Cooperate with Us for the Successful Implementation of Various Programmes during the Birth Bicentenary of Monsieur Louis Braille

Friend,
All sightless people, like normal human beings, have hopes and aspirations. They too cherish a dream deep down in their hearts of attaining great heights and to see themselves in the midst of successful men. Living a lonely life alienated in the dark corner, they have sought for a way of fulfilling their dream for ages. At last came the epoch-making event, the invention of Braille system. Monsieur Louis Braille (January 4, 1809 - January 6, 1852), the inventor, was himself a sightless person. He developed this tactile alphabet by arranging six dots in symmetrical order in his quest for a system of acquiring knowledge for sightless people. He devoted his whole life to the acceptance of this system. He is a great scientist who like Prometheus brought the light of education to the people, denied access to the treasure world of knowledge. On January 4, 2008 we set up a library at Bidyapalli, Malancha-Mahinagar, Kolkata-700145 to mark the commencement of the birth bicentenary of this great personality. The said library consists of braille, ink print and cassette sections. We are pledged to evaluate his life and to present before the society his struggle through a series of programmes all through the year.

In 1946 late Nagendranath Sengupta, head of the Department of Philosophy of Bangabasi College in Kolkata, founded Blind Persons' Association, the first-ever organisation of the sightless in the country. They set before themselves a four-point programme of Education, Employment, Social Security and Social Placement. Three residential schools were set up in different districts with a view to promoting education among the sightless. Sightless students mostly coming from the economically backward section of the society are accommodated in these schools.

Involvement in different social activities is the key to the achievement of social security and social placement. And for it we need to build up exemplary characters. But the building up of character is impossible without knowledge. Scarcity of braille books is the main hindrance in the way of acquiring knowledge in the country. Towards the end of the eighties, the Association took up an enormous project to meet this scarcity. In the first phase of this scheme, the braille press unit was establish on January 4, 2003 out of the small contributions collected from the general mass. The entire project was named "Lal Bihari Shah Braille Academia" after Acharya Lal Bihari Shah, a pioneer in the education of the sightless in India. In addition to embossing textbooks for higher education, the Academia embosses books related to different branches of knowledge.

Needless to say, embossing braille books is a great deal expensive. It is almost impossible for students coming from poor families to purchase braille books at full price. About 90% subsidy is provided for supplying these books to them. The whole financial burden is borne by the organisation.

This organisation conducts all its activities relying upon contributions from the masses. Many intellectuals, writers, artists, scientists, students and teachers of schools and colleges have extended sincere cooperation in response to our appeal. We would not have succeeded in implementing our programmes without the help from these people. In the Durgapuja, Kolkata Book Fair, Poushmela at Shantiniketan-wherever there is a mass gathering, our volunteers approach the people for donation.

In the second phase of the project we are building up this new library of ink print books, braille and audio books in cassette. Many magnanimous people and publishers have been donating valuable books to enrich our collection. A number of braille books have been collected from home and abroad. Many wellwishers are recording books in audiocassettes for the library. There are still a lot to be done as early as possible, and for this we need help from seeing volunteers.

A mission of this organisation is to achieve the goal of social integration of the sightless through the involvement of seeing volunteers in all its activities. A batch of volunteers has joined our organisation ignoring their personal aspirations and self-interests. They have devoted themselves to the tasks of the organisation taking it as their social responsibility. Not for money, all workers, sightless and sighted, have involved themselves together in the conscious struggle initiated by Blind Persons' Association in realizing its noble mission.

The conduction of the library of Lal Bihari Shah Braille Academia, the observation of Monsieur Louis Braille's birth bicentenary and all other welfare programmes of the organisation require a huge fund. More volunteers are needed too. We think, no great social work can be done by a handful of men and without help from the general people. So we believe, you will extend all kinds of help to fulfill this great objective. Only then will this endeavour be crowned with success in future.

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