Shruti
Shruti
Project Brief: The Shruti Information Centre, which came into being in 1998, seeks to facilitate blind and print-disabled professionals and students in higher education in accessing reading materials and information.
Project Type: Children with Disabilities (description)
Primary Focus: other (description)
Supporting Chapter Contact: UIUC
Project Type: Children with Disabilities (description)
Primary Focus: other (description)
Secondary Focus: other
Area: UrbanSupporting Chapter Contact:
Status: terminated
Project Steward: Soumyadeb Mitra
Project Partner(s): Vinod Sena
Other Contacts:
Project Address: , 1398, Dr. Mukherjee Nagar,,Delhi,
Delhi 110 00
Tel: (91-11) 27653809
Stewarding Chapter: UIUC
Project Steward: Soumyadeb Mitra
Project Partner(s): Vinod Sena
Other Contacts:
Project Address: , 1398, Dr. Mukherjee Nagar,,Delhi,
Delhi 110 00
Tel: (91-11) 27653809
Stewarding Chapter: UIUC
Total = $0
WHY THE SHRUTI INFORMATION CENTRE (SIC)?
India has a high incidence of vision impairment and a large blind population. It has no national library or support services for the blind and print-disabled . The Persons with Disabilities Act (1995) has introduced reservations in educational institutions and for government jobs, but makes little provision for the development of support services which can enable the print-disabled to enter the mainstream.
The Shruti Information Centre, which came into being in 1998, seeks to fill this lacuna. Its primary objective is to facilitate blind and print-disabled professionals and students in higher education in accessing reading materials and information. It has been working systematically towards the development of a nationwide library support service for the blind. Such library services have been available for decades in most developed countries and are provided free or at nominal cost. There are four types of format that can be accessed by the print-disabled : Braille (a tactile script based on raised dots), audio books, large-print books, and electronic text which can be heard as synthesized speech on a computer with appropriate software. Users tend to have their personal preferences in respect of this range of formats and a national library service should offer access to all of them. For such a library service to take off, we require, besides commitment and funding, the following as pre-requisites. (continue reading in the document "Project Proposal, April 2006", a link to which can be found on the right.)
India has a high incidence of vision impairment and a large blind population. It has no national library or support services for the blind and print-disabled . The Persons with Disabilities Act (1995) has introduced reservations in educational institutions and for government jobs, but makes little provision for the development of support services which can enable the print-disabled to enter the mainstream.
The Shruti Information Centre, which came into being in 1998, seeks to fill this lacuna. Its primary objective is to facilitate blind and print-disabled professionals and students in higher education in accessing reading materials and information. It has been working systematically towards the development of a nationwide library support service for the blind. Such library services have been available for decades in most developed countries and are provided free or at nominal cost. There are four types of format that can be accessed by the print-disabled : Braille (a tactile script based on raised dots), audio books, large-print books, and electronic text which can be heard as synthesized speech on a computer with appropriate software. Users tend to have their personal preferences in respect of this range of formats and a national library service should offer access to all of them. For such a library service to take off, we require, besides commitment and funding, the following as pre-requisites. (continue reading in the document "Project Proposal, April 2006", a link to which can be found on the right.)
Note: Asha-UC reviewed and approved some funds for this project. However, the project was terminated by the project partner even before it took off, due to some unfortunate developments. If you would like to know about this project, you could send an email to Soumyadeb Mitra. His email address can be found on this page.
http://www.shruti.org.in/index.html
The National Databank for Audio Books & information for the print-disabled SIC is a division of the Yashoda Charitable trust which enjoys tax exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act.