored Inclusive Education for the Disabled at Secondary Stage. Since the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan only covers children with disabilities up to class VIII, the new scheme aims to help children continue their education in an inclusive environment in regular schools.

"This is a good first step, but we need more," says B Meenakshi, assistant co-ordinator, Disability Legislation Unit, Vidyasagar, an organisation working with the disabled. "We need to look at different evaluation and teaching methodology. For instance, if a child cannot do lab work, he has to have another option. The alternatives are available in the curriculum but many mainstream schools do not offer them," she says.

"Disabled children need to pass exams and go on to regular colleges and training institutes and become independent," says a representative of the special school at the Spastics Society of Tamil Nadu (SPASTN), a voluntary organisation for people with disabilities.

Right now, children who are academically inclined but cannot take regular board exams follow the Open Basic Education (OBE) system which allows them to choose subjects they are good at. They are then sent up for school-leaving certificate exams through the National Institute of Open Schooling ( NIOS) which gives them nine chances over the course of five years to take exams. "This system grades the child based on his or her level and ability but not all the mainstream schools provide it," says the SPASTN representative.

Meenakshi says the education system will become truly inclusive only when hostel as well as transportation facilities take in the needs of the disabled

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/More-than-ramps-needed-to-make-education-barrier-free/articleshow/6765890.cms

With different abilities

2011-02-07T06:35:00.000-08:00

Society mostly sees what ‘disabled' persons can't do, not what they can nor what they will be able to, if only we help them realise their potential and lead a fulfilled life

F or them, the world is beyond reach. The most ordinary of aspirations — to enter school, work in the fields, go out to worship, get married, the prosaic ingredients of even the most humble person's workaday life cycle — are denied to them. Despite profound and consistent denial of their human rights, an estimated 50 million men, women and children with disabilities have remained on the outer periphery of both public policy and social action in India. Hidden away behind the walls of homes and institutions, they are most frequently victims of extreme social prejudice and ostracism, even as they struggle to achieve their potential of a fulfilled, dignified and useful life.

More than any other large dispossessed social groups, people with disabilities are invisible: in political agendas, in human rights struggles, in development strategies, in social science research. But even more strikingly, rarely do we encounter disabled people in schools, farms, factories, playgrounds, cinemas, streets, markets, temples, mosques, churches, in family celebrations.

We know almost nothing about the existential experience of persons, and even less about women and girls, who live with disabilities in the countryside. What life is like for them really, how do they cope, what do they suffer, what are their dreams? I recall some years ago being associated with a group of mainly disabled researchers, who sought answers to questions like these in a sample of villages in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.

Huge barriers

One striking finding of our investigations was of the nearly insurmountable physical and social barriers that people with disabilities confront in accessing public spaces and common properties. Gaps in village infrastructure like roads, drinking water sources and school buildings disproportionately constrain people with disabilities. Temples are built on hill-tops, and degraded forests require people with disabilities to walk longer than is physically feasible for them to gather fuel and food. Graver are social attitudes, of shame and ridicule, beginning often within the family, which further immobilise people with disabilities.

The result is a sense of isolation, dependency and pervasive low self-esteem, which we encountered widely amongst people with disabilities. They felt humiliated by their sense of dependency for sometimes even the simplest acts of daily living, like bathing, eating, and attending nature's call. On many occasions, we found in impoverished homes, all care-givers had to go out for wage work, and severely disabled people forced to remain without food and care for the entire working day.

There was profound denial of schooling to children with disabilities. We could not locate a single teacher trained in working with children with disabilities, or special teaching aids; there were no ramps in any rural school. For disabled children of impoverished rural parents — agricultural workers and small farmers — the chances of going to school, and remaining within it, are especially low. Where mothers have to do wage work to sustain the family, they cannot take the child to school. Girls are more burdened than boys, because they have to look after the household work, and take care of their younger siblings. We consistently found, ironically, that disability was no barrier only to the conventional domestic duties of house-work of girls and women.

Aids and appliances as well as correctional surgery can do a lot to assist a person with disability to overcome the constraints imposed by her biological condition. But even low-cost appliances are beyond the reach of most rural people with disabilities. We could not find medical records of even a single person with disabilities who underwent corrective surgery or modern medical interventions to reverse or improve their condition.

We found that a third or more of people with disability who were in the working age-group had absolutely no opportunity to work and they were fully dependent on the members of their family. These included persons with leprosy, visual impairment, and severe mental and multiple handicaps. Although most of these persons were capable of productive work, their families and the larger community regarded them to be incapable. Those who could find work had low-end employment, uncertain, barely averaging 7 to 10 days a month, with paltry wages. But even this low-wage employment was available only when other workers were not available, or in peak agricultural periods. Even such employment was highest for persons with physical disabilities, whereas other disabled peoples like those hearing impaired were considered unsuitable because of difficulties in communicating work demands.

Low and uncertain incomes mean that many people with disabilities and members of their family routinely live with hunger. Even the coping mechanism of seasonal distress migration is usually barred to such people. In the survey, we encountered very few people with disabilities who received any kind of disability pension, or food aid, to protect them through seasons of hunger. The situation is even more tenuous for old persons with disabilities who lack younger care-givers.

Most vulnerable

We found the highest, frequently tragic, levels of vulnerability and social exclusion among rural women with disabilities. Most were forced to marry in highly unequal situations, as second wives to older men, widowers or divorced men. Many reported that they were treated mainly as unpaid domestic labour and sexual objects, and suffered high levels of physical and psychological domestic abuse, sometimes desertion. Girls with disabilities, particularly those who are mentally challenged, were found to suffer from routine sexual abuse and unwanted pregnancies.

Traditionally, the most positive response that society has been able to muster towards the disabled has been pity, reducing them to passive objects of our charity. However, interventions based on a philosophy of charity, however well-meaning, not only rob the disabled of their dignity, self-esteem and self-confidence, but also perpetuate their dependence and obstruct the possibilities of their achieving a life of self-respect and relative self-reliance. They also reinforce further prejudice in society about disability and the disabled.

In all work for the rights of disabled persons, it is important first of all to remember that people with disabilities are full individual human beings just like anyone else with independent personalities, dreams, aspirations, interests, skills and potential. They have the right, as well as the potential, to lead fulfilled, productive and happy lives with dignity and relative self-reliance, just as much as anyone else. The success of our interventions should be judged by the yardstick by which these potentials are actually realised. Further, whereas institutions are important as specialised resource centres, they should not be instruments to confine or segregate the disabled; instead the striving should be for the full social, economic, educational and cultural integration of the disabled in the wider society.

The reason why disabled persons are often denied this potential of achieving a full life of dignity is not related so much to the limitations of their disabilities, as to the way that society views and treats the disabled. We see only what they cannot do, not what they can do and even more importantly what they might be able to do. We offer them only our ignorance, prejudice, revulsion and rejection, and consciously or tacitly place insurmountable economic, social, architectural, educational, legal, transport, cultural, health and other barriers to their achieving a fulfilled life with their full potential. This is why most disabled people experience humiliation, segregation and indignity throughout their lives. Shrouded from our collective view and conscience, they somehow live out their lives, surviving, but only just, most often at the precipice of despair.

It is only when they organise into a social and political collective of voice and assertion that an uncaring state and society will finally be forced to act. There are many examples of hope from across the country that this has begun to happen – that disabled people are themselves ending their long exile from hope.

Shrouded from our collective view and conscience, they somehow live out their lives, surviving, but only just...

THE HINDU

Ashish Goyal, world's first blind trader

2011-02-05T01:48:00.000-08:00

Ashish Goyal, an employee at J P Morgan's London office, has been selected for India's National Award for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, this year.

Ashish is the first blind trader to work for a bank and is also the first-ever blind MBA student at The Wharton School in the United States.

The award -- highest honour in the country for outstanding individuals with disabilities -- will be conferred on Friday by President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi

Ashish works for J P Morgan's chief investment office and is passionate about macroeconomics and the financial markets.

He has been feted by his colleagues for 'thriving in a very high pressure environment in these extremely difficult market conditions.'

Outside his official assignment, Ashish represented the Metro London Sports Club in 2009 in the United Kingdom's domestic blind cricket league. In his very first year, he became a prominent member of the team contributing to winning the UK league.

His friends find it difficult to keep pace with his social life that ranges from theatre, music, charity work to Formula F1, tennis and globetrotting to 'watching' cricket matches.

Ashish was born in Mumbai and spent most of his time there.

An avid sportsperson, Ashish received training to become a professional tennis player while in high school.

He began losing his eyesight early because of a condition called retinitis pigmentosa. Instead of giving up hope, Ashish countered this adversity by focusing his energies on academics.

Ashish stood second in his class at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai. He joined ING Vysya bank as a fixed income trader in Bengaluru.

Soon, in pursuit of a career in global financial markets, Ashish came to Wharton in 2006.

Not only did he excel in academics by graduating with honours, Ashish became an inspiration in the campus.

He was known for leadership and extra-curricular activities. Ashish became a staff writer of the Wharton Journal, member of a Brazilian drumming group, and chair of the 'Wharton Leadership Lectures Committee', among other things. At graduation, Ashish was voted by his peers for the Joseph P Wharton Award for Leadership and Innovation.

Ashish is interested in raising awareness about social issues that impact him deeply.

He supports Pratham (working with poor children to provide them education), the Akshay Patra Foundation, which is Asia's largest midday meal programme reaching 1.3 million school children daily, and Enable India, a non-profit organisation that works towards the empowerment of the disabled through job training.

Garima Goyal

2011-01-31T08:51:00.000-08:00

Meet Garima Goyal, who had to give up her dreams because of an irreversible and degenerating eye condition, went on to become one of India's first visually challenged media graduates.

The day before her first history test in the tenth grade, Garima Goyal's mother walked into her room and said: "You have the same problem as bhaiyya."

For a regular 15-year-old, this might have sounded like bickering about the mess in the room, her grades or some such mundane problem.

Garima's brother, Ashish, however was no regular teenager. After that morning, she wouldn't remain one either.

