CHENNAI: Ninety per cent of the 14 lakh differently-abled persons in Tamil Nadu have been given identity cards by the state, as compared to 40% in other states, the State commissioner of differently abled, K Manivasagam, claimed at an event on Saturday.
The commissioner spoke at an event conducted by self-help institution, Nethrodaya, to felicitate the state and district top rankers in the 10th and 12th public exams. Pointing out that the state’s differently-abled department had been adjudged the best by the central government last year, he congratulated institutions like Nethrodaya which worked for their benefit.
A district level officer associated with the department said that the apart from such cash rewards, the state government provides financial assistance for disabled students right from the primary level. “They are provided with CD players and laptops as well,” he said.
The founder of Nethrodaya, C Govindarajan requested the state government to improve infrastructure for visually impaired school-children. “Apart from the cash rewards, they should be provided with Braille textbooks and audio study material,” he said.
Both the 10th grade topper, B Sivaprakash from Madurai, and 12th grade topper, K Vignesh from Chennai, said that they aspired to become IAS officers. The Arts student who wants to study English literature and likes reading Shakespeare’s works, said that his favorite subject is Economics. “I lost few marks in the Economics paper,” he added.