The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of...

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The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat A case study on Shri. Krishna Gopal Tiwari, IAS Project Report Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance & Policy Analysis

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Page 1: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat

A case study

on

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

Project Report

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance amp Policy Analysis

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

2

Project Team

Special Guidance

1 Shri Padamvir Singh Director General

2 Shri Akhilesh Argal Director

Guidance

Shri Madan Mohan Upadhyay Principal Advisor Centre for Social Sector Development

Project Co-ordinator

Dr MangalaGowri M S Deputy Advisor Centre for Social Sector Development

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

3

Contents

1 About

2 Introduction

3 Rationale of the study

4 Objectives of the study

5 The story so far From childhood to National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH)

6 At The National Institute of Visually Handicapped Dehradun

7 Cracking the civil services

8 At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration Mussorie

9 Issues that emerged during the study

10 As a bureaucrat

11 Modus operandi

12 Tools which have helped him

13 Existing legal framework

14 Institutional framework

15 Acknowledgement

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

4

मर और वकत क बीच सवाद

वकत स परशन

ldquoजोड़ता ह टट हए तारो को पर फिर टट जात ह व

सजाता ह ननतय नए सपन पर चर हो जात ह व

लड़ाता ह भान को ननशा स पर हार जात ह व

ननशा त ही बता द फक तरा हरण कस कर

बता द वकत त ही मझ तरा सामना कस करrdquo

(शरी कषणा गोपाल नतवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

5

About

India is home to one-fifth of the worldrsquos

visually impaired people1 Disability be it

of any type has a definite impact on the

socio economic spectrum There have been

various studies correlating the nexus

between poverty and blindness and the

related economic cost incurred by the

nations Topping it all is the emotional

price of the person dealing with the

problem of blindness Considering the

dimensions of the issue Atal Bihari

Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance

and Policy Analysis decided to look into

the subject from a phenomenological

perspective to bring out the concerns faced

by the blind people and our readiness as a

nation to deal with them The case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari is a fit example to

bring out the nuances of the problem in an

in-depth manner and discuss the possible

solutions in the light of the existing legal

and institutional framework of the country

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari is an IAS

officer of 2008 batch borne on Madhya

Pradesh cadre Coming from a humble

background and compounded with a visual

disability he went on to crack civil

1Blindness and poverty in India- The way forward

Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli

Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906

October 2007

services examination which is assumed to

be one of the toughest examinations in

India

He turned completely blind during

graduation days due to progressive

Retinitis Pigmentosa Nevertheless he

remained unfazed and fought all odds to

secure a rank of 142 in the exam

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission in 2007 In the process not

only did he emerge ahead of 592 normal

candidates but also scripted a tale of grit

and persistence Though his story serves as

an inspiration to many differently-abled

people in the country it also raises certain

pertinent questions on our policies for

visually impaired people

The institute decided to take up the case of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari to document

the issues faced by him and correlate them

with the current policy scenario The

exercise would be done through case study

method Using this method we intend to

reach the general through the particular

This phenomenological study lays more

importance to subjective experience in

order to highlight the problems faced by

the visually impaired in general

In this report we first travel through the

life story of Shri Tiwari In the next step

we identify the issues faced by him and

then try to corroborate them with the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

6

existing policy framework In the third

section corrective measures based on the

analysis will be suggested The outcome of

this study is a report and a set of

recommendations for identified

stakeholders to deal with the visually

disabled people in a sensitive manner

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

7

Introduction

As per Census 2011 in India out of the

121 Crore population about 268 Crore

persons are lsquodisabledrsquo which is 221 of

the total population Among the disabled

population 56 (15 Crore) are males and

44 (118 Crore) are females Majority

(69) of the disabled population reside in

rural areas (186 Crore disabled persons

are in rural areas and 081 Crore are in

urban areas)

Coming to the types of disability 19 of

the 268 Crore have problems of vision

Amongst the 15 Crore disabled males

18 have disability of vision

The disability among children is also a

matter of serious concern as it has wider

implications The Census 2011 showed

that in India 2042 lakhs children aged 0-

6 years are disabled Thus one in every

100 children in the age group 0-6 years

suffered from some type of disability

23 of the disabled children (0-6 years)

are having disability in hearing 30 in

seeing and 10 in movement 7 of the

disabled children have multiple

disabilities2

2 Census Data 2011

In many instances such a disability

deprives the affected person a fair chance

of access to livelihood Conversely there

is an increased prevalence of risk among

the socially and economically

marginalized groups to beget disabilities

This has been argued in many studies done

previously Of the 600 million people with

disabilities worldwide 82 percent live

below the poverty line and 20 percent

belong to the lsquopoorest of the poorrsquo3

Blindness is an important part of the

disability spectrum affecting almost 161

million worldwide4 The Personrsquos with

Disability Act 2016 defines visual

impairment thus (a) ldquoblindnessrdquo means a

condition where a person has any of the

following conditions after best

correctionmdash (i) total absence of sight or

(ii) visual acuity less than 360 or less than

10200 (Snellen) in the better eye with the

best possible correction or (iii) limitation

of the field of vision subtending an angle

of less than 10 degree (b) ldquolow-visionrdquo

3IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available

at VISION 2020 website

4Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D KocurI

Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP MariottiSP

Global data on visual impairment in theyear 2002

Bull World Health Organ 2004 82844ndash851

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

8

means a condition where a person has any

of the following conditions namely (i)

visual acuity not exceeding 618 or less

than 2060 up to 360 or up to 10200

(Snellen) in the better eye with the best

possible corrections or (ii) limitation of

the field of vision subtending an angle of

less than 40 degree up to 10 degree

The economic burden of blindness in

India as calculated by Shamanna

Dandona and Rao (1997) using the cost-

of-illness methodology was US$44billion

The cumulative loss over the life time of

the blind was estimated at US$774billion

In yet another analysis the International

Agency for the Prevention of Blindness

argues that seven of the eight Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) are related to

the implementation of VISION 2020 and

several factors that exacerbate conditions

of poverty and disempowerment can be

impacted by prevention of blindness

measures

The first systematically obtained global

data on blindness in 19955 indicated an

inverse relationship between prevalence of

blindness and economic development This

is substantiated by the incidence of a

higher share of the burden of blindness in

5Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram

RDadzie KY Global data on blindness Bull World

Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

the developing countries in Sub-Saharan

Africa and Asia compared to the

developed economies of Europe and

America6

As per the Global data of WHO in 2010

the principal causes of visual impairment

across the world are uncorrected refractive

errors and cataracts which are 43 and

33 respectively Other causes are

glaucoma 2 age related macular

degeneration (AMD) diabetic retinopathy

(DR) trachoma and corneal opacities

(CO) all coming to around 1 each A

large proportion of causes are

undetermined and they constitute around

18 of the causes Blindness on the other

hand is caused by cataract 51

glaucoma 8 AMD 5 childhood

blindness and corneal opacities 4

uncorrected refractive errors and trachoma

3 and diabetic retinopathy 1 and the

undetermined causes leading to huge

chunk of 21 This has been depicted in

the pie chart (Figure 1) It was also found

that most of these conditions could be

avoided either prevented or treated7

6 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761) 7WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

9

Figure 1

Source Global Data on visual Impairments

It was projected that without timely and

appropriate measures to control blindness

the current level of blindness would double

by 2020 resulting in economic losses of

close to US$150 billion to US$250

billion8 This realisation led to the

conceptualisation and launch of VISION

2020 The Right to Sight in 1999 based on

the assessment that a co-ordinated and

collaborative initiative could significantly

8Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of

global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

contain global blindness reducing the

number of blind persons to 24 million in

2020 thereby avoiding a potential 429

million blind person-years

In India most of the visually impaired

population are concentrated in the rural

areas9 Many of these studies also showed

that blindness increased with age was

higher among illiterates lower in urban

areas and higher among females

9Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond

anachronism Lancet 2000 356(Suppl) S25

33

1

18

1

1 1

1

2

42

Causes of visual impairment Cataract

Child hood blindbess

Undetermined

Diabetic Retinopathy

Corneal Opacity

Trachoma

Age related macular degeneration

Glaucoma

Uncorrected refractive errors

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

10

Blindness is thus not a disease or condition

that needs to be just treated

symptomatically It is a social

phenomenon which requires not just

curative intervention but a holistic

approach that addresses the socio

economic conditions which leads to the

marginalization of these people Initially

efforts were merely curative but after the

advent of VISION 2020 attention is being

paid to other areas such as public

education medical training for a larger

cadre of eye-care workers and advocacy at

both the community and government

levels

India has taken some efforts to combat the

problem of visual impairment In 1976

India became the first country to start a

National Program for Control of Blindness

(NPCB)

The other major milestones in the country

with regard to creating a conducive

atmosphere for the blind in this regard

have been given below

Miss Annie Sharp a Christian

missionary from England founded

the first school for the blind in

Amritsar in 1887 By 1944 there

were around 44 schools for the

blind And by the beginning of this

21st century there were around 300

schools for the blind

There was a State level decision to

establish a Braille press to produce

books in Braille in 1923This could

not be implemented due to non-

existence of a uniform Braille code

for Indian languages

A Committee was set up in 1941

by the then Govt of India to

develop a uniform Braille code for

Indian languages

The Report on Blindness in India

(1944) was submitted which is the

basis of most of the services for the

blind today

A Cell in the Ministry of Education

was established in 1946 to promote

education training and

rehabilitation of the blind

Development and acceptance of

ldquoBharthi Braillerdquo a common

Braille code for Indian languages

was finalized in November 1950 It

replaced the earlier codes

The first press for printing Braille

books was established at Dehradun

in 1951

The National Association for the

Blind was formed in 1952 This

gave an organized platform for the

blind

In 1957 first Vocational Training

Centre for the Adult Blind was

established

The first School for the Blind was

established by the Central Govt in

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

11

January 1959 at Rajpur Dehradun

(now located in the campus of

NIVH Dehradun)

First National Library for the Blind

was established by the Central

Government in 1962

Govt of India brought all its

activities for the education training

and rehabilitation of the blind

under one umbrella for better

coordination in 1967 called

National Centre for the Blind

Dehradun

Establishment of the National

Institute for the Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) on 2nd July

1979

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

12

Rationale of the study

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari fought against

his progressive blindness to crack the

much coveted civil services exams

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission of India He had to take up

another protracted struggle to fight against

the rules laid for getting into service His

early life is a testimony of how lack of

awareness social stigma and unthought-of

policy statements could pose impediments

in the life of a differently-abled person

Hence there is a need to document the

problems faced by the person and the

policy implications thereof in order to

create a more disabled friendly

environment It is also necessary to

understand the way he functions and put

them on record so that it acts as a guiding

tool to those suffering from such disability

Objectives of the study

1 To document the early experiences of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari

2 To correlate the problems faced by him

to existing policies

3 To document his working strategies

and methods

4 To prepare a guide ready - reckoner

for related stakeholders

5 To recommend policy interventions to

provide the disabled an equal platform

Deliverables

The study will have the following

outcomes

A case study report which will

highlight the policy level issues and

other societal aspects faced by

differently-abled people

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

13

The story so far

From school education to National

Institute of Visually Handicapped

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari was born in the

year 1981 in a remote village in Ambedkar

Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh He was the

middle child amongst three sons His

father was a marginal farmer who took up

agriculture on a seasonal basis After the

agriculture season he used to work in a

textile mill in Ahmedabad His mother was

a house wife

Krishna Gopal was a normal child and he

entered the formal education system at the

age of 5 Though detection of his problem

of visual impairment through a medical

expert was done much late he had started

experiencing problems with vision very

early in his childhood He had difficulty to

read from the blackboards in his school if

illumination was not proper As a child

Krishna also felt problems of vision at

night But as there was no family history to

arouse any suspicions those lapses were

not taken seriously

It was Krishnarsquos mother who felt some

abnormality in the movements of her son

at night as he kept on colliding with things

every now and then She suggested taking

him to an expert for advice She even

started a daily dose of vitamin A

supplements mistaking his lapses for

common night blindness

But Krishna was fully active during day

time His elder brother who also had the

same problem did not manifest problems

that early And sometime during that

phase he spotted a snake in the field

disproving his motherrsquos apprehensions

On one occasion his father came with

their bull He wanted Krishnasrsquos help in

controlling the bull He asked his son to

take the rope and help him control the bull

But Krishna kept on making blunders as he

was not able to spot the bull in the dark

On another occasion he spotted a rubber

band in a corner further raising questions

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

14

on his motherrsquos suspicions Thus detection

of the disease happened much late

Myopia was also working side by side

with the main disease in his case So he

always had problems with regard to his

vision which he never dared to share with

anybody On cloudy days or in dark class

rooms Krishna was afraid to read from the

blackboard In order to fool people around

he used to fake

Sometimes night classes were arranged by

village teachers for poor students in their

village Krishna too attended them due to

pressure from his family But he could

never concentrate in those classes due to

an overwhelming fear as to how he would

reach home after the classes

He never kept aloof from any games

happening in day time in familiar

circumstances While playing cricket with

his friends he preferred balling and wicket

keeping to batting as he was not able to see

the ball many a times while batting But he

opted to back out from new situations

which demanded good eye hand co-

ordination He rarely ventured out after

sunset

During his fifth standard once while

roaming around with his friends he tried

to pluck a mango from a mango tree at the

instigation of his friends He was not able

to see the mango dangling in the tree But

he was not willing to admit it His friend

aimed at the mango once Krishna gave up

The stone not only missed the mango but

also fell on an unsuspecting Krishna who

failed to see the stone coming towards

him He got hurt in his mouth and lost his

front tooth The incident left an indelible

mark on his face in the literal sense of the

term

When he reached sixth and vision related

problems increased his mother started

raising the alarm once again and this time

more fervently He was finally taken to an

eye specialist 40 kilometres away from his

village

While getting his eyes checked he found

that he was unable to read even a single

alphabet from the chart He was not

willing to admit the same as he thought

that his admission would be presumed as

ignorance of letters As he was sitting in

the room for quite some time listening to

the patients before him he had heard the

On another occasion he fell down

very badly when his father pushed

him away He was unable to assess

the background and as a result lost

balance and fell down

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

15

others read from the chart So he too went

on to read from it largely from memory

than by really seeing what was on it

With correcting lenses he was able to read

69 by his left eye and 612 by his right

eye That was probably the first time

Krishna realized that there was something

wrong with his eyes But he was hopeful

that the right correction could provide him

with the perfect vision

The correction lenses did offer him some

respite in the daytime for the problem of

myopia But nights remained the same

and he did not find any perceptible change

in his night vision

Krishna was eventually detected with

Retinisis Pigmentosa Retinitis

Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of

the eyes that causes loss of

vision Symptoms include trouble seeing at

night and decreased peripheral vision (side

vision) Onset of symptoms is generally

gradual As peripheral vision worsens

people may experience tunnel vision In

the case of Krishna direct vision was

affected first

Despite repeated instances of casualties

intervention was not initiated in Krishnarsquos

case due to three reasons First there was a

communication gap between the child and

his parents due to the stubbornness of the

child in failing to disclose his problems

For example in spite of being repeatedly

thrashed for not being able to assess the

position of the hands in a clock he never

admitted that he was not able to see

properly The same habit of the child was

repeated in the doctorrsquos chamber as he

went on to read the chart in the doctorrsquos

room after hearing others read from it

The second reason was probably the

failure of his parents to appreciate the

situation and third was their inability to

diagnose the problem But in a case as

typical as Krishnarsquos it is doubtful if things

would have been different had his parents

been more educated Even at the level of

the school the teachers too repeatedly

failed to identify the problem

The first doctor who saw Krishna also did

not assess him properly and just stated that

his eyes were weak He prescribed certain

medicines and asked to come for follow up

check-ups on an yearly basis

After his initial eye check-up Krishna

became a front bencher in school which

helped him come up in his studies Later

on he was taken to another specialist in

Ahmedabad who confided to his father that

Krishnarsquos condition was not curable That

was probably the first proper diagnosis of

his condition But his father chose to hide

the issue from him Till 1997 he thus got

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 2: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

2

Project Team

Special Guidance

1 Shri Padamvir Singh Director General

2 Shri Akhilesh Argal Director

Guidance

Shri Madan Mohan Upadhyay Principal Advisor Centre for Social Sector Development

Project Co-ordinator

Dr MangalaGowri M S Deputy Advisor Centre for Social Sector Development

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

3

Contents

1 About

2 Introduction

3 Rationale of the study

4 Objectives of the study

5 The story so far From childhood to National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH)

6 At The National Institute of Visually Handicapped Dehradun

7 Cracking the civil services

8 At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration Mussorie

9 Issues that emerged during the study

10 As a bureaucrat

11 Modus operandi

12 Tools which have helped him

13 Existing legal framework

14 Institutional framework

15 Acknowledgement

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

4

मर और वकत क बीच सवाद

वकत स परशन

ldquoजोड़ता ह टट हए तारो को पर फिर टट जात ह व

सजाता ह ननतय नए सपन पर चर हो जात ह व

लड़ाता ह भान को ननशा स पर हार जात ह व

ननशा त ही बता द फक तरा हरण कस कर

बता द वकत त ही मझ तरा सामना कस करrdquo

(शरी कषणा गोपाल नतवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

5

About

India is home to one-fifth of the worldrsquos

visually impaired people1 Disability be it

of any type has a definite impact on the

socio economic spectrum There have been

various studies correlating the nexus

between poverty and blindness and the

related economic cost incurred by the

nations Topping it all is the emotional

price of the person dealing with the

problem of blindness Considering the

dimensions of the issue Atal Bihari

Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance

and Policy Analysis decided to look into

the subject from a phenomenological

perspective to bring out the concerns faced

by the blind people and our readiness as a

nation to deal with them The case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari is a fit example to

bring out the nuances of the problem in an

in-depth manner and discuss the possible

solutions in the light of the existing legal

and institutional framework of the country

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari is an IAS

officer of 2008 batch borne on Madhya

Pradesh cadre Coming from a humble

background and compounded with a visual

disability he went on to crack civil

1Blindness and poverty in India- The way forward

Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli

Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906

October 2007

services examination which is assumed to

be one of the toughest examinations in

India

He turned completely blind during

graduation days due to progressive

Retinitis Pigmentosa Nevertheless he

remained unfazed and fought all odds to

secure a rank of 142 in the exam

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission in 2007 In the process not

only did he emerge ahead of 592 normal

candidates but also scripted a tale of grit

and persistence Though his story serves as

an inspiration to many differently-abled

people in the country it also raises certain

pertinent questions on our policies for

visually impaired people

The institute decided to take up the case of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari to document

the issues faced by him and correlate them

with the current policy scenario The

exercise would be done through case study

method Using this method we intend to

reach the general through the particular

This phenomenological study lays more

importance to subjective experience in

order to highlight the problems faced by

the visually impaired in general

In this report we first travel through the

life story of Shri Tiwari In the next step

we identify the issues faced by him and

then try to corroborate them with the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

6

existing policy framework In the third

section corrective measures based on the

analysis will be suggested The outcome of

this study is a report and a set of

recommendations for identified

stakeholders to deal with the visually

disabled people in a sensitive manner

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

7

Introduction

As per Census 2011 in India out of the

121 Crore population about 268 Crore

persons are lsquodisabledrsquo which is 221 of

the total population Among the disabled

population 56 (15 Crore) are males and

44 (118 Crore) are females Majority

(69) of the disabled population reside in

rural areas (186 Crore disabled persons

are in rural areas and 081 Crore are in

urban areas)

Coming to the types of disability 19 of

the 268 Crore have problems of vision

Amongst the 15 Crore disabled males

18 have disability of vision

The disability among children is also a

matter of serious concern as it has wider

implications The Census 2011 showed

that in India 2042 lakhs children aged 0-

6 years are disabled Thus one in every

100 children in the age group 0-6 years

suffered from some type of disability

23 of the disabled children (0-6 years)

are having disability in hearing 30 in

seeing and 10 in movement 7 of the

disabled children have multiple

disabilities2

2 Census Data 2011

In many instances such a disability

deprives the affected person a fair chance

of access to livelihood Conversely there

is an increased prevalence of risk among

the socially and economically

marginalized groups to beget disabilities

This has been argued in many studies done

previously Of the 600 million people with

disabilities worldwide 82 percent live

below the poverty line and 20 percent

belong to the lsquopoorest of the poorrsquo3

Blindness is an important part of the

disability spectrum affecting almost 161

million worldwide4 The Personrsquos with

Disability Act 2016 defines visual

impairment thus (a) ldquoblindnessrdquo means a

condition where a person has any of the

following conditions after best

correctionmdash (i) total absence of sight or

(ii) visual acuity less than 360 or less than

10200 (Snellen) in the better eye with the

best possible correction or (iii) limitation

of the field of vision subtending an angle

of less than 10 degree (b) ldquolow-visionrdquo

3IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available

at VISION 2020 website

4Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D KocurI

Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP MariottiSP

Global data on visual impairment in theyear 2002

Bull World Health Organ 2004 82844ndash851

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

8

means a condition where a person has any

of the following conditions namely (i)

visual acuity not exceeding 618 or less

than 2060 up to 360 or up to 10200

(Snellen) in the better eye with the best

possible corrections or (ii) limitation of

the field of vision subtending an angle of

less than 40 degree up to 10 degree

The economic burden of blindness in

India as calculated by Shamanna

Dandona and Rao (1997) using the cost-

of-illness methodology was US$44billion

The cumulative loss over the life time of

the blind was estimated at US$774billion

In yet another analysis the International

Agency for the Prevention of Blindness

argues that seven of the eight Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) are related to

the implementation of VISION 2020 and

several factors that exacerbate conditions

of poverty and disempowerment can be

impacted by prevention of blindness

measures

The first systematically obtained global

data on blindness in 19955 indicated an

inverse relationship between prevalence of

blindness and economic development This

is substantiated by the incidence of a

higher share of the burden of blindness in

5Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram

RDadzie KY Global data on blindness Bull World

Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

the developing countries in Sub-Saharan

Africa and Asia compared to the

developed economies of Europe and

America6

As per the Global data of WHO in 2010

the principal causes of visual impairment

across the world are uncorrected refractive

errors and cataracts which are 43 and

33 respectively Other causes are

glaucoma 2 age related macular

degeneration (AMD) diabetic retinopathy

(DR) trachoma and corneal opacities

(CO) all coming to around 1 each A

large proportion of causes are

undetermined and they constitute around

18 of the causes Blindness on the other

hand is caused by cataract 51

glaucoma 8 AMD 5 childhood

blindness and corneal opacities 4

uncorrected refractive errors and trachoma

3 and diabetic retinopathy 1 and the

undetermined causes leading to huge

chunk of 21 This has been depicted in

the pie chart (Figure 1) It was also found

that most of these conditions could be

avoided either prevented or treated7

6 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761) 7WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

9

Figure 1

Source Global Data on visual Impairments

It was projected that without timely and

appropriate measures to control blindness

the current level of blindness would double

by 2020 resulting in economic losses of

close to US$150 billion to US$250

billion8 This realisation led to the

conceptualisation and launch of VISION

2020 The Right to Sight in 1999 based on

the assessment that a co-ordinated and

collaborative initiative could significantly

8Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of

global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

contain global blindness reducing the

number of blind persons to 24 million in

2020 thereby avoiding a potential 429

million blind person-years

In India most of the visually impaired

population are concentrated in the rural

areas9 Many of these studies also showed

that blindness increased with age was

higher among illiterates lower in urban

areas and higher among females

9Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond

anachronism Lancet 2000 356(Suppl) S25

33

1

18

1

1 1

1

2

42

Causes of visual impairment Cataract

Child hood blindbess

Undetermined

Diabetic Retinopathy

Corneal Opacity

Trachoma

Age related macular degeneration

Glaucoma

Uncorrected refractive errors

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

10

Blindness is thus not a disease or condition

that needs to be just treated

symptomatically It is a social

phenomenon which requires not just

curative intervention but a holistic

approach that addresses the socio

economic conditions which leads to the

marginalization of these people Initially

efforts were merely curative but after the

advent of VISION 2020 attention is being

paid to other areas such as public

education medical training for a larger

cadre of eye-care workers and advocacy at

both the community and government

levels

India has taken some efforts to combat the

problem of visual impairment In 1976

India became the first country to start a

National Program for Control of Blindness

(NPCB)

The other major milestones in the country

with regard to creating a conducive

atmosphere for the blind in this regard

have been given below

Miss Annie Sharp a Christian

missionary from England founded

the first school for the blind in

Amritsar in 1887 By 1944 there

were around 44 schools for the

blind And by the beginning of this

21st century there were around 300

schools for the blind

There was a State level decision to

establish a Braille press to produce

books in Braille in 1923This could

not be implemented due to non-

existence of a uniform Braille code

for Indian languages

A Committee was set up in 1941

by the then Govt of India to

develop a uniform Braille code for

Indian languages

The Report on Blindness in India

(1944) was submitted which is the

basis of most of the services for the

blind today

A Cell in the Ministry of Education

was established in 1946 to promote

education training and

rehabilitation of the blind

Development and acceptance of

ldquoBharthi Braillerdquo a common

Braille code for Indian languages

was finalized in November 1950 It

replaced the earlier codes

The first press for printing Braille

books was established at Dehradun

in 1951

The National Association for the

Blind was formed in 1952 This

gave an organized platform for the

blind

In 1957 first Vocational Training

Centre for the Adult Blind was

established

The first School for the Blind was

established by the Central Govt in

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

11

January 1959 at Rajpur Dehradun

(now located in the campus of

NIVH Dehradun)

First National Library for the Blind

was established by the Central

Government in 1962

Govt of India brought all its

activities for the education training

and rehabilitation of the blind

under one umbrella for better

coordination in 1967 called

National Centre for the Blind

Dehradun

Establishment of the National

Institute for the Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) on 2nd July

