The first time Rajesh Chauhan (name changed), a 70-year-old visually impaired man connected to Eyeway from Ahmednagar, Maharashtra was in March 2017. Him being a radio enthusiast, he heard the Eyeway radio promos and contacted the Helpdesk to find out more about the service. Since then he has been a frequent caller to the Helpdesk. In the past months, there were many interactions between our counsellor and Mojesh. Most of the issues he sought answers to, were regarding his financial needs.
Born into a poor family, he grew up the hard life. His blindness was the consequence of an eye treatment gone wrong when he was young. He grew up under the guardianship of his parish priest. He was loved and cared for by the priest. Under the priest’s initiative, he was put to school in Victoria Memorial School for the Blind where he studied up till 10^th standard.
After completing his 10^th standard, he looked for work and initially took up a menial job at the church just like his father. He also joined Bible study for some time though he never completed it. His poverty and need to earn income to be independent kept him restless at heart. He landed in a store job in a private company where he worked for some years. He lost his job when the company shut down incurring losses. He approached National Association for the Blind (NAB), Mumbai, seeking the job and financial aid but couldn’t receive any support. During the same time, he got married. His needs and responsibilities kept increasing while his means deteriorated. He relied on his wife’s income who worked as a sweeper in the municipality.
His two children, a daughter and a son, grew up under the care of the church like he did. He was allotted some land by the church where he is living and the land is also disputed in the court. He may lose that unexpectedly. He earns some irregular income selling whatever products he gets of the land. His children grew up to be of no help to him and to make things worse his son turned into an alcoholic. Now at the age of 70 and his wife at 55 years, life is only getting harder for him.
Eyeway counsellor shared with him the guidelines for the disability pension as a source of income.  Once the guidelines were submitted to the respective office he started receiving a monthly pension of Rs.1500 under the Shravan Bal Rajya Nivrutten Yojana. Also, the counsellor suggested him to enquire for old age pension for his wife towards her retirement from the job. Though at this age there aren’t many options that can be suggested to Mojesh, Eyeway could assist him in gaining awareness and avail the monthly pension.