It had been a few years since her brother was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, an irreversible and degenerating eye
condition.

.

Garima is one of the first visually challenged media graduates from the Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education. She's completed her course in social communications media from Sophia College -- a major portion of this course involves a strong visual element.

She has around 20 per cent of her sight remaining..

Garima doesn't wear dark glasses. Instead, she sports a pair of spectacles with a very thick lens that helps with whatever little is left of her vision.

Most of what Garima can see is largely dependent on lighting. Mostly though, the 25-year-old has to make do with a cane.

It isn't a regular red-and-white cane -- it's black and metallic, stylish, with a wheel at the bottom and much longer than the regular walking sticks most of us are used to seeing.

She uses the wheel to draw semi-circles as she walks to gauge the ground ahead.

Often, the stick itself has raised curiosity amongst strangers around her. They want to know what it is and when she tells them, they want to know if she is blind.

"You don't look blind," is something Garima hears very often.

To be honest, at first, she didn't seem like a visually challenged person to me either. Part of it, perhaps, has to do with the fact that Garima is so comfortable with her impediment, she's learnt to overcome it superbly.

A larger part, I suspect, has to do with a different kind of blindness -- ours. We're simply conditioned to believe that all blind people must carry a red-and-white cane and wear a pair of thick, ugly dark glasses.

Garima, though doesn't care or at least won't give the impression she does. The first thought that crossed Garima Goyal's mind the morning she was told she was losing her vision, was, 'I won't be able to paint anymore!'

Garima was hoping to become a portrait painter. "It was all I wanted to do," she says, more matter-of-factly than with regret.

She'd started drawing when she was four and had taken to watercolours when kids her age were struggling with crayons. All through her school life, she'd painted away. But, just before she was to make the crucial career choice, came the news.

Ashish's condition was discovered a number of years ago. Visits to the family ophthalmologist were frequent during their childhood, since both the kids had glasses from a very young age.

After one such visit, the doctor asked them to wait outside as he spoke with their parents.

On their way back home, they insisted on knowing what the doctor had to say.

Their mother avoided the topic for a few days, then finally broke the news to Garima and her other siblings.

It seemed surreal, and with a sense of deja vu, the Goyals braced to accept a second tragedy in the family.

Garima doesn't speak much about this phase. She says her dad too never spoke about it.

In fact, memories of that day seem to haunt her -- even though she shared what happened, she didn't want any mention of it in the article.

Dad Ashok Goyal, who is in his late fifties, is a property developer and has been responsible for constructing Goyal Shopping Centre -- one of the foremost shopping centres in Mumbai's suburbs.

Their mother, Jyoti, was a college lecturer who quit her job to take charge of the household.

One evening as a child, while cycling, he hurt himself badly when he missed a large pothole. Although he didn't know it then, this was the beginning of his condition.

Later, he began to miss shots while playing tennis. On one occasion, he simply didn't see the ball coming till it hit him on his chest.

That was when Ashish gave up his dreams of becoming a tennis player.

Instead, he excelled in his studies, worked extra hard in his college in Mumbai, then at ING Vsysa, went to Wharton, landed at J P Morgan's chief investment office in London and stuck a thumb at the recruiters who had turned down his application during campus interviews.

Garima clearly had a large pair of shoes to fill.

As the youngest of three siblings -- between Ashish and her, there's Neha who is currently pursuing her post graduation in dermatology -- comparisons with the other two were almost constant.

And while she loved her siblings, she hoped people saw her for who she was and not just as Neha and Ashish's sister.

It was a senior in college who sensed this and offered to help.

"He challenged me to beat his scores. I said it was impossible, but since it is in me never to let my dear ones down, I did my best and graduated with flying colours."

Garima counts her years in college as being some of the toughest.

Coping with her condition during her teenage years was not easy. She remembers jumping into extracurricular activities just to keep depression away.

"Ashish had suggested this. So I started participating in every committee in college," she says. "It was a whole new world and I wanted to experience everything."

At the time, Garima's condition was in its nascent stages. She could still go about her daily routine without anyone noticing the difference.

But, since it would only be a matter of years, she decided to let her friends know.

One of the first people she told was a classmate who told her, 'Main teri secret kisi ko nahin bataaongi (I won't let anyone know of your secret).'

Garima felt somewhat cheated. It wasn't supposed to be a secret. Sooner rather than later, everyone would know.

When I asked her about the most difficult times in her life, she counted this as the first.

"Overcoming depression during my early college years was tough," she said. "That is the age when you want to be a normal teenager, but you get labelled dumb because you cannot complete papers. You try to fit in but you can't."

It took her three years to come out of that phase.

"I used to sit for hours doing nothing. Time and the fact that no one let me give up healed it, I suppose," she says.

The second phase was when she was pursuing her Master's course in Commerce from Sydneham College, Mumbai.

"I was figuring out what to do and was largely at home, learning music and taking some time off. That was when people began to take my presence for granted. Everyone assumed I was only waiting to get married."

Around this time, Garima found solace in writing -- she has two unfinished novels and a whole lot of poems -- and asked herself what she hoped to do in the future.

"Media seemed to be the place where creativity and writing came together," she says.

Garima joined Hindustan Times in Mumbai as an intern to get first-hand experience.

She remembers her first day -- a friend came over early in the morning and helped her go through six newspapers.

For the next three months, Garima worked at their office, where she edited stories for the Metro desk with the help of special software they had let her load.

This was the first brush she had with the outside world. It gave her the confidence to step out of her comfort zone; it also gave her much-needed direction.

Three months later, Garima knew what she wanted to do. She applied for the social communications media course at Sophia College, Mumbai.

"The department had inhibitions as to how a visually challenged would pursue a high-pressure visual course. They communicated their reservations to me.

"As part of the course, we were supposed to make a film, design ads, go out and speak with people. It wasn't going to be easy and I had no idea how I'd do it, except that I wanted to."

Garima started off on what she describes as the third most difficult phase in her life

Garima's first assignment involved watching D W Griffith's The Birth Of A Nation.

By now, Garima had lost most of her eyesight. But she hadn't stopped going to the movies with her family and friends; she could still follow most of what was going on because of the dialogues and the music.

"There were no dialogues!" she recollects, now laughing. "And it was a three hour movie!"

As she sat through the movie, Garima felt like a fool. "I wondered why I was even bothering to waste my time on this. I couldn't see a thing. I couldn't understand what was going on."

By the time she went back home though, Garima had made up her mind to get around the situation. She searched online for information about the movie, read up on it, researched the hell out of the topic and came back to the next class.

In her semester exam, she would top the film paper.

The year-long course threw more unusual challenges at her. Like the time she stepped out for a vox pop.

"One of my classmates escorted me to the corner of a road and went about her assignment. We'd decided to meet up once we were done. I started calling out to people crossing the road and talking to them.

At one point, I suddenly realised I was talking to no one! The person I had been speaking with had left. More than humiliating, it was scary. There I was standing God knows where and I was all alone."

Garima says the course made her push her limits. It was challenging and affected her health but, she says, it was worth the effort.

Along the way, Garima made friends -- friends who stuck by her, didn't mind being woken up in the middle of the night to talk to her or stop by just so they could do little things for her.

***

Looking back at her achievements, Garima is content. She is currently working with her guru, Balaji Tambe, who runs a holistic healing centre in Karla near Pune and is translating his works into English.

She has never learnt Braille and says technology has helped her get by without much difficulty.

Her phone and laptop have screen reading software that help her read and write.

When I ask her if she's ever felt alienated because of her condition, she tries to think back. "Maybe when I was 16 or 17." After a little while she adds, "I do not recall. The more you collect things, the more difficult it is to move on."

Life may not have dealt Garima a fair chance, but it isn't something she is complaining about; she prefers to focus on her future.

"I am still figuring it out," she says.

The one lesson she's learnt though is to be true to herself at all times.

"Initially, people are sceptical of you. Then, when they see you work, they are proud. Later comes the phase when they begin to expect the best from you. When people tell me how I've changed, I only smile. All along, I have been the same person they were unsure of."

ADARSH a Monument of shame

2011-01-24T08:47:00.001-08:00

humanity does exist

2010-12-30T06:39:00.000-08:00

Two blind people wanted to drink water at the RagiGudda temple, Bangalore. When they were unable to operate the tap, this mother monkey opened the tap for them, allowed them to drink water, drank some water herself and then closed the tap before leaving the scene.

PS: Do share this pic with your friends. It is proof that humanity does exist - even if we humans have forgotten it ourselves...

Politics

2010-12-16T06:59:00.000-08:00

जल्द ही खत्म हो सकता है भारत से पोलियो

2010-12-03T06:03:00.000-08:00

जल्द ही खत्म हो सकता है भारत से पोलियो

पोलियो प्राचीनकाल से बगैर भेदभाव के मानव जाति को प्रभावित कर रहा है और अस्थिबाधित विकलांगता के कारणों में अग्रिम पंक्ति में है। रोम के बादशाह, अमेरिका के पूर्व राष्ट्रपति फ्रेंकलिन डिलेन रूजवेल्ट भी इसकी चपेट में आए थे। पोलियो का वर्णन १७८९ में इंग्लैंड के चिकित्सक माइकेल अंडरवुड, १८४० जैकब हेन तथा १८९० में कार्ल ऑस्कर मेडिन ने किया था और समय-समय पर यह रोग हेन मेडिन रोग, शिशु पक्षाघात रोग जैसे नामों से पहचाना जाता था।

१९वीं शताब्दी के अंत तक ६ माह से ४ वर्ष की आयु के बच्चे अधिकाधिक मात्रा से प्रभावित होते थे। बाल्यावस्था के उत्तरार्ध तथा वयस्क काल में इस रोग की गंभीरता बढ़ी और पक्षाघात तथा मृत्यु का प्रतिशत क्रमशः ३७ तथा ५ तक पहुँच गया जिसने चिकित्सा जगत सहित पूरे समाज को चिंतित कर दिया।

