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Disability News India (DNI)

Disability News India (DNI), is a disability News service dedicated to providing a quality up-to-date information to the Indian Disability. DNI's news section is updated two times a week, though we also add breaking stories as and when they occur.




Disability News India – July 2008 Issue



Mangalore: New scheme for disabled people

MANGALORE July 25: Private companies employing people with disabilities will stand to gain if a scheme approved by the Government is any indicator.

According to Regional Provident Fund (EPF) Commissioner Rajashekara Hegde, who was speaking at a seminar on "Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952" here on Thursday, the Government has set aside Rs. 1,800 crore for the scheme in the 11th fiscal plan.

The scheme aims at creating one lakh jobs a year for people with disabilities, across the country. Employees with disabilities, earning up to Rs. 25,000 a month, would be covered under the scheme. The Government would pay the employer's contribution to EPF and Employees State Insurance (ESI) for the first three years of their employment. The scheme would be applicable to those appointed on or after April 1, 2008, he said. The employer will be required to pay administrative charges at 1.1 per cent of the wages of those covered under this scheme. People covered under the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 and the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999, would benefit, Mr. Hegde said.

Documents
The employers would have to submit a copy of the disability certificate issued to disabled employees by the competent authority. The Government would directly provide the employer's contribution for the schemes covered under the EPF and MP Act, 1952 and the ESI Act, 1948, he said.

Funding
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment would make the funds available to the EPF and ESI by way of advance. Both organisations would be provided with Rs. 5 crore each and it would be enhanced based on requirement. A high–level committee, chaired by Ministries of Labour and Employment and Social Justice, would monitor the implementation of this scheme, Mr. Hegde said.

Source: http://mangalorean.com

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Deaf school optimistic despite staff crunch

PURULIA, July 24: A state–affiliated primary school for deaf children in the outskirts of Purulia town has been facing a severe shortage of teaching staff lately.

The teacher–student ratio should be one staff member for every ten students but the Manbhum Mukavadhir Vidyapith has been running with only three teachers, two non–teaching staff, and the principal altogether six staff members. The 54–year–old school is at least three staff members short as there are 94 students currently enrolled.

Mr Ananta Kumar Manna, the school's principal said he is trying his best to improve the school's standard despite the staff crunch. While talking to The Statesman at the Vidyapith campus yesterday, Mr Manna said he planned to re–introduce the class VI standard this year.

"Earlier, it was introduced, but discontinued for the time being because of the staff shortage," he said, adding that they are hoping to hire more staff in the near future.

The school has students from Class I to VI. Part of the Vidyapith is residential, where 25 girls and 40 boys live there; the remaining students are local day–scholars.

It is learnt that the bright students of the school never faced hurdles in gaining admission in general schools, after passing Class V or VI standard.

Meanwhile, the school education minister, Mr Partha De recently highlighted the rise of drop–outs in the state, as well as in the backward district of Purulia. Last week he addressed a Sarbasiksha meeting in Purulia town where he addressed the matter. The school education secretary, Mrs Nandita Chattopadhyay said there are less students between the ages of 15 to 20 who attended school in Purulia district.

"Literacy was recorded at 55 to 65 per cent in Purulia district, where the state average was above 85 per cent," she said. "There was no proposal to open the upper–primary schools from the authority of Purulia district, when the state offered 260 schools in the current 2008–09 financial year."

Mr Probhat Kumar Mishra, director, Sarbasiksha Mission's state project, was also informed by the district authority that 45 per cent of Sikshabandhu posts were vacant in Purulia district.

However, the district magistrate of Purulia, Mr Dipak Ranjan Kar, had assured the state officials to send proposals for opening of upper– primary schools in the district soon. He also said the vacant posts of Sikshabandhu would be filled up soon.

In all 20 block development officers and panchayat samiti sabhadhipatis in Purulia districts attended the meeting.

Earlier, Mr Partha De, school education minister, was the chief guest of the four–sixth investiture ceremony of Purulia Sainik School. He appreciated the discipline of the school students.

In all 15 students were appointed as the captain and other responsibilities. Group captain, Bijay Kumar Kaushal, newly posted principal and wing commander, SK Mahapatra, headmaster of Sainik School, were also present at the meeting.