1979

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

12

Rationale of the study

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari fought against

his progressive blindness to crack the

much coveted civil services exams

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission of India He had to take up

another protracted struggle to fight against

the rules laid for getting into service His

early life is a testimony of how lack of

awareness social stigma and unthought-of

policy statements could pose impediments

in the life of a differently-abled person

Hence there is a need to document the

problems faced by the person and the

policy implications thereof in order to

create a more disabled friendly

environment It is also necessary to

understand the way he functions and put

them on record so that it acts as a guiding

tool to those suffering from such disability

Objectives of the study

1 To document the early experiences of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari

2 To correlate the problems faced by him

to existing policies

3 To document his working strategies

and methods

4 To prepare a guide ready - reckoner

for related stakeholders

5 To recommend policy interventions to

provide the disabled an equal platform

Deliverables

The study will have the following

outcomes

A case study report which will

highlight the policy level issues and

other societal aspects faced by

differently-abled people

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

13

The story so far

From school education to National

Institute of Visually Handicapped

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari was born in the

year 1981 in a remote village in Ambedkar

Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh He was the

middle child amongst three sons His

father was a marginal farmer who took up

agriculture on a seasonal basis After the

agriculture season he used to work in a

textile mill in Ahmedabad His mother was

a house wife

Krishna Gopal was a normal child and he

entered the formal education system at the

age of 5 Though detection of his problem

of visual impairment through a medical

expert was done much late he had started

experiencing problems with vision very

early in his childhood He had difficulty to

read from the blackboards in his school if

illumination was not proper As a child

Krishna also felt problems of vision at

night But as there was no family history to

arouse any suspicions those lapses were

not taken seriously

It was Krishnarsquos mother who felt some

abnormality in the movements of her son

at night as he kept on colliding with things

every now and then She suggested taking

him to an expert for advice She even

started a daily dose of vitamin A

supplements mistaking his lapses for

common night blindness

But Krishna was fully active during day

time His elder brother who also had the

same problem did not manifest problems

that early And sometime during that

phase he spotted a snake in the field

disproving his motherrsquos apprehensions

On one occasion his father came with

their bull He wanted Krishnasrsquos help in

controlling the bull He asked his son to

take the rope and help him control the bull

But Krishna kept on making blunders as he

was not able to spot the bull in the dark

On another occasion he spotted a rubber

band in a corner further raising questions

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

14

on his motherrsquos suspicions Thus detection

of the disease happened much late

Myopia was also working side by side

with the main disease in his case So he

always had problems with regard to his

vision which he never dared to share with

anybody On cloudy days or in dark class

rooms Krishna was afraid to read from the

blackboard In order to fool people around

he used to fake

Sometimes night classes were arranged by

village teachers for poor students in their

village Krishna too attended them due to

pressure from his family But he could

never concentrate in those classes due to

an overwhelming fear as to how he would

reach home after the classes

He never kept aloof from any games

happening in day time in familiar

circumstances While playing cricket with

his friends he preferred balling and wicket

keeping to batting as he was not able to see

the ball many a times while batting But he

opted to back out from new situations

which demanded good eye hand co-

ordination He rarely ventured out after

sunset

During his fifth standard once while

roaming around with his friends he tried

to pluck a mango from a mango tree at the

instigation of his friends He was not able

to see the mango dangling in the tree But

he was not willing to admit it His friend

aimed at the mango once Krishna gave up

The stone not only missed the mango but

also fell on an unsuspecting Krishna who

failed to see the stone coming towards

him He got hurt in his mouth and lost his

front tooth The incident left an indelible

mark on his face in the literal sense of the

term

When he reached sixth and vision related

problems increased his mother started

raising the alarm once again and this time

more fervently He was finally taken to an

eye specialist 40 kilometres away from his

village

While getting his eyes checked he found

that he was unable to read even a single

alphabet from the chart He was not

willing to admit the same as he thought

that his admission would be presumed as

ignorance of letters As he was sitting in

the room for quite some time listening to

the patients before him he had heard the

On another occasion he fell down

very badly when his father pushed

him away He was unable to assess

the background and as a result lost

balance and fell down

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

15

others read from the chart So he too went

on to read from it largely from memory

than by really seeing what was on it

With correcting lenses he was able to read

69 by his left eye and 612 by his right

eye That was probably the first time

Krishna realized that there was something

wrong with his eyes But he was hopeful

that the right correction could provide him

with the perfect vision

The correction lenses did offer him some

respite in the daytime for the problem of

myopia But nights remained the same

and he did not find any perceptible change

in his night vision

Krishna was eventually detected with

Retinisis Pigmentosa Retinitis

Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of

the eyes that causes loss of

vision Symptoms include trouble seeing at

night and decreased peripheral vision (side

vision) Onset of symptoms is generally

gradual As peripheral vision worsens

people may experience tunnel vision In

the case of Krishna direct vision was

affected first

Despite repeated instances of casualties

intervention was not initiated in Krishnarsquos

case due to three reasons First there was a

communication gap between the child and

his parents due to the stubbornness of the

child in failing to disclose his problems

For example in spite of being repeatedly

thrashed for not being able to assess the

position of the hands in a clock he never

admitted that he was not able to see

properly The same habit of the child was

repeated in the doctorrsquos chamber as he

went on to read the chart in the doctorrsquos

room after hearing others read from it

The second reason was probably the

failure of his parents to appreciate the

situation and third was their inability to

diagnose the problem But in a case as

typical as Krishnarsquos it is doubtful if things

would have been different had his parents

been more educated Even at the level of

the school the teachers too repeatedly

failed to identify the problem

The first doctor who saw Krishna also did

not assess him properly and just stated that

his eyes were weak He prescribed certain

medicines and asked to come for follow up

check-ups on an yearly basis

After his initial eye check-up Krishna

became a front bencher in school which

helped him come up in his studies Later

on he was taken to another specialist in

Ahmedabad who confided to his father that

Krishnarsquos condition was not curable That

was probably the first proper diagnosis of

his condition But his father chose to hide

the issue from him Till 1997 he thus got

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 3: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

3

Contents

1 About

2 Introduction

3 Rationale of the study

4 Objectives of the study

5 The story so far From childhood to National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH)

6 At The National Institute of Visually Handicapped Dehradun

7 Cracking the civil services

8 At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration Mussorie

9 Issues that emerged during the study

10 As a bureaucrat

11 Modus operandi

12 Tools which have helped him

13 Existing legal framework

14 Institutional framework

15 Acknowledgement

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

4

मर और वकत क बीच सवाद

वकत स परशन

ldquoजोड़ता ह टट हए तारो को पर फिर टट जात ह व

सजाता ह ननतय नए सपन पर चर हो जात ह व

लड़ाता ह भान को ननशा स पर हार जात ह व

ननशा त ही बता द फक तरा हरण कस कर

बता द वकत त ही मझ तरा सामना कस करrdquo

(शरी कषणा गोपाल नतवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

5

About

India is home to one-fifth of the worldrsquos

visually impaired people1 Disability be it

of any type has a definite impact on the

socio economic spectrum There have been

various studies correlating the nexus

between poverty and blindness and the

related economic cost incurred by the

nations Topping it all is the emotional

price of the person dealing with the

problem of blindness Considering the

dimensions of the issue Atal Bihari

Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance

and Policy Analysis decided to look into

the subject from a phenomenological

perspective to bring out the concerns faced

by the blind people and our readiness as a

nation to deal with them The case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari is a fit example to

bring out the nuances of the problem in an

in-depth manner and discuss the possible

solutions in the light of the existing legal

and institutional framework of the country

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari is an IAS

officer of 2008 batch borne on Madhya

Pradesh cadre Coming from a humble

background and compounded with a visual

disability he went on to crack civil

1Blindness and poverty in India- The way forward

Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli

Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906

October 2007

services examination which is assumed to

be one of the toughest examinations in

India

He turned completely blind during

graduation days due to progressive

Retinitis Pigmentosa Nevertheless he

remained unfazed and fought all odds to

secure a rank of 142 in the exam

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission in 2007 In the process not

only did he emerge ahead of 592 normal

candidates but also scripted a tale of grit

and persistence Though his story serves as

an inspiration to many differently-abled

people in the country it also raises certain

pertinent questions on our policies for

visually impaired people

The institute decided to take up the case of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari to document

the issues faced by him and correlate them

with the current policy scenario The

exercise would be done through case study

method Using this method we intend to

reach the general through the particular

This phenomenological study lays more

importance to subjective experience in

order to highlight the problems faced by

the visually impaired in general

In this report we first travel through the

life story of Shri Tiwari In the next step

we identify the issues faced by him and

then try to corroborate them with the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

6

existing policy framework In the third

section corrective measures based on the

analysis will be suggested The outcome of

this study is a report and a set of

recommendations for identified

stakeholders to deal with the visually

disabled people in a sensitive manner

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

7

Introduction

As per Census 2011 in India out of the

121 Crore population about 268 Crore

persons are lsquodisabledrsquo which is 221 of

the total population Among the disabled

population 56 (15 Crore) are males and

44 (118 Crore) are females Majority

(69) of the disabled population reside in

rural areas (186 Crore disabled persons

are in rural areas and 081 Crore are in

urban areas)

Coming to the types of disability 19 of

the 268 Crore have problems of vision

Amongst the 15 Crore disabled males

18 have disability of vision

The disability among children is also a

matter of serious concern as it has wider

implications The Census 2011 showed

that in India 2042 lakhs children aged 0-

6 years are disabled Thus one in every

100 children in the age group 0-6 years

suffered from some type of disability

23 of the disabled children (0-6 years)

are having disability in hearing 30 in

seeing and 10 in movement 7 of the

disabled children have multiple

disabilities2

2 Census Data 2011

In many instances such a disability

deprives the affected person a fair chance

of access to livelihood Conversely there

is an increased prevalence of risk among

the socially and economically

marginalized groups to beget disabilities

This has been argued in many studies done

previously Of the 600 million people with

disabilities worldwide 82 percent live

below the poverty line and 20 percent

belong to the lsquopoorest of the poorrsquo3

Blindness is an important part of the

disability spectrum affecting almost 161

million worldwide4 The Personrsquos with

Disability Act 2016 defines visual

impairment thus (a) ldquoblindnessrdquo means a

condition where a person has any of the

following conditions after best

correctionmdash (i) total absence of sight or

(ii) visual acuity less than 360 or less than

10200 (Snellen) in the better eye with the

best possible correction or (iii) limitation

of the field of vision subtending an angle

of less than 10 degree (b) ldquolow-visionrdquo

3IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available

at VISION 2020 website

4Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D KocurI

Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP MariottiSP

Global data on visual impairment in theyear 2002

Bull World Health Organ 2004 82844ndash851

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

8

means a condition where a person has any

of the following conditions namely (i)

visual acuity not exceeding 618 or less

than 2060 up to 360 or up to 10200

(Snellen) in the better eye with the best

possible corrections or (ii) limitation of

the field of vision subtending an angle of

less than 40 degree up to 10 degree

The economic burden of blindness in

India as calculated by Shamanna

Dandona and Rao (1997) using the cost-

of-illness methodology was US$44billion

The cumulative loss over the life time of

the blind was estimated at US$774billion

In yet another analysis the International

Agency for the Prevention of Blindness

argues that seven of the eight Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) are related to

the implementation of VISION 2020 and

several factors that exacerbate conditions

of poverty and disempowerment can be

impacted by prevention of blindness

measures

The first systematically obtained global

data on blindness in 19955 indicated an

inverse relationship between prevalence of

blindness and economic development This

is substantiated by the incidence of a

higher share of the burden of blindness in

5Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram

RDadzie KY Global data on blindness Bull World

Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

the developing countries in Sub-Saharan

Africa and Asia compared to the

developed economies of Europe and

America6

As per the Global data of WHO in 2010

the principal causes of visual impairment

across the world are uncorrected refractive

errors and cataracts which are 43 and

33 respectively Other causes are

glaucoma 2 age related macular

degeneration (AMD) diabetic retinopathy

(DR) trachoma and corneal opacities

(CO) all coming to around 1 each A

large proportion of causes are

undetermined and they constitute around

18 of the causes Blindness on the other

hand is caused by cataract 51

glaucoma 8 AMD 5 childhood

blindness and corneal opacities 4

uncorrected refractive errors and trachoma

3 and diabetic retinopathy 1 and the

undetermined causes leading to huge

chunk of 21 This has been depicted in

the pie chart (Figure 1) It was also found

that most of these conditions could be

avoided either prevented or treated7

6 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761) 7WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

9

Figure 1

Source Global Data on visual Impairments

It was projected that without timely and

appropriate measures to control blindness

the current level of blindness would double

by 2020 resulting in economic losses of

close to US$150 billion to US$250

billion8 This realisation led to the

conceptualisation and launch of VISION

2020 The Right to Sight in 1999 based on

the assessment that a co-ordinated and

collaborative initiative could significantly

8Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of

global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

contain global blindness reducing the

number of blind persons to 24 million in

2020 thereby avoiding a potential 429

million blind person-years

In India most of the visually impaired

population are concentrated in the rural

areas9 Many of these studies also showed

that blindness increased with age was

higher among illiterates lower in urban

areas and higher among females

9Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond

anachronism Lancet 2000 356(Suppl) S25

33

1

18

1

1 1

1

2

42

Causes of visual impairment Cataract

Child hood blindbess

Undetermined

Diabetic Retinopathy

Corneal Opacity

Trachoma

Age related macular degeneration

Glaucoma

Uncorrected refractive errors

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

10

Blindness is thus not a disease or condition

that needs to be just treated

symptomatically It is a social

phenomenon which requires not just

curative intervention but a holistic

approach that addresses the socio

economic conditions which leads to the

marginalization of these people Initially

efforts were merely curative but after the

advent of VISION 2020 attention is being

paid to other areas such as public

education medical training for a larger

cadre of eye-care workers and advocacy at

both the community and government

levels

India has taken some efforts to combat the

problem of visual impairment In 1976

India became the first country to start a

National Program for Control of Blindness

(NPCB)

The other major milestones in the country

with regard to creating a conducive

atmosphere for the blind in this regard

have been given below

Miss Annie Sharp a Christian

missionary from England founded

the first school for the blind in

Amritsar in 1887 By 1944 there

were around 44 schools for the

blind And by the beginning of this

21st century there were around 300

schools for the blind

There was a State level decision to

establish a Braille press to produce

books in Braille in 1923This could

not be implemented due to non-

existence of a uniform Braille code

for Indian languages

A Committee was set up in 1941

by the then Govt of India to

develop a uniform Braille code for

Indian languages

The Report on Blindness in India

(1944) was submitted which is the

basis of most of the services for the

blind today

A Cell in the Ministry of Education

was established in 1946 to promote

education training and

rehabilitation of the blind

Development and acceptance of

ldquoBharthi Braillerdquo a common

Braille code for Indian languages

was finalized in November 1950 It

replaced the earlier codes

The first press for printing Braille

books was established at Dehradun

in 1951

The National Association for the

Blind was formed in 1952 This

gave an organized platform for the

blind

In 1957 first Vocational Training

Centre for the Adult Blind was

established

The first School for the Blind was

established by the Central Govt in

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

11

January 1959 at Rajpur Dehradun

(now located in the campus of

NIVH Dehradun)

First National Library for the Blind

was established by the Central

Government in 1962

Govt of India brought all its

activities for the education training

and rehabilitation of the blind

under one umbrella for better

coordination in 1967 called

National Centre for the Blind

Dehradun

Establishment of the National

Institute for the Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) on 2nd July

1979

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

12

Rationale of the study

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari fought against

his progressive blindness to crack the

much coveted civil services exams

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission of India He had to take up

another protracted struggle to fight against

the rules laid for getting into service His

early life is a testimony of how lack of

awareness social stigma and unthought-of

policy statements could pose impediments

in the life of a differently-abled person

Hence there is a need to document the

problems faced by the person and the

policy implications thereof in order to

create a more disabled friendly

environment It is also necessary to

understand the way he functions and put

them on record so that it acts as a guiding

tool to those suffering from such disability

Objectives of the study

1 To document the early experiences of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari

2 To correlate the problems faced by him

to existing policies

3 To document his working strategies

and methods

4 To prepare a guide ready - reckoner

for related stakeholders

5 To recommend policy interventions to

provide the disabled an equal platform

Deliverables

The study will have the following

outcomes

A case study report which will

highlight the policy level issues and

other societal aspects faced by

differently-abled people

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

13

The story so far

From school education to National

Institute of Visually Handicapped

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari was born in the

year 1981 in a remote village in Ambedkar

Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh He was the

middle child amongst three sons His

father was a marginal farmer who took up

agriculture on a seasonal basis After the

agriculture season he used to work in a

textile mill in Ahmedabad His mother was

a house wife

Krishna Gopal was a normal child and he

entered the formal education system at the

age of 5 Though detection of his problem

of visual impairment through a medical

expert was done much late he had started

experiencing problems with vision very

early in his childhood He had difficulty to

read from the blackboards in his school if

illumination was not proper As a child

Krishna also felt problems of vision at

night But as there was no family history to

arouse any suspicions those lapses were

not taken seriously

It was Krishnarsquos mother who felt some

abnormality in the movements of her son

at night as he kept on colliding with things

every now and then She suggested taking

him to an expert for advice She even

started a daily dose of vitamin A

supplements mistaking his lapses for

common night blindness

But Krishna was fully active during day

time His elder brother who also had the

same problem did not manifest problems

that early And sometime during that

phase he spotted a snake in the field

disproving his motherrsquos apprehensions

On one occasion his father came with

their bull He wanted Krishnasrsquos help in

controlling the bull He asked his son to

take the rope and help him control the bull

But Krishna kept on making blunders as he

was not able to spot the bull in the dark

On another occasion he spotted a rubber

band in a corner further raising questions

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

14

on his motherrsquos suspicions Thus detection

of the disease happened much late

Myopia was also working side by side

with the main disease in his case So he

always had problems with regard to his

vision which he never dared to share with

anybody On cloudy days or in dark class

rooms Krishna was afraid to read from the

blackboard In order to fool people around

he used to fake

Sometimes night classes were arranged by

village teachers for poor students in their

village Krishna too attended them due to

pressure from his family But he could

never concentrate in those classes due to

an overwhelming fear as to how he would

reach home after the classes

He never kept aloof from any games

happening in day time in familiar

circumstances While playing cricket with

his friends he preferred balling and wicket

keeping to batting as he was not able to see

the ball many a times while batting But he

opted to back out from new situations

which demanded good eye hand co-

ordination He rarely ventured out after

sunset

During his fifth standard once while

roaming around with his friends he tried

to pluck a mango from a mango tree at the

instigation of his friends He was not able

to see the mango dangling in the tree But

he was not willing to admit it His friend

aimed at the mango once Krishna gave up

The stone not only missed the mango but

also fell on an unsuspecting Krishna who

failed to see the stone coming towards

him He got hurt in his mouth and lost his

front tooth The incident left an indelible

mark on his face in the literal sense of the

term

When he reached sixth and vision related

problems increased his mother started

raising the alarm once again and this time

more fervently He was finally taken to an

eye specialist 40 kilometres away from his

village

While getting his eyes checked he found

that he was unable to read even a single

alphabet from the chart He was not

willing to admit the same as he thought

that his admission would be presumed as

ignorance of letters As he was sitting in

the room for quite some time listening to

the patients before him he had heard the

On another occasion he fell down

very badly when his father pushed

him away He was unable to assess

the background and as a result lost

balance and fell down

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

15

others read from the chart So he too went

on to read from it largely from memory

than by really seeing what was on it

With correcting lenses he was able to read

69 by his left eye and 612 by his right

eye That was probably the first time

Krishna realized that there was something

wrong with his eyes But he was hopeful

that the right correction could provide him

with the perfect vision

The correction lenses did offer him some

respite in the daytime for the problem of

myopia But nights remained the same

and he did not find any perceptible change

in his night vision

Krishna was eventually detected with

Retinisis Pigmentosa Retinitis

Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of

the eyes that causes loss of

vision Symptoms include trouble seeing at

night and decreased peripheral vision (side

vision) Onset of symptoms is generally

gradual As peripheral vision worsens

people may experience tunnel vision In

the case of Krishna direct vision was

affected first

Despite repeated instances of casualties

intervention was not initiated in Krishnarsquos

case due to three reasons First there was a

communication gap between the child and

his parents due to the stubbornness of the

child in failing to disclose his problems

For example in spite of being repeatedly

thrashed for not being able to assess the

position of the hands in a clock he never

admitted that he was not able to see

properly The same habit of the child was

repeated in the doctorrsquos chamber as he

went on to read the chart in the doctorrsquos

room after hearing others read from it

The second reason was probably the

failure of his parents to appreciate the

situation and third was their inability to

diagnose the problem But in a case as

typical as Krishnarsquos it is doubtful if things

would have been different had his parents

been more educated Even at the level of

the school the teachers too repeatedly

failed to identify the problem

The first doctor who saw Krishna also did

not assess him properly and just stated that

his eyes were weak He prescribed certain

medicines and asked to come for follow up

check-ups on an yearly basis

After his initial eye check-up Krishna

became a front bencher in school which

helped him come up in his studies Later

on he was taken to another specialist in

Ahmedabad who confided to his father that

Krishnarsquos condition was not curable That

was probably the first proper diagnosis of

his condition But his father chose to hide

the issue from him Till 1997 he thus got

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 4: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

4

मर और वकत क बीच सवाद

वकत स परशन

ldquoजोड़ता ह टट हए तारो को पर फिर टट जात ह व

सजाता ह ननतय नए सपन पर चर हो जात ह व

लड़ाता ह भान को ननशा स पर हार जात ह व

ननशा त ही बता द फक तरा हरण कस कर

बता द वकत त ही मझ तरा सामना कस करrdquo

(शरी कषणा गोपाल नतवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

5

About

India is home to one-fifth of the worldrsquos

visually impaired people1 Disability be it

of any type has a definite impact on the

socio economic spectrum There have been

various studies correlating the nexus

between poverty and blindness and the

related economic cost incurred by the

nations Topping it all is the emotional

price of the person dealing with the

problem of blindness Considering the

dimensions of the issue Atal Bihari

Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance

and Policy Analysis decided to look into

the subject from a phenomenological

perspective to bring out the concerns faced

by the blind people and our readiness as a

nation to deal with them The case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari is a fit example to

bring out the nuances of the problem in an

in-depth manner and discuss the possible

solutions in the light of the existing legal

and institutional framework of the country

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari is an IAS

officer of 2008 batch borne on Madhya

Pradesh cadre Coming from a humble

background and compounded with a visual

disability he went on to crack civil

1Blindness and poverty in India- The way forward

Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli

Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906

October 2007

services examination which is assumed to

be one of the toughest examinations in

India

He turned completely blind during

graduation days due to progressive

Retinitis Pigmentosa Nevertheless he

remained unfazed and fought all odds to

secure a rank of 142 in the exam

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission in 2007 In the process not

only did he emerge ahead of 592 normal

candidates but also scripted a tale of grit

and persistence Though his story serves as

an inspiration to many differently-abled

people in the country it also raises certain

pertinent questions on our policies for

visually impaired people

The institute decided to take up the case of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari to document

the issues faced by him and correlate them

with the current policy scenario The

exercise would be done through case study

method Using this method we intend to

reach the general through the particular

This phenomenological study lays more

importance to subjective experience in

order to highlight the problems faced by

the visually impaired in general

In this report we first travel through the

life story of Shri Tiwari In the next step

we identify the issues faced by him and

then try to corroborate them with the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

6

existing policy framework In the third

section corrective measures based on the

analysis will be suggested The outcome of

this study is a report and a set of

recommendations for identified

stakeholders to deal with the visually

disabled people in a sensitive manner

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

7

Introduction

As per Census 2011 in India out of the

121 Crore population about 268 Crore

persons are lsquodisabledrsquo which is 221 of

the total population Among the disabled

population 56 (15 Crore) are males and

44 (118 Crore) are females Majority

(69) of the disabled population reside in

rural areas (186 Crore disabled persons

are in rural areas and 081 Crore are in

urban areas)

Coming to the types of disability 19 of

the 268 Crore have problems of vision

Amongst the 15 Crore disabled males

18 have disability of vision

The disability among children is also a

matter of serious concern as it has wider

implications The Census 2011 showed

that in India 2042 lakhs children aged 0-

6 years are disabled Thus one in every

100 children in the age group 0-6 years

suffered from some type of disability

23 of the disabled children (0-6 years)

are having disability in hearing 30 in

seeing and 10 in movement 7 of the

disabled children have multiple

disabilities2

2 Census Data 2011

In many instances such a disability

deprives the affected person a fair chance

of access to livelihood Conversely there

is an increased prevalence of risk among

the socially and economically

marginalized groups to beget disabilities

This has been argued in many studies done

previously Of the 600 million people with

disabilities worldwide 82 percent live

below the poverty line and 20 percent

belong to the lsquopoorest of the poorrsquo3

Blindness is an important part of the

disability spectrum affecting almost 161

million worldwide4 The Personrsquos with

Disability Act 2016 defines visual

impairment thus (a) ldquoblindnessrdquo means a

condition where a person has any of the

following conditions after best

correctionmdash (i) total absence of sight or

(ii) visual acuity less than 360 or less than

10200 (Snellen) in the better eye with the

best possible correction or (iii) limitation

of the field of vision subtending an angle

of less than 10 degree (b) ldquolow-visionrdquo

3IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available

at VISION 2020 website

4Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D KocurI

Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP MariottiSP

Global data on visual impairment in theyear 2002

Bull World Health Organ 2004 82844ndash851

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

8

means a condition where a person has any

of the following conditions namely (i)

visual acuity not exceeding 618 or less

than 2060 up to 360 or up to 10200

(Snellen) in the better eye with the best

possible corrections or (ii) limitation of

the field of vision subtending an angle of

less than 40 degree up to 10 degree

The economic burden of blindness in

India as calculated by Shamanna

Dandona and Rao (1997) using the cost-

of-illness methodology was US$44billion

The cumulative loss over the life time of

the blind was estimated at US$774billion

In yet another analysis the International

Agency for the Prevention of Blindness

argues that seven of the eight Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) are related to

the implementation of VISION 2020 and

several factors that exacerbate conditions

of poverty and disempowerment can be

impacted by prevention of blindness

measures

The first systematically obtained global

data on blindness in 19955 indicated an

inverse relationship between prevalence of

blindness and economic development This

is substantiated by the incidence of a

higher share of the burden of blindness in

5Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram

RDadzie KY Global data on blindness Bull World

Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

the developing countries in Sub-Saharan

Africa and Asia compared to the

developed economies of Europe and

America6

As per the Global data of WHO in 2010

the principal causes of visual impairment

across the world are uncorrected refractive

errors and cataracts which are 43 and

33 respectively Other causes are

glaucoma 2 age related macular

degeneration (AMD) diabetic retinopathy

(DR) trachoma and corneal opacities

(CO) all coming to around 1 each A

large proportion of causes are

undetermined and they constitute around

18 of the causes Blindness on the other

hand is caused by cataract 51

glaucoma 8 AMD 5 childhood

blindness and corneal opacities 4

uncorrected refractive errors and trachoma

3 and diabetic retinopathy 1 and the

undetermined causes leading to huge

chunk of 21 This has been depicted in

the pie chart (Figure 1) It was also found

that most of these conditions could be

avoided either prevented or treated7

6 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761) 7WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

