Parsanben Narandas Ramji Shah Society for Relief and Rehabilitation of the disabled

A nondescript town in the heart of Saurashtra houses the biggest NGO working among the disabled in the country. The Parsanben Narandas Ramji Shah (PNR) Society for Relief and Rehabilitation of the disabled has been working in the area for the past 35 years.

The society has some extraordinary initiatives like a commercial company in the name of Microsign where most of the employees are disabled in some way. This company supplies components to a number of industries like Reliance, Telco, Volvo, BHEL, and ISRO etc.

The PNR society runs a school for hearing impaired and another for visually impaired children, complete with hostels for children from class 1 to 10. It also provides specially designed computers and various techno devices which help the children learn faster. Beyond the school the society also runs a full-fledged computer centre, where a wide variety of job related skills are imparted. Its placement is 69 percent.

Then there is Ankur, a school for the mentally challenged. Here the children are divided into three categories - play group, trainable group and educational group and are taught skills including vocational skills for self reliant living. Another smaller school caters to those with cerebral palsy and autism.

The society's artificial aids and limbs workshop, headed by Vijay Naik, not only manufactures the usual range of aids for the disabled, but has also obtained five patents for original inventions. Particularly renowned is an artificial foot called "Prabha Foot": priced at an economic price of Rs. 4, 200. It is a vast improvement on the better known Jaipur foot, being much lighter and bending is possible at knee, enabling the user even to sit cross legged on the floor. The society also runs a 125-bed hospital, set up in 2000, where disabled especially some categories of polio victims, who can be cured are treated.

Long before Pulse Polio had started, the society had started holding polio camps across western India. It also runs courses for teachers and caregivers on how to handle disabled children, and courses, which equip midwives to handle pregnancies, better and reduce chances of disability at birth.

Anantbhai Shah, the Secretary and moving spirit behind the PNR society, and Mehta are recipients of numerous awards. Yet they remain virtually unknown outside their immediate circles.

Source: A special touch, The Week, Kochi, 29 May 2005