Source: http://www.thestatesman.net/

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Disabled student all set to graduate from IIT–Madras

CHENNAI, 23 Jul 2008: "I have always been lucky," beams 21–year–old Naga Naresh Karuturi who will get his B Tech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)–Madras on July 25. One look at this engineering graduate, however, will tell you that the boy has been anything but lucky.

Naresh's legs were amputated at the age of seven after he met with a freak accident. After the incident his sister, Sirisha, carried him around in school. In class III, Naresh got his wheelchair. After that his sister began pushing his wheelchair to the school and his friends carried him wherever he wanted to go. It was only much later that Naresh resolved to move around without any assistance.

Born to unlettered parents and into a family where no one had completed higher studies, this IIT graduate first heard of the premier institution when he was in class VII. The news was that a senior at school had joined the reputed Gowtham Junior College in Vijayawada that was popular for producing state ranks and also IIT entrants. Naresh won an entry into the same college.

was an expensive residential school and cost Rs 50,000 per student per year. My father could have never afforded that, but for the scholarships. I was lucky again there," he says with modesty.

From class VII to XII, Naresh's fees at the residential college were met through scholarships. Later, Naresh was glad for having earned a seat at Gowtham Junior College. "The college segregated students into those who would be trained for the IITs, AIEEE, and other exams. I was lucky to have studied in such an atmosphere," he adds.

Looking back at all those hours of hard work that went into cracking the IIT entrance, Naresh says he couldn't have carried on without the help of his friends. "I was blessed in having helpful roommates like Sitarama Raju with whom I used to do study."

The 21–year–old's stay in halls and rooms of the Gowtham Junior College was his first outside home. "At home, I was very dependent on my folks. They even moved to Vijayawada to be near me all the time," says Naresh. Soon, his father, Prasad taught him the importance of being independent. "Since then, I began to push the wheelchair myself and crawled my way to the classroom," he says.

But sending him to a new place and letting him be on his own was difficult for his family. Naresh's father, a lorry driver, says: "We were a bit scared for him but never let that fear show. We always knew he could do it."

"We also visited him often enough at Vijayawada to make sure that he never gave up," adds his mother, Kumari, a homemaker.

Naresh strongly feels that fate has been kind to him. "Look at it this way. Just a year before I joined, IIT Madras turned wheelchair–friendly. Moreover, the institution donated this electric wheelchair when I was in the II year. This is the best thing to have happened to me. I have Prof Idichandy, dean, students at IIT Madras, and the student general secretary Prasad to thank for this," he says, breaking into a smile.

Professor Pandurangan, under whose guidance Naresh works, says the latter never expects special care and is always pleasant. "He is the gem of our lab," says the professor, who heads the theoretical science laboratory.

Naresh, who has always been interested in algorithms and graph theory, will join Google R&D in Bangalore as a software engineer on July 28. "It (the selection process) was an elaborate one, but I got through. I told you, I am always lucky," he sums up.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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3–hour wait for disabled girl – students demand removal of office staff

Ranchi, July 23: A girl with polio, was allegedly made to stand for three hours to meet the principal of Ranchi Women's College (RWC) and when she complained of pain in her legs, she was rudely asked to stay at home by an office staff.

Students of the Ranchi Women's College protested against the alleged misbehaviour meted out to the girl (whose identity was withheld). She only wanted to enquire about BEd admissions.

Agitated, a section of students led by students' union president Manjari Raj Oraon, gathered outside the principal's chamber in the arts block. Students protested against the college administration for the alleged misbehaviour.

"She was a final–year student. She was standing outside principal Manju Sinha's office for three hours on July 21. When she told the office staff that she could not stand any longer because of her physical condition, she was rudely asked to sit at home," a student said.

Students disapproved of the staff's behaviour and demanded his removal from the office.

"This is such inhuman behaviour against a disabled girl. She wanted to meet the principal to know whether her disability was considered for admissions into the BEd course. She was waiting from 1pm to 4.30pm but was not allowed to meet her," Oraon alleged.