9

Figure 1

Source Global Data on visual Impairments

It was projected that without timely and

appropriate measures to control blindness

the current level of blindness would double

by 2020 resulting in economic losses of

close to US$150 billion to US$250

billion8 This realisation led to the

conceptualisation and launch of VISION

2020 The Right to Sight in 1999 based on

the assessment that a co-ordinated and

collaborative initiative could significantly

8Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of

global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

contain global blindness reducing the

number of blind persons to 24 million in

2020 thereby avoiding a potential 429

million blind person-years

In India most of the visually impaired

population are concentrated in the rural

areas9 Many of these studies also showed

that blindness increased with age was

higher among illiterates lower in urban

areas and higher among females

9Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond

anachronism Lancet 2000 356(Suppl) S25

33

1

18

1

1 1

1

2

42

Causes of visual impairment Cataract

Child hood blindbess

Undetermined

Diabetic Retinopathy

Corneal Opacity

Trachoma

Age related macular degeneration

Glaucoma

Uncorrected refractive errors

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

10

Blindness is thus not a disease or condition

that needs to be just treated

symptomatically It is a social

phenomenon which requires not just

curative intervention but a holistic

approach that addresses the socio

economic conditions which leads to the

marginalization of these people Initially

efforts were merely curative but after the

advent of VISION 2020 attention is being

paid to other areas such as public

education medical training for a larger

cadre of eye-care workers and advocacy at

both the community and government

levels

India has taken some efforts to combat the

problem of visual impairment In 1976

India became the first country to start a

National Program for Control of Blindness

(NPCB)

The other major milestones in the country

with regard to creating a conducive

atmosphere for the blind in this regard

have been given below

Miss Annie Sharp a Christian

missionary from England founded

the first school for the blind in

Amritsar in 1887 By 1944 there

were around 44 schools for the

blind And by the beginning of this

21st century there were around 300

schools for the blind

There was a State level decision to

establish a Braille press to produce

books in Braille in 1923This could

not be implemented due to non-

existence of a uniform Braille code

for Indian languages

A Committee was set up in 1941

by the then Govt of India to

develop a uniform Braille code for

Indian languages

The Report on Blindness in India

(1944) was submitted which is the

basis of most of the services for the

blind today

A Cell in the Ministry of Education

was established in 1946 to promote

education training and

rehabilitation of the blind

Development and acceptance of

ldquoBharthi Braillerdquo a common

Braille code for Indian languages

was finalized in November 1950 It

replaced the earlier codes

The first press for printing Braille

books was established at Dehradun

in 1951

The National Association for the

Blind was formed in 1952 This

gave an organized platform for the

blind

In 1957 first Vocational Training

Centre for the Adult Blind was

established

The first School for the Blind was

established by the Central Govt in

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

11

January 1959 at Rajpur Dehradun

(now located in the campus of

NIVH Dehradun)

First National Library for the Blind

was established by the Central

Government in 1962

Govt of India brought all its

activities for the education training

and rehabilitation of the blind

under one umbrella for better

coordination in 1967 called

National Centre for the Blind

Dehradun

Establishment of the National

Institute for the Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) on 2nd July

1979

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

12

Rationale of the study

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari fought against

his progressive blindness to crack the

much coveted civil services exams

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission of India He had to take up

another protracted struggle to fight against

the rules laid for getting into service His

early life is a testimony of how lack of

awareness social stigma and unthought-of

policy statements could pose impediments

in the life of a differently-abled person

Hence there is a need to document the

problems faced by the person and the

policy implications thereof in order to

create a more disabled friendly

environment It is also necessary to

understand the way he functions and put

them on record so that it acts as a guiding

tool to those suffering from such disability

Objectives of the study

1 To document the early experiences of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari

2 To correlate the problems faced by him

to existing policies

3 To document his working strategies

and methods

4 To prepare a guide ready - reckoner

for related stakeholders

5 To recommend policy interventions to

provide the disabled an equal platform

Deliverables

The study will have the following

outcomes

A case study report which will

highlight the policy level issues and

other societal aspects faced by

differently-abled people

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

13

The story so far

From school education to National

Institute of Visually Handicapped

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari was born in the

year 1981 in a remote village in Ambedkar

Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh He was the

middle child amongst three sons His

father was a marginal farmer who took up

agriculture on a seasonal basis After the

agriculture season he used to work in a

textile mill in Ahmedabad His mother was

a house wife

Krishna Gopal was a normal child and he

entered the formal education system at the

age of 5 Though detection of his problem

of visual impairment through a medical

expert was done much late he had started

experiencing problems with vision very

early in his childhood He had difficulty to

read from the blackboards in his school if

illumination was not proper As a child

Krishna also felt problems of vision at

night But as there was no family history to

arouse any suspicions those lapses were

not taken seriously

It was Krishnarsquos mother who felt some

abnormality in the movements of her son

at night as he kept on colliding with things

every now and then She suggested taking

him to an expert for advice She even

started a daily dose of vitamin A

supplements mistaking his lapses for

common night blindness

But Krishna was fully active during day

time His elder brother who also had the

same problem did not manifest problems

that early And sometime during that

phase he spotted a snake in the field

disproving his motherrsquos apprehensions

On one occasion his father came with

their bull He wanted Krishnasrsquos help in

controlling the bull He asked his son to

take the rope and help him control the bull

But Krishna kept on making blunders as he

was not able to spot the bull in the dark

On another occasion he spotted a rubber

band in a corner further raising questions

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

14

on his motherrsquos suspicions Thus detection

of the disease happened much late

Myopia was also working side by side

with the main disease in his case So he

always had problems with regard to his

vision which he never dared to share with

anybody On cloudy days or in dark class

rooms Krishna was afraid to read from the

blackboard In order to fool people around

he used to fake

Sometimes night classes were arranged by

village teachers for poor students in their

village Krishna too attended them due to

pressure from his family But he could

never concentrate in those classes due to

an overwhelming fear as to how he would

reach home after the classes

He never kept aloof from any games

happening in day time in familiar

circumstances While playing cricket with

his friends he preferred balling and wicket

keeping to batting as he was not able to see

the ball many a times while batting But he

opted to back out from new situations

which demanded good eye hand co-

ordination He rarely ventured out after

sunset

During his fifth standard once while

roaming around with his friends he tried

to pluck a mango from a mango tree at the

instigation of his friends He was not able

to see the mango dangling in the tree But

he was not willing to admit it His friend

aimed at the mango once Krishna gave up

The stone not only missed the mango but

also fell on an unsuspecting Krishna who

failed to see the stone coming towards

him He got hurt in his mouth and lost his

front tooth The incident left an indelible

mark on his face in the literal sense of the

term

When he reached sixth and vision related

problems increased his mother started

raising the alarm once again and this time

more fervently He was finally taken to an

eye specialist 40 kilometres away from his

village

While getting his eyes checked he found

that he was unable to read even a single

alphabet from the chart He was not

willing to admit the same as he thought

that his admission would be presumed as

ignorance of letters As he was sitting in

the room for quite some time listening to

the patients before him he had heard the

On another occasion he fell down

very badly when his father pushed

him away He was unable to assess

the background and as a result lost

balance and fell down

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

15

others read from the chart So he too went

on to read from it largely from memory

than by really seeing what was on it

With correcting lenses he was able to read

69 by his left eye and 612 by his right

eye That was probably the first time

Krishna realized that there was something

wrong with his eyes But he was hopeful

that the right correction could provide him

with the perfect vision

The correction lenses did offer him some

respite in the daytime for the problem of

myopia But nights remained the same

and he did not find any perceptible change

in his night vision

Krishna was eventually detected with

Retinisis Pigmentosa Retinitis

Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of

the eyes that causes loss of

vision Symptoms include trouble seeing at

night and decreased peripheral vision (side

vision) Onset of symptoms is generally

gradual As peripheral vision worsens

people may experience tunnel vision In

the case of Krishna direct vision was

affected first

Despite repeated instances of casualties

intervention was not initiated in Krishnarsquos

case due to three reasons First there was a

communication gap between the child and

his parents due to the stubbornness of the

child in failing to disclose his problems

For example in spite of being repeatedly

thrashed for not being able to assess the

position of the hands in a clock he never

admitted that he was not able to see

properly The same habit of the child was

repeated in the doctorrsquos chamber as he

went on to read the chart in the doctorrsquos

room after hearing others read from it

The second reason was probably the

failure of his parents to appreciate the

situation and third was their inability to

diagnose the problem But in a case as

typical as Krishnarsquos it is doubtful if things

would have been different had his parents

been more educated Even at the level of

the school the teachers too repeatedly

failed to identify the problem

The first doctor who saw Krishna also did

not assess him properly and just stated that

his eyes were weak He prescribed certain

medicines and asked to come for follow up

check-ups on an yearly basis

After his initial eye check-up Krishna

became a front bencher in school which

helped him come up in his studies Later

on he was taken to another specialist in

Ahmedabad who confided to his father that

Krishnarsquos condition was not curable That

was probably the first proper diagnosis of

his condition But his father chose to hide

the issue from him Till 1997 he thus got

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 5: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

5

About

India is home to one-fifth of the worldrsquos

visually impaired people1 Disability be it

of any type has a definite impact on the

socio economic spectrum There have been

various studies correlating the nexus

between poverty and blindness and the

related economic cost incurred by the

nations Topping it all is the emotional

price of the person dealing with the

problem of blindness Considering the

dimensions of the issue Atal Bihari

Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance

and Policy Analysis decided to look into

the subject from a phenomenological

perspective to bring out the concerns faced

by the blind people and our readiness as a

nation to deal with them The case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari is a fit example to

bring out the nuances of the problem in an

in-depth manner and discuss the possible

solutions in the light of the existing legal

and institutional framework of the country

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari is an IAS

officer of 2008 batch borne on Madhya

Pradesh cadre Coming from a humble

background and compounded with a visual

disability he went on to crack civil

1Blindness and poverty in India- The way forward

Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli

Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906

October 2007

services examination which is assumed to

be one of the toughest examinations in

India

He turned completely blind during

graduation days due to progressive

Retinitis Pigmentosa Nevertheless he

remained unfazed and fought all odds to

secure a rank of 142 in the exam

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission in 2007 In the process not

only did he emerge ahead of 592 normal

candidates but also scripted a tale of grit

and persistence Though his story serves as

an inspiration to many differently-abled

people in the country it also raises certain

pertinent questions on our policies for

visually impaired people

The institute decided to take up the case of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari to document

the issues faced by him and correlate them

with the current policy scenario The

exercise would be done through case study

method Using this method we intend to

reach the general through the particular

This phenomenological study lays more

importance to subjective experience in

order to highlight the problems faced by

the visually impaired in general

In this report we first travel through the

life story of Shri Tiwari In the next step

we identify the issues faced by him and

then try to corroborate them with the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

6

existing policy framework In the third

section corrective measures based on the

analysis will be suggested The outcome of

this study is a report and a set of

recommendations for identified

stakeholders to deal with the visually

disabled people in a sensitive manner

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

7

Introduction

As per Census 2011 in India out of the

121 Crore population about 268 Crore

persons are lsquodisabledrsquo which is 221 of

the total population Among the disabled

population 56 (15 Crore) are males and

44 (118 Crore) are females Majority

(69) of the disabled population reside in

rural areas (186 Crore disabled persons

are in rural areas and 081 Crore are in

urban areas)

Coming to the types of disability 19 of

the 268 Crore have problems of vision

Amongst the 15 Crore disabled males

18 have disability of vision

The disability among children is also a

matter of serious concern as it has wider

implications The Census 2011 showed

that in India 2042 lakhs children aged 0-

6 years are disabled Thus one in every

100 children in the age group 0-6 years

suffered from some type of disability

23 of the disabled children (0-6 years)

are having disability in hearing 30 in

seeing and 10 in movement 7 of the

disabled children have multiple

disabilities2

2 Census Data 2011

In many instances such a disability

deprives the affected person a fair chance

of access to livelihood Conversely there

is an increased prevalence of risk among

the socially and economically

marginalized groups to beget disabilities

This has been argued in many studies done

previously Of the 600 million people with

disabilities worldwide 82 percent live

below the poverty line and 20 percent

belong to the lsquopoorest of the poorrsquo3

Blindness is an important part of the

disability spectrum affecting almost 161

million worldwide4 The Personrsquos with

Disability Act 2016 defines visual

impairment thus (a) ldquoblindnessrdquo means a

condition where a person has any of the

following conditions after best

correctionmdash (i) total absence of sight or

(ii) visual acuity less than 360 or less than

10200 (Snellen) in the better eye with the

best possible correction or (iii) limitation

of the field of vision subtending an angle

of less than 10 degree (b) ldquolow-visionrdquo

3IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available

at VISION 2020 website

4Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D KocurI

Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP MariottiSP

Global data on visual impairment in theyear 2002

Bull World Health Organ 2004 82844ndash851

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

8

means a condition where a person has any

of the following conditions namely (i)

visual acuity not exceeding 618 or less

than 2060 up to 360 or up to 10200

(Snellen) in the better eye with the best

possible corrections or (ii) limitation of

the field of vision subtending an angle of

less than 40 degree up to 10 degree

The economic burden of blindness in

India as calculated by Shamanna

Dandona and Rao (1997) using the cost-

of-illness methodology was US$44billion

The cumulative loss over the life time of

the blind was estimated at US$774billion

In yet another analysis the International

Agency for the Prevention of Blindness

argues that seven of the eight Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) are related to

the implementation of VISION 2020 and

several factors that exacerbate conditions

of poverty and disempowerment can be

impacted by prevention of blindness

measures

The first systematically obtained global

data on blindness in 19955 indicated an

inverse relationship between prevalence of

blindness and economic development This

is substantiated by the incidence of a

higher share of the burden of blindness in

5Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram

RDadzie KY Global data on blindness Bull World

Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

the developing countries in Sub-Saharan

Africa and Asia compared to the

developed economies of Europe and

America6

As per the Global data of WHO in 2010

the principal causes of visual impairment

across the world are uncorrected refractive

errors and cataracts which are 43 and

33 respectively Other causes are

glaucoma 2 age related macular

degeneration (AMD) diabetic retinopathy

(DR) trachoma and corneal opacities

(CO) all coming to around 1 each A

large proportion of causes are

undetermined and they constitute around

18 of the causes Blindness on the other

hand is caused by cataract 51

glaucoma 8 AMD 5 childhood

blindness and corneal opacities 4

uncorrected refractive errors and trachoma

3 and diabetic retinopathy 1 and the

undetermined causes leading to huge

chunk of 21 This has been depicted in

the pie chart (Figure 1) It was also found

that most of these conditions could be

avoided either prevented or treated7

6 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761) 7WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

9

Figure 1

Source Global Data on visual Impairments

It was projected that without timely and

appropriate measures to control blindness

the current level of blindness would double

by 2020 resulting in economic losses of

close to US$150 billion to US$250

billion8 This realisation led to the

conceptualisation and launch of VISION

2020 The Right to Sight in 1999 based on

the assessment that a co-ordinated and

collaborative initiative could significantly

8Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of

global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

contain global blindness reducing the

number of blind persons to 24 million in

2020 thereby avoiding a potential 429

million blind person-years

In India most of the visually impaired

population are concentrated in the rural

areas9 Many of these studies also showed

that blindness increased with age was

higher among illiterates lower in urban

areas and higher among females

9Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond

anachronism Lancet 2000 356(Suppl) S25

33

1

18

1

1 1

1

2

42

Causes of visual impairment Cataract

Child hood blindbess

Undetermined

Diabetic Retinopathy

Corneal Opacity

Trachoma

Age related macular degeneration

Glaucoma

Uncorrected refractive errors

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

10

Blindness is thus not a disease or condition

that needs to be just treated

symptomatically It is a social

phenomenon which requires not just

curative intervention but a holistic

approach that addresses the socio

economic conditions which leads to the

marginalization of these people Initially

efforts were merely curative but after the

advent of VISION 2020 attention is being

paid to other areas such as public

education medical training for a larger

cadre of eye-care workers and advocacy at

both the community and government

levels

India has taken some efforts to combat the

problem of visual impairment In 1976

India became the first country to start a

National Program for Control of Blindness

(NPCB)

The other major milestones in the country

with regard to creating a conducive

atmosphere for the blind in this regard

have been given below

Miss Annie Sharp a Christian

missionary from England founded

the first school for the blind in

Amritsar in 1887 By 1944 there

were around 44 schools for the

blind And by the beginning of this

21st century there were around 300

schools for the blind

There was a State level decision to

establish a Braille press to produce

books in Braille in 1923This could

not be implemented due to non-

existence of a uniform Braille code

for Indian languages

A Committee was set up in 1941

by the then Govt of India to

develop a uniform Braille code for

Indian languages

The Report on Blindness in India

(1944) was submitted which is the

basis of most of the services for the

blind today

A Cell in the Ministry of Education

was established in 1946 to promote

education training and

rehabilitation of the blind

Development and acceptance of

ldquoBharthi Braillerdquo a common

Braille code for Indian languages

was finalized in November 1950 It

replaced the earlier codes

The first press for printing Braille

books was established at Dehradun

in 1951

The National Association for the

Blind was formed in 1952 This

gave an organized platform for the

blind

In 1957 first Vocational Training

Centre for the Adult Blind was

established

The first School for the Blind was

established by the Central Govt in

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

11

January 1959 at Rajpur Dehradun

(now located in the campus of

NIVH Dehradun)

First National Library for the Blind

was established by the Central

Government in 1962

Govt of India brought all its

activities for the education training

and rehabilitation of the blind

under one umbrella for better

coordination in 1967 called

National Centre for the Blind

Dehradun

Establishment of the National

Institute for the Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) on 2nd July

1979

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

12

Rationale of the study

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari fought against

his progressive blindness to crack the

much coveted civil services exams

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission of India He had to take up

another protracted struggle to fight against

the rules laid for getting into service His

early life is a testimony of how lack of

awareness social stigma and unthought-of

policy statements could pose impediments

in the life of a differently-abled person

Hence there is a need to document the

problems faced by the person and the

policy implications thereof in order to

create a more disabled friendly

environment It is also necessary to

understand the way he functions and put

them on record so that it acts as a guiding

tool to those suffering from such disability

Objectives of the study

1 To document the early experiences of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari

2 To correlate the problems faced by him

to existing policies

3 To document his working strategies

and methods

4 To prepare a guide ready - reckoner

for related stakeholders

5 To recommend policy interventions to

provide the disabled an equal platform

Deliverables

The study will have the following

outcomes

A case study report which will

highlight the policy level issues and

other societal aspects faced by

differently-abled people

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

13

The story so far

From school education to National

Institute of Visually Handicapped

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari was born in the

year 1981 in a remote village in Ambedkar

Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh He was the

middle child amongst three sons His

father was a marginal farmer who took up

agriculture on a seasonal basis After the

agriculture season he used to work in a

textile mill in Ahmedabad His mother was

a house wife

Krishna Gopal was a normal child and he

entered the formal education system at the

age of 5 Though detection of his problem

of visual impairment through a medical

expert was done much late he had started

experiencing problems with vision very

early in his childhood He had difficulty to

read from the blackboards in his school if

illumination was not proper As a child

Krishna also felt problems of vision at

night But as there was no family history to

arouse any suspicions those lapses were

not taken seriously

It was Krishnarsquos mother who felt some

abnormality in the movements of her son

at night as he kept on colliding with things

every now and then She suggested taking

him to an expert for advice She even

started a daily dose of vitamin A

supplements mistaking his lapses for

common night blindness

But Krishna was fully active during day

time His elder brother who also had the

same problem did not manifest problems

that early And sometime during that

phase he spotted a snake in the field

disproving his motherrsquos apprehensions

On one occasion his father came with

their bull He wanted Krishnasrsquos help in

controlling the bull He asked his son to

take the rope and help him control the bull

But Krishna kept on making blunders as he

was not able to spot the bull in the dark

On another occasion he spotted a rubber

band in a corner further raising questions

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

14

on his motherrsquos suspicions Thus detection

of the disease happened much late

Myopia was also working side by side

with the main disease in his case So he

always had problems with regard to his

vision which he never dared to share with

anybody On cloudy days or in dark class

rooms Krishna was afraid to read from the

blackboard In order to fool people around

he used to fake

Sometimes night classes were arranged by

village teachers for poor students in their

village Krishna too attended them due to

pressure from his family But he could

never concentrate in those classes due to

an overwhelming fear as to how he would

reach home after the classes

He never kept aloof from any games

happening in day time in familiar

circumstances While playing cricket with

his friends he preferred balling and wicket

keeping to batting as he was not able to see

the ball many a times while batting But he

opted to back out from new situations

which demanded good eye hand co-

ordination He rarely ventured out after

sunset

During his fifth standard once while

roaming around with his friends he tried

to pluck a mango from a mango tree at the

instigation of his friends He was not able

to see the mango dangling in the tree But

he was not willing to admit it His friend

aimed at the mango once Krishna gave up

The stone not only missed the mango but

also fell on an unsuspecting Krishna who

failed to see the stone coming towards

him He got hurt in his mouth and lost his

front tooth The incident left an indelible

mark on his face in the literal sense of the

term

When he reached sixth and vision related

problems increased his mother started

raising the alarm once again and this time

more fervently He was finally taken to an

eye specialist 40 kilometres away from his

village

While getting his eyes checked he found

that he was unable to read even a single

alphabet from the chart He was not

willing to admit the same as he thought

that his admission would be presumed as

ignorance of letters As he was sitting in

the room for quite some time listening to

the patients before him he had heard the

On another occasion he fell down

very badly when his father pushed

him away He was unable to assess

the background and as a result lost

balance and fell down

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

15

others read from the chart So he too went

on to read from it largely from memory

than by really seeing what was on it

With correcting lenses he was able to read

69 by his left eye and 612 by his right

eye That was probably the first time

Krishna realized that there was something

wrong with his eyes But he was hopeful

that the right correction could provide him

with the perfect vision

The correction lenses did offer him some

respite in the daytime for the problem of

myopia But nights remained the same

and he did not find any perceptible change

in his night vision

Krishna was eventually detected with

Retinisis Pigmentosa Retinitis

Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of

the eyes that causes loss of

vision Symptoms include trouble seeing at

night and decreased peripheral vision (side

vision) Onset of symptoms is generally

gradual As peripheral vision worsens

people may experience tunnel vision In

the case of Krishna direct vision was

affected first

Despite repeated instances of casualties

intervention was not initiated in Krishnarsquos

case due to three reasons First there was a

communication gap between the child and

his parents due to the stubbornness of the

child in failing to disclose his problems

For example in spite of being repeatedly

thrashed for not being able to assess the

position of the hands in a clock he never

admitted that he was not able to see

properly The same habit of the child was

repeated in the doctorrsquos chamber as he

went on to read the chart in the doctorrsquos

room after hearing others read from it

The second reason was probably the

failure of his parents to appreciate the

situation and third was their inability to

diagnose the problem But in a case as

typical as Krishnarsquos it is doubtful if things

would have been different had his parents

been more educated Even at the level of

the school the teachers too repeatedly

failed to identify the problem

The first doctor who saw Krishna also did

not assess him properly and just stated that

his eyes were weak He prescribed certain

medicines and asked to come for follow up

check-ups on an yearly basis

After his initial eye check-up Krishna

became a front bencher in school which

helped him come up in his studies Later

on he was taken to another specialist in

Ahmedabad who confided to his father that

Krishnarsquos condition was not curable That

was probably the first proper diagnosis of

his condition But his father chose to hide

the issue from him Till 1997 he thus got

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 6: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

6

existing policy framework In the third

section corrective measures based on the

analysis will be suggested The outcome of

this study is a report and a set of

recommendations for identified

stakeholders to deal with the visually

disabled people in a sensitive manner

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

7

Introduction

As per Census 2011 in India out of the

121 Crore population about 268 Crore

persons are lsquodisabledrsquo which is 221 of

the total population Among the disabled

population 56 (15 Crore) are males and

44 (118 Crore) are females Majority

(69) of the disabled population reside in

rural areas (186 Crore disabled persons

are in rural areas and 081 Crore are in

urban areas)