पोलियो ऐसा रोग है जिसका कोई उपचार नहीं है, टीकाकरण से ही इसकी रोकथाम संभव है। पोलियो निरोधक टीकों के उपयोग से १९९४ तथा २००० तक क्रमशः अमेरिका तथा योरपीय देशों से पोलियो पूर्णतया समाप्त हो गया। पोलियो उन्मूलन की पहल का श्रीगणेश १९८८ में विश्व स्वास्थ्य असेंबली में पारित प्रस्ताव से हुआ था जिसका उद्देश्य २००८ तक पूरे विश्व से पोलियो को नियंत्रित, विलुप्त तथा नष्ट करना था। स्मरण रहे पूर्व में प्रतिवर्ष ३,५०,००० बच्चों को पोलियो के कारण पक्षाघात होता था। संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघ ने यूनिसेफ तथा विश्व स्वास्थ्य संगठन के साथ मिलकर विश्व से पोलियो उन्मूलन हेतु योजना बनाई। इसके सफल क्रियान्वयन तथा अन्य प्रयासों के परिणामस्वरूप विश्व में पोलियो पीड़ित देशों की संख्या १२५ से घटकर ४ रह गई। वर्तमान में भारत, पाकिस्तान, अफगानिस्तान तथा नाइजीरिया ही वे चार देश हैं जिनमें पोलियो उन्मूलन का काम शेष है।

पोलियो उन्मूलन हेतु इंजेक्शन के रूप में दिया जाने वाला आईपीवी टीका उपलब्ध है और व्यापक रूप से प्रभावी भी है किंतु इसकी कीमत जो लगभग २७५ रु. प्रति खुराक है और देने में आने वाली कठिनाइयों के कारण इसका उपयोग संभव नहीं है, परंतु भविष्य में इसका उपयोग अत्यंत आवश्यक होगा।

इस वातावरण में इंदौर के शासकीय चिकित्सा महाविद्यालय सहित पुणे तथा चेन्नाई में किए गए वंदनीय प्रयासों ने पोलियो उन्मूलन की राह आसान बना दी है। इस गति से हम आगे बढ़ते गए तो आने वाले वर्षों में भारत से पोलियो पूर्ण रूप से समाप्त हो सकता है। अमेरिका के गेट्स फाउंडेशन, रोटरी अंतरराष्ट्रीय तथा इंग्लैंड एवं जर्मनी की सरकारों ने इस मानवीय कार्य हेतु भरपूर आर्थिक सहयोग दिया है। २१ जनवरी २००९ में सेनडियागो में आयोजित रोटरी अंतरराष्ट्रीय संगोष्ठी में बिल गेट्स फाउंडेशन ने रोटरी अंतरराष्ट्रीय, ब्रिटेन तथा जर्मनी की सरकारों ने ६३० मिलियन डॉलर अगले ५ वर्षों में देने की घोषणा कर अन्य देशों की सरकारों, औद्योगिक घरानों तथा दानदाताओं को आर्थिक सहयोग देने हेतु प्रेरित किया है।

पोलियो उन्मूलन अभियान में सर्वाधिक महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका मीडिया की है। आर्थिक तथा अन्य कार्यों हेतु शासन, दवा निर्माता, औद्योगिक घरानों, चिकित्सक तथा स्वयसेवी संगठन भी सहयोगी के रूप में योगदान दे सकते हैं। भारतीय उपमहाद्वीप से पोलियो उन्मूलन से विकास की गति और उत्पादन क्षमता बढ़ेगी, आर्थिक बोझ एवं अस्थिबाधित विकलांग व्यक्तियों की संख्या कम होगी।

Guzaarish-It's made for the gratification of the senses

2010-11-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

They called him Merlin and anointed him the best magician. But Ethan Mascarenhas (Hrithik Roshan) has very little magic left in his life after a near-fatal accident that leaves him paralysed and confined to bed for life. Can the life-loving Ethan live out the rest of his life as a quadriplegic or has he a right to end the pain and opt for euthanasia (mercy killing)? While his best friend and lawyer Devyani (Shernaz Patel) is ready to fight his case, his devoted nurse Sophie (Aishwarya Rai) can't foresee a life without her beloved patient and is in a dilemma. Will she let go?

Guzaarish is an unusual film in many respects. Guzaarish may be dark and tragic but the magic of the movie is that it makes you smile in the end Trying to discuss the journey of Guzaarish is like attempting to describe the beauty of nature. Imposssible. Guzaarish is completely original. I've seen the Spanish movie and the only commonality between the two is that they're both based on a quadriplegic person. The script of Guzaarish is nothing like anything I'd seen before, which is what propelled me to say yes to Bhansali. Firstly, because it follows a film craft that is akin to pure art. Film maker, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his cinematographer (Sudeep Chatterjee) have created a collage of riveting paintings on screen, where both the interiors of a crumbling mansion and the outsides of an incandescent Goa landscape literally transport you to an art gallery. The exquisite detailing of Aishwarya's daily chores as she brushes her patient's teeth, shampoos his hair, scratches his nose, cleans his bed sores or simply draws the blinds to keep the sunlight out is mesmerising to watch, even as their rare outdoor soirees blind you with their exuberance. Catch Hrithik and Aishwarya enjoying a drive down the uninhibited Goan countryside and you can actually feel the breeze rustle through your hair.... But more unusual is the spirit of the film which supposedly articulates a plea for death but ends up serenading life and love with tenderness and restraint. Ethan may be plagued by his immobility and languishing body, but his eyes dance like a dervish. Despite his desire to die with dignity, there is a liveliness that surrounds him as he interacts with the few people around him: his student, the wanabe magician Omar (Aditya Roy Kapur), his lawyer friend, Devyani (Shernaz Patel), his die hard doctor (Suhel Seth), his mother (Nafisa Ali) and most importantly, his nurse, Sophie (Aishwarya Rai). Even the few flashbacks that the film features showcase him as an ardent lover and an adorable kid, who performs his first magic trick before his mother. Yes, death does hang around like a shroud, but life bristles and bursts through every frame of Guzaarish.

Then again, the film is one of the most unusual love stories of recent times. The relationship between Ethan and Sophie is much more than a patient-nurse bond and brims over with a passion that threatens to burst any moment. So what if almost everything is left unsaid between the two. The eyes -- and expressions -- say it all. Kudos to Hrithik and Aishwarya to create some of the most romantic moments on screen without resorting to cliche and stereotype.

But in the end, it is Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai who leave an indelible impression with their interpretation of two extremely difficult and unconventional characters who do not have the usual props to express grief, joy, pain and passion. If Hrithik uses his eyes as his be-all and end-all, then Aishwarya is a stunning picture of fire and grace, walking away with certain scenes by her sheer vitality. Catch her outburst in the courtroom and her impromptu jig in the restaurant to understand how underutilised she has been in run-of-the-mill cinema. Equally noteworthy is the music score where Sanjay Leela Bhansali debuts as a music director.

A film like Guzaarish isn't made for the box office. It's made for the gratification of the senses. And that it does, in ample measure

Legal Services helplines all over india

2010-11-14T22:00:00.000-08:00

National Legal Services Authority

12/11,JAMNAGAR HOUSE,SAHAJAHAN ROAD,

NEW DELHI-110011
PHONE:011-2338 6176,2338 2778
email-nalsa1987@yahoo.co.in

Regional Centres and helplines

1. Andhra Pradesh040-23446700

2. Arunachal Pradesh0360-2284913

3. Assam-0361-2601843

4. Bihar-0612-2230943

5. Chhattisgarh-07752-417625

6. Goa-0832-2421169

7. Gujarat—079-2665400

8. Haryana—0172-260064

9. Himachal Pradesh-0177-2623862

10. Jammu and Kashmir-0191-2546753

11. Jharkhand-0651-2482392

12. Karnataka-080-22111716

13. Kerala-0484-2396717

14. Madhya Pradesh-0671-2678352

15. Maharashtra-022-22691395

16. Manipur-0385-2410786

17. Meghalaya-0364-2501051

18. Mizoram-0379-2336621

19. Nagaland-0370-2290337

20. Orissa-0671-2307678

21. Punjab-0172-4652868

22. Rajasthan-0141-2227481

23. Sikkim-03592-207753

24. Tamil Nadu-044-25342834

25. Tripura-0381-2223365

26. Uttar Pradesh-0522-2286395

27. Uttarakhand-05492-236762

28. West Bengal-033-22484234

Functions of NALSA

• To provide free legal services to the eligible persons.

• To organize Lok Adalats for amicable settlement of disputes.

Schemes/ Programs formulated by National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) (1995)

• Legal Aid Counsel Scheme to provide meaningful legal assistance to under trial prisoners, who feel handicapped in their defense on account of lack of resources or other disabilities and cannot engage a counsel to defend them.

• Permanent and continuous Lok Adalat Scheme: The Lok Adalats are now organized regularly at desingnated venues.

• Counseling and Conciliation Scheme to encourage the settlement of disputes by way of negotiations and conciliation.

• Supreme Court Middle Income Group Scheme to provide legal services to the middle income class citizens, i.e., citizens whose annual income does not exceed Rs. 2 lakh.

• Legal Literacy Scheme: To enlighten the Vulnerable groups to understand the law and their rights under the law and eventually to assert their rights as a means to take action, uplift their social status and bring in social change.

• Victims Assistance Program (VAP) has been prepared by the NALSA target the most disadvantaged, distraught vulnerable and victimized population.

• The NALSA organized a Judicial colloquium to create a forum for ongoing regional cooperation among Judges focusing on Human Rights and Access to Justice on 8 – 9 September 2007 at Chandigarh.

• It was an initiative to have an understanding of common social issues and problems for framing appropriate policies and implementation of Legal Aid Programs I the States of Punjab, Rajasthan, HP, Haryana, J & K, Uttarakhand and Delhi.