Sources said the girl could not qualify for BEd. Both her legs are polio –afflicted and she has a certificate that states she suffers from 65 per cent disability, a student union member claimed.

RWC principal Manju Sinha said she should have been informed about the "misbehaviour" of her office staff in writing.

"Moreover, there was no mention of the disability on the slip. As several students want to meet me for official work, one has to wait a while," she asserted.

Meanwhile, the college administration has asked students to route their grievances/problems through the students' union.

Oraon also alleged that the college as well as the university administration is not extending any co–operation when it comes to giving importance to the students' union.

"There is no adequate fund to meet day to day expenses of students' union office. I do not know why the Ranchi University conducted students ' union elections after a gap of almost three decades," she added.

Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/

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A software to aid visually impaired access the web

NEW DELHI, 20 Jul: In a country with the largest blind population in the world ? it was nearly 15 million plus on last count, a new software could go a long way for people who are partially blind. Low Browse, as the software has been named, is an innovative web browser software for visually impaired people. It will help them read web pages easily.

Developed by Lighthouse International, a US–based NGO that works with visually impaired people, Low Browse will be a boon for people who have medium to very low vision. "The technology will become increasingly relevant as baby boomers age and millions of people deal with vision loss from diabetes and age–related macular degeneration," says Tara A Cortes, president and CEO of Lighthouse International.

The first programme of its kind, it's tailored to help partially blind people access and read the net with ease. The programme runs in conjunction with the Mozilla Firefox browser, Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. What's more, Lighthouse International plans to offer it free of charge on the net. It is expected to be available to the public for download via the Firefox add–on site in late summer or early fall this year.

The software was developed as a part of a larger research project on low vision user interface design headed by Aries Arditi, Senior Fellow in Vision Science at Lighthouse International.

"This technology enables all the text on a website to be presented in the same readable format size, colour, font and spacing regardless of which page is being viewed and without having to navigate to the next line," says Arditi.

In fact it allows the user to create their own preferences for font, text size, colour contrast, and letter spacing. The configuration remains intact for all web pages, including those with photos and graphics. Semantic text features, like link colour, italics, and bold, are preserved in the reading frame. Users can enlarge images by pressing a button and moving the mouse. The programme also has a speech capability for users.

This will help people with low vision who arn't able to see large images too. According to the NGO, the programme is user–friendly and works with very few commands. This makes it easy for both computer novices as well as tech–savvy users. What's more, it's portable and can be installed in seconds on a flash drive and downloaded from anywhere. Lighthouse eventually plans to make it available in multiple languages as well.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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Railway employee sodomises deaf boy

Ghaziabad, July 17: A railway employee sodomised a six–year–old deaf boy in a train near the railway station here, the police said Thursday. The incident occurred at 1.00 p.m. in a local passenger train near Ghaziabad railway station.

According to the government railway police (GRP), Shyam Lal, a railway gangman posted at Sahibabad, wooed the boy to the train. When the train was going to the railway yard at Chipyana, Shyam Lal sodomised him.

Two passers–by, who informed the police about the incident, said they were going along the track when they saw the boy being sexually assaulted. "We rescued him and called the police," one of them said.

The police sent the boy for medical examination, which confirmed sexual assault, and arrested Shyam Lal, 45.

A.K. Verma, station officer GRP police station Ghaziabad, said a case under sections 511, 294 and 377 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against Shyam Lal, who is a resident of Ghaziabad's Punjab Lines railway colony.

Source: http://www.thaindian.com

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Visually impaired students hold dharna on faulty implementation of quota

New Delhi, July 17 Abour 20 members of the National Federation of Blind students (NFB), supported by a few activists from the All–India Students ' Association (AISA), held a dharna outside the Department of Education on Thursday afternoon to protest against the manner of implementation of reservations for the B Ed course.

The demonstrators were university post–graduate students protesting against the faulty implementation of the quota for physically handicapped (PH) students in the B Ed course. A NFB member said that the university had decreased the number of seats available for the visually challenged candidates from 12 to seven. "They tried to reduce seats reserved for the VC last year as well," he said.

Ashish Bharadwaj, Joint Secretary of the DU unit of AISA, said the university had admitted three visually impaired candidates belonging to the OBC category in the general category for physically handicapped candidates, thus reducing seats for general category.

The students wanted these candidates shifted to the OBC category for VC candidates, to free seats for PH candidates in the general category.

Source: http://www.expressindia.com

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Central Railway's gift to visually impaired

Central Railway will lay down rough tiles on all the platforms of suburban railway stations to aid visually impaired commuters locate the coaches meant for disabled people.

The decision of Central Railways to install beepers at all the suburban railway stations to aid the visually impaired to locate the coach meant for disabled people was received well by the commuters.

The platform stretch outside the disabled people compartment will soon have chequered tiles to aid the visually impaired

However, just after a few months of the installation most of the beepers stopped working due to several technical problems.

And thus, the visually impaired commuters had to again rely on other commuters to guide them to disabled people 's coach.

Thus, to help the blind commuters, the railway has come up with a novel idea of laying down chequered tiles around the compartments mean for disabled people.

The chequered tiles will be rough in nature and hence the blind, with the help of their sticks, can easily locate the area where their coach will halt.

S Mudgerikar, CPRO of Central Railway, says, "We have received complaints about the beepers not working. We'll first repair these beepers. Moreover, we have also decided to use these tiles around the area where their compartment for disabled people halts."

Speaking about the benefits of the tiles, Mudgerikar says, "As the tiles would be rough in nature, the blind commuters can easily locate it with the help of their sticks.

Moreover, they will be easy to maintain." He further added that they have already floated the tenders and the construction work will start within a period of six months.

When we spoke to a few blind commuters about the would–to–arrive chequered tiles, they were delighted to hear the news. V Singh, a resident of Thakurli who travels daily to a blind school in Dadar, says, "Though we are now habituate to locate our coaches, but still it will be of great help.

" While R Gupta, who commutes regularly from Kalyan to his work place in Thane, says, "The beepers installed by the railways don't work due to technical problems.

During peak hours it becomes really difficult to locate the compartment. Now that there were be rough tiles laid at the place where our compartment halts, it will greatly benefit us."

Source: http://www.mumbaipluses.com/

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Talking library to aid the visually impaired

Coimbatore, July 2: A talking library has been set up in Coimbatore, perhaps the first of its kind in Tamil Nadu to assist the visually impaired students.

Libraries are usually considered not that user–friendly for visually impaired. Sifting through a number of books for a reference or a read is a tough task for them. But now all that is set to change.

Thousands of audio–cassettes on various subjects are available in this library and visually challenged students, especially those preparing for higher studies find this 'talking library' a blessing.

Ponnusamy, a visually impaired student said, ''I had come to this talking library for the first time and this is a boon to visually challenged people like us. Generally people with normal eyesight can easily access or go to any library and can also refer any kind of books. But we can study only what is being taught to us in our class. Now we can access all books.''

Surveys indicate that every five seconds, one person in the world loses vision. Every minute, one child loses the ability to see and more than half of the world's visually impaired people live in India.

The 'talking library' set up jointly by the Lions Club and Bharatiyar University has opened up a world of opportunities for those who cannot see.

Source: http://www.ndtv.com

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Fill up seats for disabled people: panel

TO MAKE education more inclusive for disabled people, a committee on Tuesday asked the government to fill three per cent seats reserved for them in all educational institutions, including the IITs and IIMs.

Most often, the committee said, the seats are filled with general category students. To overcome this problem, it has asked the government to identify children with special needs and get them ad mitted to elite educational institutions.

In a report submitted to HRD Minister Arjun Singh, the Standing Committee of Central Advisory Board on Education (CABE) on Inclusive Education for Children and Youth with special needs, said the three per cent reservation for disabled people was not being properly implemented. "We have asked the government to direct all educational institutions to keep at least three per cent seats for disabled people," said Vasant Phurke, committee chairman.

For this to happen, the committee has recommended that institutions be equipped with teaching methodologies for the disabled. "Special schemes should be introduced by the ministry to appoint teachers to assist children with special needs and provide facilities like ramps, wheel–chairs and toilets for them," Phurke told HT.

The committee has also asked the government to identify those children and youth with special needs who are out of the education system, get them enrolled and then introduce special polices to ensure their retention.

