Satish Navale, the man behind the Braille Vani web radio for the visually-impaired, on Tuesday demonstrated how to plant saplings to visually impaired students in Nashik, Pune and Assam.

Braille Vani is the brainchild of Navale, a former visually impaired student of the University of Pune (UoP).

The 25-minute programme, which was aired from 107.4 FM of UoP through teleconferencing, was coordinated by public information officer of Rahuri Krushi Vidyapeeth, Sandeep Patil, and retired IAS officer from Assam, Mohini Mohan Budagoa. The programme was conducted in Hindi.

The visually impaired students were given instructions to plant a sapling in an earthen pot. Right from selecting the pot, the sapling and the exact amount of water to be used, the students carried out the activity.

Four students from Morran Blind School in Assam participated in the activity. Similarly, three girl students from Nashik-based National Federation of Blind’s vocational training centre and 13 students from Kothrud-based Girls School for the Blind and Modern High School (sighted students) participated.

“For last three years, we are celebrating Blind Broadcasting Day on March 22 in order to teach various skill based techniques to the visually challenged,’’ said Navale. “We undertook a random survey and found that nearly 80% of visually challenged
students belong to farmers’ community.”

Hence, to involve them in the traditional family profession, Navale took up this environment-related activity.

Navale teaches history at Vivekananda School in Tinsukia in Assam. “We have requested Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to provide us a toll-free number so that we can reach out to maximum number of visually challenged students,’’
he added.

He also has appealed to the teachers of various subjects to contact him to create such activities for the visually
challenged, which can be featured during such programmes. The teachers can contact him on braillevaniradio@gmail.com.