India's first radio channel for visually-impaired people launched in Nagpur

Countrys firstever radio channel for the visually impaired named Radio Aksh has been launched in Nagpur with the Blind Relief Association Nagpur and Samdrushti Kshamata Vikas Avam Anusandhan Mandal Saksham serving as the pioneers of the concept that will help the visuallyimpaired gain seamless access to education resources and audiobooksThis concept was created as a substitute for audiobooks provided by Samdrushti Kshamata Vikas Avam Anusandhan Mandal to the visually impaired on their digital devices access to which was cut off due to the COVID19 pandemic due to restrictions on travellingEducational resources encompassing a variety of subjects are made available through this platform on digital platforms owned by visuallyimpaired people who can access this vast bank of information from anywhere as unlike the FM and AM Radio the technology of Internet Radio is used which knows no geographical limitationsA dedicated team of trained volunteers mostly women help in the creation of content for the radio channel which can be streamed to the visually impaired across India and the worldThe complex carefullyperformed processes of going through large amounts of content recording sound editing and making corrections do not dampen the productivity and the sense of servitude guides the entire teamShirish Darvekar the coordinator of the channel and a member of Samdrushti Kshamata Vikas Avam Anusandhan Mandal told ANI For the last few years visually impaired people used to come to us and get their audiobooks made by us on their devices But COVID19 put this to a halt It affected their learning so we had to think of a standby arrangementWe got to know of launch of Internet Radio in India and we got in contact with a company making softwares for it Though our requirements were unique to them they promised cooperation This is perhaps the first Internet Radio for the visuallyimpairedWe have presenter each for various subjects covered on the radio We have a team of 20 people mostly women who are housewives They are trained and know their work well No one is paid all have a sense of servitude he addedDarvekar said that their channel has got limited yet an overwhelming response from people and said that the service will be more widespread in coming days and informed that the channel is available on Play Store and via Zeno Radio on Apple devicesIn just two to four days we have around 161 listeners It paints a very encouraging picture he addedOne of the volunteers working for the channel said Doing such things for the visually impaired gives me joy They can study from their homes via Radio Aksh I get some leisure time for this and contribute one or two hours in the noon every day for thisOne of the beneficiaries of the channel pointed out to ANI that the radio channel serves as a great advantage as books in Braille scripts are not always availableNow we will get more information and our studies will get easier We get a feeling as if we are attending classes inside a classroom It is a great initiative for the visually impaired he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever