Welfare of Divyangjans

- ♦ SNAC Tripura under the National Trust
- ♦ Indus Towers Scholarships for Students with Disabilities
- ♦ Shantineer- Half Way Home
- ♦ State Consultation On Accessibility Built Environment
- ♦ Regional level Sensitization Programme on Understanding Deafblindness
- ♦ Early Identification of Disabilities among Children


Dr.Sreelekha Ray, Executive Director, VHAT, Smitha Mol M.S.,Director, Social Welfare & Social Education, Tripura and Achintam Kilikdar, Deputy Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Tripura,during State Consultation on Accessibility Built Environment

VHAT -STATE NODAL AGENCY CENTRE TRIPURA Under the National Trust
VHAT is a registered organization under the National Trust a statutory body of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India (Under section 12 (4) of the Act). The Registration No. TVOL17519675538. Since 1stJanauary, 2021 to 31st May 2023, Voluntary Health Association of Tripura has been working as the State Nodal Agency (SNAC) of Tripura , under National Trust and was implementing various activities of the National Trust for welfare of the person with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities in this state. VHAT is the member of Local Level Committee (LLC) in three districts of Tripura viz. South Tripura District, North Tripura District and Unokoti District.As per National Trust norms, VHAT implemented following activities in 2023-24:


Participation in Divya Kala Mela
Indus Towers Scholarships FOR Students with Disabilities
Since 2016, VHAT has been collaborating in various activities with Shishu Sarothi , an organization based in Guwahati, dedicated to early intervention and rehabilitation, education, advocacy, awareness, and the protection of rights for children and individuals with disabilities in North-East India. In relation to this we have been actively involved in implementing a Scholarship Program, aiming to empower students with disabilities to pursue higher education. Our goal is to counteract the declining trend and significant drop in the number of students with disabilities in higher education while fostering employment opportunities and the inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in the mainstream.
The Indus Towers Scholarship Program (www.ssscholarship.org), a CSR initiative of Indus Towers Ltd, implemented by Shishu Sarothi was launched in 2016 ,where VHAT was the local partner for Tripura State, to encourage and support students with disability. From Tripura, 51 students have already benefited from the scholarship support in pursuing their higher education, many of them securing jobs and leading a life of dignity and financial independence. This year 11 students/scholars were selected from different parts of Tripura for scholarship. The selected students would receive support for their educational expenses until the completion of their courses, and some needy students would also receive additional assistance for study materials, assistive devices, hostel fees and conveyance.
Annual Scholarship Award Ceremony of the "Indus Towers Scholarship Program" was held on 21st November 2023 in DDRC Hall Shyamali Bazar Agartala, where Scholarship certificates were given to 11 selected students. Among the dignitaries Ms.Seema J.,Project Coordinator , Shishu Sarothi, Ms.Rina Moiranghthem, O & M Head of Indus Tower Ltd , North East , Mr. Achintam Kilikder, Deputy Commissioner (PWD), Gov of Tripura and Mr.Pratip Brata Bhattacharjee, Branch Officer, Higher Education, Gov of Tripura were present in this ceremonial event.


Annual Scholarship Award Ceremony of the "Indus Towers Scholarship Program" on 21st November 2023 in DDRC Hall Shyamali Bazar Agartala.

Training of the female inmates of Half Way Home for making paper bags

Door Mat making training of the female inmates of Half Way Home
Shantineer- Half Way Home(HWH)
This was new initiative of VHAT with support from the Social Welfare & Social Education Department under Government of Tripura. This shelter home is for the welfare & rehabilitation of persons living with mental illness who have been cured, who do not need further hospitalization, who are homeless & who are not accepted by their families or guardians and are in need of shelter, care and protection. To meet this objective, the Govt. of Tripura has established ‘SHANTINEER’–a Half Way Home at Narsingarh, West Tripura wherein 25 female and 25 male cured mental patients can be accommodated .VHAT could initiate this project in October 2023 with 25 female inmates sent by the Modern Psychiatric Hospital, Narsingarh. In March 2024 , again 15 male in mates were sent to Half Way Home by the Modern Psychiatric Hospital (MPH).

