From the States

NBCP most successful GOI project

The National Blindness Control Programme (NBCP) is the most successful Government of India project. Launched in 1976, it achieved gradual, sustained success over the years by reducing the prevalence of blindness, he said. Intra ocular lens (IOL) had become an important part of the programme and was being provide free of cost to the beneficiaries. It cost the Government Rs 50 for each lens. Over 5000 ophthalmic surgeons have been trained in performing IOL implantation. The number of cataract surgeries went up from 38 lakh in 2002-03 to 50 lakh in 2006-2007. IOL usage had improved, from 72 per cent to 94 per cent.

20 point Programme

Blindness control was also part of the 20 point programme of the United Progressive Alliance under the Health for All scheme, along with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and leprosy. The plan was to reduce the backlog of cases, develop eye care centres at the district level, ensure quality service and encourage voluntary participation.

Source: Blindness control programme has had sustained success, says G.K. Vasan. The Hindu, 15 July 2007.

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Humor and Laughter

Laughter, they say, is the best medicine and works equally well on differently-abled people. For those who could not imagine humor and disability together, here comes a magazine that attempts to change this mind-set and prove that people with disabilities too can enjoy a good joke.

‘Family of Disabled (FOD), a charitable trust, released the humor special edition of its bi-annual magazine on disability, The Voice of FOD, perhaps the first of its kind in the country.

“It is a small effort to highlight the face that people with disabilities can not only comprehend humor but are also as competent as normal people in creating humor as well,” says Rajinder Johar, founder-coordinator of FOD and the editor of the magazine, who is himself a quadriplegic.

“If people prefer to believe that differently-abled people are deprived of the sense of enjoying and understanding humor and at the same time think of them as brooding, demanding, frustrated and depressed lot, whose fault is it? Certainly not ours! Being disabled has not deprived us from the faculty of enjoying and creating humor,” says Mr. Johar in the ‘Editor’s Note.’ He has been bringing out the magazine from his bed for the past 15, yes 15 years!

The special edition comprises contributions from people with and without disabilities from India and abroad on different features of humor and disability, including an interview with the child stand-up comedy artist Jay Chhaniyara who was one of the star performers in the ‘Great Indian Laughter Challenge’ show on television.

This edition that was started with the aim creating awareness and sensitizing the masses about various aspects of disability and people living with them was released by well-knows satirical poet Arun Gemini who left the audience in splits with his characteristic rustic humor.

FOD also distributed the popular Tantra T-Shirts with messages on disability at the function.

Source: Laughter brooks on barriers. The Hindu, Daily, New Delhi, 13 July 2007.

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Radisson Hotel lends a hand

It took K B Kachru 18 months of through research to crack a new deal and get a partner for it. Now, the new deal makes him step out of the plush environment of the Radisson Hotel in Gurgaon and out to the many little hands busy making tea at the Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway station in Delhi. The partner, Plan India, promises even more. “We would like to help support a literacy initiative for children living at Port Mumbai, a night shelter for working and street children in Varanasi, and a project to educate and provide vocational training to children in fishing communities of Andhra Pradesh,” says the executive vice-president, South Asia, Carlson Hotels Worldwide.

All in all, the latest social initiative by the Carlson Group and Plan India, an NGO working for children in adverse circumstances, aims to work towards ensuring basic rights to underprivileged children in society. The joint effort, ‘Dream on Wheels,’ will initially focus of four projects to ensure rights of children and present instances of child labour. Efforts will be made to make the surrounding healthy for the even though they live on the platforms of Hazrat Nizamuddin, Faridabad, Agra and Mathura. ‘Doorsteps School’ is a literacy initiative for children in a community living at Port of Mumbai. Besides, there is a night shelter for working and street children in Varanasi and a vocational training project for children of the fishing communities of Andhra Pradesh. “To cater to these diverse needs concerning children, we will work with like-minded people whether corporate houses or individuals,” explains Roland Angerer, director, Plan India.

As per the new initiative, Rs 40 at every guest checkout at all the Radisson Hotel and Resorts and Country Inns and Suites properties (run by the hospitality group) in India will go towards the mission. “The monetary contribution would be from the Group with every hotel generating as much as it can. Besides, we have devised ways to encourage our customers to do their bit. Postcards, ten cards and donation boxes would be kept in the hotel to cheer every walk-in for the cause,” adds Kauchru.

The thought of encouraging travelers to feel for the case and implement it at the organizational level has come from the parent group, says Ramesh Kapur, MD, Radisson Hotel Delhi. “Carlson Hotel has been promoting the concept of healthy childhood with bodies like the World Childhood Foundation. Now we have Plan India to take the mission ahead,” he says.

So if Carlson Group has something to show, Plan India too looks for more. Angerer believes Indian hotels must take social causes with seriousness. “Beyond extending monetary support, one can organize fund-raising meals at one’s hotel or join a good cause taken by the other. Looking at our new partnership, we believe others would also join in,” he says.

Source: Help worth a dollar. Financial Express, Daily, New Delhi, 15 July 2007.

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Take heart! There is much goodness in the world

Exactly a month ago, 14-year-old Pramod was a picture of pain and distress on the streets of congested Vishwas Nagar as he struggled to ride his cycle-rickshaw with his lone limb. A victim of child labour, who lost an arm while working in a plastic factory, Pramod’s plight was highlighted in a TOI report on June 16 this year.

The report stirred readers to come forward with offers of help and support. And thanks to one such noble gesture, Pramod has got an artificial limn now. Currently under medical supervision, the boy has been using the artificial limb for 10 days and the feeling of renewed empowerment has given him a new lease of life. With the government having no rehabilitation schemes for such people, Pramod now hopes that he will find a job once he gets to use the new limb.

Pramod said that he has to first get accustomed to the new limb which he finds heavy to wear as of now. He pointed out that he has been asked to wear the limb for a few hours initially. “Abhi to istimaal karna seekh rahe hain (at the moment, I’ m just learning to use it),” Pramod said.

Pankaj Main, a pharmacist who has a trading company of medicines, is the man who turned out to be Pramod’s saviour. “When I read about Pramod’s ordeal in TOI, as to how no one wanted to get into his rickshaw as he maneuvered it with one hand, I thought of doing my bit for him. I traced a manufacture of limbs who carried out the necessary measurements and fixed the limb for Pramod. It is now about getting used to t,” said Maini, who is a resident of Prem Nagar in Janakpuri.

Raj Mangal Prasad of Pratibhi, the NGO which has been handing Pramod’s case since the accident, said: “The boy now wants to do some productive work instead of pulling a rickshaw. We are trying to get a disability certificate for Pramod. Getting him enrolled into some vocational training programme would be ideal,” he added.

On June 16, TOI had reported how, with rehabilitation mechanism missing under the labour department of Delhi government, victims like Pramod struggling to make both ends meet.

After his accident in November 2006, Pramod got an initial compensation of two fixed deposits of Rs 50,000 each that will mature only when the boy turns 18. He also got Rs 1,500 as fare, and medical expenses which the owner of the factory paid at the time of amputation. Pramod’s employer had also assured him support through a job in his factory and a fixed income every month. After this, the family did not pursue the case for compensation with the labour department under the Worksmen Compensation Act. However, even eight months after the accident, Pramod claimed, the owners of the factory in Vishwas Nagar have failed to give him any job. They have even refused the monthly income that was promised to him. The owners, on their part, have however claimed that they have done their bit.

Source: A helping hand has given him a new lease of life. The Times of India, New Delhi, 17 July 2007.

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