From the States

Flying high

How does this place fly in the air,” asked Jyotsana Gade a standard VII student while watching a model glider in the sky. Her friend Swapna, equally awestruck, too enthused impulsively, “I’d like to make a plane like that. I must be fun flying it yourself”.

This was perhaps what was on the minds of several others like Jyotsana and Swapna, all students of the Society for the Welfare of the Physically Handicapped in Wanavdi as they watched a unique gliding programme organised by the Government Gliding Centre in Hadapsar. The show was specially arranged for over 200 students by the centre with an aim to propagate the message that being physically challenged does not mean the doors of the aviation industry are closed.

“Your condition doesn’t mean you can’t do things related to flying. You can make these machines, design them and have career options open for you are there,” Captain Shailesh Charbhe, incharge of the civil aviation department at the gliding centre told his young audience.

Members from the Pune Aeromodellers’ Association (PAA) were also present to demonstrate the basics of aviation through their aero-plane models. “You can even make these mini-planes,” said Sunil Patil, a PAA member, to the students, who in turn, enthusiastically watched the aeromodels fly and applauded every take-off and landing.

The lucrative aviation industry might seem a goldmine for pilots and flight attendants, but the technicians behind the aeroplanes are the need of the hour, pointed out Srinivas Nyayapati, one of the instructors at the gliding centre. “Aviation companies are expanding their base in India. Aviation technicians are in great demand too. That’s what we want to point to these students, so that they get interested in aeronautics and have careers in the aviation industry,” explains Nyayapati.

And if the nearly two-hour session at the gliding centre wasn’t enough, there’s more in store for these students. “Usually we change a nominal fee to teach aeromodelling. But we are thinking of giving these students lesions for free,” says Patil.

Source: Flying machines send hopes soaring for challenged children. Indian Express, Daily, Mumbai, 27 April 2007.

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Fair chance for IAS

India's decade-old disability law has crawled for a decade. It could now finally stand on its feet, walk and run. The government opened the bureaucratic knots that had tied down this law to give disabled candidates appearing in the elite civil services examinations a "fair chance".

As part of this reformist measures, disabled candidates appearing for the Civil Services Examinations will get seven rather than the existing four attempts and candidates who clear the examination on merit will not be counted under the three per cent disabled quota.

But it is the third relaxation that a senior government official said holds the potential for opening its doors to the disabled really wide. Vacancies that are not filled due to the absence of suitable candidates would not lapse but would accumulate that could be filled at a later date.

"Wow! This is really good," said disabled rights activist, Javed Abidi, jubilant that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had matched his words with action. "This is the first time that the disabled are getting something from the government on its own," Abidi said.

Satyananda Mishra, secretary, personnel, suggested the initiative - driven by the Prime Minister - was overdue. "The intention is to give the disabled, who begin with a disadvantage, a wider choice".

Abidi explains why the announcement - primarily aimed at the elite civil services - was important. There were nearly 200 posts in the civil service that should have been filled by disabled candidates but were not. The backlog clause implies that the government will have to start filling them up.

But the implications of this relaxation go beyond the elite civil services. "Once the government accepts this principle for the highest service, we get a toehold and a precedent to seek backlogs for other government recruitments," Abidi said.

Source: Tikku, A. Wow, India’s disability act walks. The Hindustan Times, Daily, New Delhi 28 April 2007.
Physically challenged get 7 attempts to clear UPSC. The Times of India, Daily, New Delhi, April 2007.

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No respite, is it because the intellect is weak?

Even as the Delhi government contemplates taking over MCD-run schools, which are in a shocking state, following the high court’s suggestion, it is ready to cut its grant to a school for special children.

The school for mentally challenged children and those with behavioral problems functions out of the premises of the Child Guidance Centre on the Jamia Senior Secondary School campus. There are 20 students on its rolls; all packed into a single room that looks like it may collapse any minute.

“Putting all the students in one room creates a lot of chaos. The students, too, find it hard to concentrate. But we’ve no option,” says Farther Yasmin, Director, Child Guidance Centre.

To make matters worse, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has decided to cut the grant to the school by five per cent and asked the school’s management to become self-sufficient.

“We still haven’t received the grant for last year including the Rs. 10,000 for maintenance. We’ve been managing on our own but now they’re telling us this paltry amount will also be reduced,” adds Yasmin.

The school gets an annual grant of Rs.4,50,000 from the government.  Fortunately, the vice-chancellor of Jamia University, Mushiral Hassan, on hearing about the dismal state of the school building, stepped in to help. Following an appeal by the VC, the Jamia faculty and local citizens have raised Rs 5 lakhs to renovate the building.

Source: School for special kids neglected. Today, (Mon-Fri) New Delhi 24 April 2007.

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