• A Legal Awareness Program was organized at Haldi Ghati, District Rajasmand, Rajasthan, under the aegis of NALSA by Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority on 22 September 2007

• NALSA organized a National Campaign for Protection of Rights of Children affected by terrorism, insurgency, internal conflicts, cross border violence, trafficking, trauma and HIV/ AIDS on 14 November 2007 at Supreme Court Lawns, New Delhi. Hon’ble Mr. Justice K. G. Balakrishnan, the Chief Justice of India and other Hon’ble Judges of the Supreme Court were present on the occasion.

• NALSA organized a National conference on Access to Justice to Prisoners on 19 November 2007 at Teen Murti House, New Delhi

• On occasion of World AIDS Day on 1 December 2007, the Authority organized a Meeting on Access to Justice to HIV/ AIDS infected and families at Kirti Mandap, Gandhi Smriti, New Delhi.

• The Authority observed a Colloqium on Gender Violence and Protection of Women’s Right on 1 January 2008. It was organized to develop strategies for Women Empowerment.

• An All India Summit of NGOs on Protection of Environment and Access to Social Justice to Citizens affected by Environmental Hazards and Challengers was organized by NALSA from 31 January 2008 to 2 February 2008 at Bengaluru.
more

Obamanama

2010-11-09T08:45:00.000-08:00

Judges, judgments and women's rights

2010-11-03T03:40:00.000-07:00

When it comes to women's issues and the law, the courts continue to send contradictory signals

T wo courts. Two judgments. Two attitudes. In the contrast lies the story of what Indian women continue to face when they turn to the law.

On October 21, the Supreme Court, in the context of a case before it, held that a woman in a “live-in relationship” could not claim maintenance in the event of abandonment by the man as such a relationship could not pass as a “relationship in the nature of marriage” as described under the law for arrangements outside formal marriage. The Court held that if the woman was a “keep” of the man, who looked after her financially but “uses mainly for sexual purpose and/or as a servant”, then such a woman was exempted from claiming any benefits of maintenance under the Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act 2005 on grounds of abandonment.

The ruling led to a justifiable outburst by India's first woman Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaisingh, who also happens to be one of the main movers of the Domestic Violence Act. Ms. Jaisingh ticked off the judges for using a term like “keep” which she held was derogatory to women and was “male chauvinistic”.

Wrong precedent?

Ms. Jaisingh's statements in court made it to the front pages of most newspapers. But one wonders how many will pause and think about why she felt she had to raise her voice at the use of such a term in the judgment. It was, as she herself emphasised, because the ruling of the Supreme Court sets a tone and a precedent for future judgments that affect women. One of its judgments in what is called the Vishakha case is even today used as the standard for judging all matters relating to sexual harassment in the absence of a specific law. By using a term like “keep”, you disregard and virtually excuse the responsibility of the man in an arrangement in which two people are involved and where one, the woman, is most likely the more vulnerable. Once this becomes the precedent, any man can go to court and challenge the right of a woman with whom he has a relationship outside marriage, and who demands compensation when abandoned, by claiming that she was merely his “keep”. Therefore, Ms. Jaisingh's intervention needs to be appreciated, as also her courage for speaking out in the highest court of the land where some others might have felt intimidated.

Apart from the Vishakha judgment, the Supreme Court has also passed several orders that make it clear that in a rape case, the woman's character will not be part of the proceedings during the trial and that it is immaterial to the case. This is also an important precedent in the context of women's rights. Yet, as is evident from another judgment, in another court in Delhi, the practice continues.

Pronouncing judgment in a rape case on October 23, Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau drew attention to an outdated and barbaric practice that continues to be used in rape cases while collecting forensic evidence. Rather than help the survivor, this particular test, called the “finger test” or the Per Vagina (PV) test, traumatises the survivor and gives the defence in such cases a stick with which to intimidate and demoralise her in court.

When a woman reports rape, she has to go to the police who then send her to a government hospital for a medical examination. The report by the doctor who conducts this test is supposed to be part of the medico-legal evidence that the prosecution presents in a rape case. Yet, although such a test has long been discarded elsewhere, in India doctors are trained to test whether the rape survivor is “habituated to sexual intercourse” by inserting two fingers inside her vagina. Why is this of any relevance to a case where the facts of rape and sexual assault are being determined? Does this mean married women cannot be raped? Does it mean an unmarried woman who has had sex cannot be raped? What does this absurd test actually establish when the woman's character, or sexual habits, are of no consequence in the matter before the court?

It is heartening to read of at least one judge who was incensed enough to speak out against this test. Judge Lau said, “The test is violative of the fundamental right to privacy of the victim.” She went on to say, “State action cannot be a threat to the constitutional right of an individual. What has shocked my conscience is that this test is being carried out in a routine manner on victims of sexual offences (even minors) by doctors.”

The judge recommended that police officers be sensitised to this issue. But as much as police officers, doctors also need to be taught a survivor's rights and informed that such a test is simply not allowed. According to a recent report by Human Rights Watch titled, “Dignity on Trial: India's Need for Sound Standards for Conducting and Interpreting Forensic Examinations of Rape Survivors”, the “finger test” remains standard practice in many parts of India including Mumbai and Delhi. In fact, in Mumbai, three leading government hospitals, where hundreds of rape survivors are examined each year, still use this test.

The HRW report also reveals that outdated medical textbooks recommending this test are still being used. As a result, each succeeding generation of doctors continue to follow the practice without thinking twice about its relevance or the trauma they are causing the rape survivor.

Intimidating practice

Worse still, because the practice continues, many survivors lose their cases in court because they get demoralised, confused or intimidated when sections from the medical report relating to this test are used by the defence to undermine their testimony. Yet, the survivor's testimony is supposed to be enough in a rape case and the forensic evidence is only secondary. This is especially so because survivors often wait before they go to the police and as a result valuable evidence is lost. As a result, several court rulings have emphasised that delay in filing a complaint should not be held against the survivor.

Judge Kamini Lau has drawn attention to an extremely important aspect of the procedures followed in rape cases. Unless something like this is addressed urgently, convictions in rape cases, already abysmally low, will never improve. And women who are sexually assaulted will continue to hesitate before turning to the law.

Email the writer:

sharma.kalpana@yahoo.com

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/article860592.ece

Evangelist - Bringing accessibility to India

2010-10-23T02:24:00.000-07:00

Fighting disability with will power

What technology can do to help differently-abled people lead a dignified life

Shilpi Kapoor is the founder director of Net Systems Informatics (I) Pvt Ltd. Section 508 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

With an industry experience of 15 years she has been the protagonist is bringing about revolutionary changes in the lives of people with disabilities through her innovative ideas and initiatives. She is a truly an accessibility evangelist for India.

Shilpi Kapoor is also the recipient of "NCPEDP - Shell Helen Keller Award 2008" for the role model category - Non-disabled role model supporter of increased employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Shilpi Kapoor has been instrumental in drafting the National Policy on Electronic Accessibility in association with National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People . The objective of the policy is to provide persons with disabilities equal access to electronic and information and communication technology and services.

An active member of NASSCOM Disability Advisory Group and a co-convener of the National Task Force for Electronic Accessibility.

Also being a woman entrepreneur, she believes in giving back promoting women entrepeneurship by working with TiE Mumbai and TiE Stree Shakti.

BIOGRAPHY-

Shilpi Kapoor was working with a US-based firm, where she interacted with her colleague on the internet. For over two years, Shilpi Kapoor had been regularly interacting online from her Mumbai office with her US counterpart, Patrick (name changed).

While they had never met, they had been in constant touch over various projects handled by their networking consultancy firm. But one fateful day, Shilpi discovered that Patrick was a paraplegic, paralysed below the neck. The knowledge changed her life dramatically. "When I realised it was a specialised technology that was helping him work, I decided it was time I did more for the disabled in India" says Shilpi.

Inspired by her colleague, Shilpi, who has a bachelor's degree in Sociology from Xavier's and is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, was determined to make the world more accessible to the disabled. In 1995, Shilpi gave up a lucrative career to start a computer-training center for the disabled in association with an NGO and the Microsoft Bill Gates Foundation at her residence. "Everyone should be able to deliver their best," says the woman who founded the first ever computer training centre in Mumbai for the visually challenged in association with an NGO and the Microsoft Bill Gates Foundation.

Raising Funds

But all wasn't easy for Shilpi. Funds were a problem initially. Therefore Net System Informatics, a knowledge management division that offers services like e-learning, technical writing and concept digitalisation, was set up to raise funds in the form of fees.

"We did not want it to be a non-profit entity. There had to be a way to generate funds so that it is self-sustained," she explains. Aavishkar a social entrepreneurial firm invested with them. "That helped us too," she says.

Changing Attitudes

"In India, the disabled are looked upon differently; they usually sit at home. Though this attitude is slowly changing, I want to make things easier for them. They want to travel, work, go out and have normal lives. So we should stop seeing them differently. Empathy is more important than sympathy," she says.

A lot of companies do not consider the disabled as their target audience. "Why is that?" she questions.

Making Everything Accessible

Shilpi wants to make everything 'accessible' for the disabled. That's why she has started a centre that trains them and an organisation that employs them.

"We have all the facilities like lifts specially designed for the disabled and special restrooms for them. We even have supernova screen readers that help the blind browse through websites," she says. These are changes any company can incorporate to make their offices friendly for disabled employees, she adds. Today, 75 per cent of the 55-odd employees at N-System Informatics are disabled!

In 2008, Shilpi along with the Royal National Institute of Blind people (RNIB) UK organized the Techshare India conference, the first ever Accessibility and Disability conference to be organized in India.

The proud recipient of the Shell Helen Keller 2008 award in the Role Model category, Shilpi derives inspiration from the disabled. "Seeing them smile through what we perceive as an issue makes you understand that there is more to life," she says.

Shilpi also heads Barrier Break Technologies a unit of N-systems that tests software and websites to check how disabled-friendly or 'accessible' they are. She now aims to have schools for the disabled with a structured syllabus so that they can deliver like any other employee.