Coming to the types of disability 19 of

the 268 Crore have problems of vision

Amongst the 15 Crore disabled males

18 have disability of vision

The disability among children is also a

matter of serious concern as it has wider

implications The Census 2011 showed

that in India 2042 lakhs children aged 0-

6 years are disabled Thus one in every

100 children in the age group 0-6 years

suffered from some type of disability

23 of the disabled children (0-6 years)

are having disability in hearing 30 in

seeing and 10 in movement 7 of the

disabled children have multiple

disabilities2

2 Census Data 2011

In many instances such a disability

deprives the affected person a fair chance

of access to livelihood Conversely there

is an increased prevalence of risk among

the socially and economically

marginalized groups to beget disabilities

This has been argued in many studies done

previously Of the 600 million people with

disabilities worldwide 82 percent live

below the poverty line and 20 percent

belong to the lsquopoorest of the poorrsquo3

Blindness is an important part of the

disability spectrum affecting almost 161

million worldwide4 The Personrsquos with

Disability Act 2016 defines visual

impairment thus (a) ldquoblindnessrdquo means a

condition where a person has any of the

following conditions after best

correctionmdash (i) total absence of sight or

(ii) visual acuity less than 360 or less than

10200 (Snellen) in the better eye with the

best possible correction or (iii) limitation

of the field of vision subtending an angle

of less than 10 degree (b) ldquolow-visionrdquo

3IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available

at VISION 2020 website

4Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D KocurI

Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP MariottiSP

Global data on visual impairment in theyear 2002

Bull World Health Organ 2004 82844ndash851

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

8

means a condition where a person has any

of the following conditions namely (i)

visual acuity not exceeding 618 or less

than 2060 up to 360 or up to 10200

(Snellen) in the better eye with the best

possible corrections or (ii) limitation of

the field of vision subtending an angle of

less than 40 degree up to 10 degree

The economic burden of blindness in

India as calculated by Shamanna

Dandona and Rao (1997) using the cost-

of-illness methodology was US$44billion

The cumulative loss over the life time of

the blind was estimated at US$774billion

In yet another analysis the International

Agency for the Prevention of Blindness

argues that seven of the eight Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) are related to

the implementation of VISION 2020 and

several factors that exacerbate conditions

of poverty and disempowerment can be

impacted by prevention of blindness

measures

The first systematically obtained global

data on blindness in 19955 indicated an

inverse relationship between prevalence of

blindness and economic development This

is substantiated by the incidence of a

higher share of the burden of blindness in

5Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram

RDadzie KY Global data on blindness Bull World

Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

the developing countries in Sub-Saharan

Africa and Asia compared to the

developed economies of Europe and

America6

As per the Global data of WHO in 2010

the principal causes of visual impairment

across the world are uncorrected refractive

errors and cataracts which are 43 and

33 respectively Other causes are

glaucoma 2 age related macular

degeneration (AMD) diabetic retinopathy

(DR) trachoma and corneal opacities

(CO) all coming to around 1 each A

large proportion of causes are

undetermined and they constitute around

18 of the causes Blindness on the other

hand is caused by cataract 51

glaucoma 8 AMD 5 childhood

blindness and corneal opacities 4

uncorrected refractive errors and trachoma

3 and diabetic retinopathy 1 and the

undetermined causes leading to huge

chunk of 21 This has been depicted in

the pie chart (Figure 1) It was also found

that most of these conditions could be

avoided either prevented or treated7

6 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761) 7WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

9

Figure 1

Source Global Data on visual Impairments

It was projected that without timely and

appropriate measures to control blindness

the current level of blindness would double

by 2020 resulting in economic losses of

close to US$150 billion to US$250

billion8 This realisation led to the

conceptualisation and launch of VISION

2020 The Right to Sight in 1999 based on

the assessment that a co-ordinated and

collaborative initiative could significantly

8Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of

global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

contain global blindness reducing the

number of blind persons to 24 million in

2020 thereby avoiding a potential 429

million blind person-years

In India most of the visually impaired

population are concentrated in the rural

areas9 Many of these studies also showed

that blindness increased with age was

higher among illiterates lower in urban

areas and higher among females

9Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond

anachronism Lancet 2000 356(Suppl) S25

33

1

18

1

1 1

1

2

42

Causes of visual impairment Cataract

Child hood blindbess

Undetermined

Diabetic Retinopathy

Corneal Opacity

Trachoma

Age related macular degeneration

Glaucoma

Uncorrected refractive errors

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

10

Blindness is thus not a disease or condition

that needs to be just treated

symptomatically It is a social

phenomenon which requires not just

curative intervention but a holistic

approach that addresses the socio

economic conditions which leads to the

marginalization of these people Initially

efforts were merely curative but after the

advent of VISION 2020 attention is being

paid to other areas such as public

education medical training for a larger

cadre of eye-care workers and advocacy at

both the community and government

levels

India has taken some efforts to combat the

problem of visual impairment In 1976

India became the first country to start a

National Program for Control of Blindness

(NPCB)

The other major milestones in the country

with regard to creating a conducive

atmosphere for the blind in this regard

have been given below

Miss Annie Sharp a Christian

missionary from England founded

the first school for the blind in

Amritsar in 1887 By 1944 there

were around 44 schools for the

blind And by the beginning of this

21st century there were around 300

schools for the blind

There was a State level decision to

establish a Braille press to produce

books in Braille in 1923This could

not be implemented due to non-

existence of a uniform Braille code

for Indian languages

A Committee was set up in 1941

by the then Govt of India to

develop a uniform Braille code for

Indian languages

The Report on Blindness in India

(1944) was submitted which is the

basis of most of the services for the

blind today

A Cell in the Ministry of Education

was established in 1946 to promote

education training and

rehabilitation of the blind

Development and acceptance of

ldquoBharthi Braillerdquo a common

Braille code for Indian languages

was finalized in November 1950 It

replaced the earlier codes

The first press for printing Braille

books was established at Dehradun

in 1951

The National Association for the

Blind was formed in 1952 This

gave an organized platform for the

blind

In 1957 first Vocational Training

Centre for the Adult Blind was

established

The first School for the Blind was

established by the Central Govt in

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

11

January 1959 at Rajpur Dehradun

(now located in the campus of

NIVH Dehradun)

First National Library for the Blind

was established by the Central

Government in 1962

Govt of India brought all its

activities for the education training

and rehabilitation of the blind

under one umbrella for better

coordination in 1967 called

National Centre for the Blind

Dehradun

Establishment of the National

Institute for the Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) on 2nd July

1979

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

12

Rationale of the study

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari fought against

his progressive blindness to crack the

much coveted civil services exams

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission of India He had to take up

another protracted struggle to fight against

the rules laid for getting into service His

early life is a testimony of how lack of

awareness social stigma and unthought-of

policy statements could pose impediments

in the life of a differently-abled person

Hence there is a need to document the

problems faced by the person and the

policy implications thereof in order to

create a more disabled friendly

environment It is also necessary to

understand the way he functions and put

them on record so that it acts as a guiding

tool to those suffering from such disability

Objectives of the study

1 To document the early experiences of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari

2 To correlate the problems faced by him

to existing policies

3 To document his working strategies

and methods

4 To prepare a guide ready - reckoner

for related stakeholders

5 To recommend policy interventions to

provide the disabled an equal platform

Deliverables

The study will have the following

outcomes

A case study report which will

highlight the policy level issues and

other societal aspects faced by

differently-abled people

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

13

The story so far

From school education to National

Institute of Visually Handicapped

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari was born in the

year 1981 in a remote village in Ambedkar

Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh He was the

middle child amongst three sons His

father was a marginal farmer who took up

agriculture on a seasonal basis After the

agriculture season he used to work in a

textile mill in Ahmedabad His mother was

a house wife

Krishna Gopal was a normal child and he

entered the formal education system at the

age of 5 Though detection of his problem

of visual impairment through a medical

expert was done much late he had started

experiencing problems with vision very

early in his childhood He had difficulty to

read from the blackboards in his school if

illumination was not proper As a child

Krishna also felt problems of vision at

night But as there was no family history to

arouse any suspicions those lapses were

not taken seriously

It was Krishnarsquos mother who felt some

abnormality in the movements of her son

at night as he kept on colliding with things

every now and then She suggested taking

him to an expert for advice She even

started a daily dose of vitamin A

supplements mistaking his lapses for

common night blindness

But Krishna was fully active during day

time His elder brother who also had the

same problem did not manifest problems

that early And sometime during that

phase he spotted a snake in the field

disproving his motherrsquos apprehensions

On one occasion his father came with

their bull He wanted Krishnasrsquos help in

controlling the bull He asked his son to

take the rope and help him control the bull

But Krishna kept on making blunders as he

was not able to spot the bull in the dark

On another occasion he spotted a rubber

band in a corner further raising questions

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

14

on his motherrsquos suspicions Thus detection

of the disease happened much late

Myopia was also working side by side

with the main disease in his case So he

always had problems with regard to his

vision which he never dared to share with

anybody On cloudy days or in dark class

rooms Krishna was afraid to read from the

blackboard In order to fool people around

he used to fake

Sometimes night classes were arranged by

village teachers for poor students in their

village Krishna too attended them due to

pressure from his family But he could

never concentrate in those classes due to

an overwhelming fear as to how he would

reach home after the classes

He never kept aloof from any games

happening in day time in familiar

circumstances While playing cricket with

his friends he preferred balling and wicket

keeping to batting as he was not able to see

the ball many a times while batting But he

opted to back out from new situations

which demanded good eye hand co-

ordination He rarely ventured out after

sunset

During his fifth standard once while

roaming around with his friends he tried

to pluck a mango from a mango tree at the

instigation of his friends He was not able

to see the mango dangling in the tree But

he was not willing to admit it His friend

aimed at the mango once Krishna gave up

The stone not only missed the mango but

also fell on an unsuspecting Krishna who

failed to see the stone coming towards

him He got hurt in his mouth and lost his

front tooth The incident left an indelible

mark on his face in the literal sense of the

term

When he reached sixth and vision related

problems increased his mother started

raising the alarm once again and this time

more fervently He was finally taken to an

eye specialist 40 kilometres away from his

village

While getting his eyes checked he found

that he was unable to read even a single

alphabet from the chart He was not

willing to admit the same as he thought

that his admission would be presumed as

ignorance of letters As he was sitting in

the room for quite some time listening to

the patients before him he had heard the

On another occasion he fell down

very badly when his father pushed

him away He was unable to assess

the background and as a result lost

balance and fell down

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

15

others read from the chart So he too went

on to read from it largely from memory

than by really seeing what was on it

With correcting lenses he was able to read

69 by his left eye and 612 by his right

eye That was probably the first time

Krishna realized that there was something

wrong with his eyes But he was hopeful

that the right correction could provide him

with the perfect vision

The correction lenses did offer him some

respite in the daytime for the problem of

myopia But nights remained the same

and he did not find any perceptible change

in his night vision

Krishna was eventually detected with

Retinisis Pigmentosa Retinitis

Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of

the eyes that causes loss of

vision Symptoms include trouble seeing at

night and decreased peripheral vision (side

vision) Onset of symptoms is generally

gradual As peripheral vision worsens

people may experience tunnel vision In

the case of Krishna direct vision was

affected first

Despite repeated instances of casualties

intervention was not initiated in Krishnarsquos

case due to three reasons First there was a

communication gap between the child and

his parents due to the stubbornness of the

child in failing to disclose his problems

For example in spite of being repeatedly

thrashed for not being able to assess the

position of the hands in a clock he never

admitted that he was not able to see

properly The same habit of the child was

repeated in the doctorrsquos chamber as he

went on to read the chart in the doctorrsquos

room after hearing others read from it

The second reason was probably the

failure of his parents to appreciate the

situation and third was their inability to

diagnose the problem But in a case as

typical as Krishnarsquos it is doubtful if things

would have been different had his parents

been more educated Even at the level of

the school the teachers too repeatedly

failed to identify the problem

The first doctor who saw Krishna also did

not assess him properly and just stated that

his eyes were weak He prescribed certain

medicines and asked to come for follow up

check-ups on an yearly basis

After his initial eye check-up Krishna

became a front bencher in school which

helped him come up in his studies Later

on he was taken to another specialist in

Ahmedabad who confided to his father that

Krishnarsquos condition was not curable That

was probably the first proper diagnosis of

his condition But his father chose to hide

the issue from him Till 1997 he thus got

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 7: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

7

Introduction

As per Census 2011 in India out of the

121 Crore population about 268 Crore

persons are lsquodisabledrsquo which is 221 of

the total population Among the disabled

population 56 (15 Crore) are males and

44 (118 Crore) are females Majority

(69) of the disabled population reside in

rural areas (186 Crore disabled persons

are in rural areas and 081 Crore are in

urban areas)

Coming to the types of disability 19 of

the 268 Crore have problems of vision

Amongst the 15 Crore disabled males

18 have disability of vision

The disability among children is also a

matter of serious concern as it has wider

implications The Census 2011 showed

that in India 2042 lakhs children aged 0-

6 years are disabled Thus one in every

100 children in the age group 0-6 years

suffered from some type of disability

23 of the disabled children (0-6 years)

are having disability in hearing 30 in

seeing and 10 in movement 7 of the

disabled children have multiple

disabilities2

2 Census Data 2011

In many instances such a disability

deprives the affected person a fair chance

of access to livelihood Conversely there

is an increased prevalence of risk among

the socially and economically

marginalized groups to beget disabilities

This has been argued in many studies done

previously Of the 600 million people with

disabilities worldwide 82 percent live

below the poverty line and 20 percent

belong to the lsquopoorest of the poorrsquo3

Blindness is an important part of the

disability spectrum affecting almost 161

million worldwide4 The Personrsquos with

Disability Act 2016 defines visual

impairment thus (a) ldquoblindnessrdquo means a

condition where a person has any of the

following conditions after best

correctionmdash (i) total absence of sight or

(ii) visual acuity less than 360 or less than

10200 (Snellen) in the better eye with the

best possible correction or (iii) limitation

of the field of vision subtending an angle

of less than 10 degree (b) ldquolow-visionrdquo

3IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available

at VISION 2020 website

4Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D KocurI

Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP MariottiSP

Global data on visual impairment in theyear 2002

Bull World Health Organ 2004 82844ndash851

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

8

means a condition where a person has any

of the following conditions namely (i)

visual acuity not exceeding 618 or less

than 2060 up to 360 or up to 10200

(Snellen) in the better eye with the best

possible corrections or (ii) limitation of

the field of vision subtending an angle of

less than 40 degree up to 10 degree

The economic burden of blindness in

India as calculated by Shamanna

Dandona and Rao (1997) using the cost-

of-illness methodology was US$44billion

The cumulative loss over the life time of

the blind was estimated at US$774billion

In yet another analysis the International

Agency for the Prevention of Blindness

argues that seven of the eight Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) are related to

the implementation of VISION 2020 and

several factors that exacerbate conditions

of poverty and disempowerment can be

impacted by prevention of blindness

measures

The first systematically obtained global

data on blindness in 19955 indicated an

inverse relationship between prevalence of

blindness and economic development This

is substantiated by the incidence of a

higher share of the burden of blindness in

5Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram

RDadzie KY Global data on blindness Bull World

Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

the developing countries in Sub-Saharan

Africa and Asia compared to the

developed economies of Europe and

America6

As per the Global data of WHO in 2010

the principal causes of visual impairment

across the world are uncorrected refractive

errors and cataracts which are 43 and

33 respectively Other causes are

glaucoma 2 age related macular

degeneration (AMD) diabetic retinopathy

(DR) trachoma and corneal opacities

(CO) all coming to around 1 each A

large proportion of causes are

undetermined and they constitute around

18 of the causes Blindness on the other

hand is caused by cataract 51

glaucoma 8 AMD 5 childhood

blindness and corneal opacities 4

uncorrected refractive errors and trachoma

3 and diabetic retinopathy 1 and the

undetermined causes leading to huge

chunk of 21 This has been depicted in

the pie chart (Figure 1) It was also found

that most of these conditions could be

avoided either prevented or treated7

6 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761) 7WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

9

Figure 1

Source Global Data on visual Impairments

It was projected that without timely and

appropriate measures to control blindness

the current level of blindness would double

by 2020 resulting in economic losses of

close to US$150 billion to US$250

billion8 This realisation led to the

conceptualisation and launch of VISION

2020 The Right to Sight in 1999 based on

the assessment that a co-ordinated and

collaborative initiative could significantly

8Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of

global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

contain global blindness reducing the

number of blind persons to 24 million in

2020 thereby avoiding a potential 429

million blind person-years

In India most of the visually impaired

population are concentrated in the rural

areas9 Many of these studies also showed

that blindness increased with age was

higher among illiterates lower in urban

areas and higher among females

9Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond

anachronism Lancet 2000 356(Suppl) S25

33

1

18

1

1 1

1

2

42

Causes of visual impairment Cataract

Child hood blindbess

Undetermined

Diabetic Retinopathy

Corneal Opacity

Trachoma

Age related macular degeneration

Glaucoma

Uncorrected refractive errors

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

10

Blindness is thus not a disease or condition

that needs to be just treated

symptomatically It is a social

phenomenon which requires not just

curative intervention but a holistic

approach that addresses the socio

economic conditions which leads to the

marginalization of these people Initially

efforts were merely curative but after the

advent of VISION 2020 attention is being

paid to other areas such as public

education medical training for a larger

cadre of eye-care workers and advocacy at

both the community and government

levels

India has taken some efforts to combat the

problem of visual impairment In 1976

India became the first country to start a

National Program for Control of Blindness

(NPCB)

The other major milestones in the country

with regard to creating a conducive

atmosphere for the blind in this regard

have been given below

Miss Annie Sharp a Christian

missionary from England founded

the first school for the blind in

Amritsar in 1887 By 1944 there

were around 44 schools for the

blind And by the beginning of this

21st century there were around 300

schools for the blind

There was a State level decision to

establish a Braille press to produce

books in Braille in 1923This could

not be implemented due to non-

existence of a uniform Braille code

for Indian languages

A Committee was set up in 1941

by the then Govt of India to

develop a uniform Braille code for

Indian languages

The Report on Blindness in India

(1944) was submitted which is the

basis of most of the services for the

blind today

A Cell in the Ministry of Education

was established in 1946 to promote

education training and

rehabilitation of the blind

Development and acceptance of

ldquoBharthi Braillerdquo a common

Braille code for Indian languages

was finalized in November 1950 It

replaced the earlier codes

The first press for printing Braille

books was established at Dehradun

in 1951

The National Association for the

Blind was formed in 1952 This

gave an organized platform for the

blind

In 1957 first Vocational Training

Centre for the Adult Blind was

established

The first School for the Blind was

established by the Central Govt in

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

11

January 1959 at Rajpur Dehradun

(now located in the campus of

NIVH Dehradun)

First National Library for the Blind

was established by the Central

Government in 1962

Govt of India brought all its

activities for the education training

and rehabilitation of the blind

under one umbrella for better

coordination in 1967 called

National Centre for the Blind

Dehradun

Establishment of the National

Institute for the Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) on 2nd July

1979

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

12

Rationale of the study

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari fought against

his progressive blindness to crack the

much coveted civil services exams

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission of India He had to take up

another protracted struggle to fight against

the rules laid for getting into service His

early life is a testimony of how lack of

awareness social stigma and unthought-of

policy statements could pose impediments

in the life of a differently-abled person

Hence there is a need to document the

problems faced by the person and the

policy implications thereof in order to

create a more disabled friendly

environment It is also necessary to

understand the way he functions and put

them on record so that it acts as a guiding

tool to those suffering from such disability

Objectives of the study

1 To document the early experiences of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari

2 To correlate the problems faced by him

to existing policies

3 To document his working strategies

and methods

4 To prepare a guide ready - reckoner

for related stakeholders

5 To recommend policy interventions to

provide the disabled an equal platform

Deliverables

The study will have the following

outcomes

A case study report which will

highlight the policy level issues and

other societal aspects faced by

differently-abled people

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

13

The story so far

From school education to National

Institute of Visually Handicapped

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari was born in the

year 1981 in a remote village in Ambedkar

Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh He was the

middle child amongst three sons His

father was a marginal farmer who took up

agriculture on a seasonal basis After the

agriculture season he used to work in a

textile mill in Ahmedabad His mother was

a house wife

Krishna Gopal was a normal child and he

entered the formal education system at the

age of 5 Though detection of his problem

of visual impairment through a medical

expert was done much late he had started

experiencing problems with vision very

early in his childhood He had difficulty to

read from the blackboards in his school if

illumination was not proper As a child

Krishna also felt problems of vision at

night But as there was no family history to

arouse any suspicions those lapses were

not taken seriously

It was Krishnarsquos mother who felt some

abnormality in the movements of her son

at night as he kept on colliding with things

every now and then She suggested taking

him to an expert for advice She even

started a daily dose of vitamin A

supplements mistaking his lapses for

common night blindness

But Krishna was fully active during day

time His elder brother who also had the

same problem did not manifest problems

that early And sometime during that

phase he spotted a snake in the field

disproving his motherrsquos apprehensions

On one occasion his father came with

their bull He wanted Krishnasrsquos help in

controlling the bull He asked his son to

take the rope and help him control the bull

But Krishna kept on making blunders as he

was not able to spot the bull in the dark

On another occasion he spotted a rubber

band in a corner further raising questions

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

14

on his motherrsquos suspicions Thus detection

of the disease happened much late

Myopia was also working side by side

with the main disease in his case So he

always had problems with regard to his

vision which he never dared to share with

anybody On cloudy days or in dark class

rooms Krishna was afraid to read from the

blackboard In order to fool people around

he used to fake

Sometimes night classes were arranged by

village teachers for poor students in their

village Krishna too attended them due to

pressure from his family But he could

never concentrate in those classes due to

an overwhelming fear as to how he would

reach home after the classes

He never kept aloof from any games

happening in day time in familiar

circumstances While playing cricket with

his friends he preferred balling and wicket

keeping to batting as he was not able to see

the ball many a times while batting But he

opted to back out from new situations

which demanded good eye hand co-

ordination He rarely ventured out after

sunset

During his fifth standard once while

roaming around with his friends he tried

to pluck a mango from a mango tree at the

instigation of his friends He was not able

to see the mango dangling in the tree But

he was not willing to admit it His friend

aimed at the mango once Krishna gave up

The stone not only missed the mango but

also fell on an unsuspecting Krishna who

failed to see the stone coming towards

him He got hurt in his mouth and lost his

front tooth The incident left an indelible

mark on his face in the literal sense of the

term

When he reached sixth and vision related

problems increased his mother started

raising the alarm once again and this time

more fervently He was finally taken to an

eye specialist 40 kilometres away from his

village

While getting his eyes checked he found

that he was unable to read even a single

alphabet from the chart He was not

willing to admit the same as he thought

that his admission would be presumed as

ignorance of letters As he was sitting in

the room for quite some time listening to

the patients before him he had heard the

On another occasion he fell down

very badly when his father pushed

him away He was unable to assess

the background and as a result lost

balance and fell down

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

15

others read from the chart So he too went

on to read from it largely from memory

than by really seeing what was on it

With correcting lenses he was able to read

69 by his left eye and 612 by his right

eye That was probably the first time

Krishna realized that there was something

wrong with his eyes But he was hopeful

that the right correction could provide him

with the perfect vision

The correction lenses did offer him some

respite in the daytime for the problem of

myopia But nights remained the same

and he did not find any perceptible change

in his night vision

Krishna was eventually detected with

Retinisis Pigmentosa Retinitis

Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of

the eyes that causes loss of

vision Symptoms include trouble seeing at

night and decreased peripheral vision (side

vision) Onset of symptoms is generally

gradual As peripheral vision worsens

people may experience tunnel vision In

the case of Krishna direct vision was

affected first

Despite repeated instances of casualties

intervention was not initiated in Krishnarsquos

case due to three reasons First there was a

communication gap between the child and

his parents due to the stubbornness of the

child in failing to disclose his problems

For example in spite of being repeatedly

thrashed for not being able to assess the

position of the hands in a clock he never

admitted that he was not able to see

properly The same habit of the child was

repeated in the doctorrsquos chamber as he

went on to read the chart in the doctorrsquos

room after hearing others read from it

The second reason was probably the

failure of his parents to appreciate the

situation and third was their inability to

diagnose the problem But in a case as

typical as Krishnarsquos it is doubtful if things

would have been different had his parents

been more educated Even at the level of

the school the teachers too repeatedly

failed to identify the problem

The first doctor who saw Krishna also did

not assess him properly and just stated that

his eyes were weak He prescribed certain

medicines and asked to come for follow up

check-ups on an yearly basis

After his initial eye check-up Krishna

became a front bencher in school which

helped him come up in his studies Later

on he was taken to another specialist in

Ahmedabad who confided to his father that

Krishnarsquos condition was not curable That

was probably the first proper diagnosis of

his condition But his father chose to hide

the issue from him Till 1997 he thus got

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 8: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

8

means a condition where a person has any

of the following conditions namely (i)

visual acuity not exceeding 618 or less

than 2060 up to 360 or up to 10200

(Snellen) in the better eye with the best

possible corrections or (ii) limitation of

the field of vision subtending an angle of

less than 40 degree up to 10 degree

The economic burden of blindness in

India as calculated by Shamanna

Dandona and Rao (1997) using the cost-

of-illness methodology was US$44billion

The cumulative loss over the life time of

the blind was estimated at US$774billion

In yet another analysis the International

Agency for the Prevention of Blindness

argues that seven of the eight Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) are related to

the implementation of VISION 2020 and

several factors that exacerbate conditions

of poverty and disempowerment can be

impacted by prevention of blindness

measures

The first systematically obtained global

data on blindness in 19955 indicated an

inverse relationship between prevalence of

blindness and economic development This

is substantiated by the incidence of a

higher share of the burden of blindness in

5Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram

RDadzie KY Global data on blindness Bull World

Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

the developing countries in Sub-Saharan

Africa and Asia compared to the

developed economies of Europe and

America6

As per the Global data of WHO in 2010

the principal causes of visual impairment

across the world are uncorrected refractive

errors and cataracts which are 43 and

33 respectively Other causes are

glaucoma 2 age related macular

degeneration (AMD) diabetic retinopathy

(DR) trachoma and corneal opacities

(CO) all coming to around 1 each A

large proportion of causes are

undetermined and they constitute around

18 of the causes Blindness on the other

hand is caused by cataract 51

glaucoma 8 AMD 5 childhood

blindness and corneal opacities 4

uncorrected refractive errors and trachoma

3 and diabetic retinopathy 1 and the

undetermined causes leading to huge

chunk of 21 This has been depicted in

the pie chart (Figure 1) It was also found

that most of these conditions could be

avoided either prevented or treated7

6 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761) 7WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of

