Latest news with #SocialSecurityandEmpowermentofPersonswithDisabilities
New Indian Express
24-05-2025
- Science
- New Indian Express
Odisha Government empowers blind persons with NAVINAUT guidance
BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to make movement easy and obstacle-free for visually-impaired people, the state government has started distributing LiDAR-guided electronic assistive device NAVINAUT to them. The device can help them detect obstacles on the roads and alert them through vibrations. Director of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities department Niyati Patnaik on Friday provided these devices to 60 blind people at a camp in the city. Developed by Hyderabad-based startup Alien Innovations, founded by T Ravi Kiran, the device acts like a torch, helping visually-impaired persons navigate through roads safely. The compact device will detect impediments on the roads early, sending vibration alerts to the user. Speaking on the occasion, Kiran said the mobility device is a rechargeable battery-powered device and will work for about a month on a single charge. It uses modern laser-guided LiDAR technology through which the user can easily know the distance and height of the obstacle. While the device has already been put to use in states like Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, it is being provided to blind persons in Odisha for the first time. They will be trained in using them by the department.
New Indian Express
09-05-2025
- General
- New Indian Express
Odisha to include people with disabilities in MGNREGS, job cards by May 31
BHUBANESWAR : People with disabilities (PwDs) seeking work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) will be identified in a campaign mode and provided job cards by the end of this month. In a letter to all collectors, the department of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) asked them to include all eligible and willing PwDs under the employment guarantee scheme by May 31. Besides, the collectors have also been asked to form village-level Divyang Shakti Groups that would comprise all MGNREGS workers with disabilities, by June 30. Aiming at financial security for all vulnerable groups of people, the Panchayati Raj department had last month asked collectors to bring PwDs, primitive and nomadic tribal groups, denotified tribes, women in special circumstances, senior citizens above 65 years of age, HIV positive people and internally displaced persons, under MGNREGA. As far as PwDs are concerned, persons (aged 18 and beyond) with benchmark disabilities, the severity of which is 40 per cent and above, will be considered as a special category of vulnerable persons for MGNREGA. Differently-abled persons as defined in the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999 are also to be considered as disabled for inclusion under the scheme. As per the census-2011, Odisha has a population of 12.44 lakh differently-abled people. While MGNREGA aims to provide employment to all rural adults, the participation of differently-abled persons, including women, in the state's MGNREGA programme remains relatively low. The percentage of participation of PwDs in MGNREGS in the state stands at 0.3 per cent.