Counting the disabled

2010-10-13T04:54:00.000-07:00

The Centre is set to enumerate an unprecedented number of disabilities in the February 2011 population count. The move is an advance over the last decennial exercise where this vast and vulnerable segment was enumerated for only the second time since Independence. Information will be sought from persons who suffer multiple impairments. The mentally ill and the mentally retarded are to be counted under separate heads. People can also declare any impairment they may be afflicted with, other than the ones specified. Finally, disability-related queries have been moved up in the questionnaire, enhancing the chances of better reporting and coverage. Contrast this with the official thinking in the past, as reflected in the fact that the first three headcounts in free India did not enumerate the disabled. The reasoning was that given prevailing stereotypes and prejudices, the overwhelming tendency would be for families to conceal rather than disclose the relevant information.

This exclusion should explain, at least in part, the wide discrepancy between official figures and global estimates of the percentage of the disabled in the overall population, and also the government's failure on the policy formulation and resource allocation fronts. The overall benefits from an increasing thrust on data collection on a wide gamut of impairing conditions far outweigh the problems of accuracy and certainty, which is in any case inherent to the census operation as a whole. The advantages cannot be dismissed lightly, especially since disability is known to be both a cause and a consequence of poverty. The issue of age-related impairments is another important dimension in view of the increase in longevity as a consequence of India's unfolding demographic transition. And, one should not lose sight of the innumerable instances of limbs and livelihoods lost owing to prolonged armed conflicts. Come February, the enumerators and voluntary organisations will have their task cut out.

The hindu.com

indians

2010-10-01T06:23:00.000-07:00

Samagna-Organs from Brain Dead Student Breathes Life into Seven Critically ill Patients

2010-09-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

In her external appearance, Samagna is an ordinary, simple and homely child. But, this 18 year old II Year Medical Student from Osmania Medical College, is no ordinary child. According to her mother Uma Shankar, “Samagna is a gifted child”. She is a wonderful combination of intelligence, humility and affection. She respects elders. She sings very well. She knows how to adjust with others in the joint family”. In the words of her mother, “I don’t think we will ever find a child like this. I am a proud mother”.

Samagna was the “Best outgoing Student” from Johnson Grammar School. She got the highest marks in Telugu in X Class, and secured 348th rank in EAMCET. Samagna would constantly talk about “Ethics in Medicine”, and advise everyone in the family that we have to be ethical and be contended with what we have in life.

On Tuesday, 14th September, Samagna complained of severe headache and later had vomittings. Despite a series of medical consultations and medication, she did not recover. Finally, on the advise of her doctor cousin, Mrs. Uma Shankar rushed Samagna to Kamineni Hospital, where she was put on ventilator. Unfortunately, Samagna never recovered and was declared “Brain Dead” on 17th September. At that moment, Samagna’s brother who is in junior college said, “We should donate akka’s organs, we should not let her organs go to ashes. She was very keen to do it”.

Mrs. Uma Shankar recollects that Samagna couple of months ago wanted everyone in the family including herself to pledge for organ donation. When Mrs. Shankar raised a doubt that perhaps these organizations may be selling organs, Samagna snapped back and said, “mummy, don’t say anything without checking about them, they are doing very good service by giving life to so many people.” Apparently she quoted young children’s organs being donated recently.

When approached by MOHAN Foundation’s CEO, Mr. K. Raghuram to donate her organs, Samagna’s parents consented to donate her organs and wanted her to live on in as many people as possible. Her kidneys, liver, heart valves and eyes were retrieved on the night of 17th and transplanted for deserving patients at Kamineni Hospitals, Global Hospitals, Star Hospitals and L.V. Prasad Eye Institute respectively.

Samagna’s mother says “my daughter has saved seven lives without becoming a doctor itself, I am truly proud of her”.

MOHAN Foundation

040 66369 369/93924 56355

Rammandir or Babri masjid

2010-09-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

सूचना प्रौद्योगिकी तकनीक, विकलांगों के लिए

2010-09-10T10:06:00.000-07:00

सूचना प्रौद्योगिकी के माध्यम से नेत्रहीन, मूक-बधिर, डिस्लेक्सिया, लगवाग्रस्त यानी शारीरिक या मानसिक रू प से विकलांग लोगों तक टेक्नॉलजी के लाभ पहुंचाने के लिए तमाम कोशिशें की जाती रही हैं। कंप्यूटर पर उनके लिए उपलब्ध सुविधाएं महज नरेटर (वाचक), स्टिकी कीज (की-बोर्ड सुविधा) और टेक्स्ट जू़म (टेक्स्ट बड़ा करके दिखाने की सुविधा) तक ही सीमित नहीं है। ऐसे बहुत से सॉफ्टवेयर आ चुके हैं जिसे यूज करके वह अपने काम को पहले से कहीं ज्यादा आसानी सेकर सकते हैं। उनके लिए उपलब्ध कुछ बहुत उपयोगी सॉफ्टवेयरों पर एक नजर :

ब्रेल सर्फ फोर (www.snv.jussieu.fr/inova/bs4) : यह एक खास किस्म का वेब ब्राउजर है जो वेबसाइट्स की सामग्री को सामान्य टेक्स्ट के रूप में दिखाता है और उसे पढ़कर सुना सकता है। इसका आउटपुट ब्रेल डिस्प्ले यूनिट के जरिये ब्रेल लिपि में भी लिया जा सकता है। जो लोग नेत्रहीन नहीं हैं लेकिन जिनकी दृष्टि बहुत कमजोर है, वे वेबसाइट्स के टेक्स्ट को बड़े आकार में पढ़ सकते हैं जिसके लिए कोई चार्ज नहीं किया जाता है।

कैमरामाउस (http://cameramouse.org): जो लोग विकलांगता के कारण अपने हाथों से माउस नहीं चला सकते, वे 'कैमरामाउस' के जरिए वही काम अपने सिर से कर सकते हैं। सेरेब्रल पैल्जी, स्पाइनल मस्क्यूलर डिस्ट्राफी, मल्टीपल स्क्लेरोसिस, पक्षाघात आदि से पीड़ित लोग इस श्रेणी में आते हैं। इस फ्री सॉफ्टवेयर का प्रयोग करने के लिए सिर्फ एक यूएसबी वेब कैमरे और विंडोज एक्सपी (या उससे आगे के ऑपरेटिंग सिस्टम) की जरूरत है। इसे इस्तेमाल करने के लिए सिर पर कुछ भी पहनने की जरूरत नहीं है। 'कैमरामाउस' का सॉफ्टवेयर वेबकैम के जरिये आपके चेहरे के किसी एक हिस्से पर ध्यान केंदित रखता है और उसकी गति के अनुसार माउस करसर को ऑपरेट करता है।

क्लिक-एन-टाइप (cnt.lakefolks.com): यह मानीटर स्क्रीन पर दिखने वाला वर्चुअल की-बोर्ड है जिसे माउस आधारित टाइपिंग के लिए प्रयोग किया जा सकता है। इस सॉफ्टवेयर का विकास एक ऐसी युवती की मदद के लिए किया गया था जिसके दायें हाथ में बहुत कम हरकत होती थी। वह माउस का प्रयोग तो कर सकती थी लेकिन की-बोर्ड का नहीं। 'क्लिक-एन-टाइप' का प्रयोग करते समय पूरे शब्द टाइप करने की जरूरत नहीं है क्योंकि एक-दो अक्षर टाइप होने के बाद वह खुद कई शब्द सुझाता है जिनमें से सही शब्द का चयन किया जा सकता है जिसके लिए कोई चार्ज नहीं लिया जाता।

ई-स्पीकिंग (e-speaking.com): अगर आप बोलकर अपने कंप्यूटर को चलाना चाहते हैं तो यह फ्री सॉफ्टवेयर बड़े काम का है। माउस करसर को एक लाइन नीचे लाने के लिए बस इतना बोलिए - 'डाउन वन'। इसी तरह ई-मेल खोलने के लिए 'ओपन ई-मेल' और किसी फाइल को खोलने के लिए 'फाइल ओपन' बोलिये। यह सॉफ्टवेयर आपके साथ बातें भी कर सकता है। वर्ड प्रोसेसर के 'एडिट' मेन्यू में दी गई 'फाइंड' कमांड का प्रयोग करने के लिए आपको 'एडिट फाइंड' कहना होगा। ''इस पर सॉफ्टवेयर पूछेगा - 'फाइंड व्हाट?' अपने मतलब का शब्द बताइए और डॉक्यूमेंट में उसे ढूंढने का काम सॉफ्टवेयर कर देगा। ई-स्पीकिंग को एक महीने तक फ्री इस्तेमाल किया जा सकता है। उसके बाद महज चौदह डॉलर (लगभग पौने सात सौ रुपये) देकर इसका लाइसेंस खरीदा जा सकता है।

सुपर मैग्नीफाई (http://bit.ly/aZy0jJ): स्क्रीन पर दिये अक्षरों को पंद्रह गुना तक बढ़ाकर देखने के लिए केविन सोल्वे द्वारा विकसित इस फ्री सॉफ्टवेयर को इस्तेमाल करें। कमजोर नजर वाले लोगों को यह काफी पसंद आएगा। अच्छी बात यह है कि कई गुना बड़े होने के बाद भी अक्षरों के आकार में कोई विकृति नहीं आती।

जॉज फॉर विंडोज : यह एक 'टेक्स्ट टू स्पीच' सिंथेसाइजर है जो विकलांगों, खासकर नेत्रहीनों की जरूरतों को बेहतर ढंग से समझता है। यह कंप्यूटर स्क्रीन पर दिखने वाले टेक्स्ट को पढ़कर सुनाता है, चाहे वह वेबसाइट और ई-मेल हो या माइक्रोसॉफ्ट वर्ड जैसे दस्तावेज। उसी टेक्स्ट को यह ब्रेल लिपि में भी दिखा सकता है हालांकि उसे पढ़ने के लिए यूजर को ब्रेल डिस्प्ले युनिट्स (नेत्रहीनों के लिए ब्रेल के संकेत दिखाने वाली पिन युक्त डिवाइस) की जरूरत होगी। इसे फ्रीडम साइंटीफिक (www.freedomscientific.com) नाम की एक कंपनी की ओर से जारी किया गया है जो कि फ्री उपलब्ध नहीं है।

