From the States

Braille–friendly EVMs in Gujarat polls

Electronic voting machines (EVMs) with Braille–signage features will be introduced for the first time in Gujarat in the Assembly elections to be held in December this year, to enable the visually–impaired voters to exercise their franchise without the help of others.

The state's election department has already acquired over 47,000 EVMs with Braille characters and despatched the same in all 26 districts of the state.

The EVMs with Braille–signage features, manufactured by the Bharat Electronics Limited, are almost identical to the old EVMs. The only difference is that the new EVMs have numerical figures embossed on right side of the candidates buttons, which would help the visually–impaired people in identifying the candidates.

The election department is, however, not aware of the number of visually–impaired voters in the state.

"We procured the new EVMs with Braille–signage features on directions of the Election

Commission of India to ensure that the visually–impaired people are able to use their right to vote without any hindrance," said a senior official in the department.

In another development, it has been decided that only the voters with electors photo identity cards (EPIC) would be allowed to cast votes in the Assembly elections this time, said Chief Election Officer (CEO) VK Babbar.

Asked if his department would be able to issue EPIC to all the registered voters before the elections, he said 80 per cent voters have already been covered and the work to issue EPIC to the rest was in progress in all districts.

"We are confident to cover about 95 per cent voters in the next two months," said Babbar. There are a total of 3.64 crore voters in Gujarat.

"After Goa, Gujarat will be the second state in the country to make EPIC compulsory for voting," said Babbar.

In the next Parliamentary elections, Babbar said, there will be photo electoral rolls in the state which would further reduce the chances of bogus voting.

Deputy Election Commissioner JP Prakash, meanwhile, held meetings with election officers in Ahmedabad, Kheda, Anand, Vadodara, Sabarkantha, Banaskantha, Mehsana, Patan, Rakot, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Porbandar districts on Wednesday and took stock of the electoral roll revision and issuing of EPIC to voters.

Source: Braille–friendly EVMs in State polls this time, Indian Express, June 13, 2007.

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Top corporates induct visually impaired

As part of their special responsibilities, Information Technology industry in India is slowly opening its eyes towards the visually–impaired by offering them jobs, training and even taking up infrastructural modifications to accommodate them.

IBM, Mphasis, Infosys–BPO, SAP India and Adithi Technologies are some of the companies which have started inducting the visually–impaired.

Industry major IBM, in association with EnAble India, had recently conducted a three–week training programme in Bangalore for teachers of the visually impaired on the right computer teaching techniques to address the IT skills of their students. "It was for the first time that an IT company in India has come up with such an initiative for the visually impaired," said Raghavan.

As many as 15 teachers from different institutions across the country underwent the training and this in turn is expected to help some 500–1000 students, said Raghavan. Further, it should enhance the employability of at least 450 people this year. According to Anitha Guha, India Diversity Leader, IBM, the organisation had been undertaking several initiatives to increase visibility and access of disabled people at workplace. But a serious bottleneck in this pursuit was finding qualified hands.

The course provided training on JAWS (PC with screen reader), general teaching techniques and specific teaching techniques for the blind, industry orientation and usage of right resource aids. The trainers were equipped with a curriculum that they can follow at their respective institutions, said Raghavan

Teachers were also given resource aids and material, including essential tactile diagrams, audio compact discs with training instructions, practical exercises, voice–enabled software.

As part of the programme, the teachers visited the IBM office in Bangalore and interacted with the disabled people employees as well as the recruiting officials to have a first hand knowledge about the needs of the industry. The companies, under their social–inclusiveness initiatives, also have brought about physical modifications at the workplace such as ramps, braille signs in elevators and doors, besides technology tools like voice recognition software and HomePage reader to enable the visually impaired perform all their works easily.

Infosys–BPO, which has over hundred disabed persons, including visually impaired, in its pay roll, also has changed their lay–out into a disabled–friendly one. According to sources in the company, the disabled are provided transportation facilities and special training in computer applications. According to Guha, each visually impaired person is entrusted with a colleague who will help him out in an emergency situation like a fire alarm. The company also holds round–table conferences to "understand and address their unique concerns"

The organisations working for the disabled also have played a key role in sensitising the companies to the needs of the disabled. Moreover, they act as intermediaries between both the parties.

