Chennai: E Ukanthaai, 35, sells sweets and pens on suburban trains on the Chennai Beach route every day. Forty-six- year-old Kasthoori, a mother of two, sells needles, nail cutters and stationery items on trains departing the city. Both women are visually impaired, having lost their vision in childhood.

Ukanthaai, who got into this business two years ago, says she buys her products from Parry's Corner, where she goes along with a relative or friend. "I lost my eyesight due to fever when I was two years old. I don't want to depend on anyone. By selling these small items, I make around Rs 500 to 600 a day," says Ukanthaai, a Porur resident who got married a year ago.

Kasthoori says she is "only able to see shadows", having lost her eyesight when she was six years old. She has two daughters - one is doing her MBA and the other is in Class 11.
"I reach Central station in the morning and get onto trains leaving for Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mangalore and other cities. I travel on each train for some time, selling my wares, before getting down in Gudur or Nellore and taking a train returning to Central," she says. She sells small packets of needles for Rs 10 each, nailcutters of different sizes, ATM card holders, pens, pencils and small stationery items. "I make around Rs 600 or 700 a day," she says. Once a week, she goes to Parry's Corner and buys a variety of products.

On Saturday, Nethrodaya, an organisation that works for visually impaired people, extended financial aid of Rs 5,000 each to 55 women like Ukanthaai and Kasthoori to support or start a small business of their own.

Nethrodaya founder C Govindakrishnan says there are more than 300 such visually impaired vendors across the state. "When these women approach banks, there are procedural issues to get loans. We have given the money to help them buy and sell more products. We have only asked them not resort to begging, and after a few years, identify and support other visually impaired self-employed women," he said. He added that they interviewed 85 women.

"With the money, I can buy items for Rs 2,000 or more at a time and make fewer trips to Parry's Corner," says Kasthoori, adding that the the organisation has told her to avoid spending the money for household expenses and use it as an investment for her business.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/ngo-comes-to-aid-of-visually-impaired-women-vendors/articleshow/59639539.cms