the premier organisation of and for the sightless in West Bengal
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Blind Persons' Association the premier organisation of and for the sightless in West Bengal |
Members, volunteers and innumerable well-wishers of Blind Persons’ Association paid their heart-felt homage to the memory of late Dipankar Roy who breathed his last on December 6, 2009 after a short period of illness. The meeting was solemnized at the premises of the Braille press complex of Lal Bihari Shah Braille Academia in Kolkata. A photo exhibition was displayed presenting different incidents of his little-recorded life.
Shri Kinkar Ghosh, President of the organisation, presided over the meeting. Smt. Sudha Roy, mother of late Dipankar Roy, told the gathering how Dipankar Roy possessed a soft corner for the sick and the helpless even as a child. She recalled the profound impact on Dipankar's upbringing of late Shibabrata Sengupta, a noted teacher and a pioneer in the social movement of the sightless. Dr. Anupam Basu of Kharagpur IIT described his personal experience with him when he was pushed into developing assistive technology for the sightless. Shri Narayan Ganguli related how he was influenced by his guidance and how he showed signs of leadership from his childhood.
Shri Sukanti Majumdar in his keynote address explained the circumstances in which Shri Dipankar Roy developed the Braille press project. It was his home for last fourteen years since 1995 when the plot was purchased along with a worn-out house for the ongoing Braille press and library project. He settled here with some members of the organisation to build it up as a centre. In course of a few years the Braille press of his dream was set up and the project became an exemplary institution in the field of education in India. The objective behind his permanent residence here was to develop a spirit of community living among the members and volunteers. He taught us to participate in social activities, to fight for the social causes in order that the society in turn would accept us as their brethren. He believed that if a sightless person has to wipe out the image of a beggar, he must set before the society an exemplary character. The image of a knowledgeable sightless person with lofty moral values can expect honour and dignity from the society. Shri Majumdar urged others to devote their strength to fulfilling Dipankar Roy’s dream of developing the project as an advanced center of learning.
Once more visually challenged candidates are left out of a major recruitment drive, this time out of the biggest-ever recruitment drive in India. West Bengal Board of Primary Education published an advertisement on August 30, 2009 in most of the dailies in Kolkata for appointing 54,100 primary teachers in government-aided primary schools of West Bengal. In respect of number of candidates to be appointed, this is perhaps the single largest recruitment programme in the country. When thousands of unemployed youths are filling in application forms, the Board of Primary Education has refused to offer the facility of scribe to visually challenged candidates. The Board, however, has reserved 3% posts for the physically handicapped. They have not specified any percentage for visually handicapped, orthopedically handicapped or hearing handicapped candidates, as per Section 33 of the Persons With Disabilities Act, 1995. When the Board has refused the facility of scribe to visually challenged examinees, who are going to benefit from this reservation?
Blind Persons’ Association has appealed to the Chairman, Board of Primary Education for considering the candidates’ request for provision of scribe. The Association is optimistic that the Board, the Disability Commission and the government will allow the facility and will not deprive visually challenged candidates of an opportunity for competing in the examination for primary teachers. Not only there are legal provisions for 1% reservation of posts for visually challenged persons in government or government-aided organisations, there are several instances of successful teaching at the primary level by such teachers.
The All Bengal Aquatic Meet for the Sightless organised every year by Blind Persons' Association and Life Saving Society was held on August 1, 2009 at the swimming pool of Anderson Club at Rabindra Sarobar in Kolkata. 110 participants from different districts of the state attended the competition. There were freestyle and backstroke events for sightless boys and girls of three age groups. As expected, the competition was dominated by the students of Blind Boys' Academy of Ramakrishna Mission of Narendrapur. Among the special guests was Shri Arun Lal, former India cricketer and commentator.
Blind Persons’ Association organized a seminar on “Helen Keller, Her Life and Struggle” on her 129th birth anniversary on June 27, 2009 at H.L. Roy Memorial Hall, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineering in Kolkata. The seminar was inaugurated by Shri Shyamal Sen, former Governor of West Bengal and renowned jurist. He also released in Braille Helen Keller’s autobiographical work “Midstream” and Santosh Mukhopadhyay’s “Helen Keller”, a biography of the great woman in Bengali Braille. Smt. Anuradha Banerjee, Vice-Principal, Sri Shikshayatan College, Kolkata presided over the inaugural session. Dr. N. Ratnasree, Director, Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi was among the special invitees of the programme.
Dr. Smt. Debjani Sengupta of the IndraPrastha College of New Delhi presented her paper on “Helen Keller, a Journey from Darkness to Light” in the first session of the seminar. She explained how Anne Sullivan instilled into the deaf-mute-blind child a profound love for knowledge and a strong yearning for communication. Though she was not capable of using most of her senses, she learned and mastered the skill for grasping and expressing all that she perceived. In the absence of Professor Smt. Sumita Naskar, this session was presided over by Dr. Sonali Chakraborty of the department of Education of Shibnath Shastri College, Kolkata.
Dr. Alok Datta of Political Science department of Chandannagar Govt. College was the president of the final session as Dr. Debjani Sengupta, Head of the Education department of Kolkata University could not attend the seminar. Dr. Sudeshna Chakraborty, Head Mistress, Jadavpur Sammilita Balika Vidyalay spoke on “Helen Keller, an Eloquent Voice of the Suffering”. She enumerated her activities for the welfare of the sightless and the people at large. Shri Buddhadev Sikdar, General Secretary of Blind Persons’ Association in his paper "The Role of Helen Keller in the Emancipation of the Sightless” laid emphasis on the impact she created on the society through her selfless and undaunted struggle against all kinds of exploitation, poverty and warfare. He said that the association of the word “blind” with the words like “ignorant” can only be wiped out if the sightless follow the example set by this great woman.
Blind Persons' Association remembered Charu Chandra Bose on the centenary of his Martyrdom on March 19, 2009 through a solemn programme at Bharat Chandra Ray Library Hall at Shyamnagar. Shri Sukanti Majumdar, former General Secretary of the host organisation, highlighted the determination and courage of this great freedom fighter who, despite loss of his right hand in an accident, shot dead Ashu Biswas, the public prosecutor responsible for the penalisation of many freedom fighters. He set an example before us to follow as to how a physically challenged persons can overcome his difficulties and contribute to a social cause if he has the moral strength and tenacity. Professor Smt. Bijali Sarkar in her presidential address regretted the dearth of details about Charu Chandra Bose in books of history. She explained the situation in which this revolutionary took up the challenge of punishing a traitor to his country.
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