At first look, 52-year-old Khairul Bashar would pass off as any another candidate trying his luck in the Lok Sabha polls.
But there is something special about this candidate which makes him different from others in the rat race.
Bashar, who is making a debut in electoral politics by contesting as an independent from Azamgarh parliamentary constituency, is visually challenged and physically impaired.
Elections in India are all about inclusion, the right to vote for all citizens of a certain age.
And this means that people with disabilities, including those who are visually impaired cannot be left out.
A training session in Bhopal has a huge turnout. And why not? For the first time ever, our polling booths will have ballot papers in Braille.
Voters are being trained in advance, so that on the D-Day they need no assistance.
In his letter dated May 18, 2009, the Hon. President of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) writes to the government for empowering visually challenged chartered accountants. This letter, addressed to the Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, is considered to be a great gesture by visually impaired persons. The letter, in its entirety, is produced below:
No.1-CA(RepCom)/2009
May 18, 2009
When you don’t have any other option, you’ve got to find some way to survive,” says this 35-year-old originally from Kanpur, who refuses to romanticise his life story.
Rambhai Patel does not wear khadi. He has no political connection and has never contested an election. But, on May 16, Rambhai, a visually impaired retired telephone operator in Valsad achieved something that is the envy of seasoned politicians - he polled 27,429 votes as an Independent in the Lok Sabha elections.
The Birla Industrial & Technological Meseum (BITM) has recently inaugurated a special gallery in Kolkata for the visually-impaired to make them aware about the heavenly bodies.
“A world of darkness” — as the name suggests, the gallery provides a detailed description of the cosmos, including the solar system, the Milky Way, the pole stars, the Andromeda, Cassiopeia and Ursa Major and also the 12 zodiac signs.
Disabled persons in the state have urged the BJD government to fulfill its promises in the election manifesto of forming a state level commission to look into their demands, after winning its third consecutive term in Orissa.
The main demands of the physically challenged in the state include hike in disability pension from Rs 200 per month to Rs 1000 per month and appointment of a state commissioner to look after their welfare.
You shall not curse the deaf nor place a stumbling block before the blind.
Leviticus 19:14
I realize it's unfashionable to feel sorry for Random House, but I think they're getting the rotten end of the stick for a problem not of their making.
A visually impaired person on Monday took charge as the judge of a Munsif Court in the city, claimed to be the first in Tamil Nadu, perhaps in India.
The 41-year old T T Chakravarthy, native of Arcot in Vellore District, was practicing in the district court there and later enrolled at Madras High Court.
After successfully writing TNPSC, he was called for the judges training and got 13th place in the examination in 2008.
Ashish Jha had to take the help of a reader and writer to take his engineering exams. Vikram Dalmia had to struggle to convince his parents that he was capable of running the family business.
Jha and Dalmia are visually impaired but that hasn’t stopped them from achieving their dreams.
“When I was studying in BP Poddar College, I had to ask my friends or my mother to draw engineering diagrams on my hand so that I could understand them. It was hard but I managed,” said Jha, who lost his sight to retinitis pigmentosa. He is now an IT security specialist with IBM.
Facebook comments