The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : His never-say-die spirit is exemplary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 02, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

His never-say-die spirit is exemplary

Alladi Jayasri

Guru Rao

Bangalore: At 77, Guru Rao has not just been battling Parkinson’s disease for seven decades (following a rare case of juvenile affliction). He managed to write his SSLC examination using his left hand and went on to complete his diploma in engineering despite the debilitating disease. This, moreover, in the 1940s and 1950s when little was known about Parkinson’s.

This long journey is now reaching a new milestone. On the International Day of Disabled Persons on December 3, Mr. Rao will be accorded special recognition at the national level: he will be presented the Role Model for Persons with Disabilities award.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment recently included locomotor disability (like Parkinson’s) and autism, cerebral palsy and other categories of disability for such recognition. Mr. Rao, who joined Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) soon after getting his diploma, “at the princely salary of Rs. 3.50 a day”, never let his disability (or the fact that he did not have the right job for his capability) come in the way of giving his best.

When he was on the prestigious Advanced Light Helicopter project, he found a way to save precious foreign exchange by reclaiming gold, silver and titanium from the shavings of rotor blades imported from France at Rs. 1,000 a kg. Despite not being taken seriously at first, he kept pushing his idea at suggestion meetings. He finally retired from service, but not from his fighting spirit. When a niece failed her SSLC examinations and there was no system for revaluation then, he took up her cause and took on the system. He had started a small battle, and later, the system was changed. Today, the Government earns Rs. 1.5 crore as revenue from people who want re-totalling and are willing to pay the fee.Even when there is no one listening, Mr. Rao has made it his life’s mission to speak for the disabled and the disadvantaged.

Suggestion

“Disabled people are treated like untouchables. Have you seen that not a single one among us has even been given a Rajyotsava Award,” he says, and suggests that there should be a five per cent reservation for this category of persons while giving away Rajyotsava or other State awards. This has been his suggestion to the Governor, the Chief Minister, and to any bureaucrat he writes to, almost on a daily basis.

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