Source: Hindustan Times

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Cry for special kids

New Delhi, July 2: A central panel set up to examine the sensitivity of India's education system towards children with special needs has accused state governments across the country of not even maintaining a count of such children.

No state has an "effective" and "accurate" mechanism to count disabled children or analyse their needs, a standing committee of the Central Advisory Board on Education (CABE), India's apex education advisory body, has said.

In a report submitted to human resource development minister Arjun Singh today, the committee has also recommended that the BEd programme for special needs education be revised, top HRD ministry officials said.

The current CABE, including the standing committee, has been wound up, but the report has only now been finalised.

"The committee has said that the current curriculum for the BEd programme is outdated. They have also suggested that the revision be conducted on a more regular basis," a source said.

All states have been asked to establish mechanisms to accurately determine the number of disabled students and analyse their needs, a member on the committee said.

The report comes even as the Centre upgrades its commitment to the secondary education of disabled students from "integrating" them into the mainstream to making India's education system "inclusive".

The change in commitment, to be articulated in a new scheme currently under examination by the Planning Commission, places the onus of ensuring comfort and dignity in secondary education on the educational institution. At present, though schools cannot refuse admission to a student because of a disability, the latter is responsible for merging into the mainstream.

"We were shocked that the states have not even kept data essential for ensuring adequate facilities and special needs teachers," the committee member said.

While 16 states had "inadequate" data, the remaining could not produce any statistics on special needs children, the member said.

Source: http://www.phonesreview.co.uk

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'Welfare of disabled people to get emphasis'

PATHANAMTHITTA: Health Minister P K Sreemathi said here on Saturday that the Government was giving emphasis on the welfare of disabled people.

Inaugurating the free medical camp as part of the second anniversary of the LDF Ministry, organised by the State Handicapped PersonsEWelfare Corporation in association with the Information and Public Relations Department at Marthoma Higher Secondary School, Sreemathi said that the Government raised the ceiling of all welfare board pensions to Rs 200 per month.

Appointments to all vacancies in the Corporation were assigned to the Public Service Commission. Strict instructions were given to implement the three percent reservation benefits to disabled people. The Commissionerate for the handicapped persons was strengthened to undertake more welfare measures, Sreemathi said.

District Panchayat president Appinazhikathu Santhakumari presided over the function. Corporation managing director Sankaran Nair presented the report. Appinazhikathu Santhakumari inaugurated the distribution of tricycles to the handicapped persons.

Municipal chairman Zakhir Hussain inaugurated the distribution of wheel– chairs. Corporation chairman Uzhavoor Vijayan inaugurated the distribution of hearing aid to the hearing impaired.

Corporation director board members Malayankeezhu Ravi, K Shailaja, R Rajan and Marykutty Teacher spoke on the occasion.

Source: http://www.newindpress.com

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Information kiosks for disabled people set up in Delhi hospitals

New Delhi, June 29: Kiosks providing information on various disabilities such as cerebral palsy and autism to disabled people and their families have been set up in six hospitals in the national capital.

The pilot project is an initiative of an NGO, Media Lab Asia, with the central government's Department of Information Technology and the National Trust, a statutory body under the ministry of social justice and empowerment.

Shankarnath Goswami, the managing director of Media Lab Asia, said these kiosks are meant to provide benefits to those who deserve these the most.

'Information holds the key to knowledge, and this initiative of Media Lab Asia aims to enable and empower persons with disabilities to manage their disabilities better," Goswami said.

The kiosks provides pamphlets giving information on various disabilities, schemes for persons with such disabilities, contact numbers and addresses of associations run by parents for persons with disabilities, help–lines and NGOs working on these issue.

They also give information on user friendly speech–based interactive system, numerical key–based simple and easy customized operation and audio–based help.

The kiosks have been set up in the psychiatry department of Ram Manohar Lohia and Safdarjung hospitals, in Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (Irwin) Hospital, Institute of Human Behaviour and Applied Sciences (IHBAS) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Depending on their popularity, these kiosks may be set up in other hospitals as well, officials said.

Source: http://www.thaindian.com/

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