आई-कम्यूनिकेटर (www.icommunicator.com): यह मॉनिटर की स्क्रीन पर दिखने वाले टेक्स्ट को साउंड और साउंड को टेक्स्ट में बदल सकता है इसलिए बधिरों और नेत्रहीनों दोनों के लिए काफी उपयोगी है। दिलचस्प बात यह है कि यह टेक्स्ट को हाथों के इशारों वाली भाषा (अमेरिकन साइन लैंग्वेज) में भी बदल सकता है। किसी वेबसाइट पर जाने के लिए आप उसका यू.आर.एल बोलकर टेक्स्ट में बदल सकते हैं या फिर डॉक्यूमेंट बना सकते हैं और शब्दकोश जैसी सुविधाओं का लाभ उठा सकते हैं। बधिर चाहें तो इसका इस्तेमाल दूसरों के साथ बातचीत के लिए भी कर सकते हैं। बाकी लोगों के बोले हुए वाक्यों को यह साइन लैंग्वेज में बदलकर वीडि़यो के रूप में दिखाएगा। उसका जवाब की-बोर्ड पर टाइप करके दिया जा सकता है, जो कंप्यूटर-जनित ध्वनि के रूप में दूसरों को सुनाई देगा।

My ‘Raid de Himalaya’ experience: Deepa Malik

2010-07-22T06:12:00.001-07:00

Deepa Malik is no stranger in the field of disability sports. A paraplegic with a strong resolve, she has won numerous accolades for her participation in various adventure sports. Whether it is swimming against the strong Yamuna current, or riding a special bike or even taking a shot at the Paralympics, she has done it all! Last October, she became the first paraplegic to participate in the toughest car rally, the ‘Raid-de-Himalaya’. In a tell-it-all with D.N.I.S., Malik shares her experience with disability and what it took to take the long and arduous Himalayan road.

I was not born with a disability. After 30 years of regular life, I became a wheelchair user due to three spinal surgeries for repeated tumors resulting into spinal cord damage and paraplegia. I could easily compare the two worlds, that of able bodied people and that of the physically challenged. I had the maturity to feel that a lot could be done in the field of disability in our country, starting from social outlook, acceptance of disabled, to their inclusion into the mainstream. I noticed that wheelchair users mostly remained at home. I felt a need to generate motivation among them, so that they live a more wholesome life. This inspired me, and I set out on a mission called ‘ability beyond disability’ in my own little way. I had no clue what I had to do. But I felt that I had to contribute in some way or the other. Promoting outdoor sports I felt was the best possible way. And then to my horror, I found out, that I was the first paraplegic woman to join the world of sports in the Indian scenario!

Driving was another of my passion. So much so, that I often laugh that God probably misinterpreted my desire of ‘being on wheels’ and therefore made me sit on a wheelchair! I had always wanted to rally but somehow, I was made to believe that my this desire would never be fulfilled in the present life because of my disability. That only strengthened my resolve and I decided that I must take part in the world’s highest and toughest car rally ‘Raid-de-Himalaya’.

Everyone thought I had lost it. With a spine that had been cut open thrice and a bladder and bowel condition, how was I going to manage a long, strenuous, high altitude journey, in minus temperatures? The only person who stood by me was my husband. He let me follow my dream, and told me that I would have to get there on my own effort.

I started my homework. Being an army wife, my first try was with the army adventure cell. But I soon learnt that only serving army officers’ wives were allowed to participate. I kept struggling for three years until I landed at the flag off of the Desert Storm Rally in Delhi in February 2009.

I literally sat there trying to pick up contacts and telling various teams about my wish of doing a rally. Some thought I was crazy, some felt happy about my courage but it was the Pune Millennium Team that took me seriously and taught me all the skills of navigation. Through them, I learnt what were the legalities required to be on a rally and that was going to be a challenge.

I got in touch with Himalayan Motorsports Association (H.M.A.) and Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (F.M.S.C.I.) regarding my acceptance in the rally as a formal competitor. They needed a bit of time, as it was the first time a disabled person had approached them. But I was happy that they appreciated my love and enthusiasm for motor sports and felt positive. I just held my breath back till I saw a ray of hope when they agreed but I had to complete all the required paperwork.

The most difficult task was to get the personal accident insurance on heavy risk basis. Next up was to start looking for sponsorship and a professional to accompany me and form a team. I am extremely grateful to Maruti Suzuki and three time Raid-de-Himalaya winner, Rakesh Diwan for supporting my endeavour. My husband, too, joined me as an attendant.

After a long struggle for permissions, sponsorships, a rally vehicle, a professional team partner and procurement of snow clothing, I found myself in Shimla. Initially people thought I was there to cheer a friend but the moment I got my name stickers on the car and a competitor’s license and an identity card on my neck, everyone took me seriously. I was very happy to see the surprised look on everyone’s face! It was a moment of achievement, a sense of satisfaction to be able to turn a dream into a reality and to prove to the world that disability is a state of mind and not of the body.

We were flagged off on the morning of October 7. It was a harsh 8 day, 1700 k.m. drive in minus degree temperatures. Even on an altitude of 18000 feet with oxygen shortage, I was able to sustain it all. It was tiring but the adrenaline rush was so high that I never felt tired. During the rally, we were in third position in the adventure category until an unfortunate accident happened.

The car ahead of us braked suddenly and our car skidded and hit the snowy road. The radiator developed a crack and the rest of the journey was completed filling up water every few k.m.s. That made our journey even more challenging and longer in terms of time. But on the whole, the experience was amazing. And I was awarded the TRUE GRIT TROPHY for outstanding courage.

More than the trophy, what made me happy was the declaration by H.M.A. official, Manjeev Bhalla that henceforth disabled persons will also be eligible to compete in the rally. I was thrilled that my efforts opened doors for people with disabilities to the world of motor sports.

Sometimes we take it for granted that a particular thing or activity is not meant for disabled people. Society then reinforces that belief. It happened to me as well when I decided to go for motor biking. But once I was determined, I did not only get a special bike designed but also made it on record time.

I feel that it is important for one to think beyond the stereotype and follow your heart.

Terrorism

2010-07-15T07:29:00.001-07:00

Some people don't know that by being neutral they are supporting injustice while some who want to support injustice pretend to be neutral

Technology as a social tool

2010-06-23T22:20:00.000-07:00

Nasscom Foundation aims to help the underprivileged by using IT as a springboard

LAKSHMI Chattaria can handle a computer keyboard with the expertise of a pianist working on musical notes.Learning 3D texturing at Anizooms animation academy,she is looking forward to an exciting career once she has completed her course.A few months ago,Lakshmi was content with mopping floors and washing bed linen.Life,or truth as they say,is stranger than fiction indeed.But credit is due more to Nasscom Foundation than a benign quirk of fate.The foundations academy provides subsidized animation courses to the youth and women belonging to the lower income groups and Lakshmi,who had come from Orissa to support her widowed sister and impoverished family,was guided and recruited as a student to learn 3D texturing,aftereffects and premiere at the institute.

Started in 2001,the Nasscom Foundation aimed at reforming the lives of underprivileged by leveraging on Information and Communication Technologies.The foundation believes in using technology as a tool to change lives.Their three flagship portalsBigTech,Big Bridge and MyKartavya.comhave lived up to their expectations and beyond.Since we are an IT industry body,it made sense to channelise our CSR activities through IT.Besides,there was a need for the industry to have a common evaluative tool, says Rufina Fernandes,CEO of Nasscom Foundation.BigTech provides domestic and foreign IT companies a platform to reach social work groups in India,and donate hardware and software. The process goes thus: An NGO can apply online to the foundation for its IT-related needs.The foundation does a due diligence and based on the set norms,qualifies the NGOs for donation.Any IT firm interested in the programme then may come forward to facilitate the product.BigTech has five donors,namely Microsoft,Eagle conferencing,Bytes of Learning,Busy Infotech and Quick Heal Anti-Virus.Figures speak for themselves.In three years,over 300 NGOs from 138 districts in 26 states across India have registered and about 4,500 software worth Rs 7 crore have been donated through the portal.

The foundation came up with a second portal,Big-Bridge,to enable education,employability and entrepreneurship through computer donations.The foundation would collect old computers from IT companies and refurbish them with legal software for use of NGOs.Launched in April 2009,the initiative serves a dual purpose: manage e-waste disposal and prevent software piracy.The NGOs would then carry out their work more efficiently.In a little more than an year,over 571 computers have been collected and are currently in use either at Nasscom Knowledge Network centres or various government schools in the country.

Continuing with diversification,the foundation has now launched a broader business prospect,with a third portal for motivating other emerging IT firms to initiate CSR activities.MyKartavya.com is a platform that allows employees on board to choose from a wide spectrum of CSR activities of their own company,NGOs initiatives or the foundations CSR activities.It also helps in maintaining,managing and evaluating the combined employee volunteer efforts,thus keeping a tab on the community welfare activities. With so many CSR activities around,Nasscom Foundation has seen an appraisal in its brand value globally.We have received appreciation from other industry verticals and other associations.Our CSR activities have brought us recognition.We are now looking forward to entering into more partnerships involving other organisations, says Ms Fernandes.The recognition has brought in more responsibility and fresh challenges for the foundation but Ms Fernandes is upbeat about the challenges.The drive to diversify afterall is in Nasscom genes

Disability and Census of 2011

2010-06-22T05:45:00.000-07:00

While the current focus of political debate is on ‘caste and census,' there is another important aspect that deserves attention. This concerns disability.

For decades after our independence, there was no effort to actually count how many of us have any disability. There were estimates- informed or otherwise- but no factual figures. All our government's plans and budgets, rules and regulations, proclamations and posturing were built upon shaky foundations. A new Ministry was created, staffed and has been operating for several decades on that basis. It seemed to suit every one, except the millions who were thus rendered ‘invisible'.

This lasted for 54 years. But, despite their ‘invisibility,' the disabled and the NGOs dealing with disability made progress on the ground.

