Agitations K.F.B has been functioning as a ginger group of the blind whenever it was necessary. The first agitation by K.F.B was a hunger strike before the Secretariat from 1st to 10th June 1969. The main demands were to reserve at least 25% of vacancies of teachers in the schools for the blind for qualified visually impaired persons and to admit educated visually impaired persons for training of teachers of the blind conducted by the State Government. K.F.B was forced to resort to this agitation when even post graduates among the blind were denied admission to the training for which SSLC and training in teaching the blind was the minimum qualification. Shri. Chettur Unnikrishnanfasted for 10 days. 3 others Shri. T.Ramachandran, Shri. T.P.Vasu and Shri. K.Rajan also paeticipated in the fasting. The hunger strike was withdrawn as the State Government held discussion with K.F.B and accepted our demands.
On the first of January 1981, on the first day of the International Year of the Disabled, K.F.B led a rally to the Secretariate and held a Dharna at its gate, in order to get a charter of rights with 35 demands approved by the Government. Shri.E.KNayanar, the Hon'ble Chief Minister met the representatives of K.F.B on the same day and assured favourable consideration. However, even after 3 years most of the demands could not be realized. Therefore, on the 1st of August 1984, K.F.B led another rally of the blind to the Secretariat and started a relay hunger strike by the leaders of the Federation. On the 14th of August Shri. K.Karunakaran, the Hon'ble Chief Minister held a discussion with the representative of K.F.B and assured the redressal of our grievances as early as possible. Again some of our major demands such as reservation of jobs for the blind, enhancement of disability pension etc. remained to be solved. Therefore, on the 20th of January 1987 K.F.B organized a token fasting dharna before the Secretariat. It was followed by 24 hours relay fasting sathyagraha by the leaders of the Federation. On the 25th of January, Shri.G.Vijayan, one of the secretaries of K.F.B started indefinite fasting. When he was taken to the hospital on 4th February, Shri. P.Ramakrishnan, one of the Vice Presidents began fasting. After him Shri. C.K.Aboobacker, State Executive Committee Memberfasted from 9th to 12th and Shri. R.Rajan, President, K.F.B K.F.B Students Forum from 12th to 15th February. District level picketing beforeCollectorates by the Disrtict Units were also organized. As directed by Shri.K.Karunakaran, the Hon'ble Chief Minister, Shri. V.Ramachandran I.A.S, Chief Secretary to Government held discussions on 11th February with K.F.B representatives and assured the implementation of demands that do not require financial commitment. Since the Government changed after the general election in March 1987 we met the new Chief Minister Shri. E.K.Nayanar on the 31st of March 1987 and submitted our various demands. As there was no response from the Government for 2 years K.F.B organized a march to Legislative Assembly and held a dharna before the Secretariat on 27th March 1989. Shri. Varkala Radhakrishnan, the Hon'ble Speaker received the representatives of K.F.B and accepted our memorandum. The agitation was called off on the written assurance that the Chief Minister would held a discussion with the Federation at an early date. Accordingly, on the 8th May 1989, Shri. E.K Nayanar, the Hon'ble Chief Minister, held a discussion with the representatives of K.F.B in the presence of Shri. K.Chandrasekharan, the Hon'ble Minister for Education, and Shri. Lonappan Nambadan, the Hon'ble Minister for Housing. Many of our demands were agreed upon. Besides K.F.B had several discussions with Hon'ble Ministers, Government Secretaries and Heads of Departments and other officials on various issues. Nevertheless the Government was too slow to implement the decisions. Therefore on the 25th of February 1991 K.F.B organized a picketing before the, Secretariat and 400 members got arrested. From 26th February to 15th March relay fasting by K.F.B Office bearers and others workers was held. In response, the Hon'ble Chief Minister Shri.E.K.Nayanar again held a discussion with our representatives on the 14th of March 1991 in the presence of Smt. K.R.Gouri Amma, Hon'ble Minister for Industries and Social Welfare, Sri.KChandrasekharan, Hon'ble Minister for Education and Shri. Lonappan Nambadan, Hon'ble Minister for Housing. Several decisions in our favour were taken. The agitation was called off on the 15th of March as enhancement of disability pension from Rs.75 to Rs. 85 per month was included in the budget for the year 1991 – 92. K.F.B has also involved itself in agitations based on local issues mostly in the Government Schools for the Blind. K.F.B has been playing a significant role in settling many a problems faced by the pupils of these schools. The Federation also actively participated in the agitation by the staff and students of School for the Blind, Aluva in protest to the police action in that school on 9th November 1986 and tried its best to bring about a reasonable and peaceful settlement. The another encounter has had with the State Government has been due to the decision of the Hon'ble Minister for Transport and of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation restricting the free travel facility in K.S.R.T.C, buses. From 18th to 29th June 1992, K.F.B organized rally, dharna and picketing in different places in the State. The dharna organized in front of M.L.A quarters on the 29th of June after picketing, and arrest by police at the Secretariat gate has been a critical one. Other organizations of the disabled also joined the Federation in this decisive struggle. Shri. Oommen Chandy, Hon'ble Minister for Finance accompanied by a few M.L.As came came to the place and met the disabled brethren. His honour arranged a discussion with the Hon'ble Minister for Transport Shri. R.Balakrishna Pillai at his residence on the very night in which favourable decisions were taken. A further discussion was held on the 8th of July 1992 by the Minister for Transport in the presence of Hon'ble Minister for Finance and Hon'ble Minister for Industries and Social Welfare. In the discussion Shri. R.Balakrishna Pillai, the Hon'ble Minister for Transport assured that the concessions to the blind will continue as before without any change. It is to be regretted that the Hon'ble Minister did not keep his word while implementing the decision. Therefore at present we are trying our best to settle the issue through discussions and persuasion. If our efforts fail we may be forced to plunge into agitation again as a last resort to get our genuine demand accepted and long enjoyed right protected. Strike Against Unemployment Under the leadership of K.F.B, continuous fasting strike was conducted from 19th July 2010 at Secretariat gate, and on 21st & 26th July, March & Picketing at the Legislative Assembly gate, and on 26th July evening dharna at the entrance of MLA Hostel. The capital city of Thiruvananthapuram has witnessed this strong agitation programmes in which hundreds of visually impaired persons from different districts of the State participated. Effective implementation of 3% job reservation for visually impaired and other disabled persons and the backlog appointment of visually impaired persons for the period from 1st January 2004 to 31st December 2007 through special recruitment were the important demands of the strike. As a result of the strike, KFB succeeded in bringing the reasonable and genuine demands of visually impaired persons to the notice of the Government and the public, in raising relevant questions by MLA's before Legislative Assembly, and to hold discussions with Hon'ble Minister for Health and Social Welfare. Though, the first two discussions were incomplete, agitation continued and finally reached at an agreement in a discussion held on 19-08-2010 between the, concerned Minister and KFB representatives. The Federation extends its gratitude to each and every member who involved for the success of the strike, to those who involved in the said fasting strike and those who became the victims of police torture., Edit, box -- Dr. Habeeb C. Vice President Kerala Federation of the Blind. Assistant Professor of English Centre for advanced studies and research in English Language and Literature Farook College. Calicut. Member Board of Studies U.G. English Language and Literature, University of Calicut. Phone. 09946265483. Email. habee...@gmail.com Skype Id. habeebc3 Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in 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..
