Very often we come across people who require special aids and support to lead as normal a life as possible. They are the differently abled who need just a little help and consideration from all us – the people and the government – to allow them to live their life with ease and dignity.
Many from among us have risen to the occasion and have gone out of their way to do their bit for these special people. Retired IAS officer Rohit Nandan is one of them. He is a strong advocate for the rights of the specially abled, a pioneer in taking steps in that regard.
A 1982-batch IAS officer of UP cadre, Mr. Nandan served in several important positions during his service, including as CMD of Air-India and Secretary, Skill Development, UP.
During an exclusive interview with Indian Masterminds, he recalled his experiences from that time, especially his stint as the Secretary, Department of Disability Welfare, a posting still close to his heart.
AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
Mr. Nandan remained as the Secretary, Department of Disability Welfare for about four years. Recalling that period, he said: “At that time, this posting was considered to be a punishment posting. The department was limited to providing pensions and scholarships, but I wanted to take it forward.”
He especially recounted two incidents that pushed him towards taking special interest in that department. Firstly, his mother was on wheelchair due to health issues. Secondly, one of his colleagues, who was at that time posted as the principal chief staff of the Chief Secretary, broke her legs.
“She called me up and told me that she is not able to enter the CS office as the carpet is too thick for the wheel chair. I realized that people see disability as somebody else’s problem but it can be anybody’s. Anyone can have a leg fracture or eyes and ears can get weakened with age. So, the issues of the differently-abled should be taken seriously.”
After this, he launched a state-wide awareness campaign and he himself went from place to place to convey his thoughts among different sections of people and created awareness about the issue.
COLLECTIVE SURGERY & BACHPAN SCHOOL
He also started collective surgery for the first time ever. Almost 6000 operations of children below six years suffering from polio were carried out. “Many came crawling to the place for surgery and went back walking. I can’t explain how much gratifying that was!” he said.
He is also the man behind the Bachpan school, created especially for autistic children. During his stint, four schools in Lucknow, Noida, Varanasi and Allahabad were started. Today, there are 18 schools in all the divisions and within a year, all districts will have it, all thanks to the person who started it.
Talking about it, he said, “I met many parents with children with autism or other mental illness. It was really disheartening to see them suffer. We tried to mainstream those children in normal schools but they used to struggle there. Main reason was that those children started school late and their disability became a hurdle in competing with other children. This would create a lot of psychological impact on the children as well as the parents. So, for their pre-schooling, we set up the Bachpan play school.”
BARRIER FREE LUCKNOW
This was another major achievement for Mr. Nandan, for which, he didn’t use any government funds but motivated various associations to come forward to help. With such help, this public campaign was used to make ramps in markets and, also, enroll many shopkeepers to construct ramps at their shop’s entrance.
Besides this, his team convinced the government to legislate that no public building can be constructed in UP without a certificate from the architect that it is barrier free. Because of this, most malls and public offices in UP have all the features of a barrier free building.
As the Secretary of Disability Welfare, Mr. Nandan made a huge difference with his disabled-friendly initiatives, the effects of which can be seen even now. For him, too, it was his “most satisfying assignment as a civil servant”.
