Accessibility in public infrastructure

May 13, 2014

Agra and Delhi Monuments under ASI to go Braille-friendly

Dear friends,

Seven years back Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Svayam together embarked on the mission to make the world heritage sites accessible to all including the elderly and the disabled and entered in to an MoU. We are proud to share the fact that our joint efforts have been recognized and feted by not just the stakeholders but the Union Tourism Ministry, Government of India in form of prestigious National Tourism Awards for making Qutb Minar, Red Fort & Fatehpur Sikri Group of Monuments as accessible & most disabled friendly monuments in past few years.

We appreciate the spirit in which ASI has implemented the recommendations of the Access Audit Reports shared by Svayam of monuments related to Delhi Circle as well as Agra Circle, particularly making provisions of Tactile & braille information at the heritage sites & museums for the benefit of the visually impaired visitors. The braille signage were provided at all monuments under Agra Circle by Arushi – a Bhopal based NGO that works with people with disabilities.

Visually impaired visitors reading the braille information board at Taj Mahal — Braille signage installed at Taj Mahal by ASI with technical assistance from Arushi – a Bhopal based NGO.

Braille Signage at Taj-2 — Braille Signage standing next to the text signage at Taj Mahal entrance.

Needless to say this would not have been possible if the Archeological Survey of India had not been committed to take this lead and not only translate its own mission of conserving and maintaining the national heritage sites but taking it to a higher level of making it accessible in all terms of the word to all.

The Superintending Archaeologists of different circles should take lead in ensuring that the monuments under their control are made completely accessible in terms of the access audit reports as well as best practices shared with them. We congratulate Mr. NK Pathak , SA -Agra Circle & Mr. M. Ali, CA – Taj Mahal and Mr. Vasant Swarnkar, SA-Delhi Circle for this initiative. This gradually needs to be replicated at all other world heritage sites and ticketed monuments under other Circles of ASI.

Here is a related news from Delhi Circle that appeared in Indian Express

For visually challenged visitors, ASI makes monuments Braille-friendly

Express News Service | New Delhi | May 13, 2014 2:33 am

In an effort to disseminate information to visually-impaired visitors, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has put up signs in Braille, explaining the cultural and historical significance of the structures at the most-visited monuments in Delhi.

The move came after officials at the Delhi circle of ASI realised the need to reach out to people with disabilities and decided to put these signboards up.

“The project was the brainchild of Superintendent Archaeologist (Delhi) Vasant Kumar. He suggested that blind people visit Delhi’s monuments frequently, but have to rely on either people with sight to read out the information boards to them or hire tour guides, who often give them wrong information. So, it was decided that in addition to Hindi and English, we should have signboards in Braille language too. We got in touch with blind schools in the city and translated the text into Braille with their help. Now, visually-challenged visitors can read the history of our heritage structures on the newly-installed signboards,” a senior ASI official said. Kumar was unavailable for comment.

To begin with, the ASI has put up the Braille signposts only at the 10 ticketed monuments, including the three World Heritage Sites – Red Fort, Humayun’s Tomb and Qutub Minar – that are also among the most frequented places in the city, both by domestic as well as foreigner tourists. The other monuments to get the signs are Jantar Mantar, Old Fort, Safdarjung Tomb, Tughlaqabad Fort, Kotla Feroze Shah, Sultan Ghari’s tomb and Rahim Khan-e-Khana tomb.

The feedback ASI has got from the visitors ever since the Braille signs were put up two months ago has reportedly been very positive and encouraging. The organisation is now planning to implement it in other structures too.

“People are happy; earlier, they could visit the monuments but not see anything. This move not only provides them information but also gives them a greater sense of involvement. We will now gradually extend these information boards to all monuments that witness a high footfall,” the official added.

Lauding the effort, INTACH Delhi convenor AGK Menon said the move is a “great effort” and was legally required. “As per the Disability Act, every public place needs to made accessible for people with special needs. For example, the herbal garden in Rashtrapati Bhavan is one place that has signs in Braille for a long time. So, this is a good idea. We should increase it to more and more public places,” he said.

National Blind Youth Association (NBYA) general secretary Shobhit Yadav said the ASI’s move will “go miles” in helping blind children and adults trying to understand the city’s history and culture.

“Special schools sometimes take their blind students out for educational excursions but not as much as normal schools, where children with eyesight study. This is mainly because the children have to rely on others for information. The information boards in Braille will be an important step towards their understanding and reading of national history,” Yadav explained.

Sound shows and historical documentaries, he suggested, could also prove extremely helpful for blind students and need to be conducted more often at these heritage sites. “That way, they can at least listen to the historical facts being laid out.”