Avoidable Blindness Programme for prevention of

blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997

(WHOPBL9761)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

9

Figure 1

Source Global Data on visual Impairments

It was projected that without timely and

appropriate measures to control blindness

the current level of blindness would double

by 2020 resulting in economic losses of

close to US$150 billion to US$250

billion8 This realisation led to the

conceptualisation and launch of VISION

2020 The Right to Sight in 1999 based on

the assessment that a co-ordinated and

collaborative initiative could significantly

8Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of

global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

contain global blindness reducing the

number of blind persons to 24 million in

2020 thereby avoiding a potential 429

million blind person-years

In India most of the visually impaired

population are concentrated in the rural

areas9 Many of these studies also showed

that blindness increased with age was

higher among illiterates lower in urban

areas and higher among females

9Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond

anachronism Lancet 2000 356(Suppl) S25

33

1

18

1

1 1

1

2

42

Causes of visual impairment Cataract

Child hood blindbess

Undetermined

Diabetic Retinopathy

Corneal Opacity

Trachoma

Age related macular degeneration

Glaucoma

Uncorrected refractive errors

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

10

Blindness is thus not a disease or condition

that needs to be just treated

symptomatically It is a social

phenomenon which requires not just

curative intervention but a holistic

approach that addresses the socio

economic conditions which leads to the

marginalization of these people Initially

efforts were merely curative but after the

advent of VISION 2020 attention is being

paid to other areas such as public

education medical training for a larger

cadre of eye-care workers and advocacy at

both the community and government

levels

India has taken some efforts to combat the

problem of visual impairment In 1976

India became the first country to start a

National Program for Control of Blindness

(NPCB)

The other major milestones in the country

with regard to creating a conducive

atmosphere for the blind in this regard

have been given below

Miss Annie Sharp a Christian

missionary from England founded

the first school for the blind in

Amritsar in 1887 By 1944 there

were around 44 schools for the

blind And by the beginning of this

21st century there were around 300

schools for the blind

There was a State level decision to

establish a Braille press to produce

books in Braille in 1923This could

not be implemented due to non-

existence of a uniform Braille code

for Indian languages

A Committee was set up in 1941

by the then Govt of India to

develop a uniform Braille code for

Indian languages

The Report on Blindness in India

(1944) was submitted which is the

basis of most of the services for the

blind today

A Cell in the Ministry of Education

was established in 1946 to promote

education training and

rehabilitation of the blind

Development and acceptance of

ldquoBharthi Braillerdquo a common

Braille code for Indian languages

was finalized in November 1950 It

replaced the earlier codes

The first press for printing Braille

books was established at Dehradun

in 1951

The National Association for the

Blind was formed in 1952 This

gave an organized platform for the

blind

In 1957 first Vocational Training

Centre for the Adult Blind was

established

The first School for the Blind was

established by the Central Govt in

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

11

January 1959 at Rajpur Dehradun

(now located in the campus of

NIVH Dehradun)

First National Library for the Blind

was established by the Central

Government in 1962

Govt of India brought all its

activities for the education training

and rehabilitation of the blind

under one umbrella for better

coordination in 1967 called

National Centre for the Blind

Dehradun

Establishment of the National

Institute for the Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) on 2nd July

1979

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

12

Rationale of the study

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari fought against

his progressive blindness to crack the

much coveted civil services exams

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission of India He had to take up

another protracted struggle to fight against

the rules laid for getting into service His

early life is a testimony of how lack of

awareness social stigma and unthought-of

policy statements could pose impediments

in the life of a differently-abled person

Hence there is a need to document the

problems faced by the person and the

policy implications thereof in order to

create a more disabled friendly

environment It is also necessary to

understand the way he functions and put

them on record so that it acts as a guiding

tool to those suffering from such disability

Objectives of the study

1 To document the early experiences of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari

2 To correlate the problems faced by him

to existing policies

3 To document his working strategies

and methods

4 To prepare a guide ready - reckoner

for related stakeholders

5 To recommend policy interventions to

provide the disabled an equal platform

Deliverables

The study will have the following

outcomes

A case study report which will

highlight the policy level issues and

other societal aspects faced by

differently-abled people

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

13

The story so far

From school education to National

Institute of Visually Handicapped

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari was born in the

year 1981 in a remote village in Ambedkar

Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh He was the

middle child amongst three sons His

father was a marginal farmer who took up

agriculture on a seasonal basis After the

agriculture season he used to work in a

textile mill in Ahmedabad His mother was

a house wife

Krishna Gopal was a normal child and he

entered the formal education system at the

age of 5 Though detection of his problem

of visual impairment through a medical

expert was done much late he had started

experiencing problems with vision very

early in his childhood He had difficulty to

read from the blackboards in his school if

illumination was not proper As a child

Krishna also felt problems of vision at

night But as there was no family history to

arouse any suspicions those lapses were

not taken seriously

It was Krishnarsquos mother who felt some

abnormality in the movements of her son

at night as he kept on colliding with things

every now and then She suggested taking

him to an expert for advice She even

started a daily dose of vitamin A

supplements mistaking his lapses for

common night blindness

But Krishna was fully active during day

time His elder brother who also had the

same problem did not manifest problems

that early And sometime during that

phase he spotted a snake in the field

disproving his motherrsquos apprehensions

On one occasion his father came with

their bull He wanted Krishnasrsquos help in

controlling the bull He asked his son to

take the rope and help him control the bull

But Krishna kept on making blunders as he

was not able to spot the bull in the dark

On another occasion he spotted a rubber

band in a corner further raising questions

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

14

on his motherrsquos suspicions Thus detection

of the disease happened much late

Myopia was also working side by side

with the main disease in his case So he

always had problems with regard to his

vision which he never dared to share with

anybody On cloudy days or in dark class

rooms Krishna was afraid to read from the

blackboard In order to fool people around

he used to fake

Sometimes night classes were arranged by

village teachers for poor students in their

village Krishna too attended them due to

pressure from his family But he could

never concentrate in those classes due to

an overwhelming fear as to how he would

reach home after the classes

He never kept aloof from any games

happening in day time in familiar

circumstances While playing cricket with

his friends he preferred balling and wicket

keeping to batting as he was not able to see

the ball many a times while batting But he

opted to back out from new situations

which demanded good eye hand co-

ordination He rarely ventured out after

sunset

During his fifth standard once while

roaming around with his friends he tried

to pluck a mango from a mango tree at the

instigation of his friends He was not able

to see the mango dangling in the tree But

he was not willing to admit it His friend

aimed at the mango once Krishna gave up

The stone not only missed the mango but

also fell on an unsuspecting Krishna who

failed to see the stone coming towards

him He got hurt in his mouth and lost his

front tooth The incident left an indelible

mark on his face in the literal sense of the

term

When he reached sixth and vision related

problems increased his mother started

raising the alarm once again and this time

more fervently He was finally taken to an

eye specialist 40 kilometres away from his

village

While getting his eyes checked he found

that he was unable to read even a single

alphabet from the chart He was not

willing to admit the same as he thought

that his admission would be presumed as

ignorance of letters As he was sitting in

the room for quite some time listening to

the patients before him he had heard the

On another occasion he fell down

very badly when his father pushed

him away He was unable to assess

the background and as a result lost

balance and fell down

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

15

others read from the chart So he too went

on to read from it largely from memory

than by really seeing what was on it

With correcting lenses he was able to read

69 by his left eye and 612 by his right

eye That was probably the first time

Krishna realized that there was something

wrong with his eyes But he was hopeful

that the right correction could provide him

with the perfect vision

The correction lenses did offer him some

respite in the daytime for the problem of

myopia But nights remained the same

and he did not find any perceptible change

in his night vision

Krishna was eventually detected with

Retinisis Pigmentosa Retinitis

Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of

the eyes that causes loss of

vision Symptoms include trouble seeing at

night and decreased peripheral vision (side

vision) Onset of symptoms is generally

gradual As peripheral vision worsens

people may experience tunnel vision In

the case of Krishna direct vision was

affected first

Despite repeated instances of casualties

intervention was not initiated in Krishnarsquos

case due to three reasons First there was a

communication gap between the child and

his parents due to the stubbornness of the

child in failing to disclose his problems

For example in spite of being repeatedly

thrashed for not being able to assess the

position of the hands in a clock he never

admitted that he was not able to see

properly The same habit of the child was

repeated in the doctorrsquos chamber as he

went on to read the chart in the doctorrsquos

room after hearing others read from it

The second reason was probably the

failure of his parents to appreciate the

situation and third was their inability to

diagnose the problem But in a case as

typical as Krishnarsquos it is doubtful if things

would have been different had his parents

been more educated Even at the level of

the school the teachers too repeatedly

failed to identify the problem

The first doctor who saw Krishna also did

not assess him properly and just stated that

his eyes were weak He prescribed certain

medicines and asked to come for follow up

check-ups on an yearly basis

After his initial eye check-up Krishna

became a front bencher in school which

helped him come up in his studies Later

on he was taken to another specialist in

Ahmedabad who confided to his father that

Krishnarsquos condition was not curable That

was probably the first proper diagnosis of

his condition But his father chose to hide

the issue from him Till 1997 he thus got

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 9: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

9

Figure 1

Source Global Data on visual Impairments

It was projected that without timely and

appropriate measures to control blindness

the current level of blindness would double

by 2020 resulting in economic losses of

close to US$150 billion to US$250

billion8 This realisation led to the

conceptualisation and launch of VISION

2020 The Right to Sight in 1999 based on

the assessment that a co-ordinated and

collaborative initiative could significantly

8Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of

global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

contain global blindness reducing the

number of blind persons to 24 million in

2020 thereby avoiding a potential 429

million blind person-years

In India most of the visually impaired

population are concentrated in the rural

areas9 Many of these studies also showed

that blindness increased with age was

higher among illiterates lower in urban

areas and higher among females

9Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond

anachronism Lancet 2000 356(Suppl) S25

33

1

18

1

1 1

1

2

42

Causes of visual impairment Cataract

Child hood blindbess

Undetermined

Diabetic Retinopathy

Corneal Opacity

Trachoma

Age related macular degeneration

Glaucoma

Uncorrected refractive errors

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

10

Blindness is thus not a disease or condition

that needs to be just treated

symptomatically It is a social

phenomenon which requires not just

curative intervention but a holistic

approach that addresses the socio

economic conditions which leads to the

marginalization of these people Initially

efforts were merely curative but after the

advent of VISION 2020 attention is being

paid to other areas such as public

education medical training for a larger

cadre of eye-care workers and advocacy at

both the community and government

levels

India has taken some efforts to combat the

problem of visual impairment In 1976

India became the first country to start a

National Program for Control of Blindness

(NPCB)

The other major milestones in the country

with regard to creating a conducive

atmosphere for the blind in this regard

have been given below

Miss Annie Sharp a Christian

missionary from England founded

the first school for the blind in

Amritsar in 1887 By 1944 there

were around 44 schools for the

blind And by the beginning of this

21st century there were around 300

schools for the blind

There was a State level decision to

establish a Braille press to produce

books in Braille in 1923This could

not be implemented due to non-

existence of a uniform Braille code

for Indian languages

A Committee was set up in 1941

by the then Govt of India to

develop a uniform Braille code for

Indian languages

The Report on Blindness in India

(1944) was submitted which is the

basis of most of the services for the

blind today

A Cell in the Ministry of Education

was established in 1946 to promote

education training and

rehabilitation of the blind

Development and acceptance of

ldquoBharthi Braillerdquo a common

Braille code for Indian languages

was finalized in November 1950 It

replaced the earlier codes

The first press for printing Braille

books was established at Dehradun

in 1951

The National Association for the

Blind was formed in 1952 This

gave an organized platform for the

blind

In 1957 first Vocational Training

Centre for the Adult Blind was

established

The first School for the Blind was

established by the Central Govt in

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

11

January 1959 at Rajpur Dehradun

(now located in the campus of

NIVH Dehradun)

First National Library for the Blind

was established by the Central

Government in 1962

Govt of India brought all its

activities for the education training

and rehabilitation of the blind

under one umbrella for better

coordination in 1967 called

National Centre for the Blind

Dehradun

Establishment of the National

Institute for the Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) on 2nd July

1979

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

12

Rationale of the study

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari fought against

his progressive blindness to crack the

much coveted civil services exams

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission of India He had to take up

another protracted struggle to fight against

the rules laid for getting into service His

early life is a testimony of how lack of

awareness social stigma and unthought-of

policy statements could pose impediments

in the life of a differently-abled person

Hence there is a need to document the

problems faced by the person and the

policy implications thereof in order to

create a more disabled friendly

environment It is also necessary to

understand the way he functions and put

them on record so that it acts as a guiding

tool to those suffering from such disability

Objectives of the study

1 To document the early experiences of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari

2 To correlate the problems faced by him

to existing policies

3 To document his working strategies

and methods

4 To prepare a guide ready - reckoner

for related stakeholders

5 To recommend policy interventions to

provide the disabled an equal platform

Deliverables

The study will have the following

outcomes

A case study report which will

highlight the policy level issues and

other societal aspects faced by

differently-abled people

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

13

The story so far

From school education to National

Institute of Visually Handicapped

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari was born in the

year 1981 in a remote village in Ambedkar

Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh He was the

middle child amongst three sons His

father was a marginal farmer who took up

agriculture on a seasonal basis After the

agriculture season he used to work in a

textile mill in Ahmedabad His mother was

a house wife

Krishna Gopal was a normal child and he

entered the formal education system at the

age of 5 Though detection of his problem

of visual impairment through a medical

expert was done much late he had started

experiencing problems with vision very

early in his childhood He had difficulty to

read from the blackboards in his school if

illumination was not proper As a child

Krishna also felt problems of vision at

night But as there was no family history to

arouse any suspicions those lapses were

not taken seriously

It was Krishnarsquos mother who felt some

abnormality in the movements of her son

at night as he kept on colliding with things

every now and then She suggested taking

him to an expert for advice She even

started a daily dose of vitamin A

supplements mistaking his lapses for

common night blindness

But Krishna was fully active during day

time His elder brother who also had the

same problem did not manifest problems

that early And sometime during that

phase he spotted a snake in the field

disproving his motherrsquos apprehensions

On one occasion his father came with

their bull He wanted Krishnasrsquos help in

controlling the bull He asked his son to

take the rope and help him control the bull

But Krishna kept on making blunders as he

was not able to spot the bull in the dark

On another occasion he spotted a rubber

band in a corner further raising questions

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

14

on his motherrsquos suspicions Thus detection

of the disease happened much late

Myopia was also working side by side

with the main disease in his case So he

always had problems with regard to his

vision which he never dared to share with

anybody On cloudy days or in dark class

rooms Krishna was afraid to read from the

blackboard In order to fool people around

he used to fake

Sometimes night classes were arranged by

village teachers for poor students in their

village Krishna too attended them due to

pressure from his family But he could

never concentrate in those classes due to

an overwhelming fear as to how he would

reach home after the classes

He never kept aloof from any games

happening in day time in familiar

circumstances While playing cricket with

his friends he preferred balling and wicket

keeping to batting as he was not able to see

the ball many a times while batting But he

opted to back out from new situations

which demanded good eye hand co-

ordination He rarely ventured out after

sunset

During his fifth standard once while

roaming around with his friends he tried

to pluck a mango from a mango tree at the

instigation of his friends He was not able

to see the mango dangling in the tree But

he was not willing to admit it His friend

aimed at the mango once Krishna gave up

The stone not only missed the mango but

also fell on an unsuspecting Krishna who

failed to see the stone coming towards

him He got hurt in his mouth and lost his

front tooth The incident left an indelible

mark on his face in the literal sense of the

term

When he reached sixth and vision related

problems increased his mother started

raising the alarm once again and this time

more fervently He was finally taken to an

eye specialist 40 kilometres away from his

village

While getting his eyes checked he found

that he was unable to read even a single

alphabet from the chart He was not

willing to admit the same as he thought

that his admission would be presumed as

ignorance of letters As he was sitting in

the room for quite some time listening to

the patients before him he had heard the

On another occasion he fell down

very badly when his father pushed

him away He was unable to assess

the background and as a result lost

balance and fell down

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

15

others read from the chart So he too went

on to read from it largely from memory

than by really seeing what was on it

With correcting lenses he was able to read

69 by his left eye and 612 by his right

eye That was probably the first time

Krishna realized that there was something

wrong with his eyes But he was hopeful

that the right correction could provide him

with the perfect vision

The correction lenses did offer him some

respite in the daytime for the problem of

myopia But nights remained the same

and he did not find any perceptible change

in his night vision

Krishna was eventually detected with

Retinisis Pigmentosa Retinitis

Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of

the eyes that causes loss of

vision Symptoms include trouble seeing at

night and decreased peripheral vision (side

vision) Onset of symptoms is generally

gradual As peripheral vision worsens

people may experience tunnel vision In

the case of Krishna direct vision was

affected first

Despite repeated instances of casualties

intervention was not initiated in Krishnarsquos

case due to three reasons First there was a

communication gap between the child and

his parents due to the stubbornness of the

child in failing to disclose his problems

For example in spite of being repeatedly

thrashed for not being able to assess the

position of the hands in a clock he never

admitted that he was not able to see

properly The same habit of the child was

repeated in the doctorrsquos chamber as he

went on to read the chart in the doctorrsquos

room after hearing others read from it

The second reason was probably the

failure of his parents to appreciate the

situation and third was their inability to

diagnose the problem But in a case as

typical as Krishnarsquos it is doubtful if things

would have been different had his parents

been more educated Even at the level of

the school the teachers too repeatedly

failed to identify the problem

The first doctor who saw Krishna also did

not assess him properly and just stated that

his eyes were weak He prescribed certain

medicines and asked to come for follow up

check-ups on an yearly basis

After his initial eye check-up Krishna

became a front bencher in school which

helped him come up in his studies Later

on he was taken to another specialist in

Ahmedabad who confided to his father that

Krishnarsquos condition was not curable That

was probably the first proper diagnosis of

his condition But his father chose to hide

the issue from him Till 1997 he thus got

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 10: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

10

Blindness is thus not a disease or condition

that needs to be just treated

symptomatically It is a social

phenomenon which requires not just

curative intervention but a holistic

approach that addresses the socio

economic conditions which leads to the

marginalization of these people Initially

efforts were merely curative but after the

advent of VISION 2020 attention is being

paid to other areas such as public

education medical training for a larger

cadre of eye-care workers and advocacy at

both the community and government

levels

India has taken some efforts to combat the

problem of visual impairment In 1976

India became the first country to start a

National Program for Control of Blindness

(NPCB)

The other major milestones in the country

with regard to creating a conducive

atmosphere for the blind in this regard

have been given below

Miss Annie Sharp a Christian

missionary from England founded

the first school for the blind in

Amritsar in 1887 By 1944 there

were around 44 schools for the

blind And by the beginning of this

21st century there were around 300

schools for the blind

There was a State level decision to

establish a Braille press to produce

books in Braille in 1923This could

not be implemented due to non-

existence of a uniform Braille code

for Indian languages

A Committee was set up in 1941

by the then Govt of India to

develop a uniform Braille code for

Indian languages

The Report on Blindness in India

(1944) was submitted which is the

basis of most of the services for the

blind today

A Cell in the Ministry of Education

was established in 1946 to promote

education training and

rehabilitation of the blind

Development and acceptance of

ldquoBharthi Braillerdquo a common

Braille code for Indian languages

was finalized in November 1950 It

replaced the earlier codes

The first press for printing Braille

books was established at Dehradun

in 1951

The National Association for the

Blind was formed in 1952 This

gave an organized platform for the

blind

In 1957 first Vocational Training

Centre for the Adult Blind was

established

The first School for the Blind was

established by the Central Govt in

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

11

January 1959 at Rajpur Dehradun

(now located in the campus of

NIVH Dehradun)

First National Library for the Blind

was established by the Central

Government in 1962

Govt of India brought all its

activities for the education training

and rehabilitation of the blind

under one umbrella for better

coordination in 1967 called

National Centre for the Blind

Dehradun

Establishment of the National

Institute for the Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) on 2nd July

1979

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

12

Rationale of the study

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari fought against

his progressive blindness to crack the

much coveted civil services exams

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission of India He had to take up

another protracted struggle to fight against

the rules laid for getting into service His

early life is a testimony of how lack of

awareness social stigma and unthought-of

policy statements could pose impediments

in the life of a differently-abled person

Hence there is a need to document the

problems faced by the person and the

policy implications thereof in order to

create a more disabled friendly

environment It is also necessary to

understand the way he functions and put

them on record so that it acts as a guiding

tool to those suffering from such disability

Objectives of the study

1 To document the early experiences of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari

2 To correlate the problems faced by him

to existing policies

3 To document his working strategies

and methods

4 To prepare a guide ready - reckoner

for related stakeholders

5 To recommend policy interventions to

provide the disabled an equal platform

Deliverables

The study will have the following

outcomes

A case study report which will

highlight the policy level issues and

other societal aspects faced by

differently-abled people

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

13

The story so far

From school education to National

Institute of Visually Handicapped

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari was born in the

year 1981 in a remote village in Ambedkar

Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh He was the

middle child amongst three sons His

father was a marginal farmer who took up

agriculture on a seasonal basis After the

agriculture season he used to work in a

textile mill in Ahmedabad His mother was

a house wife

Krishna Gopal was a normal child and he

entered the formal education system at the

age of 5 Though detection of his problem

of visual impairment through a medical

expert was done much late he had started

experiencing problems with vision very

early in his childhood He had difficulty to

read from the blackboards in his school if

illumination was not proper As a child

Krishna also felt problems of vision at

night But as there was no family history to

arouse any suspicions those lapses were

not taken seriously

It was Krishnarsquos mother who felt some

abnormality in the movements of her son

at night as he kept on colliding with things

every now and then She suggested taking

him to an expert for advice She even

started a daily dose of vitamin A

supplements mistaking his lapses for

common night blindness

But Krishna was fully active during day

time His elder brother who also had the

same problem did not manifest problems

that early And sometime during that

phase he spotted a snake in the field

disproving his motherrsquos apprehensions

On one occasion his father came with

their bull He wanted Krishnasrsquos help in

controlling the bull He asked his son to

take the rope and help him control the bull

But Krishna kept on making blunders as he

was not able to spot the bull in the dark

On another occasion he spotted a rubber

band in a corner further raising questions

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

14

on his motherrsquos suspicions Thus detection

of the disease happened much late

Myopia was also working side by side

with the main disease in his case So he

always had problems with regard to his

vision which he never dared to share with

anybody On cloudy days or in dark class

rooms Krishna was afraid to read from the

blackboard In order to fool people around

he used to fake

Sometimes night classes were arranged by

village teachers for poor students in their

village Krishna too attended them due to

pressure from his family But he could

never concentrate in those classes due to

an overwhelming fear as to how he would

reach home after the classes

He never kept aloof from any games

happening in day time in familiar

circumstances While playing cricket with

his friends he preferred balling and wicket

keeping to batting as he was not able to see

the ball many a times while batting But he

opted to back out from new situations

which demanded good eye hand co-

ordination He rarely ventured out after

sunset

During his fifth standard once while

roaming around with his friends he tried

to pluck a mango from a mango tree at the

instigation of his friends He was not able

to see the mango dangling in the tree But

he was not willing to admit it His friend

aimed at the mango once Krishna gave up

The stone not only missed the mango but

also fell on an unsuspecting Krishna who

failed to see the stone coming towards

him He got hurt in his mouth and lost his

front tooth The incident left an indelible

mark on his face in the literal sense of the

term

When he reached sixth and vision related

problems increased his mother started

raising the alarm once again and this time

more fervently He was finally taken to an

eye specialist 40 kilometres away from his

village

While getting his eyes checked he found

that he was unable to read even a single

alphabet from the chart He was not

willing to admit the same as he thought

that his admission would be presumed as

ignorance of letters As he was sitting in

the room for quite some time listening to

the patients before him he had heard the

On another occasion he fell down

very badly when his father pushed

him away He was unable to assess

the background and as a result lost

balance and fell down

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

15

others read from the chart So he too went

on to read from it largely from memory

than by really seeing what was on it

With correcting lenses he was able to read

69 by his left eye and 612 by his right

eye That was probably the first time

Krishna realized that there was something

wrong with his eyes But he was hopeful

that the right correction could provide him

with the perfect vision

The correction lenses did offer him some

respite in the daytime for the problem of

myopia But nights remained the same

and he did not find any perceptible change

in his night vision

Krishna was eventually detected with

Retinisis Pigmentosa Retinitis

Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of

the eyes that causes loss of

vision Symptoms include trouble seeing at

night and decreased peripheral vision (side

vision) Onset of symptoms is generally

gradual As peripheral vision worsens

people may experience tunnel vision In

the case of Krishna direct vision was

affected first

Despite repeated instances of casualties

intervention was not initiated in Krishnarsquos

case due to three reasons First there was a

communication gap between the child and

his parents due to the stubbornness of the

child in failing to disclose his problems

For example in spite of being repeatedly

thrashed for not being able to assess the

position of the hands in a clock he never

admitted that he was not able to see

properly The same habit of the child was

repeated in the doctorrsquos chamber as he

went on to read the chart in the doctorrsquos

room after hearing others read from it

The second reason was probably the

failure of his parents to appreciate the

situation and third was their inability to

diagnose the problem But in a case as

typical as Krishnarsquos it is doubtful if things

would have been different had his parents

been more educated Even at the level of

the school the teachers too repeatedly

failed to identify the problem

The first doctor who saw Krishna also did

not assess him properly and just stated that

his eyes were weak He prescribed certain

medicines and asked to come for follow up

check-ups on an yearly basis

After his initial eye check-up Krishna

became a front bencher in school which

helped him come up in his studies Later

on he was taken to another specialist in

Ahmedabad who confided to his father that

Krishnarsquos condition was not curable That

was probably the first proper diagnosis of

his condition But his father chose to hide

the issue from him Till 1997 he thus got

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 11: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

11

January 1959 at Rajpur Dehradun

(now located in the campus of

NIVH Dehradun)

First National Library for the Blind

was established by the Central

Government in 1962

Govt of India brought all its

activities for the education training

and rehabilitation of the blind

under one umbrella for better

coordination in 1967 called

National Centre for the Blind

Dehradun

Establishment of the National

Institute for the Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) on 2nd July

