General

Govt should relax rules for physically challenged: HC

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the government to consider treating physically challenged people at par with SC/ST candidates while granting relaxation in qualifying marks for admission in professional courses. The court asked the government to consider the recommendations of chief commissioner for disabilities who had directed all government-aided institutions to extend the relaxation in qualifying marks to physically disabled candidates in order to bring them at par with SC/ST candidates.

SC directs Centre to appoint blind to IAS

Three years after he cleared the civil services exams, a visually impaired man, Ravi Prakash Gupta, is all set to join the elite Indian Administrative Services (IAS) with the Supreme Court on Wednesday directing the Centre to grant him posting within eight weeks.

A bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and Cyriac Joseph also directed the Centre to pay Rs 20,000 to Gupta who successfully argued his own case in SC.

HC seeks govt take on admission to disabled

The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to clarify its stand on allowing visually challenged and other disabled students from pursuing professional and health science courses.

The court was hearing a petition filed by a 17-year-old visually challenged Ruparel College student who is seeking admission to the physiotherapy course at G S Medical College attached to KEM Hospital. A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice S C Dharmadhikari has sought the information from the government by August 2.

Table Talk: Blind restaurant an eye-opener for London diners

Dining in a completely dark room, unaware what's on your plate while sitting next to a complete stranger may not sound like an ideal restaurant experience but it's certainly an intriguing way to spend a rainy night in London.

Dans le Noir?, close to London's City financial district, is staffed by blind waiters and waitresses who become your eyes according to the restaurant, whose original Paris branch opened in 2004.

Stevie Wonder strikes chord in UN appeal for disabled

Blind US soul music star Stevie Wonder struck up a singalong at a UN agency Monday as he urged countries to unlock access to copyrighted material that disabled people need for their education and livelihoods.

"What I would like to do today is launch what I call the 'Declaration of freedom for people with disabilities'," he told delegates at the opening of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) assembly in Geneva.

Giving the gift of sight

October was the busiest month for United Nations commemorative days. There were 16 in total, including World Sight Day when representatives from large international organisations gathered in Switzerland to raise awareness about blindness.

Meanwhile, rural Bihar, which had the worst blindness problem in the world 10 years ago, is still the place on our planet with the most people unnecessarily blind. The good news is that this state now boasts one of the best success stories related to restoring sight. It involves not just a hospital but entire communities.

Tamil dictionary in Braille soon

A dictionary of contemporary Tamil will shortly be available in Braille form.

The work, based on the 2008 Tamil-Tamil-English dictionary brought out by Chennai-based Crea-A, has been published by 25-year-old Indian Association for the Blind (IAB), which is Madurai based.

S.M.A. Jinnah, founder and secretary general of the association, says that 33 differently abled persons, including 20 visually challenged and three orthopaedically challenged persons, were involved in the production of the dictionary.

Get ready to see things in dark

Now, there is an exciting new activity in town. It scares you stiff even as it lights up the dark recesses of your mind. No, you don't come to see it. Rather you experience it. Dialogue in the Dark, as it is called, takes one down a dark expanse.

Everyday chores like visiting a park, shopping in the mall and taking a boat ride -- one learns to do in total darkness. Howzzat! The hour-long programme is an eye-opener in fact.

Thrill-a-minute

Blind shot putter hoists Tricolour

Sixteen-year-old Sandeep Shalu, a shot putter and discus thrower, was the proud chief guest yesterday in a Republic Day function celebrated in Sham Nagar by NGO Baba Vishvkarma Dal. Shalu hoisted the National Flag and, apart from him, nearly 25 other blind students from the entire state who had won medals in different games were honoured at the event for their achievements.

Sivaji star opens spa with a difference

Actor Shriya Saran’s newly opened spa in Lokhandwala, called Shree Spa, promises to rejuvenate the mind and body through improved blood circulation, memory and sleep. It also offers relief from fatigue, depression, hangovers, jetlag, PMS and electromagnetic stress. There are also treatments for removal of toxins and boosting the immune system through hormone secretion.