Niranjan Pranshankar Pandya

Niranjan Pranshankar Pandya
Born 4 August 1945 (1945-08-04) (age 71)
Pune, Maharashtra, India
Occupation Social worker
Years active since 1966
Awards Padma Shri
Rishitulya Vyaktimatva Award
Rustom Alpaiwalla Memorial Award
Maharashtra State Award
Sankara Eye Centre Award
Website Official web site

Niranjan Pranshankar Pandya is an Indian blind social worker[1] and the secretary of Poona Blind Mens' Association, a non governmental organization[2] working for the cause of visually impaired people of Pune and neighbouring areas.[3] He was honored by the Government of India, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.[4][5]

Biography

Niranjan Pranshankar Pandya was born in Pune, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, on 4 January 1945.[1] While he was doing his graduate studies, an accident at the cricket ground caused him to lose his vision at the age of 17.[6] However, he continued his studies to graduate in Sociology. Thereafter, he joined Poona Blind Men's Association (PBMA), a Pune-based NGO, founded by Tukaram Sahadev Bamankar, working for the welfare of the visually impaired people.[7] Pandya became its secretary in 1966[6] and chief executive secretary in 1971.[1]

Niranjan Pandya got PBMA affiliated to the World Blind Union (WBU)[8] and this association gave him an opportunity to visit Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland to learn the rehabilitation work first hand.[6] The same year, PBMA started a technical training institute for the blind people.[1] In 1980, the British Council[9] invited Pandya to visit the various institutitons for the blind operating in the UK.[6] The next year, he visited the USA on a fund raising mission for the Shirdi Sai Baba Home for the Aged Blind Women, run by PBMA.[6] In 1984, he visited the Soviet Union to study the blind welfare work there and, on his return, started a Talking Book Library at PBMA in 1986.[1][6]

In 1999, after presenting a paper at a conference in New Delhi conducted by the All India Confederation of Opththalmologists, Pandya visited the US a second time to attend the Vision 99 conference in New York, on the sidelines of which he raised funds for an eye hospital. The project, conceptualized by Pandya and costed approximately US$2 million, was completed the next year when H. V. Desai Eye Hospital[10] was opened to public in January 2000.[1] The hospital is known to provide free of cost surgeries to poor people, constituting 60 percent of the total surgeries performed there. Since inception, the hospital is reported to have performed 367,000 surgeries and attended to 2.293 million out-patients[10] and is known to be the largest eye hospital in Western India.[6]

Niranjan Pandya has delivered lectures at various national and international conferences as well as on the All India Radio, besides writing articles on blind welfare in journals and magazines. He has also launched a program for the welfare of the senior citizens under the banner Sponsor a Granny-Grandad, in association with Helpage International, UK.[1]

Positions

Niranjan Pandya serves as a member of the Access Audit Committee of the Government of India and is associated with the Vision 2020, an initiative of the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness[11] as a member.[1][5] He is the vice president of the National Association for the Blind[12][5] and a member of the Zonal Advisory Committee of the Rehabilitation Council of India,[5] the district committee for the Prevention and Control of Blindness, a government initiative, and advisory committee of the Department of Social Service under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.[1] A Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International, Pandya has served as the chairman of the Eye Care Committee of Rotary Club in Pune.[1] He is also a member of the Asian Blind Union, the World Blind Union and the board of governing councils for the National Societies for the Handicapped in India.[1]

Awards and recognitions

The Government of India awarded Pandya the fourth highest Indian civilian honor of Padma Shri in 2012.[4] Two years later, in 2014, he received the Rishitulya Vyaktimatva Award from Rotary International.[5] A recipient of the Rustom Alpaiwalla Memorial Award from the National association for the Blind, Pandya has also received the Maharashtra State Award for best performance on two occasions, 1987–88 and 1988–89[6] and Sankara Eye Centre Award in 2007.[13]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Poona Blind Mens Association". Poona Blind Mens Association. 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  2. ↑ "NGOs in India". NGOs in India. 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Karmayog". Karmayog. 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Padma Shri" (PDF). Padma Shri. 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Google Groups". Google Groups. 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Pune Mirror". Pune Mirror. 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  7. ↑ "PBMA Home". PBMA. 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  8. ↑ "WBU". WBU. 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  9. ↑ "British Council". British Council. 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  10. 1 2 "HVDEH". HVDEH. 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  11. ↑ "IAPB". IAPB. 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  12. ↑ "NAB". NAB. 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  13. ↑ "SEC". HVDEH. 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
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