1979

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

12

Rationale of the study

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari fought against

his progressive blindness to crack the

much coveted civil services exams

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission of India He had to take up

another protracted struggle to fight against

the rules laid for getting into service His

early life is a testimony of how lack of

awareness social stigma and unthought-of

policy statements could pose impediments

in the life of a differently-abled person

Hence there is a need to document the

problems faced by the person and the

policy implications thereof in order to

create a more disabled friendly

environment It is also necessary to

understand the way he functions and put

them on record so that it acts as a guiding

tool to those suffering from such disability

Objectives of the study

1 To document the early experiences of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari

2 To correlate the problems faced by him

to existing policies

3 To document his working strategies

and methods

4 To prepare a guide ready - reckoner

for related stakeholders

5 To recommend policy interventions to

provide the disabled an equal platform

Deliverables

The study will have the following

outcomes

A case study report which will

highlight the policy level issues and

other societal aspects faced by

differently-abled people

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

13

The story so far

From school education to National

Institute of Visually Handicapped

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari was born in the

year 1981 in a remote village in Ambedkar

Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh He was the

middle child amongst three sons His

father was a marginal farmer who took up

agriculture on a seasonal basis After the

agriculture season he used to work in a

textile mill in Ahmedabad His mother was

a house wife

Krishna Gopal was a normal child and he

entered the formal education system at the

age of 5 Though detection of his problem

of visual impairment through a medical

expert was done much late he had started

experiencing problems with vision very

early in his childhood He had difficulty to

read from the blackboards in his school if

illumination was not proper As a child

Krishna also felt problems of vision at

night But as there was no family history to

arouse any suspicions those lapses were

not taken seriously

It was Krishnarsquos mother who felt some

abnormality in the movements of her son

at night as he kept on colliding with things

every now and then She suggested taking

him to an expert for advice She even

started a daily dose of vitamin A

supplements mistaking his lapses for

common night blindness

But Krishna was fully active during day

time His elder brother who also had the

same problem did not manifest problems

that early And sometime during that

phase he spotted a snake in the field

disproving his motherrsquos apprehensions

On one occasion his father came with

their bull He wanted Krishnasrsquos help in

controlling the bull He asked his son to

take the rope and help him control the bull

But Krishna kept on making blunders as he

was not able to spot the bull in the dark

On another occasion he spotted a rubber

band in a corner further raising questions

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

14

on his motherrsquos suspicions Thus detection

of the disease happened much late

Myopia was also working side by side

with the main disease in his case So he

always had problems with regard to his

vision which he never dared to share with

anybody On cloudy days or in dark class

rooms Krishna was afraid to read from the

blackboard In order to fool people around

he used to fake

Sometimes night classes were arranged by

village teachers for poor students in their

village Krishna too attended them due to

pressure from his family But he could

never concentrate in those classes due to

an overwhelming fear as to how he would

reach home after the classes

He never kept aloof from any games

happening in day time in familiar

circumstances While playing cricket with

his friends he preferred balling and wicket

keeping to batting as he was not able to see

the ball many a times while batting But he

opted to back out from new situations

which demanded good eye hand co-

ordination He rarely ventured out after

sunset

During his fifth standard once while

roaming around with his friends he tried

to pluck a mango from a mango tree at the

instigation of his friends He was not able

to see the mango dangling in the tree But

he was not willing to admit it His friend

aimed at the mango once Krishna gave up

The stone not only missed the mango but

also fell on an unsuspecting Krishna who

failed to see the stone coming towards

him He got hurt in his mouth and lost his

front tooth The incident left an indelible

mark on his face in the literal sense of the

term

When he reached sixth and vision related

problems increased his mother started

raising the alarm once again and this time

more fervently He was finally taken to an

eye specialist 40 kilometres away from his

village

While getting his eyes checked he found

that he was unable to read even a single

alphabet from the chart He was not

willing to admit the same as he thought

that his admission would be presumed as

ignorance of letters As he was sitting in

the room for quite some time listening to

the patients before him he had heard the

On another occasion he fell down

very badly when his father pushed

him away He was unable to assess

the background and as a result lost

balance and fell down

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

15

others read from the chart So he too went

on to read from it largely from memory

than by really seeing what was on it

With correcting lenses he was able to read

69 by his left eye and 612 by his right

eye That was probably the first time

Krishna realized that there was something

wrong with his eyes But he was hopeful

that the right correction could provide him

with the perfect vision

The correction lenses did offer him some

respite in the daytime for the problem of

myopia But nights remained the same

and he did not find any perceptible change

in his night vision

Krishna was eventually detected with

Retinisis Pigmentosa Retinitis

Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of

the eyes that causes loss of

vision Symptoms include trouble seeing at

night and decreased peripheral vision (side

vision) Onset of symptoms is generally

gradual As peripheral vision worsens

people may experience tunnel vision In

the case of Krishna direct vision was

affected first

Despite repeated instances of casualties

intervention was not initiated in Krishnarsquos

case due to three reasons First there was a

communication gap between the child and

his parents due to the stubbornness of the

child in failing to disclose his problems

For example in spite of being repeatedly

thrashed for not being able to assess the

position of the hands in a clock he never

admitted that he was not able to see

properly The same habit of the child was

repeated in the doctorrsquos chamber as he

went on to read the chart in the doctorrsquos

room after hearing others read from it

The second reason was probably the

failure of his parents to appreciate the

situation and third was their inability to

diagnose the problem But in a case as

typical as Krishnarsquos it is doubtful if things

would have been different had his parents

been more educated Even at the level of

the school the teachers too repeatedly

failed to identify the problem

The first doctor who saw Krishna also did

not assess him properly and just stated that

his eyes were weak He prescribed certain

medicines and asked to come for follow up

check-ups on an yearly basis

After his initial eye check-up Krishna

became a front bencher in school which

helped him come up in his studies Later

on he was taken to another specialist in

Ahmedabad who confided to his father that

Krishnarsquos condition was not curable That

was probably the first proper diagnosis of

his condition But his father chose to hide

the issue from him Till 1997 he thus got

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 12: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

12

Rationale of the study

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari fought against

his progressive blindness to crack the

much coveted civil services exams

conducted by the Union Public Service

Commission of India He had to take up

another protracted struggle to fight against

the rules laid for getting into service His

early life is a testimony of how lack of

awareness social stigma and unthought-of

policy statements could pose impediments

in the life of a differently-abled person

Hence there is a need to document the

problems faced by the person and the

policy implications thereof in order to

create a more disabled friendly

environment It is also necessary to

understand the way he functions and put

them on record so that it acts as a guiding

tool to those suffering from such disability

Objectives of the study

1 To document the early experiences of

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari

2 To correlate the problems faced by him

to existing policies

3 To document his working strategies

and methods

4 To prepare a guide ready - reckoner

for related stakeholders

5 To recommend policy interventions to

provide the disabled an equal platform

Deliverables

The study will have the following

outcomes

A case study report which will

highlight the policy level issues and

other societal aspects faced by

differently-abled people

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

13

The story so far

From school education to National

Institute of Visually Handicapped

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari was born in the

year 1981 in a remote village in Ambedkar

Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh He was the

middle child amongst three sons His

father was a marginal farmer who took up

agriculture on a seasonal basis After the

agriculture season he used to work in a

textile mill in Ahmedabad His mother was

a house wife

Krishna Gopal was a normal child and he

entered the formal education system at the

age of 5 Though detection of his problem

of visual impairment through a medical

expert was done much late he had started

experiencing problems with vision very

early in his childhood He had difficulty to

read from the blackboards in his school if

illumination was not proper As a child

Krishna also felt problems of vision at

night But as there was no family history to

arouse any suspicions those lapses were

not taken seriously

It was Krishnarsquos mother who felt some

abnormality in the movements of her son

at night as he kept on colliding with things

every now and then She suggested taking

him to an expert for advice She even

started a daily dose of vitamin A

supplements mistaking his lapses for

common night blindness

But Krishna was fully active during day

time His elder brother who also had the

same problem did not manifest problems

that early And sometime during that

phase he spotted a snake in the field

disproving his motherrsquos apprehensions

On one occasion his father came with

their bull He wanted Krishnasrsquos help in

controlling the bull He asked his son to

take the rope and help him control the bull

But Krishna kept on making blunders as he

was not able to spot the bull in the dark

On another occasion he spotted a rubber

band in a corner further raising questions

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

14

on his motherrsquos suspicions Thus detection

of the disease happened much late

Myopia was also working side by side

with the main disease in his case So he

always had problems with regard to his

vision which he never dared to share with

anybody On cloudy days or in dark class

rooms Krishna was afraid to read from the

blackboard In order to fool people around

he used to fake

Sometimes night classes were arranged by

village teachers for poor students in their

village Krishna too attended them due to

pressure from his family But he could

never concentrate in those classes due to

an overwhelming fear as to how he would

reach home after the classes

He never kept aloof from any games

happening in day time in familiar

circumstances While playing cricket with

his friends he preferred balling and wicket

keeping to batting as he was not able to see

the ball many a times while batting But he

opted to back out from new situations

which demanded good eye hand co-

ordination He rarely ventured out after

sunset

During his fifth standard once while

roaming around with his friends he tried

to pluck a mango from a mango tree at the

instigation of his friends He was not able

to see the mango dangling in the tree But

he was not willing to admit it His friend

aimed at the mango once Krishna gave up

The stone not only missed the mango but

also fell on an unsuspecting Krishna who

failed to see the stone coming towards

him He got hurt in his mouth and lost his

front tooth The incident left an indelible

mark on his face in the literal sense of the

term

When he reached sixth and vision related

problems increased his mother started

raising the alarm once again and this time

more fervently He was finally taken to an

eye specialist 40 kilometres away from his

village

While getting his eyes checked he found

that he was unable to read even a single

alphabet from the chart He was not

willing to admit the same as he thought

that his admission would be presumed as

ignorance of letters As he was sitting in

the room for quite some time listening to

the patients before him he had heard the

On another occasion he fell down

very badly when his father pushed

him away He was unable to assess

the background and as a result lost

balance and fell down

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

15

others read from the chart So he too went

on to read from it largely from memory

than by really seeing what was on it

With correcting lenses he was able to read

69 by his left eye and 612 by his right

eye That was probably the first time

Krishna realized that there was something

wrong with his eyes But he was hopeful

that the right correction could provide him

with the perfect vision

The correction lenses did offer him some

respite in the daytime for the problem of

myopia But nights remained the same

and he did not find any perceptible change

in his night vision

Krishna was eventually detected with

Retinisis Pigmentosa Retinitis

Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of

the eyes that causes loss of

vision Symptoms include trouble seeing at

night and decreased peripheral vision (side

vision) Onset of symptoms is generally

gradual As peripheral vision worsens

people may experience tunnel vision In

the case of Krishna direct vision was

affected first

Despite repeated instances of casualties

intervention was not initiated in Krishnarsquos

case due to three reasons First there was a

communication gap between the child and

his parents due to the stubbornness of the

child in failing to disclose his problems

For example in spite of being repeatedly

thrashed for not being able to assess the

position of the hands in a clock he never

admitted that he was not able to see

properly The same habit of the child was

repeated in the doctorrsquos chamber as he

went on to read the chart in the doctorrsquos

room after hearing others read from it

The second reason was probably the

failure of his parents to appreciate the

situation and third was their inability to

diagnose the problem But in a case as

typical as Krishnarsquos it is doubtful if things

would have been different had his parents

been more educated Even at the level of

the school the teachers too repeatedly

failed to identify the problem

The first doctor who saw Krishna also did

not assess him properly and just stated that

his eyes were weak He prescribed certain

medicines and asked to come for follow up

check-ups on an yearly basis

After his initial eye check-up Krishna

became a front bencher in school which

helped him come up in his studies Later

on he was taken to another specialist in

Ahmedabad who confided to his father that

Krishnarsquos condition was not curable That

was probably the first proper diagnosis of

his condition But his father chose to hide

the issue from him Till 1997 he thus got

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 13: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

13

The story so far

From school education to National

Institute of Visually Handicapped

Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari was born in the

year 1981 in a remote village in Ambedkar

Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh He was the

middle child amongst three sons His

father was a marginal farmer who took up

agriculture on a seasonal basis After the

agriculture season he used to work in a

textile mill in Ahmedabad His mother was

a house wife

Krishna Gopal was a normal child and he

entered the formal education system at the

age of 5 Though detection of his problem

of visual impairment through a medical

expert was done much late he had started

experiencing problems with vision very

early in his childhood He had difficulty to

read from the blackboards in his school if

illumination was not proper As a child

Krishna also felt problems of vision at

night But as there was no family history to

arouse any suspicions those lapses were

not taken seriously

It was Krishnarsquos mother who felt some

abnormality in the movements of her son

at night as he kept on colliding with things

every now and then She suggested taking

him to an expert for advice She even

started a daily dose of vitamin A

supplements mistaking his lapses for

common night blindness

But Krishna was fully active during day

time His elder brother who also had the

same problem did not manifest problems

that early And sometime during that

phase he spotted a snake in the field

disproving his motherrsquos apprehensions

On one occasion his father came with

their bull He wanted Krishnasrsquos help in

controlling the bull He asked his son to

take the rope and help him control the bull

But Krishna kept on making blunders as he

was not able to spot the bull in the dark

On another occasion he spotted a rubber

band in a corner further raising questions

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

14

on his motherrsquos suspicions Thus detection

of the disease happened much late

Myopia was also working side by side

with the main disease in his case So he

always had problems with regard to his

vision which he never dared to share with

anybody On cloudy days or in dark class

rooms Krishna was afraid to read from the

blackboard In order to fool people around

he used to fake

Sometimes night classes were arranged by

village teachers for poor students in their

village Krishna too attended them due to

pressure from his family But he could

never concentrate in those classes due to

an overwhelming fear as to how he would

reach home after the classes

He never kept aloof from any games

happening in day time in familiar

circumstances While playing cricket with

his friends he preferred balling and wicket

keeping to batting as he was not able to see

the ball many a times while batting But he

opted to back out from new situations

which demanded good eye hand co-

ordination He rarely ventured out after

sunset

During his fifth standard once while

roaming around with his friends he tried

to pluck a mango from a mango tree at the

instigation of his friends He was not able

to see the mango dangling in the tree But

he was not willing to admit it His friend

aimed at the mango once Krishna gave up

The stone not only missed the mango but

also fell on an unsuspecting Krishna who

failed to see the stone coming towards

him He got hurt in his mouth and lost his

front tooth The incident left an indelible

mark on his face in the literal sense of the

term

When he reached sixth and vision related

problems increased his mother started

raising the alarm once again and this time

more fervently He was finally taken to an

eye specialist 40 kilometres away from his

village

While getting his eyes checked he found

that he was unable to read even a single

alphabet from the chart He was not

willing to admit the same as he thought

that his admission would be presumed as

ignorance of letters As he was sitting in

the room for quite some time listening to

the patients before him he had heard the

On another occasion he fell down

very badly when his father pushed

him away He was unable to assess

the background and as a result lost

balance and fell down

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

15

others read from the chart So he too went

on to read from it largely from memory

than by really seeing what was on it

With correcting lenses he was able to read

69 by his left eye and 612 by his right

eye That was probably the first time

Krishna realized that there was something

wrong with his eyes But he was hopeful

that the right correction could provide him

with the perfect vision

The correction lenses did offer him some

respite in the daytime for the problem of

myopia But nights remained the same

and he did not find any perceptible change

in his night vision

Krishna was eventually detected with

Retinisis Pigmentosa Retinitis

Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of

the eyes that causes loss of

vision Symptoms include trouble seeing at

night and decreased peripheral vision (side

vision) Onset of symptoms is generally

gradual As peripheral vision worsens

people may experience tunnel vision In

the case of Krishna direct vision was

affected first

Despite repeated instances of casualties

intervention was not initiated in Krishnarsquos

case due to three reasons First there was a

communication gap between the child and

his parents due to the stubbornness of the

child in failing to disclose his problems

For example in spite of being repeatedly

thrashed for not being able to assess the

position of the hands in a clock he never

admitted that he was not able to see

properly The same habit of the child was

repeated in the doctorrsquos chamber as he

went on to read the chart in the doctorrsquos

room after hearing others read from it

The second reason was probably the

failure of his parents to appreciate the

situation and third was their inability to

diagnose the problem But in a case as

typical as Krishnarsquos it is doubtful if things

would have been different had his parents

been more educated Even at the level of

the school the teachers too repeatedly

failed to identify the problem

The first doctor who saw Krishna also did

not assess him properly and just stated that

his eyes were weak He prescribed certain

medicines and asked to come for follow up

check-ups on an yearly basis

After his initial eye check-up Krishna

became a front bencher in school which

helped him come up in his studies Later

on he was taken to another specialist in

Ahmedabad who confided to his father that

Krishnarsquos condition was not curable That

was probably the first proper diagnosis of

his condition But his father chose to hide

the issue from him Till 1997 he thus got

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 14: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

14

on his motherrsquos suspicions Thus detection

of the disease happened much late

Myopia was also working side by side

with the main disease in his case So he

always had problems with regard to his

vision which he never dared to share with

anybody On cloudy days or in dark class

rooms Krishna was afraid to read from the

blackboard In order to fool people around

he used to fake

Sometimes night classes were arranged by

village teachers for poor students in their

village Krishna too attended them due to

pressure from his family But he could

never concentrate in those classes due to

an overwhelming fear as to how he would

reach home after the classes

He never kept aloof from any games

happening in day time in familiar

circumstances While playing cricket with

his friends he preferred balling and wicket

keeping to batting as he was not able to see

the ball many a times while batting But he

opted to back out from new situations

which demanded good eye hand co-

ordination He rarely ventured out after

sunset

During his fifth standard once while

roaming around with his friends he tried

to pluck a mango from a mango tree at the

instigation of his friends He was not able

to see the mango dangling in the tree But

he was not willing to admit it His friend

aimed at the mango once Krishna gave up

The stone not only missed the mango but

also fell on an unsuspecting Krishna who

failed to see the stone coming towards

him He got hurt in his mouth and lost his

front tooth The incident left an indelible

mark on his face in the literal sense of the

term

When he reached sixth and vision related

problems increased his mother started

raising the alarm once again and this time

more fervently He was finally taken to an

eye specialist 40 kilometres away from his

village

While getting his eyes checked he found

that he was unable to read even a single

alphabet from the chart He was not

willing to admit the same as he thought

that his admission would be presumed as

ignorance of letters As he was sitting in

the room for quite some time listening to

the patients before him he had heard the

On another occasion he fell down

very badly when his father pushed

him away He was unable to assess

the background and as a result lost

balance and fell down

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

15

others read from the chart So he too went

on to read from it largely from memory

than by really seeing what was on it

With correcting lenses he was able to read

69 by his left eye and 612 by his right

eye That was probably the first time

Krishna realized that there was something

wrong with his eyes But he was hopeful

that the right correction could provide him

with the perfect vision

The correction lenses did offer him some

respite in the daytime for the problem of

myopia But nights remained the same

and he did not find any perceptible change

in his night vision

Krishna was eventually detected with

Retinisis Pigmentosa Retinitis

Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of

the eyes that causes loss of

vision Symptoms include trouble seeing at

night and decreased peripheral vision (side

vision) Onset of symptoms is generally

gradual As peripheral vision worsens

people may experience tunnel vision In

the case of Krishna direct vision was

affected first

Despite repeated instances of casualties

intervention was not initiated in Krishnarsquos

case due to three reasons First there was a

communication gap between the child and

his parents due to the stubbornness of the

child in failing to disclose his problems

For example in spite of being repeatedly

thrashed for not being able to assess the

position of the hands in a clock he never

admitted that he was not able to see

properly The same habit of the child was

repeated in the doctorrsquos chamber as he

went on to read the chart in the doctorrsquos

room after hearing others read from it

The second reason was probably the

failure of his parents to appreciate the

situation and third was their inability to

diagnose the problem But in a case as

typical as Krishnarsquos it is doubtful if things

would have been different had his parents

been more educated Even at the level of

the school the teachers too repeatedly

failed to identify the problem

The first doctor who saw Krishna also did

not assess him properly and just stated that

his eyes were weak He prescribed certain

medicines and asked to come for follow up

check-ups on an yearly basis

After his initial eye check-up Krishna

became a front bencher in school which

helped him come up in his studies Later

on he was taken to another specialist in

Ahmedabad who confided to his father that

Krishnarsquos condition was not curable That

was probably the first proper diagnosis of

his condition But his father chose to hide

the issue from him Till 1997 he thus got

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 15: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

15

others read from the chart So he too went

on to read from it largely from memory

than by really seeing what was on it

With correcting lenses he was able to read

69 by his left eye and 612 by his right

eye That was probably the first time

Krishna realized that there was something

wrong with his eyes But he was hopeful

that the right correction could provide him

with the perfect vision

The correction lenses did offer him some

respite in the daytime for the problem of

myopia But nights remained the same

and he did not find any perceptible change

in his night vision

Krishna was eventually detected with

Retinisis Pigmentosa Retinitis

Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of

the eyes that causes loss of

vision Symptoms include trouble seeing at

night and decreased peripheral vision (side

vision) Onset of symptoms is generally

gradual As peripheral vision worsens

people may experience tunnel vision In

the case of Krishna direct vision was

affected first

Despite repeated instances of casualties

intervention was not initiated in Krishnarsquos

case due to three reasons First there was a

communication gap between the child and

his parents due to the stubbornness of the

child in failing to disclose his problems

For example in spite of being repeatedly

thrashed for not being able to assess the

position of the hands in a clock he never

admitted that he was not able to see

properly The same habit of the child was

repeated in the doctorrsquos chamber as he

went on to read the chart in the doctorrsquos

room after hearing others read from it

The second reason was probably the

failure of his parents to appreciate the

situation and third was their inability to

diagnose the problem But in a case as

typical as Krishnarsquos it is doubtful if things

would have been different had his parents

been more educated Even at the level of

the school the teachers too repeatedly

failed to identify the problem

The first doctor who saw Krishna also did

not assess him properly and just stated that

his eyes were weak He prescribed certain

medicines and asked to come for follow up

check-ups on an yearly basis

After his initial eye check-up Krishna

became a front bencher in school which

helped him come up in his studies Later

on he was taken to another specialist in

Ahmedabad who confided to his father that

Krishnarsquos condition was not curable That

was probably the first proper diagnosis of

his condition But his father chose to hide

the issue from him Till 1997 he thus got

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 16: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

16

his eyes checked around 4-5 times without

really understanding his problem As his

vision remained constant during that time

nothing further was thought about the

issue

His parents chose to wrap up the problem

fearing social stigma and exploitation of

their children Soon after both his brothers

were also detected with the same disease

It was a huge blow for the family They

not only concealed the real state of affairs

from the society but from Krishna and his

brothers as well

Unaware of the future awaiting him

Krishna too exerted himself diligently in

his studies He even went to his school in a

bicycle He wrote his 10th

and 12th exam

in a normal way He got to know about the

civil services exam sometime during his

12th

standard and had made up his mind to

give it a try

At that time the family received another

setback in the form of loss of job of their

father Krishna had to take tuitions to fund

for his education The dwindling income

denied him further access to the care of his

doctor The problems with his vision

started worsening in dim light and so he

tried to wrap up his chores before twilight

He cleared 12th

with first division and first

rank among the local colleges On the

basis of an entrance examination he got

himself qualified for admission in a

college in Jaunpur which was 100 km

away from their village His elder brother

also joined him there They took a rented

room and tried to sustain themselves with

a monthly maintenance of Rs 1500- from

their home

It was while reading an article on Kargil

war that Krishna realized that something

was amiss He had to undergo tremendous

stress took a lot of time to complete the

article and he understood that he was able

to see only with his left eye He felt that

the lines were overlapping and scattered

throughout the page

On that occasion he felt an urgent need to

consult a doctor It was from that doctor

Krishna got to know about his

deteriorating vision and the prospect of

impending blindness His vision of the left

eye had drastically reduced from 69 to a

While in 12th

Krishna had a

miraculous escape from a fatal

accident while cycling his way to the

exam centre He was always unable to

drive his cycle in slow speed due to

his vision problems and so he

normally sped ahead In a particular

instance he was nearly hit by a

speeding vehicle which he failed to

see

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 17: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

17

difficult 636 and the right eye was left

with no vision The doctor revealed that he

would soon turn blind during the day too

He advised Krishna to drop studies and

stop torturing his eyes further Fearing the

worst Krishna travelled to Indore for a

second opinion Not only were his fears

confirmed but his brother was also

detected with the same problem He on the

other hand was a science student and the

practical sessions in the lab proved too

difficult and dangerous for him Both of

them in a way were suddenly hurled

towards the advancing reality of their

lives

Compounding their problems the second

year exam was conducted in the second

half of the day when it used to get dark

very soon Writing answers in dimness

became a tedious exercise In final year

examination his vision had plummeted so

much so that he was unable to read the

question paper even after fully bending on

the desk It was a time consuming affair

which left his body writhing in pain Even

while writing his lines leapt one over

another making the whole experience

nightmarish

He tried asking for a window seat to

continue with his exam But the facility

was denied and he was treated rather

rudely by the invigilators Having no

alternative left he wrote the exams in

those hostile conditions This in turn

affected his performance

Krishna got a whiff of the times to come

and the difficulties that were to follow He

made up his mind to utilize the light left in

his life in the most effective manner

possible He shifted to Allahabad in a bid

to prepare for the state civil services exam

Leading a normal life was becoming

increasingly impossible They used to get

hurt while cooking Accidents visited them

very frequently The brother duo made

another trip to a doctor who agreed to treat

them to delay their blindness but at a hefty

sum which was not affordable to them

The financial condition in their home kept

on deteriorating and their grandmotherrsquos

pension kept them afloat It was

approximately at that time that their

mother too started helping out their father

in the fields But fearing social stigma she

used to work at night Krishna and his

brother also whenever they went home

ploughed the field watered the crops and

lent their hands in harvesting

In one instance Krishna got scolded

by his landlord for using high watt

bulb while cooking

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 18: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

