Other States - Rajasthan   

Khurana to help provide Jaipur Foot for needy students

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, JULY 22. The Raj Bhavan has initiated a programme to physically empower every school child without a limb in Rajasthan by gifting him/her with a Jaipur Foot. The programme as conceived at present will require Rs.1 crore to fit an artificial foot each on an estimated 10,000 school students.

Announcing the programme, the Governor, Madan Lal Khurana, told mediapersons that Rajasthan would be the first in the country to free every single school-going child from the burden of this kind of physical disability. "Once fitted with a Jaipur Foot the child will neither need to crawl to school nor need to be carried on the back of parents or relatives,'' he added.

"I have been to the Bhagwan Mahavir Viklang Sahayata Samiti's limb fitting centre and am convinced about its effectiveness and affordability,'' Mr. Khurana observed. Each of the artificial limb will cost about Rs.1000, perhaps the lowest for such a device anywhere in the world.

The new initiative is part of Raj Bhawan's ongoing "Garib sunwai''(poor assistance) programme started by Mr. Khurana. The original plan was to get the funds sanctioned from the Union Social Welfare Ministry and talks were on with the concerned Minister, Meira Kumar. However considering the time being taken in decisions at the Government level, Mr. Khurana thought of making a beginning with local contributions.

The initial amount of Rs. 10 lakh was offered to the Governor by Lions Club. Thereafter he could get similar commitments of Rs.10 lakh each from the State's Education Minister, Ghanshyam Tiwari and the Social Welfare Minister, Madan Dilawar. Along with this Mr. Khurana decided to put in another Rs.10 lakh from his poor assistance fund. The Devasthan Department has committed a sum of Rs. 5 lakhs.

"The authorities have been asked to conduct a survey on school-going children who need artificial limbs,'' Mr. Khurana said pointing out that an estimated 10,000 children afflicted with polio would have a separate empowerment programme facilitating them with calipers.

Mr. Khurana proposes to launch the programme from Udaipur in the first week of August, covering the Adivasi dominated districts of Dungarpur, Banswara, Sirohi and Udaipur. "Our attempt is to cover all the needy children during the current academic year. I consider this a worthy cause,'' said Mr. Khurana, who refused to talk about anything else.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• Khurana to help provide Jaipur Foot for needy students
• 'Liquor units will guzzle ground water'
• 'Cotton is finished this year'

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu