This is very annoying. The government should disperse funds at the earliest. The Institute caters to six north-eastern states and if they close down Braille Pres there will be a huge 'book famine'. https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170117/jsp/calcutta/story_130739.jsp Swami Sarvalokananda, the secretary of Ramakrishna Mission Blind Boys’ Academy, Narendrapur, talks about the problems the institution has been facing because of non-availability of central funds. Picture by Bibhas Lodh
Jan. 16: The Ramakrishna Mission Blind Boys' Academy is suffering from a severe funds crunch as the Centre has not released its grants for over two years, the secretary of the institute said today. The institute might be forced to shut down its Braille press and the training centre for visually challenged students if the situation persists for another year, Swami Sarvalokananda said. The funds that have been withheld - about Rs 1 crore - are meant for the Braille press and a swimming pool for blind students, as well as an agricultural training centre - all housed at the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama in Narendrapur. "We met the (Union) minister of social justice and empowerment in December and apprised him of the situation. He had promised to release the funds but in the one-and-a-half months since our meeting, only about Rs 8 lakh has come," the monk, also secretary of the ashrama, said. Metro e-mailed a questionnaire to the Union minister for social justice and empowerment, Thawaarchand Gehlot, and also spoke to his personal assistant, Adarsh Paswan, for a response, but there was no reply till late in the evening. Biswajit Ghosh, the principal of Blind Boys' Academy, said the press printed thousands of books, including textbooks at the secondary and Higher Secondary levels. It caters to students of Bengal and the Northeastern states. Apart from books in six languages, the press prints ballot papers for the blind. Around 75 per cent of the expenses of the Braille press, agricultural training centre and the swimming pool used to be met with central funds. The rest comes from the state government. The paucity of funds is coming in the way of buying Braille papers and paying salary to the 13 people who work in the press, the authorities said. For now, the authorities are managing the press, swimming pool and the agricultural training centre with funds from other sources and contributions from well-wishers. The funds shortage comes at a time Blind Boys' Academy is going to celebrate its diamond jubilee. A three-day programme from January 20, to be held at the school, will include seminars, cultural programmes and an exhibition, where visually challenged students will show how they do maths and prepare models related to geography. -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
