Dreamer writes about the time he spent at Sri Ramana Maharishi Academy of Blind.

And as our classes got over I walked out fresh… The three hours of non-stop noise by JAWS software seemed to be music now. And as I started walking out, Chetan ran out through the zigzag corridor dodging the walls, straight into the playground. I stopped… this couldnot have been for real. I closed my eyes and started walking only to crashed over a stone. I had hurt myself. The shock was still on. As I walked outside the school premises, I took deep breath.

On April 18, Babita Balan (24) a media professional while waiting for a train at Santacruz station was allegedly pushed by a co-passenger. Babita fell directly on to the tracks losing both her legs. Babita was brought in a very critical condition to BSES MG hospital at Andheri. Now although Babita’s condition is stable, she is unfortunately handicapped for ever. While her one leg is severed above knee another had to be amputed above the ankle

John Cheeran appeals to all of us to help Babita, a journalist with soon to be launched ET NOW channel.

Annie Zaidi writes about her early perceptions of rape, as influenced by movies and how Zakhmi Aurat brought in a new way of thinking.

For the first time in my life, I was being offered the idea that rape was brutal but it need not lead to death. For either victim or culprit.

It showed that rapists might well have non-aggressive sex lives, that their relationships with their wives might be very different, that their wives might actually be happy, and completely clueless about their husbands’ brutalisation of other women.

It taught me that just as victims can be stereotyped, rapists and their families can be stereotyped as well.

Social campaigns with ideas worth spreading around:

Grassroutes is a Fellowship Program which funds youth to go on road-trips across India, discover and work with changemakers, do their bit to change the world and inspire more youth into social action.

Grassroots takes young people on a 10-day road trip preceded by a month-long mentoring process by social entrepreneurs and leaders from diverse sectors [hat tip: Swaroop CH].

Learn Without Fear blog captures the voices of children across India as they recall their experiences of going through various forms of violence in schools. The blog illustrates these voices in the form of videos, cartoon strips, animations, and radio jingles created by the children themselves.

Plan India, an NGO working for child centered development, has rolled out an online campaign, for its Learn Without Fear initiative, which seeks to prevent violence against children in schools. Featured previously on DesiPundit.

“Bell Bajao” (Ring the Bell) urges men to take a stand against domestic violence. Ring the bell and intervene in situations of abuse. A simple act from your side is all it takes to bring it to a halt.

The Bell Bajao campaign seeks to spread awareness about domestic violence most of which goes unreported in India by being more proactive and involved in your community.

Each of these campaigns have a significant presences in the social networking community so feel free to join and help out.

Anita at Bangalore Metblogs writes about the Fearless Karnataka campaign.

Seven attacks in ten days. In response to the recent attacks against women in the city of Bangalore, many individuals and organsiations have come together to form FEARLESS KARNATAKA or Nirbhaya Karnataka to reclaim public spaces and promote safety for all.

Karnataka is safe? DP had earlier featured a post on some of the recent attacks.

Indicorps, an international non-profit, offers competitive fellowships for people of Indian origin willing to challenge themselves for one to two years on unique grassroots development projects in India. Fellowships are designed as one-of-a-kind transformational experiences, emphasizing both public service and personal growth, building upon leadership skills and the capacity to make a difference.

Interested in giving back? Indicorps offers you the opportunity to tackle real issues in education, microenterprise, social entrepreneurship, environmental conservation, public health, urban infrastructure, and much more. Learn more about the application.

Tata Tetely would never have seen any of their job aspirants being carried by the persons father physically ,it did happen when Paresh Palicha an young man afflicted with cerebral palsy with physical disablitiy but excellent mental faculties came for the interview like that and he went on to get that job too on his merits

Dr. Hari Mohan writes about Paresh Palicha, a differently-abled youth who suffers from cerebral palsy.A voracious reader,writer,poet … just some of the terms you could associate him with. God Bless.

Gaysi is a platform that addresses the issue of homosexuality in India and among Indians. A group of bloggers provide different perspectives ranging from heartfelt coming out stories, the apprehensions of a straight person towards gays to funny (and bizzarre) anecdotes about what the media and public feel about homosexuality. A few exerpts:

..the term “sakhi” or women’s intimate women friend, in spite of having long history in Indian literature (she is found in Sanskrit epic, drama, love lyric, etc.) has barely been considered of great importance or of relevance with respect to human relationships.

What does it mean to be heterosexual? What constitutes the state of being utterly and completely ‘straight’? Having plenty of ‘vanilla’ sex?

Personally, I have no problem with good old Dumbledore being gay, because to me he wasn’t a person with much of a sexuality anyway lol.

In a capital city, where we always face a power and water crisis, building new luxurious villages is nothing out of norm. The thing that Government got wrong this time is that it plans to build its Commonwealth Games village on Yamuna floodplains. If Yamuna floodplains are stifled with permament structures, Delhi will be prone to floods in the monsoon. Because Yamuna will not be able to manage excess water without the spacious floodplains. National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) report clearly states this fact. Yamuna has always been flood-prone. Just this year in September, low-lying areas of Yamuna have been evacuated.

Poonam is unhappy with the construction of Commonwealth village on Yamuna floodplains.

Shantanu B of Satyameva Jayate who revelead his identity a few days back,in a passionate post announces that he would reduce his hours of paid employment and spend that time in doing something for the nation.

• Creating public awareness on the need for reforming India – beyond contributing to charities, NGOs or doing individual good. It would involve getting more people interested in active politics…it would also involve helping people understand the the fundamentals of politics and governance in India. In parallel, I will be working on creating a large group of policy-experts in various fields (e.g. economics, public health etc) who share a common desire to change and improve India
• Raising funds for what I would like to call the “Hope Summit”  Some of you have heard this idea from me before…I intend to devote more time to actually make this happen

Good luck Shantanu! [Link via JK ]