Source: IT Companies Open Doors for Visually–Impaired, Daiji World, June 12, 2007

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Disability cut off in Army is 20%

Being in the army ensures a lifelong career and facilities and perks for a decent and comfortable living. But should the personnel become disabled the rules for dismissal are strict and relentless.  A soldier is considered unfit with 20% disability. In the general society this limit is 40%.  Dismissed from active service as disabled, these soldiers are clubbed in the general category in the world outside – a case of being neither here nor there!

Till two years back, the army was bleeding in the counter-insurgency grid with over 200 fatal and 600 wounded casualties every year. Army chief General JJ Singh claimed that losses in J&K and the northeast have reduced drastically. He said annual fatality had come down to 40 while the count of wounded was around 250 during the last two years.

The war wounded association, based in New Delhi has been set up to address this issue. Said Lieutenant General Vijay Oberoi (retd), WWF president and former army vice chief, disabled soldiers had been given a raw deal. Even the kin of martyrs get their due but the wounded have been always been ignored. Oberoi, who lost a leg in the 1965 Indo–Pak war, is spearheading efforts to rehabilitate disabled soldiers with the help of the corporate sector

Figures provided by the War Wounded Foundation (WWF) show that more 25,000 disabled soldiers across the country need to be rehabilitated.

Source: Army wants jobs for disabled soldiers, The Hindustan Times, June 11, 2007.

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DU finds few takers for reserved teaching posts

Just before the start of the new session, most colleges in Delhi University are scrambling for filling up their 3 per cent reserved quota in teaching posts for the disabled. There is a need for trained teachers, as colleges have introduced new courses but having failed to implement the 3 per cent disability quota for the faculty, most colleges are unable to hire permanent faculty.

Some like Gargi College are also bending rules to meet the target reservation. Meera Ramachandran, Principal said, “It will be the first time that there will be a male faculty as it goes against the very grain of the college but then we feel that every one should get an equally opportunity to work.” Gargi is in the process of interviewing more people but still falls short of the required quota. Similarly, for Kamala Nehru College, though the infrastructure supports the physically challenged, they are still to meet the requirements as prescribed by the law. “All new positions that we shall be soon advertising for under various disciplines shall be open to the disabled,” said Minoti Chatterjee, Principal, KNC.

Ventakeshwara College has two orthopaedically challenged teaching faculties in Math and Political Science department. They fall short of one person as per law but Principal A.S. Reddy said, “We uphold the constitutional provision that is provided to the physically challenged at Ventakeshwara.  The newer posts that I am going to advertise for shall be open to the disabled.”

Lady Shri Ram College has one visually challenged teacher in the Hindi department. Media Coordinator, Kanika Khandelwal said, “We have invited applications for Sociology, Political Science and Hindi and first priority shall be given to the disabled.”

The infrastructure of Janki Devi Memorial College is not prepared to take in the physically challenged. Principal Indu Anand said, “Starting this year not only will be have ramps for the disabled but come July we shall start conducting interviews for the intake of the physically challenged faculty.”

Hindu College Principal, Kavita Sharma said, “As per the provision we need to have three disabled faculty in a staff strength of 118. As soon as we start filling in faculty positions, the first priority shall be given to the them.” Commited to the cause of the disabled, Miranda College Principal said, “So far we have one visually challenged teacher but we are committed to the mandate that requires the 3 per cent reservation so for newer positions as and when available shall be open to the disabled.”

On April 3, this year the Delhi High Court put breaks on all fresh faculty appointments in colleges in Delhi University unless they filled up the 3 per cent quota that that the government reserves for the physically challenged. Restraining all further permanent appointments, the Bench comprising Justice T.S. Thakur and S.N. Agarwal stated in the court order “We stay the process of selection and appointments so that the right of the disabled may not be defeated again.”

The Disability Act was passed 15 years ago promising equal work opportunity to all the physically challenged. Six years later, the 3 per cent reservation for the disabled was made mandatory but even years after the promises were made most colleges in Delhi University failed to implement the reservations of seats. The order stated “The colleges are defying the provisions of the Parliamentary legislation and judgment of this court.”

What is unfortunate is that no amount of effort, petitions, laws have resulted in creating an equal opportunity status for the disabled. Though most colleges are making concerted efforts to fill in the quota, the target is far from being achieved.

As per the provision, we need to have three disabled faculty in a staff strength of 118. As soon as we start filling in faculty positions, the first priority shall be given to the them.

Source: Jaya Shroff Colleges struggle to fill the 3 per cent faculty seat for the disabled, Hindustan Times, June 13, 2007.

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