Chandigarh, September 14

For almost half a century, a visually impaired ex-serviceman ran from pillar to post in dire straits as he had to do without pension that had been rejected by the Defence Accounts Department even though the Army had recommended it.

Sepoy Mohinder Singh of the Sikh Regiment, now 70 years old and resident of Banur village near here, had joined the Army in 1968. In 1970, after having served for just two years and four months, he was invalided out on medical grounds due to failing sight.

A powerful song about inner vision, or antardrishti, composed by a blind musician, will be among the pieces performed on Monday by an orchestra made up entirely of visually challenged artistes.

Twenty-year-old Eshwar Rao Javvadi from Hyderabad is just a few months away from graduating as a lawyer from Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) in Ahmedabad.

But there is something special about Eshwar's story. He is visually impaired. He lost his vision at the age of 10 in 2007.

Eshwar remembers a taxation lawyer he met when he was five, and he wanted to be the same.

Despite all the hardships Eshwar faced, he worked hard to fulfil his dream.

The National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) estimates that there are around 1,20,000 corneal blind persons in the country and about 20,000 to 30,000 cases get added every year.

At 1,844 corneas, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) recorded its highest ever donations in 2017, according to the data from the National Eye Bank. The donor corneas are transplanted in people with corneal blindness.

Sathi offers Braille support for the visually impaired.

M-tech, a manufacturer of affordable mobile phones, has launched its first senior-friendly phone – Sathi.   

The company has focused to make it easy to use and it comes with a 2-inch horizontal screen, large keypads and on-screen fonts, bold keypad and icons for better visibility.  For facilitating elder with hearing problems, the phone emanates keypad sound for adding an extra touch of usefulness. Considering security and medical emergency as crucial, the phone features an SOS button for emergency.