Female inmates of Shantineer

Male inmates with the Doctor of MPH & the Project Coordinator
Services provided to the inmates:
State Consultation On Accessibility Built Environment
The State Consultation on Accessible Built Environment was organized by Shishu Sarothi and VHAT in collaboration with the Directorate of Social Welfare and Social Education, Government of Tripura on December 2, 2023 at Agartala ,in the conference hall of Directorate of Social Welfare & Social Education, Tripura. It was organized to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3, 2023 which is celebrated this year with the theme “United in action to rescue and achieve the SDGs for, with and by persons with disabilities,” and, ensuring accessibility for persons with disabilities is the first step towards inclusion. In the beginning Madam Smitha Mol, M.S.(IAS) Director, Social Welfare & Social Education, Tripura addressed the participants. Thereafter, Mr.Achintam Kilikdar, Deputy Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Tripura, began his address by sharing that the Rights of Person with Disabilities Act, 2016 which replaces the earlier Person with Disabilities Act, 1995 is a comprehensive legal framework that reflects a commitment to creating an inclusive and accessible society.
Participants: Total 37 people, including state- and district-level officials from government departments, like Public Works (Roads), Public Works (Building), Municipal Council, Urban Development, Rural Development, Transport, Housing & Construction Board, Social Welfare & Education and one representative from All Tripura Blind Association.
Working Session on Accessible Built – Environment: Ms. Amvalika Senapati, Deputy Director, Shishu Sarothi, conducted the working session on Built-Environment Accessibility. She initiated the session with concept of disability and rights-based approach. She shared the various barriers faced by persons with disabilities in the society such as, physical, social, institutional and communication barriers and said that addressing these barriers are essential for creating inclusive and accessible environment. She showed pictorial presentation depicting various barriers in the built-environment. Thereafter she highlighted upon the concept of accessibility and its importance and emphasized that accessibility plays an important role in breaking the vicious cycle of poverty and disability as it enables a person with disability to access good education, which ensures good job opportunity or livelihood options, thereby leading to economic empowerment and reducing their dependence on other for their survival. She also shared that accessibility also ensures that persons with disabilities are able to live a life with dignity, respect and independence and get equal opportunities to participate. Accessibility includes both physical and virtual environment of a person, as well as rules, policies, practices and attitudes of people affecting the lives of persons with disabilities. As per the Right of Person with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 the provisions vis-à-vis the built - environment, stipulates that :

Working session in progress

Interaction / Queries from Participants
Regional level Sensitization on Understanding Deafblindness
This was organized in collaboration with Shishu Sarothi Deafblind Regional Centre, Guwahati, on 22nd December 2023 in VHAT Hall at Kunjaban, Agartala, where 42 persons from 10 NGOs participated. In initial discussion Dr.Sreelekha Ray,ED of VHAT expressed her thoughts about Deafblindness, seeking everyone’s attention on the topic & invited all to come together to raise awareness and be sensitized about the nature and needs of persons with Deafblindness. The event was moderated by Mr.Nabajyoti Medhi, DbRC Coordinator.He talked about the SPARSH project and the services provided by team to the deafblind students and their caregivers. In his presentation he shared data on the numbers of students reached so far and spoke about the services provided to Adults with Deafblindness (ADb) including vocational training and income generation support. He also mentioned the support services provided to students living in remote rural areas of Assam.
Then Mr.Dipam Das Special Educator DbRC discussed about different types and causes of Deafblindness (e.g. Rubella/Usher/Charge/ Waarden burg Syndrome). He also discussed the teaching methodology used by Special Educators for teaching Db and MSI children. He introduced the different modes of communication to the participants :- Tactile Sign language/Finger Spelling (American/Indian)/Print on Palm/ Tadoma/ Braille /Lipreading/ Communication Books etc. The participants interacted actively and asked a lot of questions as well. The session ended with every one learning the basics of finger spellings.
Mr. Kamel Mostafa, Field Worker of the DbRC team gave abrief presentation on the field work done to identify children with Dband MSI.He shared his experiences from the field and shared few simple methods of screening and assessment by which a normal person without a medical background can do basic screening before a formal clinical assessment.He urged everyone’s support in making the SPARSH network bigger so that more children across Northeast can be reached by DbRC

Sensitization Program on Understanding Deafblindness in VHAT Hall on 22-12-2023

Training on early identification of Disability with AWW in
EARLY IDENTIFICATION OF DISABILITIES AMONG CHILDREN
Two workshops on ‘Early Identification of Disabilities among Children’ were organized with - 1)ASHA workers on 29/01/2024 in collaboration with West Bhubanban UPHC & 2) Anganwadi workers of Bishalgarh block of Sepahijala district on 30/02/2024 in Community Hall of Gokulnagar panchayat. Facilitator was Mr.Dhanajit Kalita, Senior Physiotherapist, Shishu Sarothi , Guwahati , Assam. We organized these sensitization workshops as partner of Shishu Sarothi.

Training on early identification of Disability with ASHA Workers