News Source: Indian Express

April 7, 2014

A near-fatal accident couldn’t restrain her

Reeba Zachariah & Vipashana V K, TNN | Apr 7, 2014, 12.35AM IST

Silver spoons need to be nurtured so that they remain silver,” says the heiress of Jindal SAW. The eldest of three sisters, she was aware that if she wasn’t good enough, opportunities would be taken away from her. But proving her mettle wasn’t tough, as business was in her blood. At the tender age of 6, when most children had games on their minds, Sminu Jindal had business on hers.

Her ambition was not undermined even by a near-fatal accident, which left her paralyzed below the waist and turned her world upside down. With her parents standing rock solid behind her, Jindal overcame her disability. “The mishap made my belief in God stronger. If not for my wheelchair, I would have been married off before getting a shot at my career,” says the iron lady, adding, “My parents wanted me to be independent first.”

At 19, soon after her class XII, she started her career as a trainee with one of the companies of Jindal SAW, eventually rising to be the boss of the flagship firm. “People were surprised to see a woman in the male-dominated steel business. Many also thought that I was a guy because of my unusual name (Sminu incidentally means ‘the one who keeps smiling’). Some presumed that I was the ‘fifth’ Jindal brother,” chuckles the 39-year-old managing director of Jindal SAW.

She has battled both personal and professional challenges with resilience. During her early days at the company, she faced opposition from male staff who refused to report to her, with some even quitting. “Many thought I had joined the family business to while away time, but there are other better ways to while away my time,” says Jindal, pointing out how silver spoons can go against you.

The wheelchair-bound Jindal, a mother of two school-going boys, says that she is used to curious looks and questions. “I prefer curious minds to an apology. At least curiosity will encourage people to believe that if I could achieve something, they too can.” When Jindal joined the business, she was the only woman besides the receptionist and, in a way, opened doors for other women to join the organization.

The number of women employees has increased, but it’s nothing to boast about, rues Jindal, who is flummoxed by the skewed gender ratio in the steel industry. “Women have it in them equally, may be they don’t have equal opportunities. Every woman, like every man, can’t be a CEO. But women shouldn’t be scared of pursuing their dreams,” says Jindal, who is also a classical singer and painter.

For her own inspiration, Jindal looks up to at all those women who sacrifice careers without feeling guilty, turning homemakers. “Men are successful because they have well-run households. They (housewives) have the most thankless jobs,” says Jindal, who attributes her success partly to her husband, who is also the managing director at Jindal SAW. “We try hard not to get the boardroom into the bedroom,” she says.

News Paper format of the news from The Times of India dated 07th April 2014

March 11, 2014

Ms. Sminu Jindal shortlisted for Loreal Paris Femina Women Awards 2014

We are glad to share that Ms. Sminu Jindal, Founder, Svayam – National Centre for Inclusive Environments & MD, Jindal SAW Ltd. has been nominated by Loreal Paris Femina Women Awards in the category of “FAVOURITE FACE OF A CAUSE”, which is a Reader’s Choice Award.

She, as you know is herself a wheelchair user & has taken up the cause of accessible and barrier free infrastructure for all and particularly the persons with disabilities, the seniors, children and the women.

To vote Please click the link below and vote for Ms. Sminu Jindal:

https://www.facebook.com/feminawoman/app_1410445975881464

Voting closes soon, so please vote ASAP!

Here is the process of voting:

Click on the link and login with your facebook username and paasword.
A window will appear saying Loréal Paris Femina Women Awards will receive the following info: your public profile, friend list and email address, click on okay.
A second window will appear saying Loréal Paris Femina Women Awards would like to post to Facebook for you, click on okay or skip as you desire.
Once again, like the page, and you will be directed to the Reader’s Choice Award.
Click on the category of Favourite Face of a Cause.
Now, click on Vote written below Ms. Sminu Jindal’s name.
Now the screen will appear to say “Thank you for your vote” and one vote will be added.

May we request you to help us garnering votes to bring to fore the issue of accessibility that she has been working to promote tirelessly.

Looking forward to your support. Remember every vote counts!

Team Svayam

December 9, 2013

The Woman of Steel

Women at Work: The Woman of Steel

November 12, 2013, 9:00 AM

Sminu Jindal was in a car accident when she was 11-years-old that meant she has had to use a wheelchair ever since. This didn’t stop her continuing her education and graduating from New Delhi’s prestigious Shri Ram College of Commerce and going on to do a management program from Fore School of Management, at Delhi University.

In 1993, fresh out of college, Ms. Jindal then 22-years-old convinced her father O.P. Jindal to let her join his steel business. He set her the task of turning around a factory that was on the verge of closure, a mission which she successfully accomplished.

Today, Ms. Jindal, is the managing director of Jindal Saw Ltd., India’s biggest manufacturer of steel pipes, running a company with revenues of about $1 billion annually .

In the latest in our “Woman at Work” series, Ms. Jindal spoke to The Wall Street Journal about having to prove herself repeatedly, feeling dumb, and using her reduced mobility to her advantage.

Edited Excerpts:

The Wall Street Journal: What’s the steel industry like for a woman?

Sminu Jindal: It is a very macho industry. If I just put it in a one line, men are allowed to be macho, women are not given a chance but we can be equally macho. When people talk about steel they think women can’t lift steel, but men [at my level] don’t lift it either. We just manage people who lift it.

I honed by skills in the area I was good at, thankfully my family supported that. I concentrated on stuff that I liked the best.

I believe passion runs you. If you have a passion then you can learn a thing, but then if you don’t have a passion, or a flair for that thing, you will never learn no matter how many classes you attend. It will still be your weak point.

WSJ: What are the particular strengths you think women bring to your line of work that perhaps men lack?

Ms. Jindal: I feel we are born as mothers, so we are already preprogramed to nurture people beneath us, sometimes to be like a rough bad mom, which people don’t like. They’d rather have an easy going mom; disciplinarian mom and nurturing at the same time. I think that is one quality that a woman definitely brings on the table.

WSJ: When you first entered the industry in 1993 what was the attitude towards you as a woman? Has this changed now?

Ms. Jindal: I wish it would change now. People no longer say women can’t be in this industry, but women have to prove their capabilities again, and again, and again.

I think women also need to go through a change of mindset in about how we bring up our children. I have two boys; I hope I will do a good job.

WSJ: What have been the challenges for you in making it to the top?

Ms. Jindal: It is a macho business; everybody thought I would not be able to lift steel. I wasn’t able to lift steel, but I handle people well. That was my forte. I have my people happy working with me, they look forward to working with me, they draw inspiration when I am for hours in the plant and they feel as able-bodied they should be more diligently working. So in terms of motivation, I guess, I provide them tons.

WSJ: Does the Indian context affect the experience of women in your business?

Ms. Jindal: Indian or not, women are not encouraged to be on the shop floor. You still see women as mid-level managers…rarely as chief executives…but I am yet to come across five women engineers who work in a plant. That’s what I want as a positive change.

There is no job which a woman can’t do.

WSJ: Have you had to employ particular tactics to make it to this position? What would those be?

Ms. Jindal: I use my wheelchair as an opportunity to spread the message of accessibility. We just need to think and dream big…it happens. That’s something I have worked on and lived my life on, dreaming big that you will be there one day.

WSJ: At what stage do Indian women decide to stop working?

Ms. Jindal: Women do that because family pressures sometimes becomes too much. There is too much expectation at home due to which they are unable to concentrate on their careers. They take sabbaticals 10 years just to make sure that their kids are grown up enough for them to go out again and work. But it is not fair on them because they learn how to be a manager completely when they are at home. They are managing so many fronts with not a battery of people like we have at work.

WSJ: What mistakes do women often make at the workplace?

Ms. Jindal: They try to be super at everything. It’s okay to fail; it’s okay not to achieve this super status at work and super human at home; it’s okay. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. That’s the biggest learning at the end of it all. It is more important to get up, dust yourself and move again. All the super human stuff, sometimes is self-imposed but it also comes from a lot of peer pressure. Its peer pressure that actually drives people to do certain things that is against their will.

WSJ: Tell us about your best and worst experience as a woman at work.

Ms. Jindal: The worst time is when, in spite of my successes, I have to prove again that I can do it. Pressure always remains. Trust me, sometimes I feel that I was 90% dumber than other people but as a man I would have still been considered a success. Honest. That is the worst feeling.

I believe my best was when I put up a good team that works towards the same objective, with the same synergy and no politics.

WSJ: What is the one thing would you change in India to make it easier for women to succeed?

Ms. Jindal: I want India to be more accessible. The biggest challenge that I face even today is accessibility. Something as tiny as that…traveling from one place to another. There would be so many like me out there if things were accessible for people to travel to places, catch a public transit, go to a place of recreation or work, and lead a happier life. That’s a challenge that I am currently trying to work, Svayam, [part of Sminu Jindal Charitable Trust a New Delhi-based nonprofit working to promote dignity for people with reduced mobility] being one of them.

Source: Wall Street Journal