People of Value

Assam: Anita Chandra

Twenty-one-years ago, a girl without arms, was born to Phulmati and Tilak Chandra Singh of Balisiha-habi village. At first, the couple thought she was a curse, but over time has begun to think differently…

Anita, as she is called, has recently taken the Higher Secondary exams using the toes of her right foot to write. “For me, using my right toes is as simple as others using their right hand fingers,” says a shy Anita.

“We never tried to look at her differently. But when we took her to the village primary school for admission, the teacher said there was no paint enrolling her,” said Tilak, who vends vegetables in the local market and runs a family of eight children. Two of his sons, both Class VIII dropouts, are currently in Guwahati, 120 kms away, working as daily-wage labourers.

When she took her Class X finals, the Secondary Education Board, Assam (SEBA) permitted her to use a writer. “A Class IX girl called Nabanita Deka wrote as I dictated,” recalls Anita. But she wrote her HS First Year (Class XI) exams on her own with the school authorities putting her in a separate room so that others were not disturbed.

“I want to go to a college, become a graduate and take up a job,” says Anita.

“I wish some NGO provides her necessary support,” sys Bikash Ali, another teacher, who is also a part time correspondent of a daily newspaper. Ali had once got the local branch of the State Bank of India to give her Rs, 1,000 when she passed her high school final. “The social welfare department once gave her grant of Rs 471. That was long back. Once we approached Prafulla Kumar Mahanta when he was chief minister, but nothing came,” said her uncle Atul Singal.

Source: With no arms, she fights a lone battle. Indian Express, Daily, New Delhi, 14 may 2007.