FOCAL PROJECT 2008 - 09

The Saksham Charitable Trust has been established with the sole purpose to empower the visually impaired persons belonging to the marginalized sections of the society. Saksham is involved in several activities, such as, Saksham Daksh School for children with blindness and children with multiple disabilities, Distribution Centre of aids and appliance for persons with blindness or low vision, Audio Description of Movies, and Digital Talking Books.

Ms Rammi Seth and her colleague Mr Dipender Minocha were chief guests at the weekly meeting of July 25th. Our Club has partnered with Saksham on earlier occasions having provided a “Tactile Imaging Machine” and more recently “Clinical Equipment”to Saksham Daksh in NOIDA. The association with Saksham is being further strengthened with the launch of a matching grant “Digital Talking Books” project which is also the focal project for the Rotary year 2008-09.

Digital Talkng Books or DTB’s have been brought to life through research and efforts of the DAISY Consortium. Simply stated, the DAISY programme envisions  a world where people with print disabilities have equal access to information and knowledge, without delay or additional expense. The DAISY Consortium's mission is to develop and promote international standards and technologies which enable equal access to information and knowledge by all people with print disabilities and which also benefit the wider community.

 Mr Dipendra Manocha lost the ability to read at the young age of twelve. Dipendra continued to pursue university education in Indian classical music securing university positions in graduation, post graduation and M. Phil. Information Technology played an important part in his quest to provide reading and writing facilities for people with visual impairments. The National Association for the Blind, New Delhi provided a platform to Dipendra to put his ideas to work. Since 1994 he has been spearheading the I.T. related services at N.A.B., including computer training, Braille production and Digital Talking Book services. During his tenure as Head, Technology Unit of the N.A.B. he has made key presentations and compiled case studies for national and international agencies such as UNESCAP, UNESCO and I.L.O.

The initial response to this focal project has been overwhelming with several members attending a project meeting held shortly after at the Saksham offices for further orientation and to conduct a preliminary audition. It takes a mere ten odd hours of reading to record a conventional text book. Circulated for use by several thousands of affected children, this may well be over a million hours of delivered service!