Let me illustrate with an example. There was no government or non-government organisation looking after the needs of children with cerebral palsy, till a young mother of a child with cerebral palsy set up the very first Spastics Society of India, Mumbai (now known as ADAPT-Able Disabled All People Together)) in 1972. The handful of children included her own daughter. Dr. Mithu Alur, our Chairperson, had thus created a unique institution, offering all facilities under one roof, including diagnosis, physiotherapy, physical aids, schooling, parental counselling, etc. Over time, these services also came to include research, teachers training, admission of older children in “normal” schools and colleges, job-oriented training and placements and so on. This model is now replicated in 18 States. Almost all the organisers have themselves been trained at Mumbai. These NGOs operate independently, while forming a Regional Alliance, constantly coordinating, cooperating and learning from one another.

During preparations for the Census of 2001, several NGOs (including us) approached the Census Commission with the request that they should also count the disabled in our country. Obvious arguments were put forward. Approaches were also made through the concerned departments of the Government. Unfortunately, nothing worked; we were simply told that the disabled could not be included. The NGOs were persistent; the matter was taken to the political level. Eventually, it was decided that the Census would include, for the very first time, a counting of the disabled.

However, this historic decision was taken at a very late stage, in the face of consistent opposition by the Census Establishment. Perhaps, their subsequent actions were reluctant and grudging. Perhaps, there was not enough time for the necessary preparations. It is also possible that, despite their best efforts, framing of appropriate questions, their translation into the required languages, training of the enumerators etc. left much to be desired. For all these reasons, the results of the Census 2001 were deeply disappointing for the disability movement.

For example, the Census of 2001 concluded that there were only 2.13 % or 21 million Indians with any kind of disability. This was a fraction of the estimates by most experts. This has since been amply proved by a World Bank report of 2007.

This report was “prepared at the request of the Government of India”. In fact, it acknowledges “the guidance of officials of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, guidance provided by an inter-ministerial Technical Advisory Group set up for the work by MOSJE and consisting of representatives from the Ministries of Health, Labour, Human Resource Development and Rural development, as well as an NGO representative.” Similarly, it acknowledges the help of officials in several States including Rajasthan, Karnataka, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In short, the World Bank Team had the full backing and support of the Government of India and many State governments.

The report is entitled ‘People with Disabilities in India: From Commitments to Outcomes'. It concludes:

“While estimates vary, there is growing evidence that people with disabilities comprise between 4 and 8 per cent of the India population (around 40-90 million individuals)”

Obviously, there is a vast difference between 2.13 per cent or 21 million ‘counted' by the Census of India, and 4-8 per cent or 40-90 million estimated by the World Bank team.

Several NGOs, including ADAPT, have been interacting with the Census Commission, individually or in groups. The Commissioner, Dr. C. Chandramauli, has been positive and open-minded. In a recent letter to him, based on our own experience, and consultations with our regional partners and other experts, we have made a number of recommendations. These take into account the Commission's constraints of space and format, the work already done, and recommendations made by others in the disability movement, like a Delhi-based group which had also held wide consultations. For example, along with the Delhi group, we have endorsed the inclusion of four types of disability in seeing, hearing, speech and movement, repeated from the 2001 census. We have also endorsed the recommended inclusion of Multiple Disability and Mental Retardation. But, since the latter expression is no longer used, we propose “Remembering and Concentration” instead. Thus, there is already an agreement on the types of disability.

Equally important is the framing of questions under each type. Questions must be activity related; these must also be relevant to our circumstances; only then can these elicit accurate responses. For example, the question suggested by us on speech is: “Do you have difficulty in speaking in your usual language?” The latter language is included because, in the course of a research study with UNICEF involving 31,000 children, we had found that children who had migrated out of their home states had a linguistic problem, which may be reflected as a speech problem. We have also submitted Hindi translations of these easy-to- understand questions to demonstrate that similar translations in other languages could be equally easy and understandable.

Contrary to speculations, there is thus a growing meeting of minds between the Census Commission, on the one hand, and several sections of the disability movement, on the other. Thus, we can hope that the Census of 2011 will finally be able to give us a correct count of the disabled in our country, making them truly visible.

( A former ambassador, Kamal Bakshi is Vice-Chairperson of ADAPT, Mumbai.)

REAL SINGH IS REAL KING

2010-06-21T01:43:00.000-07:00

US president Barack Obamas, tough stand against British Petroleum for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is worthy of emulation by other governments around the world and the same yardstick should be applied to the Bhopal gas tragedy involving a US company

British Petroleum knew the perils of entanglement with American justice and shelled out within six weeks of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.Big Oil (which is far bigger than Big Chemical) has been forced to put aside $20 billion for the repair of the environment after an ecological disaster that has not killed a single innocent human being.Technically,BP need not have paid more than $75 million.The first demand on Carbide,26 years ago was for $15 billion.It has paid the equivalent of just one billion dollars (at todays prices) for the death of nearly 20,000 people and the horrific maiming of over 100,000.

BP paid America out of fear,not because of a demand order from its conscience.Carbide had nothing to fear,and never possessed a conscience.

Allow wheelchairs inside Jagannath temple

2010-05-29T04:12:00.000-07:00

Discrimination in God’s nation...

BHUBANESWAR, Chinu, an autistic 10-year-old boy may not have the gift of speech but is wise beyond his years. He wrote a letter saying: “Is it fair that people without moral values and conscience can enter Puri Jagannath temple, but people without limbs cannot?” This appeal moved eminent social activists, including Mrs. Mrinalini Padhi and Ms Sruti Mohapatra to initiate a campaign for the access of wheelchairs in the temple. The world famous 12th century shrine, which is off-limits to non-Hindus, prohibits entry of wheelchairs, shoes, belts and hats among a host of other leather-made objects and articles into the shrine precinct .as they believe that such equipment are impure.

Making a fervent appeal to all concerned to join the campaign y, the activists argued that major places of worship across the country and abroad allowed wheelchairs. There are special measures such as ramps to facilitate easy travel for the physically challenged, they said.
Both Ms Mohapatra and Mrs. Padhi as well as Mr. Rabi Tripathy are committed social workers who have worked in the disability sector for decades. The physically challenged devotees are facing a lot of problem at temple. "This is not only undignified but also painful for a person with disability to be carried by four persons into the temple, Some of them lose hope to visit the temple because of their physical deformity," Shruti Mohapatra, a social activist said.

"Wheelchairs are not made of leather. So there is no harm in taking wheelchairs into the temple," Mohapatra added.

Once sevayats of Jagannath Temple give a green signal, I don’t think the administration will have any problem in introducing it,” Mrunalini Padhy, another social activist said” This violates religious rights of people with disability, which is a fundamental right. They must be allowed to worship the way they want to," said advocate Mrinalini Padhi, a Cuttack-based social activist and lawyer, who has taken the lead in the campaign. This not only prevents the disabled from entering the temple but also patients and the aged.

They said that the media needs to campaign for social change for target beneficiaries.

It is shocking that differently-abled persons should not have access to Lord Jagannath who himself is without hands and feet, they observed. Mrs Mohapatra narrated her experience: “A priest at the temple entrance scorned me and said that my disability was due to my past sins and that I should not add to my sins by entering the temple on a wheelchair.” This happened in Puri and also at Sakhigopal temple, she said.

She presented slides and prayers at various other temples across the country ~ Shiridi Sai, Sidhhi Vinayak, Mumbai, Badrinath and Kedarnath. There is no restriction in any of these places, she pointed out. , not a single temple in Orissa has this facility.

We could easily petition the court of law in this regard but we want a social movement and involve as many people as possible so that their mindset changes, said Mrs Padhi.

The issue regarding access is not limited to the disabled alone, it extends to the old and the ailing too, she added while addressing a press conference yesterday

. The activists said though they have written to the temple administration many times about it, there has been no response Initiating an effort to change an age-old prohibition at Jagannath Temple, a number of differently-abled pilgrims, mostly with impaired legs, have urged the Jagannath Temple administration to make available wheelchair facility at the temple. Activists fighting for rights of the physically-challenged on demanded that wheelchairs be allowed inside the Jagannath temple

"We want everybody’s support to launch a campaign to allow wheelchairs into Jagannath Temple

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION

HOW TO KILL A GIRL????

2010-05-28T08:31:00.001-07:00

TODAYS LOVE-TODAYS RO MEO

2010-05-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

MARRIAGE

2010-05-26T05:08:00.001-07:00

BULLET-PROOF JACKETS

2010-05-26T02:37:00.000-07:00

DOGS AND POLITICIANS

2010-05-24T01:29:00.001-07:00

DOGS ENEMY

2010-05-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

Mahendrasingh Dhoni

2010-05-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

with selectors

MSD -MSD

DHONI AND CAPTAINCY

DHONI AND MEDIA

DHONI AND DEFEAT

sharabi ek bimari...

2010-05-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

Be the CEO of your life!

2010-05-11T09:27:00.001-07:00

ONE of the most precious gifts we can give ourselves and to each other is a sense of empowerment.A sense of power over yourself and immediate surroundings.Imagine what a wonderful feeling that would give you.To wake up rejuvenated each morning and feel on top of the world because you are in control of your day and whatever happens to you.There is a unique joy and celebration in that!

Real happiness can come only from within.When you wake up each morning,consider if you really want to be doing what you are scheduled to do that day.If the answer is no' more often than yes',there is something obviously very wrong somewhere.You are not celebrating yourself or the gift of life enough.

Ask,are you at peace within Have you resolved the inherent conflict in all of us,the constant struggle between the baser and higher consciousness Once you strike a balance within,it is easier to transfer that feeling of peace to your life as well.

When the joy of doing what you want to do suffuses your life,you will feel an extra bounce in your step and a keener power of observation,a deeper understanding of what's within and what surrounds you.It is then that you will question all that you have accepted blindly so far.You will question prevailing wisdom,bust old paradigms,challenge social conventions and assumptions.You will learn to believe in yourself and develop your own perspective on life.You will assert your own sovereignty.