18

Krishna started preparing for competitive

exams from the confines of his rented

room in Allahabad He started using a

magnifying glass to read the scattered

letters in his books He lived in a perpetual

fear of being tricked by others if they got

to know about his disability So when his

house owner got to know about his

problem with vision he decided to shift to

another place with his brother

It was during one of those days that

Krishna and his brother came to know

about their blindness through a programme

in the radio (AIR) They were under the

impression that those who were blind

could not see anything at all When they

heard that a person with even 40

disability also came in the blind category

they decided to seek help for a medical

certificate

Krishna also went through the rigmarole of

procedures and the doctor concerned asked

them a bribe of Rs 10000- for giving a

blindness certificate Finally it was almost

in 2002 that he got a certificate stating his

visual disability Since then a few things

became easier and he even started getting

concessions for his travel

His remaining vision had almost reached

660 and it was then he started thinking of

other possible career options He came to

know through informal sources that in

state civil services except for the post of

section officer no other post was

identified for the visually impaired And

vacancy for that post had not been

advertised since many years

He then thought of completing his post-

graduation and clearing UGC-NET to get

the job of a lecturer which was a

conventional route traditionally identified

for visually impaired In order to save his

remaining session year he started doing

his post-graduation while in Allahabad

from Kanpur University as a private

student The main reason for choosing that

university was their scribe policy He took

up economics as his subject In retrospect

he considers the option of choosing

economics as a wrong move as it was a bit

challenging for visually impaired He did

Even during his brotherrsquos wedding

Krishna was hiding his disability

from the guests The fear of social

stigma was so much so that when he

was asked to distribute food for the

guests Krishna had to hide himself

for some time He did not want to be

forced into doing something and

thereby reveal himself in the process

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 19: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

19

not have anybody to counsel him in this

regard

Despite the disability certificate there

were always problems relating to scribes

Different institutions followed different

policies in the matter of scribes There

were detailed guidelines regarding the

scribes to be brought in exams and it was a

difficulty to get a proper scribe Many

deserted at the last moment and even if

someone agreed the ability of the scribe to

even understand and pen down the answers

narrated to himher was questionable

Most of the times the invigilators were

insensitive to the demand of the blind

candidates if they did not look blind as

was the case of Krishna Lack of an

apparent sign in the eyes indicating visual

inability worked against him He was

treated like a fraudster who was

circumventing the system for vested

interest

Things again took a wrong turn due to the

demise of his grandmother Her pension

having stopped the brothers had to fend

for themselves alone in a big city After

having lost their assured source of income

and having to adjust to the darkness setting

in their lives they needed to make certain

changes in the way they operated They

needed to adopt the blind way of life learn

Braille and view things the way the blind

did

But they could not easily find out

somebody who could help them

understand the dynamics of Braille Being

born blind was one thing and becoming

blind at a later stage in life was another

There werenrsquot much institutional help

available in the case of latter

They appeared in all possible competitive

examinations and tried to save money from

the meagre amount that their father was

sending them Krishnarsquos brother qualified

the NET exam by this time But there was

a time lag of almost half an year before the

certificate was issued and the brothers had

to find some avenue to sustain themselves

for some time Before becoming

completely blind they had to learn Braille

and with nobody around them trained in

Braille they decided to search for a blind

school It took them almost a month and a

few casualties before they heard about the

National Institute of Visually Handicapped

(NIVH) in Dehradun

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 20: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

20

Instances

Identified Problem

Detection of blindness got delayed

Failure at the level of the school to

identify problem

Lack of awareness

Kept on hiding the problem

Societal stigma

Could not continue treatment Accessibility to health care and

affordability

Experienced difficulty in learning and

writing exams

Need to present subjects in a

customized way and counsel

students at the outset regarding the

content of the subjects which may

be visually demanding

Difficulty in learning Braille in cases of

acquired blindness

Skills for teaching disabled remain

confined only to those who have

got special training Many BEd

courses still do not have a section

on teaching the disabled

Considerable amount of tension during

exams with regard to scribes and

insensitivity of invigilators

Lack of a uniform policy on scribes

combined with a lack of awareness

regarding blindness among

common people

Difficulty in getting himself placed in

a job

Lack of avenues to know about

available jobs

Combating poverty and disability Lack of a proper social security net

for benchmark disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 21: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

21

At The National Institute

of Visually Handicapped

Though Krishna had heard about NIVH

there was no way by which he could get to

know the procedures of getting into the

institute He had to hide his intention of

going to Dehradun from his father and he

and his brother started saving from their

stringent budget to make funds for their

plans Saving measures included cutting

down one timersquos food to even small

fudging in the expenses that they used to

report to their father

Suppressing the pangs of hunger they

found their way into the general coach of a

train and set out for NIVH in a bid to see if

they had a chance there Their first visit

did not yield much fruit as they could not

get the expected response from NIVH

They returned dejected After a few

months they revisited Dehradun and

reached Sharp Memorial School for the

Blind situated quite close to NIVH

Despite being strangers the school

authorities extended a warm welcome to

them They stayed there for two days and

got introduced to the appliances and

equipment available at the school for

training the blind The school then

referred them to NIVH They got a better

response from NIVH that time and they

came to know about the adult training

centre in NIVH Only very few candidates

were selected every year in the training

programme They undertook yet another

trip to Dehradun to appear for the entrance

exam and both of them qualified into the

one year Computer Programme Course

It was a huge relief for the brother duo at

that stage as accommodation with stipend

of Rs 100 to each was almost

unimaginable

Life in NIVH was qualitatively on a higher

scale They had their own rooms and they

started getting used to the blind way of

life They got acquainted to basic

computing skills and the screen reader

software While in NIVH Krishnarsquos vision

was almost namesake and had come down

drastically Yet he nurtured his ambition

to get into the civil services

He had to attend classes on a regular basis

which was affecting his preparation and so

he was almost happy when he was

detected with Jaundice Despite a weak

body that demanded rest Krishna got into

a mode of serious preparation and later got

warned by his doctor to take care of his

health more seriously

He relentlessly tortured his eyes and body

as he bent over his books trying to make

sense of the black markings He magnified

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 22: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

22

his magnifier by binding two of them

together In 15 minutes he would be tired

as his body writhed under the pain of his

postural imbalances

Throughout his tenure in NIVH he was

anxious for his future Though vocational

trainings were being provided in the

centre most of them were not very

relevant

Krishna feels that mere information about

the various opportunities available would

have been of more help as it was (and is)

difficult for them to find jobs in the private

sector There were problems with market

linkages and the pass outs had to find their

way on their own

Information about the various exams being

conducted was also not available The

library did not have books for competitive

exams and certain books required

updating

Despite all odds he took the few services

of the talking library and started preparing

for civil services from NIVH He started

recording lessons He took almost 2-3

hours to learn diagrams and the 100 watt

bulb hanging low seared his eyes with its

heat Probably he was doing more damage

to his eyes by forcing them to read But the

impending darkness kept him going

despite all these physical travails

Krishna applied for a lot of exams But the

differential scribe policy and the set of

procedures with regard to scribes were

major hurdles In certain situations the

authorities refused to consider him to be

blind And for a subject like economics

the question paper was almost always

unfriendly with lots of diagrams He gave

his first attempt in civil services from

NIVH But immediately after prelims he

had to leave the institute

Though his life in NIVH was very high on

quality once out of it he was back to

square one He forgot whatever he learnt

there as he did not have access to a

computer to practise his skills Neither was

he able to end up in a job based on his skill

set Krishna feels that NIVH can play a

more proactive role in mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 23: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

23

Instances

Identified Problem

Got to know about NIVH late and had real

problems getting there

A proactive approach towards

attracting candidates may be

adopted Better IEC tools required

for wider accessibility could be

thought of

Certain courses seemed outdated Need for better market linkages

found

Was not able to know about opportunities

available

NIVH is primarily a resource

providing agency

Could not remain in practice with regard to

the skills acquired

Follow up options need to be

determined

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 24: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

24

Cracking the civil

services exam

Once out of NIVH all the problems of

existence came to the fore once again But

as luck would have it Krishnarsquos brother

got the job of a lecturer in a private college

near to his village And as per their

previous understanding he agreed to fund

for Krishnarsquos education for the time being

Krishna joined BEd course in Delhi

University as that seemed to be an option

worth exercising He had been able to clear

the entrance exam of the BEd course

But he had to take the difficult decision of

leaving the course soon when he cleared

the UGC NET and civil services

preliminary exam in 2005 in his first

attempt which he had taken during his

training in NIVH He realized that regular

classes would be a hindrance in his

preparation for civil services mains exam

That was a momentous decision in his life

wherein he opted for something as

uncertain as the civil services He was

convinced that he should aim for higher

goals in life

Krishna moved into a small rented room

and immersed himself full-fledged into

civil services preparation He strained

through the printed material with his

makeshift magnifying glasses At the end

of 2-3 hours he would realize that he was

able to read very little and he relentlessly

tortured his eyes for 10-11 hours a day

He requested people known to him to read

out from the materials available with him

so that he could record and use them later

Some people who read out to him used to

charge from him He had to cut down on

even elementary things in life in order to

afford these readers

As he had already cleared UGC-NET he

thought of entering some college as

lecturer so that he could afford his

preparation expenditure

He attended various interviews in that span

but everywhere people were sceptical

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 25: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

25

about his ability to teach It was in one of

these instances Krishna thought of

preparing graphs for economics by

perforating the paper in the Braille style

and reading them by feeling them But in

most cases only experienced hands were

required and being a fresher and that too

handicapped worked against his plans He

appeared in around 15 interviews in

different states which included 2

interviews for RBI economic research

officers also But he did not manage to get

through anywhere due to scepticism on his

abilities by the authorities concerned

That year though Krishna appeared in the

mains examination of civil services he

could not reach the last stage of interview

Though he was disheartened his marks in

the mains exam prompted him to give

another attempt This time he appeared for

the interview also yet selection still eluded

him

He appeared for a final time in the civil

services exam in 2007 and secured a rank

of 142 out of 734 He had probably made

history as he was the first visually

challenged candidate to have reached such

a high rank and that too through self-

coaching alone The success of Krishna

was special in the sense that he attempted

the exam in Hindi medium and that too

with the help of a scribe provided by

UPSC choosing the optional of

economics Most of the answers needed to

be substantiated through graphs and

diagrams which were not friendly for the

blind He had intimated the Union Public

Service Commission regarding his

difficulty after his second attempt As

there wasnrsquot any action on that front he

explained the diagrams to his scribe with

the help of an aluminium wire

There was one vacancy in IAS for the

visually impaired and Krishna was

confident of getting it as he had kept IAS

as his first choice

But three months after his selection

Krishna received a letter from Department

of Personnel Training (DoPT) stating that

he did not fulfil the physical requirements

of the seat reserved for visually challenged

candidates as circulated by the medical

board The following parameters were

mentioned

1 Work done by seeing

2 Reading and writing with computer

3 Walking with escort

The contradiction in the stated parameters

were so obvious that he wrote a letter to

the DoPT pointing to them that if a person

was able to work by seeing he couldnrsquot be

blind and hence requested them to

withdraw the arbitrary and insensitive

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 26: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

26

clause He submitted his representation to

the offices of Prime Minister Minister for

Social Justice and Empowerment and

Commission for Disabilities also DoPT

being in agreement with his argument

fished out the original rules and found out

that there was no physical requirement of

work to be done by seeing A clarification

to this effect was sent to UPSC and the

latter admitted that it was a clerical

mistake on their part

After 10 days Krishna received another

letter from DoPT wherein the first

condition was dropped but the other two

remained He got a date to appeal before

the DoPT

He rested his case based on the arguments

that the parameters stated by the Medical

Board were against the tenets of

reservation for visual impairment and a

visually handicapped person would not be

able to fulfil the criteria He also assured in

the letter about his ability to use the

computer and perform his day to day work

like any normal individual Subsequently

he was advised to appear before the

appellate medical board in Ram Manohar

Lohia Hospital New Delhi

Though Krishna had learnt using computer

from NIVH the training had happened

years ago As he had never practised on a

computer after his stint in NIVH his

computing skills were almost redundant

Krishna somehow managed to get access

to somebodyrsquos system and tried practising

with it overnight He appeared before the

medical board again and after examining

him the medical board submitted a report

stating that he needed escort in unfamiliar

circumstances due to his visual impairment

and he could read and write with the help

of computer using some special software

for the blind

In this regard Krishna recounts the

sensitivity displayed by some officers in

DoPT who helped him wholeheartedly

Finally DoPT gave the clearance and

allotted him IAS on 17th November 2008

He was directed to join his Phase-1

training on 13 December 2008 at Lal

Bhahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie He was ready

to join and intimated the same to the

academy But he was advised by the

academy not to join on 13 December 2008

as they had already got done the rail and

air reservation for the rest of the officers

for Bharat darshan

Thus he had to for wait another couple of

months before joining the academy

Finally he joined Phase-1 training after

Bhardarshan on 09 February 2009 In

Krishnas opinion when he had intimated

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 27: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

27

the academy it was more than one month

to start Bharatdarshan If he had been

allowed to join the course on 13 December

2008 he would not have lost his first

salary increment forever

In the whole process he lost five monthsrsquo

time salary and one increment One need

not mention the obvious mental and

emotional trauma that he went through in

representing his case Despite getting

qualified Krishna had to fight it out for

justice

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 28: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

28

Instances

Identified Problem

Sustenance becomes difficult and many

opportunities get lost

Longer duration of exam cycle

Visual expression was difficult during exams Certain question papers require

blind friendly approach

Mental agony and time lost in getting DoPT

issues sorted

Need for vetting policies related to

disabled through experts in the

relevant field

General confusion regarding the approach to

blind

A disability kit need to be designed

which would be provided to the

relevant office while inducting a

disabled candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 29: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

29

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of

Administration Mussoorie

Krishna came to Lal Bahadur Shastri

National Academy of Administration late

due to the delay in sorting issues related to

DoPT It was a new experience for the

academy also The first and foremost thing

about the academy is the terrain It requires

considerable amount of expertise acquired

through familiarity after a long association

with the particular place The officers do

not stay for such a long period there and

hence it becomes necessary for visually

impaired to have the help of an escort

Krishna was also provided with an escort

who used to accompany him while he was

out in the premises of the academy In

Krishnarsquos case he used to dismiss the

escort once in classes or inside his room

and so the duration that he spent with his

escort was very less But there could be

conditions where the escort has to stay for

longer durations on duty Hence it is

advisable to give them orientation on their

expected duty Krishna had experienced

some difficulty as his escort was not able

to read and write proper English So on

occasions where he wanted some

assistance in this regard it was not

forthcoming

Visual impairment is of various kinds and

degrees and there is a definite difference in

the way a person deals with his disability

So according to Krishna there is no

universal way of dealing with them Each

person comes with his own set of needs

and so any intervention has to be

customized In Krishnarsquos case because of

the late onset of the disease he was not

well trained in Braille So he felt the need

to refine his Braille skills and he had made

a request to that effect which was for some

reason not fulfilled

Though he was offered exemption from

physical training Krishna made it a point

not to miss out much So he was regular

with PT trekking as well as other

activities He had also gone for one week

trekking to Harkidun in the Himalyas with

other trainees during his foundation

course

Class room lectures were mostly done

through power point In many cases the

lecture was not circulated to him in

accessible way and so he had difficulty in

following the sequence in the class room

Again while presentations certain

presenters not being aware of his

impairment asked the class room to first

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 30: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

30

read the slide on the screen and then went

on to explain which was again a problem

for him Similarly there were occasions

when the instructor having realized his

problem started making him the focal point

in the classes This Krishna feels would

make the person conscious and take his

attention away from the matter at hand

There were instances where the hard copy

of the next dayrsquos lecture would be

circulated prior but then again Krishna

would have to spend considerable amount

of time on them converting them into

accessible format

Krishna used to record the lectures from

classrooms and later followed up with

them If provided with the right

technology a visually impaired person can

even take notes simultaneously in Braille

The lap top provided by the academy

could be put to better use here

Making the library accessible was another

aspect which could be improved upon as

per Krishna Gopalrsquos experience There are

websites like book share

sugamapustakalay etc which have stored

books in digital format These can be

easily downloaded and used by the person

concerned using a screen reader software

If the books in the course syllabus are

converted into accessible digital format

and put in platforms like book share this

will help widen the horizon of the visually

impaired

Another pertinent issue was the policy

adopted by the academy while the officer

trainee went outside LBSNAA like in the

case of parliamentary attachment Krishna

was never provided an escort in any of his

outside attachments as well as in Bharat

Darshan The batch mates were supposed

to take care of him

This had put a huge onus on Krishna as he

had to keep his group in good humour

always as he was at the mercy of others in

unfamiliar situations So in assignments

like Bharat Darshan which was a

prolonged exercise involving change of

landscape to climate the dependency on

others became a huge strain But Krishna

managed to carry on without any major

disputes or contention

When in his parliament

attachment Krishna miraculously

escaped from being hit He and his

batch mates being in an excited

mood had let their guard off for a

moment when the incident

happened Had an escort been

present there the incident could

have been avoided

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 31: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

31

Instances

Identified Problem

Wanted to update his Braille skills Different candidates have different

requirements Hence a customized

approach is needed

Had difficulty manoeuvring during Bharat

Darshan and in outside attachments

Escort was not provided on

assignments outside Mussoorie

Could not follow certain classes The pedagogical approach need

some modifications

Could not use the library facility much Certain modifications required in

library management

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 32: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

32

Issues that emerged during the study

Awareness in society

Access to health care

Dealing with societal stigma

Role of education

sector

Policy of scribes

Mainstreaming

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 33: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

33

As a bureaucrat

Krishna was allocated Madhya Pradesh

cadre His first stint was as Assistant

Collector in Chhindwara district He was

instrumental in launching the Akshya Urja

Express in Chhindwara as a part of

awareness programme on renewable

energy Being differently abled himself

Krishna could easily identify the problems

in schools of physically challenged

students He was able to bring changes in

such a school He also monitored the

welfare camp for such children to include

them in the net of various schemes meant

for them He was also able to revive an e-

library which later on became an

information source for competitive exams

His first independent charge was that of

CEO Janpad Panchayat Chhindwara and

later on as Tehsildar during his district

training In this capacity Krishna has held

meetings dealt with financial matters

issued cheques inspected schools and

midday meals and acted in monitoring

capacity of various welfare schemes

Normally Krishna takes the help of a

scribe or scanning machine or Braille to

read the hard copy and screen reader

software in case of soft copies When it

comes to financial matters at times he

cross checks with others and at other times

help of software He scans the required

documents which when gets into his

system is picked up by the software which

reads it out to him For presentations too

Krishna requires the help of the software

which reads out the screen into his

earphone For other monitoring meetings

Krishna has to prepare the day before and

make his notes in Braille so that he is able

to give his answers in case of any queries

Other activities undertaken include

returning officer in Panchayat elections

managing revenue court recovery BPL

card issuance etc Krishna has even

successfully removed around 148

encroachments

He then became Sub divisional Magistrate

in Berasia Bhopal His ambit ranged from

There was a particular instance

where Krishna was asked to

inspect the quality of roads He did

it through a totally original

method He took an iron rod and

walked along dragging it through

the construction By the sound of

the metal on concrete Krishna was

able to find out the quality of the

road

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 34: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

34

revenue court to maintenance of law and

order

Later on he went on to become Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) Zila Panchayat in

Hoshangabad In his capacity as CEO he

was not only instrumental in the

monitoring of various schemes but also

co-ordinated with various departments

successfully to initiate many activities

These included even disaster management

activities to conducting elections

Krishna graduated to become the district

magistrate in one of the tribal districts in

the state- Umaria All during his

collectorship he has been extremely

sensitive of the needs of the disabled He

has never shied away from any of the

duties expected of a district magistrate He

understands the job at hand first and then

tries to visualize it He innovates

accordingly and tries to achieve the work

at hand

Krishna strongly believes that it does not

matter whether you have eyes or not but

what matters is how seriously you take

your job If you want to do it you will find

ways to achieve your end He agrees that

his eyes are blind but insists on not being

blind

Krishna wears a wrist watch and if

you ask him the time he would tell

you the exact time seeing his watch

The dial of the watch can be opened

near the lug Opening the cover over

the dial he feels inside and says the

time

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 35: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

35

Modus Operandi

Krishna got to know about the latest

technologies like the screen reading

software from internet and through his

network of like-minded people At present

he is using JAWS 17 software and

considers Kurzweil1000 to be one amongst

the best scanning software Initially these

software required word documents Now

even jpg format can be read using them

Conducting TL

During time limit (TL) meetings Krishna

carries a soft copy of the TL sheet with

him and reviews the officials with the help

of it He hears the agenda from his system

and addresses the concerning official

Jansunvai

Jansunvai is a platform where the official

has to meet the common citizens on a

designated day and has to hear their

grievances and solve them accordingly

Krishna developed a software in this

regard He initiated a token system where

in the brief details of the complainant is

fed into the system And Krishna got to

know the essentials through his software

In matters where immediate action is

necessary Krishna leaves no scope for

procrastination The complainant is made

to sit there and the needful is done before

his eyes so that follow up option becomes

easier

Court matters

Court proceeding is another occasion

which require an eye for details Krishnarsquos

assistant reads the court files The reader

writes on the files which in turn is affirmed

by one of the two advocates Krishna

makes reference notes also with the help of

his reader Later on he gets them verified

by his assistant The draft order is also

prepared by the reader

For writing down detailed orders he seeks

the help of his reader In matters of land

orders he conducts meetings of Shanti

Samitis He takes the concerned

stakeholders to the field and ascertain the

ground level situation at the location itself

The details would be read out by the inndash

charge officers And he elicits comments

from the people

Signing cheques

Krishna is also able to sign his cheques

Till the time he became CEOZP he used

to put identification dots on cheques in

order to sign them Now he takes the help

of his escort and verifies the details later

on

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 36: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

36

Encroachment removal

Krishna was in the fore front in one of

encroachment removal initiatives He first

understood the scenario by converting a

normal map into a blind friendly one with

raised dots He zeroed in on the properties

to be brought down and then reconfirmed

the same after the event with the help of

his patwari

Inspections

When it comes to inspection Krishna likes

to correlate the records with the scenario

on field Once while inspecting schools he

first took attendance and then looked up in

the attendance register

He believes in talking to people and cross

checking the information received He

always creates a mental map of the actions

to be done by him and then tries to form an

idea as to how he could go about executing

something in the way non blind people do

This gives him perspective and he

innovates according to the situation

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 37: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

37

Tools which have helped

him

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is one

of the most popular screen reader for

people with poor vision who are unable to

read the screen or navigate with the mouse

JAWS provides speech and Braille output

for the most popular computer applications

on your PC

Features of Jaws

Two multi-lingual synthesizers Eloquence

and Vocalizer

Talking installation

Convenient OCR feature for image files or

inaccessible PDF documents

Supports PEARL Camera for direct access

to Print documents or books

Built-in free DAISY Player and full set of

DAISY-formatted basic training books

Works with Microsoft Office Google

Docs Chrome Internet Explorer Firefox

Edge etc

Supports Windowsreg 10 Windows 81

and Windows 7 including touch screens

and gestures

Support for MathML content presented in

Internet Explorer that is rendered with

MathJax

Time saving with Skim Reading and Text

Analyzer

Fully compatible with ZoomText Fusion

MAGIC and the Open Book Scanning and

Reading Software

But this software comes with a cost which

is not affordable to everybody

Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) on

the other hand is a free ldquoscreen readerrdquo

which enables blind and vision impaired

people to use computers It reads the text

on the screen in a computerised voice You

can control what is read to you by moving

the cursor to the relevant area of text with

a mouse or the arrows on your keyboard

NVDA can also convert the text into

braille if the computer user owns a device

called a ldquobraille displayrdquo

Literacy technology like Kurzweil 1000

allows all classroom materials such as

books tests and homework to be stored in

a central location accessible across

electronic devices Additional features

such as magnification and bookmarks can

be used to keep learners on task and

organized

BBYY Fine Reader is an optical character

recognition (OCR) application program

which allows the conversion of image

documents (photos scans PDF files) into

editable electronic formats It can be used

in Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 38: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

38

Microsoft Power point Rich Text Format

HTML PDFA searchable PDF CSV and

txt (plain text) files

If the blind has access to android systems

accessibility options in the phone will help

them use the phone like anybody else and

even internet banking would not be a

difficult option

Krishna Gopalrsquos experience suggests that

if educational tools are integrated with

assistive technology the challenges

associated with disabilities could be

overcome to a certain extent Literacy

technology utilizes many different

components like text-to-speech to help

curate an inclusive learning experience

Krishna also uses the mobile to his

advantage He has used the accessibility

option in his mobile whereby the mobile

reads out the screen for him Today he

does internet banking also on his own

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 39: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

39

Existing Legal

Framework

Articles 14 19 and 21 have been

interpreted by the courts expansively to

include protection to the weaker sections

of society Thus the non-provision of

enabling facilities to the disabled (such as

scribes for exams) would amount to

discrimination under Article 14 of the

Constitution of India10

It would also

amount to be a violation of life under

Article 21

Section 14 of the Constitution of India

permits a lsquoreasonable classificationrsquo

between persons to achieve a legitimate

policy objective The Persons with

Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 Act (hereafter PWDA) came

into force on 07 February 1996 It was

amended recently in 2016 to include a

wider spectrum of disabilities

Accessibility The PWDA makes special

accommodation for children with

disabilities The Act requires the

governments to provide free education in

an appropriate environment to all

10

State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

children with disabilities until the age of

18 years In order to realize rights under

the Act Section 30 imposes obligations on

states to provide access to transport

facilities remove any architectural

barriers supply books and uniforms

provide scholarships setup grievance

redressal mechanism and design

curriculum to suit the needs of children

with disabilities

The Act says that ldquoThe appropriate

Government and the local authorities shall

endeavour that all educational institutions

funded or recognised by them provide

inclusive education to the children with

disabilities and towards that end shallmdash (i)

admit them without discrimination and

provide education and opportunities for

sports and recreation activities equally

with others (ii) make building campus

and various facilities accessible (iii)

provide reasonable accommodation

according to the individuals requirements

(iv) provide necessary support

individualised or otherwise in

environments that maximise academic and

social development consistent with the

goal of full inclusion (v) ensure that the

education to persons who are blind or deaf

or both is imparted in the most appropriate

languages and modes and means of

communication (vi) detect specific

learning disabilities in children at the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 40: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

