What is the status of Braille presses' in other states? any info, anyone? Lets collate the data and send it across to the ministry. It would guide them for monitoring and overseeing in future. And violation of the rights of disabled worker is surfacing from many places lets resolve to fight against such discrimination. http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/braille-press-in-odisha-understaffed-neglected/article6754997.ece The government seems to be blind towards the plight of the staff running the only Braille press in Odisha in Berhampur.
Twenty seven years since its inception, this Braille press, having modern Braille printing technology, is being managed by a shoestring staff of two members who are under-paid. They include a manager and an operator. Both of them are yet to become regular government employees. The manager is reported to be getting a consolidated pay of Rs. 5,286 rupees per month while the operator Rs. gets 3,540 per month. If calculated on a daily basis, this payment is less than the daily wage of skilled labourers in Odisha. Due to shortage of manpower, this Braille press employs proof readers and Braille data entry operators on daily basis, on a meagre pay of 120 rupees per day. Government grant According to sources, Women and Child Development Department of the Odisha government provides Rs. 1.9 lakh every year as grant in aid for maintenance and management of this Braille press. The staff gets its salary from this grant. It is alleged that the amount of this grant in aid has not been revised since the establishment of this Braille press in 1986. Because of this, the salary of the two employees in the Braille press has not increased in the past 28 years. The State government has also not yet adopted any proper pay scale for them although the press has been modernised. Modern Braille printing units When it was first introduced, it was the sixth Braille press in India. In October 2013, two imported modern computerised Braille printing units were added to this press with an expenditure of Rs. 1.70 crore. As per the authorities of this press, the high speed computerized printing machines, like the ones installed in Berhampur, are available in only two other Braille printing presses of the country. No recognition This Braille press prints more than 15,000 text-books for the blind annually, apart from other Braille publications like the Braille calendar and a science magazine. "So, it is really distressing that these few people skilled in the unique technique of Braille printing technology have not yet been properly recognized by the government," said Manoj Patnaik, former general secretary of Ganjam Bar Association. -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU Celebrating Louis Braille birthday Jan4th 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/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..