Your life will be filled with love,bliss,light,inspiration and positivity.You will learn to do the unexpected,to think big,think lateral,think mosaic!

Let us together move towards higher levels of fearlessness and creativity.Let us look at life more for opportunities than constraints.Let us keep shedding limitations and keep raising the bar.Each one of us can be the CEO of his or her own life! Take time off to stand and stare

WH Davies lamented,What is this life if,full of care,/We have no time to stand and stare.Centuries before,the Bible assured,Be still and know that I am God (Psalms:46,10).Indeed,it is in this inward silence and stillness within,generated often by the art of letting go and not doing anything in particular for the needed time,that much creativity resides.It is in this that solutions and answers are to be found to many vexing situations and problems.

Confounded by the problem of determining genuineness of gold,Archimedes found the answer,not when he was feverishly searching for it,but when he was standing and staring',as if,relaxed in his bath tub.The molecular structure of benzene flashed to Kekule in his dream,while,diverted from his work,he was fast asleep.

In spite of pointers to the need to let go' and unwind at least once in a while,the insatiable ambition of man goes berserk,obsessed with work,more work and more and more work.Taking things easy,even once in a while,is often termed as lotus eating' and sloth.It is often argued that human aspirations should be limitless and so should be the work and frenzy which,it is professed,should go with them!

True,aspirations and attendant strenuous work should mark any worthwhile life.However,moments snatched in between to stand and stare',often lend fulfilment and direction to true creativity.Besides pre-empting physical and psychological burn out,these islets enable the creative mechanism within to correct,reorient and regroup itself.

Unknown to the person,much work goes on within,during this time,whereby at the appropriate time,the sought-after objectives and breakthrough are realised.Standing and staring' also finds expression through snatching moments of solitude or the ancient Indian prescription of not talking at all for a specified time (mouna vratha).Tamil saint Avvaiyar,when asked as to what was the sweetest experience,replied,Solitude' (Ekantam).

Reflection,retrospection,meditation these too are similar cushioning,soothing and healing expressions.However,all these are only supplements to dynamic,hard and effective work.These should not be ends in themselves.Indulged in the right manner,time and quantity,depending upon the makeup of each individual personality,these indeed are indispensable!

LOVE AND BEAUTY

2010-05-04T09:41:00.001-07:00

WAR AND PEACE

2010-05-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

विकलांग स्पेशल ट्रेन विवाद

2010-04-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

कोलकाता से दिल्ली के लिए चली विकलांग स्पेशल विवादों का गुबार खड़ा कर रही है। इस ट्रेन से एक हजार से भी अधिक विकलांगों को प्रधानमंत्री से मुलाकात कराने के लिए ले जाया गया था, लेकिन ट्रेन के ११ घंटे से भी अधिक लेट होने के चलते प्रधानमंत्री से वे लोग नहीं मिल पाए। सिर्फ पहले से दिल्ली पहुँचे बंगाल के समाज कल्याण विभाग मंत्री क्षितिज गांगुली और इंग्लिश चैनल पार करने वाले विकलांग तैराक मसुदुर रहमान ने मुलाकात की औपचारिकता पूरी की। मंत्री ने रेल मंत्री और प्रधानमंत्री को पत्र लिखकर शिकायत की है कि जब इस ट्रेन के लिए रेलवे ने पूरा १७ लाख रुपया किराया वसूला तो सुविधाएँ क्यों नहीं दीं? समय पर ट्रेन क्यों नहीं पहुँची?

इस ट्रेन के किराए के मद में विकलांग कोटे से ७५ फीसद छूट की अपील रेलवे ने ठुकरा दी थी। सवालों पर दो हफ्ते गुजरने के बावजूद रेलवे खामोश है, लेकिन किराए के मामले में रेलमंत्री ममता बनर्जी का पत्र राज्य सरकार के पास जरूर पहुँचा है। बंगाल की संकीर्ण होती राजनीति का उदाहरण बनी इस घटना पर स्थानीय अखबारों ने ममता बनर्जी की जमकर आलोचना की है। "आनंद बाजार पत्रिका", "आजकाल" और "गणशक्ति" ने लगातार खबरें छापकर रेलवे के अमानवीय रवैए को कोसा है। दूसरी ओर,"प्रतिदिन" अखबार खुलकर रेलमंत्री के तर्क को हाईलाइट कर रहा है। "बर्तमान" अखबार लिखता है कि राज्य के मंत्रालय ने पूरे तथ्य नहीं बताए थे। दूसरे, अफसरों की आड़ लेकर माकपा राजनीतिक निशाने साध रही है।

Panchamukhi Nagaraj

2010-04-25T07:39:00.001-07:00

GIRLFRIEND

2010-04-23T04:46:00.001-07:00

Manmohan promises disabled-friendly laws

2010-04-22T05:48:00.000-07:00

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said the government was in favour of amending the laws, if need be, to make them more disabled-friendly.

He gave this assurance to a delegation of the differently-abled persons who met him in Parliament. The delegation was led by CPI (M) MP Brinda Karat.

“The Prime Minister was extremely sympathetic towards the demands of the disabled persons and said their demands were genuine,'' Ms. Karat said. Dr. Singh assured the delegation of changing the laws to make them disabled-friendly, if necessary. The Prime Minister interacted with the members of the delegations and enquired about their problems.

Talking to The Hindu, Ms. Karat said this was the first time that a delegation of differently-abled persons had visited Parliament House. “It was pointed out to the Parliament staff that there was only one gate (Gate no 9) in Parliament House for the physically disabled people and this was far away from the main entrance,” Ms. Karat said.

The delegation also met the Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik who told them that the government was finalising a new law for the disabled that would replace the existing law.

Earlier, a large number of people with different forms of disabilities marched to Parliament House to demand a better deal.

Marching under the banner, ‘National Platform for the Rights of Disabled Persons,' the people highlighted the plight of the economically and socially disadvantaged among the disabled, the poor, and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. “The basic issue is that of the approach of the government and we must request you to consider our demands not as an act of charity but as fulfilment of entitlements and rights as equal citizens of India. India is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the persons with Disabilities which enjoins the government to ensure minimum rights and livelihood to disabled citizens,'' the marchers said in a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister.

The demands include a comprehensive social security system for all persons with disabilities and their families including the Antyodaya cards, free health care for disabled persons, amendments to the Right to Education Act to make provision for disabled teachers and professional and identification of jobs for the disabled immediately with annual special recruitment drives each year.

Besides setting up a separate Ministry for disability affairs, the memorandum also sought issuance of a universally valid identity card and replacing the current Persons with Disabilities Act (1995) in consonance with the provisions of the U.N. Convention and harmonising other laws, the disabled persons also wanted proper enumeration of the persons with disabilities.

The organisations that participated in the march included the Paschimbanga Rajya Pratibandhi Samaiilani, the Differently Abled Persons Welfare Federation of Thiruvananthapuram, the Karnataka Rajya Angavikalara Mattu Palakara Okkota, the Jharkhand Vikalanga Morcha, the Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of all types of Disabled and Caregivers and the Vibhinna Prathiba Vanthula Jakkula Vedika of Andhra Pradesh.

THE HINDU

GRIEVANCE CELL FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITY

2010-04-08T08:10:00.000-07:00

GANESH JI KI MAYA

2010-04-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

friendship

2010-04-02T07:52:00.000-07:00

SachinTendulkar

2010-02-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

Nasscom to start job portal for aspirants with disabilities

2010-02-22T06:01:00.000-08:00

It will issue advisories on working towards accessibility

BANGALORE: Soon, the IT sector’s commitment to inclusiveness towards the disability sector will be etched in cyberspace.

Industry trade body Nasscom (National Association of Software and Services Companies) will launch a dedicated portal that will facilitate recruitment for persons with disability by creating a repository of applicants, available skill-sets and potential recruiters.

This was one of the key agendas at the first-ever meeting of the newly constituted Nasscom disability advisory group. Disability rights activists, who celebrated the creation of this 12-member group last week, are now ecstatic to see that the group — comprising Nasscom, industry members and civil society groups — means business.

Info kits

Speaking to The Hindu, the group’s chairperson Pradeep Gupta said that the measures would work towards increasing employability for persons with disabilities.

Further, the group decided that informative kits, prepared by the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), would be circulated among Nasscom members to create awareness on existing initiatives.

“ICT firms have their heart in the right place. Now, we will work towards getting the brain part right. There is no lack of will, but issues like accessibility (technical and physical) may not have been thought about. Our aim will be to build that awareness,” Mr. Gupta said.

The group, with a tenure of two years, decided that Nasscom would issue advisories to its member companies.

These advisories would be on physical accessibility (in accordance with guidelines submitted by NCPEDP on facilities such as ramps or lifts) and software or technical accessibility.

It would focus on compliance of websites and electronic products with international standards.

Javed Abidi, director of NCPEDP, believes that the creation of an industry forum can make an impact. Internationally, it is mandated that websites be WCAG. 2.0 Compliant (an international standard that ensures websites are disabled-friendly) and electronic goods are disability-friendly. “What has held us behind?” he asked.

Double standards

Today, a year after the Union Government issued guidelines that all websites be disabled-friendly, only one of the 5,000 sites has complied, he said.

“Even private Indian firms that ensure disability-friendliness while creating or servicing goods for the international market have for long practised double standards when it comes to domestic products such as mobile phones, microwaves or even ATMs. If this group can achieve that transition it will be worthwhile.”

While this is not a diktat to companies, it will at least create awareness and sensitivity in the private sector.

Nasscom president Som Mittal said that the group would work towards leveraging technologies to skill people who are differently-abled, so they could find jobs and employability in various sectors.

“Accessibility can be built into the design. But the real challenge will be to work towards building technology that can facilitate better access and inclusivity. Also, several companies already have inclusive programmes, for employment and training, and we hope other companies will benefit from their learning through this forum,” Mr. Mittal said.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/02/stories/2010020258370300.htm

MANGALASUTRA FOR MEN

2010-02-19T08:36:00.000-08:00

NEED AN IDEA SIRJI

2010-02-16T08:14:00.001-08:00