Meet Mr. Niranjan P. Pandya

Mr. Niranjan Pranshankar Pandya was born on August 4, 1945. His At the age of 17 yrs, he lost his vision while playing cricket when a ball hit his forehead. He continued his studies and passed B.A. with Sociology. Mr. Pandya joined ' The Poona Blind Men's Association ' PBMA as the Hon. Secretary in the year 1966.

A dynamic leader rose. His aim in life was to devote himself to the welfare of the blind and to prevent blindness. In 1971 he was invited by the German War Blind Men's Association to visit West Germany, Holland & Switzerland to observe the work of rehabilitation and training for the Blind. He became the 'Chief Executive Secretary' of 'PBMA' in 1971 and started a Technical Training Institute for the blind.

The British Council (U.K.) invited Mr. Pandya to visit different institutions for the blind in U.K. in 1980. In 1981 he went to U.S.A. to raise funds for our Shirdi Sai Baba Home for the Aged Blind Women and implemented the project successfully. It is a unique project, first of its kind in India. He was selected as leader of the Indian Delegation under the Indo-Soviet Cultural Exchange programme held in U.S.S.R. in 1984 to study the blind welfare work in U.S.S.R. He started a Talking Book Library project in 1986 for the blind. He is a member of the Asian Blind Union as well as the World Blind Union.

In 1996 he attended the World Blind Union General Assembly at Toronto, Canada and raised funds for starting Braille press project for the blind and successfully launched the project. He is the Hon. Secretary of the National Association for the Blind (I) He is a member of the Board of Governing Council for the National Societies for Equal Opportunities for the Handicapped in India.

In the year 1999 he presented papers on the role of NGO's in community ophthalmology at a conference organized by All India Confederation of Ophthalmologists. He attended the conference 'Vision 99' which was based on low vision and rehabilitation in New York. He raised funds in U.S..A for his 'dream come true project' , The PBMA's H.V. Desai Eye Hospital. It was conceptualized and brought to fruition by him in January 2000.

It is a 10 crore project which is registered under ISO 9002 certification from Lloyd & Company, U.K. The main objective of the hospital is to provide state of the art surgery to the poor people. More than 60% surgeries are performed free of charge. The rest are performed at highly subsidized rates. In this eye hospital, quality is the hallmark and high volume surgeries are conducted.

Since January 2000, till 31st July 2003 the hospital has performed 45,300 surgeries and examined 2,49,229 patients in the OPD. ..2 He is also a Paul Harris Fellow in Rotary and Past District Chairman of the Eye Care Committee of Rotary Club Dist 3130. He is also a member of the District Committee for the Prevention and Control of Blindness which has been set up by the Government of India. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of The Department of Social Service.

He is a member of the Access Audit Committee of the Government of India. He is a member of the India group for VISION 2020 project RIGHT TO SIGHT. He is also the member of The International Agency for Prevention of Blindness.

Mr. Pandya has successfully organised several state and all India conferences for the Blind.He has delivered lectures on all India Radio and has written articles in newspapers and magazines regarding blind welfare. He is a member of the Zonal Advisory Committee of The Rehabilitation Council of India. Mr. Pandya started Sponsor a granny-grandad programme for senior citizens with the help of Helpage International, UK.

He is also a member of the District Committee for the Prevention and Control of Blindness which has been set up by the Government of India. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of The Department of Social Service. He is a member of the Access Audit Committee of the Government of India.

He is a member of the India group for VISION 2020 project RIGHT TO SIGHT.He is also the member of The International Agency for Prevention of Blindness. Mr. Pandya has successfully organised several state and all India conferences for the Blind. He has delivered lectures on all India Radio and has written articles in newspapers and magazines regarding blind welfare. He is a member of the Zonal Advisory Committee of The Rehabilitation Council of India.

Mr. Pandya started Sponsor a granny-grandad programme for senior citizens with the help of Helpage International, UK. In January 2003, he attended an international conference on avoidable blindness at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he presented a paper on Present Scenario of blindness in India