40

earliest and take suitable pedagogical and

other measures to overcome them (vii)

monitor participation progress in terms of

attainment levels and completion of

education in respect of every student with

disability (viii) provide transportation

facilities to the children with disabilities

and also the attendant of the children with

disabilities having high support needsrdquo

Ensuring a level playing field Regarding

the provision of equal opportunity the act

says that ldquo(1) Every establishment shall

notify equal opportunity policy detailing

measures proposed to be taken by it in

pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter

in the manner as may be prescribed by the

Central Government (2) Every

establishment shall register a copy of the

said policy with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may berdquo

The Act provides for certain reservations

for the PWDs All Government institutions

of higher education and other higher

education institutions receiving aid from

the Government shall reserve not less than

five per cent seats for persons with

benchmark disabilities

The persons with benchmark disabilities

shall be given an upper age relaxation of

five years for admission in institutions of

higher education

The appropriate Government shall (i)

identify posts in the establishments which

can be held by respective category of

persons with benchmark disabilities in

respect of the vacancies reserved in

accordance with the provisions of section

(iii) undertake periodic review of the

identified posts at an interval not

exceeding three years

Every appropriate Government shall

appoint in every Government

establishment not less than four per cent

of the total number of vacancies in the

cadre strength in each group of posts

meant to be filled with persons with

benchmark disabilities of which one per

cent each shall be reserved for persons

with benchmark disabilities under clauses

(a) (b) and (c) and one per cent for

persons with benchmark disabilities under

clauses (d) and (e) namely (a) blindness

and low vision (b) deaf and hard of

hearing (c) locomotor disability including

cerebral palsy leprosy cured dwarfism

acid attack victims and muscular

dystrophy (d) autism intellectual

disability specific learning disability and

mental illness (e) multiple disabilities

from amongst persons under clauses (a) to

(d) including deaf-blindness in the posts

identified for each disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 41: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

41

The appropriate Government may by

notification provide for such relaxation of

upper age limit for employment of persons

with benchmark disability as it thinks fit

The appropriate Government and the local

authorities shall within the limit of their

economic capacity and development

provide incentives to employer in private

sector to ensure that at least five percent of

their work force is composed of persons

with benchmark disability

The appropriate Government may by

notification require that from such date

the employer in every establishment shall

furnish such information or return as may

be prescribed by the Central Government

in relation to vacancies appointed for

persons with benchmark disability that

have occurred or are about to occur in that

establishment to such special employment

exchange as may be notified by the Central

Government and the establishment shall

thereupon comply with such requisition

Coming to the specific disability of low

vision or blindness as the case may be the

PWD Act as well as court judgements

from time to time have pronounced

provisions increasingly in the favour of the

visually impaired

For example Section 31 of the PWD Act

provides that lsquoall educational institutions

shall provide or cause to be provided

amanuensis to blind students and students

with or low visionrsquo But still there exists

tremendous amount of confusion in this

regard as is seen in the case of Shri

Krishna Gopal Tiwari

In a later section we lay down the specific

guidelines issued by various institutions in

the matter of scribes as this turned out to

be a major problematic element in the life

of Krishna But before that we go for a

birdrsquos eye view of the major judgments

and guidelines issued in this regard to see

if any issue that emerged during the case

study of Krishna has been missed out or

overlooked

The Center for Disability Studies at

NALSAR University of Law in its report

on lsquoThe Rights of Persons with

Disabilities Bill 2011rsquo to the Committee

appointed by the Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment Government of India

laid down guiding principles for

appointment of scribes for the disabled

The report strongly urges that

hellipbasic guiding principles relating to

scribes must be incorporated in the statute

only eligibility criteria for scribes should

be that at the time person is acting as

scribe person shouldnrsquot be eligible to

appear for the exam or should not have

been eligible over last 3 years Further the

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 42: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

42

Scribe should be selected at the

discretion of candidate Competence of

the scribe is important

There have been several decisions in

relation to the rights of the visually

impaired in relation to examinations and

scribes but only the most important ones

have been given below

Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana v Maharashtra Housing

Area Development Authority

A Public Interest Litigation was filed by

the Maharashtra Rajya Apang Karmachari

Sanghatana against the guidelines of the

Maharashtra Housing Area Development

Authority on its recruitment examination

of visually impaired candidates The

impugned guidelines reads as follows (1)

candidatersquos scribe must himself have

secured a lower score than the candidate in

a previous examination or less than 60 per

cent marks in his examination and (2)

visually challenged students and their

scribes shall be criminally prosecuted if

found indulging in malpractice during

exams

The Bombay High Court invalidated both

the guidelines The former was invalidated

because it might affect the candidate

adversely in the examination The latter

was invalidated because the Court felt that

it would create a wrong environment in

which good scribes will be discouraged to

come forward to the aid of the visually

impaired The Court asked the MHADA to

lsquobe sensitiversquo to the visually impaired and

directed it to remove the provision

Cases and Guidelines

The Bombay High Court vide order dated

December 18 2006 in Public Interest

Litigation No 129 of 2003 laid down

elaborate lsquoGuidelines for Appointment and

Availing Facility of Scribersquo They are as

follows

1 The Scribewriter should either be

provided by the examining authority or be

arranged by the candidate himselfherself

at the discretion of the candidate

2 Any attempt at cheating can be curbed

by ensuring proper supervision and

vigilance by the invigilators

3 Considering the practical problems it is

necessary that if the scribe is provided by

the examination conducting authorities

such authorities must ensure the

competence of the scribewriter

4 The examining authority should make it

very clear in the advertisement itself

regarding availability of scribewriters

5 The Candidate should furnish in the

application form itself that heshe would

like to avail the facility of writer from the

examining body or he himself would

arrange for the scribewriter

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 43: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

43

6 The examining body should identify the

scribeswriters and make the panel at

DistrictDivision or State level as per

requirement of examination

7 The Panels of scribe should be as per

requirement of the streamdiscipline eg

Arts Commerce Science amp Mathematics

Engineering Medical etc and only eligible

scribes should be included in the panel

8 It is desirable that the candidate and the

scribe are from the same stream

9 In case the candidate avails the services

of hisher own scribewriter the

scribewriter should be one grade junior in

academic qualification than the candidate

if from the same stream However this

condition shall not apply if the

scribewriter is from a different stream

10 No other restriction should be imposed

on the selection of a scribewriter

11 The Chief invigilator of the

examination centre should have

discretionary powers to accept last minute

change of scribes under exigencies

12 More than one scribe may not be

permitted to write different papers

13 The letter approving the scribe should

contain the following information in

writing

a The extra time given to the candidate

b He shall be seated separately

c Beside the date and subject name scribe

name should be printed for every paper

d Contact address and phone number of

competent authority should also be printed

for last minute change of scribe

14 Refreshments if any to scribeswriters

should either be served before or after the

examination

The organizers of various competitive

examinations have framed guidelines

under Section 31 for provision of scribe to

the disabled The notification on

lsquoExamination Writing Policy issued by

Delhi University in 2011 is given here

Students who will be eligible for

writerscribeinterpreter in any of the

categories mentioned above may arrange

for their own writers scribes

interpreters as the case may be In case

they are unable to do so the

Superintendent of the Examination Centre

would provide the same on receipt of

written request from the candidate at least

24 hours prior to the commencement of the

examination A writersrsquo bank must be

created in each college for the purpose for

a ready availability of writers whenever

required Support may be sought from the

Equal Opportunity Cell if need be The

candidate must be given an opportunity to

satisfy himselfherself about the writerrsquos

ability to take dictation from the candidate

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 44: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

44

As far as possible the writer should be less

qualified than the examinee However if

the writer is more qualified than the

examinee the Superintendent of

examination centre should ensure that the

writer has not studied the subject at the

higher level in which the examinee is

appearing

Many of the institutions ask the candidate

to bring their own scribes which is a

challenge for the person Instead of

preparing for the exams the candidate is

more involved in the technicalities

We see that are many enabling provisions

for the disabled There is a lot of stress on

inclusive education But mostly the terms

are hazy and the grey area expands

leading to confusion in the legal matters

Hence there is a need to spell out

provisions without ambiguity For

example when we talk of promoting

inclusive education we need to clearly

identify the adjustments to be made by the

institutions who are supposed to take in

such candidates Apart from keeping the

building barrier free there has to be clarity

on the infrastructure that need to be there

which would be helpful for the blind And

even when a disabled is admitted to the

school the current BEd Syllabus does not

provide the necessary skill set for a normal

teacher to handle them

Again our textbooks and other study

related paraphernalia are intended for the

normal students and so how to equip a

visually disabled student with study related

material is not yet clear

As discussed earlier there is nexus

between poverty and disability and weaker

sections of the society try getting into

special schools run by government As was

our experience in yet another study of the

institute mainstreaming to inclusive

education from these special schools is

almost nil11

Many of the provisions mentioned above

probably came into existence after

Krishnarsquos time One can see that what

causes difficulties for the disabled are not

dearth of enabling provisions It is the

clarity of these provisions lack of clear

guidelines and a general lack of awareness

in implementation that creates problem for

the visually impaired

Existence of a legal structure alone wonrsquot

solve their problems There is a bigger

social milieu around which needs to be

sensitized and oriented towards the needs

of the differently abled section As stated

earlier normal BEd course does not have a

section on disability So a teacher not

11

Mainstreaming the disabled- A feasibility study

of the special schools run by the govt Of MP

AIGGPA2017

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 45: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

45

trained in the disability module is not

adept in tackling with such children This

stands in the way of inclusion

In order to orient the general population

towards the problems of disabled the

PWD Act does talk about awareness and

accessibility options The Act says thus

ldquo(1) The appropriate Government in

consultation with the Chief Commissioner

or the State Commissioner as the case

may be shall conduct encourage support

or promote awareness campaigns and

sensitisation programmes to ensure that the

rights of the persons with disabilities

provided under this Act are protected (2)

The programmes and campaigns specified

under sub-section (1) shall also (a)

promote values of inclusion tolerance

empathy and respect for diversity (b)

advance recognition of the skills merits

and abilities of persons with disabilities

and of their contributions to the workforce

labour market and professional fee (c)

foster respect for the decisions made by

persons with disabilities on all matters

related to family life relationships bearing

and raising children (d) provide

orientation and sensitisation at the school

college University and professional

training level on the human condition of

disability and the rights of persons with

disabilities(e) provide orientation and

sensitisation on disabling conditions and

rights of persons with disabilities to

employers administrators and co-workers

(f) ensure that the rights of persons with

disabilities are included in the curriculum

in Universities colleges and schools

Physical Accessibility The Central

Government shall in consultation with the

Chief Commissioner formulate rules for

persons with disabilities laying down the

standards of accessibility for the physical

environment transportation information

and communications including

appropriate technologies and systems and

other facilities and services provided to the

public in urban and rural areas

Access to transport (1) The appropriate

Government shall take suitable measures

to provide (a) facilities for persons with

disabilities at bus stops railway stations

and airports conforming to the

accessibility standards relating to parking

spaces toilets ticketing counters and

ticketing machines (b) access to all modes

of transport that conform the design

standards including retrofitting old modes

of transport wherever technically feasible

and safe for persons with disabilities

economically viable and without entailing

major structural changes in design (c)

accessible roads to address mobility

necessary for persons with disabilities

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 46: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

46

(2) The appropriate Government shall

develop schemes programmes to promote

the personal mobility of persons with

disabilities at affordable cost to provide

for (a) incentives and concessions (b)

retrofitting of vehicles and (c) personal

mobility assistance Access to information

and communication technology

The appropriate Government shall take

measures to ensure that (i) all contents

available in audio print and electronic

media are in accessible format (ii) persons

with disabilities have access to electronic

media by providing audio description sign

language interpretation and close

captioning (iii) electronic goods and

equipment which are meant for everyday

use are available in universal design

Taking cue from the above each

government need to create specific action

plans which need to be implemented

within a specific time period

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 47: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

47

Institutional framework

The institutional set up for persons with

disabilities is quite complex The Persons

with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities

Protection of Rights and Full Participation)

Act 1995 provides for the appointment of a

Chief Commissioner and Commissioners

for Persons with Disabilities Both the

Chief Commissioner (centrally) and the

Commissioners (at the State level) have

the power to safeguard the rights and

facilities of persons with disabilities They

are also vested with the power to

investigate complaints with respect to the

deprivation of the rights of persons with

disabilities as well as non-implementation

of laws and rules12

The nodal agency for disability in India is

the Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment (MSJE) The mandate of

the organization is to promote the interest

of disadvantaged and marginalised

sections13

of the society

12

The Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full

Participation) Act 1995

The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners for

Persons with Disabilities Chapter XII Section 57

Section 60 13

This includes Scheduled Castes Backward

Classes Minorities PWD aged persons street

children victims of drug abuse and others

The Government of India Ministry of

Social Justice ampEmpowerment has a

division for disabilities which includes and

supports 7 National Institutes 11 District

Rehabilitation Centres 4 Regional

Training Centres 107 District Disability

Rehabilitation Centres 5 Composite

Regional Training Centres many NGOs

and 3 autonomous bodies viz the

Rehabilitation Council of India National

Trust for the Welfare of Persons with

Autism Cerebral Palsy Mental

Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and

the National Handicapped Finance

ampDevelopment Corporation

The PWD Act mandates constitution of

central and State-level Coordination and

Executive Committees to look into the co-

ordination issues between various sectors

They are also responsible for disability

policy development They are supposed to

meet every six and three months

respectively The executive committees are

the executive arm of the state level

committees But statistics at the central

level shows that these committees meet

rarely and in many parts of the country

they are barely functional14

So the nodal

Ministry lacks supporting structures for

co-ordination and delegation

14

httpshodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream10603

1198841010_chapter205pdf

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 48: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

48

This puts the entire onus on the

Commissioner for Persons with

Disabilities (CPWD) This office then

becomes almost solely responsible for

overseeing the act These offices are

mandated to coordinate the work of

various agencies to monitor fund

utilization on disability programs and take

steps to safeguard the rights and facilities

made available to PWD The

Commissioners offices look into

grievance mechanism as well The

structure of the institutional framework has

been depicted below

Studies suggest several concerns related to

institutional issues (i) Poor monitoring of

use of funds (ii) Lack of clarity in

grievance redressal mechanisms (iii)

Limited advocacy work in a number of

States These are again compounded with

low staffing low capacity in

Commissionerrsquos office15

15

These concerns are supported by field work for

this report in Rajasthan and Karnataka (two States

An additional generic concern that has

emerged is the lack of legal expertise in

the Commissioners offices particularly at

State level despite the importance of their

quasi-judicial role in enforcement of the

Act

considered to have better functioning offices)

which found skeletal staff in both offices The same

study also noted that full time commissioners exist

to date only in a minority of States (Bhambani

2006)

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 49: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

49

Beneath the level of the state the nodal

function in disability tends to be an

additional charge for District or Additional

Collectors and Block Development

Officers (BDOs) They act as initial points

of grievance redressal for PWDs This

pattern is not the same everywhere as there

is considerable variation amongst states in

the matters of PWDs depending upon the

resources available

As illustrated in the chart above national

institutes have been constituted as the apex

agencies at the central level There are

seven of them and they are under the

support of the Disability division They are

envisaged as model bodies in mental

retardation visual disability hearing

handicap physical handicap orthopaedic

handicap and rural rehabilitation They are

operating training courses service delivery

programmes research and development of

books and other materials The list of the

institutes are given under

1 Ali Yavar Jung National Institute

for the Hearing Handicapped

(AYJNIHH)

2 Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Institute for the Physically

Handicapped (IPH) New Delhi

3 New Delhi National Institute for

Mentally Handicapped (NIMH)

Secundrabad

4 National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

5 National Institute for

Orthopaedically Handicapped

(NIOH) Kolkata

6 National Institute for Rehabilitation

Training ampResearch (NIRTAR)

Cuttack

7 National Institute for

Empowerment of Persons with

Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD)

Chennai

National Institute of Visually

Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradun

The National Centre for the Blind was

upgraded as National Institute for Visually

Handicapped in July 1979 It was

registered as an autonomous Institution

under the Societies Registration Act 1860

in October 1982 The objective of the

Institute is to conduct sponsor and

coordinate all aspects of education for

rehabilitation of persons with visual

disabilities and coordinate research in

these areas The Institute also assists in

running a Composite Regional Centre

(CRC) for persons with disabilities at

Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh This

apex level Institute is engaged in

education vocational training training of

teachers and other personnel research and

development of service modules

production of Braille books aids and

appliances for the visually handicapped

A visit to NIVH was conducted and an

interview held with Director NIVH NIVH

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 50: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

50

has been envisaged to provide resources

and to undertake research It is also

involved in developing Braille in various

languages and initiating the corresponding

reforms in Braille The authorities feel that

in expanding Braille the task becomes

challenging when it comes to North

Eastern languages

The role of the institute is emerging over

the years Initially NIVH was the only

manufacturing and designing unit for

equipment related to visually impaired but

now private players have also been roped

in So they are diversifying into other

activities as well Apart from work

associated with Braille development they

also undertake 3-4 projects in a year which

relate to the various aspects ranging from

policy level issues to latest technology

surrounding the visually impaired

Vocational training is another area that

they have taken up With this purpose in

view they have started a department of

vocational training training for adult

blind They try to align the training with

market demands Most of their courses

have been recognized by National Council

for Vocational Training

Visually impaired men and women in the

age group of 18-40 years are entitled for

admission to undergo this course

Selection of candidates is made through

interview and aptitude tests The selected

candidates are provided free boarding and

lodging medical facilities books and other

related paraphernalia They get an

allowance of Rs200month Shri Krishna

Gopal Tiwari was part of this course An

issue that emerged in the study regarding

this course is the limited entry of eligible

candidates

When queried about expansion

possibilities in order to make the

institution more inclusive the authorities

admitted that it was a challenging task

The implications of blindness are vast and

so one needs to understand all aspects in

order to train blind people Here student

teacher ratio has to be maintained and each

person has to be groomed through a

customized approach

The HR scenario of specialist teachers for

the disabled is quite grim Most of the

posts remain vacant In another study

conducted by this institute on the

government run educational institutions

for disabled in Madhya Pradesh16

paucity

of trained resource emerged as a major

problem Most of the normal BEd courses

16

Feasibility of the institutions for disabled- An

evaluation of the institutions run by the Department

of Social Justice Madhya Pradesh

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 51: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

51

do not even have a module on disability

creating problems in all inclusive

education Ultimately what happens is

segregated education instead of special

education As elucidated in the chapter

before many norms have been set for

conducting special education But most of

them still remain in paper Coming to the

institutional framework in large much is

desired in terms of implementation

Coming to the placement of the candidates

from NIVH they do undertake job

mapping studies to stay in relevance But

there is scope for improvement as far as

market linkages are concerned In the case

of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari what we

found was that the skill set acquired from

this institute was not enough to get him

placed anywhere It did give him an edge

once he landed in a career But

identification of jobs proper

implementation of reservation policy and

linking the supposed benefits to the

potential beneficiaries through IEC and

market linkages of educational institutions

are areas that need to be worked upon

Another area where NIVH can play a key

role is in creating an enabling environment

for the visually impaired NIVH is in a

capacity to ratify and vet the queries posed

in this regard They do address these issues

but proper propagation of their findings are

essential Much depends on the sensitivity

of the concerned governments also The

government of Tamil Nadu has a working

agreement with NIVH under which they

send their employees for induction

training Such initiatives need to

encouraged more

Probably the way forward is to deal the

matter with sensitivity and a lot of

forethought Krishna Gopal Tiwari feels

that the disabled do not require

mainstreaming It is the general population

that require sensitization and policies need

to be formed keeping the above in mind

This sums up the situation rather

succinctly

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 52: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

52

Recommendations

The case study threw up quite a number of

issues at various levels In the light of the

issues emerged the institute is bringing up

the following suggestions

Awareness Inclusion at the ground level

Awareness being a major issue in detecting

the problem and making relevant

adjustments there is a need to sensitize

common people towards disability As per

the Census 2011in India out of the 121 Cr

population 268 Cr persons are lsquodisabledrsquo

which is 221 of the total population

And 17 of it have disability in seeing Of

the 17 of visually impaired 17 come

under 0-19 category Though statistics put

the disabled category as a small percentage

of the overall population it is a looming

threat as one could acquire disability any

time So sensitization of the issue has to

happen from the ground level

1 A unit on disability need to be

included in textbooks of schools

Just like value education or sports

the curriculum needs to incorporate

elementary training in Braille and

sign language

2 In order to make inclusive education

possible at least a few set of text

books need to be printed in a blind

friendly manner

3 Modifications in curriculum need

to be done for those with visual

impairment especially with relation

to subjects involving lab

experiments diagrams etc

4 Early detection is major problem in

many of the disabilities Detection

and awareness go hand in hand Tie

ups with aanganwaadis and

immunization centres could be

thought of where in the parents

could be briefed about disability

detection

5 Social stigma and survival with

disability are two major issues

faced by the affected people

Proactive delivery of services to

these people have to be adopted so

that they come under the social

security net Counselling of the

parents also should be undertaken

at the level of gate-keepers

Though most of the guidelines and

laws talk about parent counselling

these are hardly adhered to

6 A uniform policy for scribes need

to be brought in wherein the onus

of bringing the scribe does not lie

upon the candidate Though there

are many judgements regarding the

qualification of scribes they need

to be of reasonably good quality so

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

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The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

53

that the visually impaired candidate

stands a good chance of success

At the level of institutes

7 Specialized institutes for disabled

which includes NIVH also need to

increase their visibility A careful

IEC plan need to be chalked out to

make these institutions more

visible

8 Student intake should not be

restricted very severely In most

cases student teacher ratio is

shown as a major reason for less

student intake Qualified and

talented resource need to be taken

into the system by making the

teaching jobs lucrative and

rewarding

9 Undertaking feasibility study of

government institutions at regular

intervals help the system to

understand its constraints and

problems and adjust accordingly

At LBSNAA

10 A counselling and facilitating unit

could be thought of which could

first assess the specific needs of the

officers and provide customized

solutions This has to be a

continuous process The unit

should be headed by somebody

other than the course coordinator

11 Lectures have to be circulated prior

to the classes so that the person has

a fair idea about it Giving it in

digital form can help himher

convert it into readable forms

Similarly during the lectures the

lecturer need to verbalize each and

everything on the screen without

leaving anything for visual intake

12 Even during attachments outside

LBSNAA in Mussoorie the

visually impaired candidates need

to be provided escorts

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 54: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

54

वकत का उततर

कया तरी य भावनाए आतमसमपपण की नही ह

जजनपर तम ववजय चाहता ह उनपर अपपण का नही ह

धयपवान त बन साहसी त बन

सिल होग वही साहसी जजनक मन

आती ह कषणणक बाधाए

लाती ह मन म ननराशाए

पर वकत स पहल त न डर

ससिप लकषय पर त धयान कर

बबना खब परख तझ सपशप म कस कर

बता द मनषय त ही मझ तझ जलदी सिल कस कर

(शरी कषण गोपाल तिवारी )

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 55: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

55

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the help of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari He

patiently sat through the interview sessions answering all the questions crisscrossing his life

The institute is indebted to Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari for his whole hearted co-operation

throughout the study

We are also thankful to Dr Rohit Trivedi Professor in Department of English Sarojini Naidu

College Bhopal for his valuable inputs and suggestions Dr Trivedi was born blind and have

been actively associated with the cause of the visually impaired throughout these years

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 56: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

56

References

1 Dandona L Blindness control in India beyond anachronism Lancet 2000 356

(Suppl) S25

2 Dandona L Dandona R Srinivas M Giridhar P Vilas K Prasad MN John RK

McCarty CA Rao GN Blindness in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Invest

OphthalmolViscSci2001 42 908ndash916

3 Dandona R Dandona L Review of findings of the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease

Study policy implications for eye-care services Indian J Ophthalmol2001 49 215ndash

234

4 Global Data on visual impairment 2010 Report by WHO

5 IAPB booklet on Blindness and Poverty available at the VISION2020 web site

httpwwwv2020orgpageaspsection=000100010015

6 Jose R Sachdeva Sandeep Community rehabilitation of disabled with a focus on

blind persons Indian perspective Indian J Ophthalmol 2010 Mar-Apr 58(2) 137ndash

142

7 Khanna Rohit Raman Usha Rao Gullapalli Blindness and poverty in India the way

forward Clinical and Experimental Optometry 906 November 2007 Australia

8 Livelihood opportunities of people with disabilities UNDP 2012

9 pdfssemanticscholarorgd5f8147db508574771ea3e1f22161f614cd2c58fpdf

accessed on 3-1-2018

10 Resnikoff S Pascolini D Etyarsquoale D Kocur I Pararajasegaram R Pokharel GP

Mariotti SP Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002 Bull World Health

Organ 2004 82 844ndash851

11 Shamanna BR Dandona L Rao GN Economic burden of blindness in India Indian J

Ophthalmol46 169ndash172 1998

12 shodhgangainflibnetacinbitstream106031198841010_chapter205pdf accessed

on 3-1-2018

13 Smith AF Smith JG The economic burden of global blindness a price too high Br

JOphthalmol1996 80 276ndash277

14 State of WB v Anwar Ali Sarkar AIR 1952 SC 75 State of Bombay v FN Balsara

AIR 1951 SC 318 RK Dalmiav Justice Tendolkar AIR 1958 SC 538 In re Special

Courts Bill 1978 (1979) 1 SCC 380

15 Syllabus for Bachelor of Education Department of teacher education New Delhi

2016

16 Thylefors B Negrel AD Pararajasegaram R Dadzie KY Global data on blindness

Bull World Health Organ 1995 73 115ndash121

17 Understanding the Needs of Blind and Partially Sighted People their experiences

perspectives and expectations SSMR at the University of Surrey May 2009

18 WHO Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness Programme for

prevention of blindness and deafness Geneva WHO 1997 (WHOPBL9761)

19 httpwebworldbankorgarchivewebsite01291WEBIMAGESCHAPTE-7PDF

accessed on 03-01-2018

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57

Page 57: The Inner Eye of a Bureaucrat Inner Eye Of... · The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS 2017 5 About India is home to one-fifth of the world’s

The inner eye of a bureaucrat- A case study of Shri Krishna Gopal Tiwari IAS

2017

57