Disabled Intentions

A recent sting operation by a news channel exposing how a Union Minister’s NGO was allegedly siphoning off funds meant for the disabled shocked the entire nation. But the visually disabled in Dehradun – the picturesque capital of Uttarakhand – are under duress of a different kind.

In the eye of the storm is the National Institute of Visually Handicapped (NIVH), considered to be the largest training institute for the blind in Asia. Over the last six years, a number of students and faculty members of this training centre have been waging a lonely struggle against the rule of nepotism, patronage and graft that has allegedly been unleashed on the 43 acre campus of NIVH located amidst lush greens on the Mussoorie-Dehradun highway.

Accusations against the institute’s authorities range from allegations of a fake degree cited by the incumbent NIVH Director for landing the plum job to arbitrary transfers of faculty members and non-accreditation for its various training courses. Dissatisfied students and faculty members at NIVH claim that despite repeated complaints from their end, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment – which has administrative control over the institute - has not taken their demand for an investigation into the center’s functioning seriously.

“Ever since Director Anuradha Mohit Dalmia came on board NIVH in 2006, she has been misusing her administrative and financial powers,” says Dr RS Chauhan, who recently retired as Head, Department of Special Education & Disability Studies at NIVH. “Many complaints have been forwarded to the Ministry since her appointment including cases of mental torture of students and staff, purchase of non-essential equipment, favoritism in appointments and transfers, et al. Students protested for a whole month last year, but no action has been taken against her so far,” he adds. Three joint secretary level officers from the ministry have reportedly come to campus since 2009 but no report has yet seen the light of the day, he claims. 

Detractors of the NIVH Director further point out that the master level credits from America’s Vanderbilt University cited by Dalmia in her bio-data when applying for the job is false given that Dalmia only completed two undergraduate semesters on campus. Dalmia herself concedes this and claims that she had not cited the said degree on her bio-data.  “I have not mentioned any US degree in my bio-data submitted,” Dalmia informed TSI. But RTI activists who procured a copy of her bio-data from the Ministry are going to town flaunting the same – which prominently features her diploma from Vanderbilt. When queried through an RTI, complete academic records of Dalmia were not available with the Ministry.

“Those spreading false rumours about me are simply dissatisfied employees. Everyone cannot be kept happy,” says Dalmia. Dalmia may explain away the accusations of Dr Chauhan as complaints of a disgruntled ex-employee. But the number of people raising their voice against the goings-on at the institute is only increasing by the day. Mantosh Kumar, a visually disabled student at NIVH has been using his scholarship money to file RTIs against the institute’s management for the last two years. His lonely struggle against the powers-that-be began in 2010 after he finished his training as a computer instructor from NIVH in 2010 and discovered that the course he had completed with such high ambitions did not even have basic National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) accreditation.

“There are courses run by the institute which have accreditation but no faculty, while other courses have no accreditation at all. There is another course for light engineering which does not have NCVT accreditation. The computer training course also suffers from acute shortage of capable faculty,” bemoans Mantosh. He adds that a physiotherapy course was also planned at NIVH for which machines worth Rs 35 lakh were purchased. “But the course was never started,” he points out.

Moreover, there are allegations pertaining to the Braille Press at NIVH printing only a fraction of the syllabus and competitive books required by the students here. The rest are procured from an NGO in Delhi which cost the already-deprived students twice as much. “Clearly the NGO in Delhi is profiting at the cost of us blind students,” laments Mantosh.

Arbitrary and ad hoc transfers to NIVH centers in Chennai, Kolkata or Hyderabad have been another simmering grouse against the incumbent management of the institute. NIVH employee Vishal Gurung – who was transferred to Chennai on the pretext of looking after the Braille press in that centre - committed suicide in August 2009. TSI is in possession of his suicide note which specifically points towards the transfer and the Director’s apathy as a cause for the suicide. Others have suffered a similar fate although with less severe repercussions. Mobility inspector Brajesh Sharma for instance was packed off to the Kolkata NIVH centre in 2009 despite there being no provision for the said post. Brajesh is on a medical leave from NIVH and has even stopped receiving his salary. His aged father – a lawyer – is fighting the case on his behalf. “I was transferred to Kolkata as assistant to the in-charge despite the fact that there is a rule that non-gazetted officers cannot be transferred without consent. The position itself is null and void as there is no mobility inspector in Kolkata. I will go to High Court to fight my case,” he says.  Such punishment postings and patronage for those who turn a blind eye to the irregularities in the institute, has led to an atmosphere of sycophancy and favouritism among workers here. So much so that many faculty and students of the institute refused to speak on record to TSI for fear that they will be targeted for voicing their concerns.

Dalmia however, refuses to accept all such allegations, asserting that transfers are a routine in any organisation. “All transfers have been made in accordance with the rules of the Ministry. Vishal Gurung committed suicide because he was a patient of depression and not because of anything to do with his transfer,” she told TSI. Speaking on the issue of NCVT accreditation for courses, Dalmia clarified that the accreditation was not required for a national institute such as NIVH.

As the war of words in one of its kind training centre for the blind gains momentum, the scores of visually disabled students who came to NIVH to carve a better future in the sighted world, are bearing the real brunt. The light at the end of this road seems opaque for now.