In Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, two blind brothers, Dharam Chand Jain and Rajendra Jain run their grocery shops while their blind sister; Nirmala is working in a government school as a teacher.

Dharam Chand Jain has been running a grocery shop for the last 40 years and has in fact added an auto parts counter to his shop, recently. Rajendra Jain also runs a grocery shop and supports his family.

Both of them do all the buying and selling themselves and also even money transactions and their business runs smoothly.

The United States National Institute of Health and India's Department of Biotechnology have signed a Statement of Intent for collaboration on expansion of vision research. The agreement emphasises on increasing commitment to joint collaborations on eye disorders. With the rising global burden of disability and suffering posed by eye disorders, such partnerships gain greater significance.

Now, visually impaired people in India can have access to the latest information and can refer to it any time. A unique network configuration developed by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) will help transmit live audio for blind students and even enable the transfer and printing of audio data files with the help of a Braille printer.

People who knew nothing about climbing asked them, “Why?.” People who climb themselves asked, “How?”

“It’s the exhilaration of achieving something that few people have done. We felt the same exhilaration,” said Sam Atwood and Craig Kiser of Florida, USA, on having climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, at 19,340 feet, the highest peak in Africa.

"I could climb trees from childhood. So, I thought why not take it up as a profession?” says, Sanatan Das. Climbing coconut, palm and banyan trees as high as 70-80 feet to fell them down or cleaning the bed of ponds by diving ten feet underwater, is his means of livelihood.

Sanatan Das identifies a tree through touch and makes out its circumference by looping his arms around the trunk. He begins his work by setting up a makeshift scaffold, a little above the ground level. He sets up several scaffolds and he goes up by putting his arms around the tree trunk.

Narration begins even before the lights go down, describing everything the audience sees on stage before curtain. It is automated and synchronized with sound and lighting cues, to accommodate pacing variations from performance to performance.

"Wicked is filled with exciting visual elements; trap doors open, characters slide down ropes, jokes revolve around the fact that the wicked witch is green," said T. Richard Fitzgerald, theatrical sound designer and CEO of Sound Associates, Inc.

Calcutta tops a list of cities with growing eye problems among children. A recently concluded survey, conducted at the behest of the Union health ministry, has revealed that vitamin A deficiency – the most common reason for eye problems among children – is highest in the city and adjacent districts.

Rupees 100 and 50 currency notes in the new 2005 series banknotes, will be printed in intaglio (in raised prints), which will enable visually impaired persons to identify them easily, announced the, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), recently.

"The portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, the Reserve Bank seal, guarantee and promise clause, Ashoka Pillar emblem on the left, RBI Governor's signature and identification mark for the visually impaired, printed in intaglio will be made more prominent by raising the depth," as per a statement by RBI.