lYour brainchild, Anjali, has completed 12 years of journey — from a creative platform for differently-abled children to an inclusive, full-fledged national festival today. When you started it, did you ever think you would come this far?

Initially, we struggled a lot, facing many ups and downs. But today, there are more ups than downs. Visibility of disability has increased over the years. There was a time when the disabled were considered people without any worth. The mindset of society has not completely changed, but there is an increased acceptance for people with disabilities.

So it has been up to your expectations?

Not really. You don’t find children with disabilities studying in mainstream schools, despite a provision of seat reservation for disadvantaged kids under the Right to Education Act. But now people have started talking about disability and it is being reflected in government policies.

The government has formulated an Odisha State Youth Policy. Do you think it focuses enough on youths with disabilities?

As an activist, I am very much disappointed. We had done a lot of advocacy and pushed in our agenda, but it did not find much reflection in the policy. As far as sports and cultural activities are concerned, we don’t have enough camps and training venues for youths with disabilities.

Why do you think the state administration has been so apathetic?

The mindset of the government is such that everything related to the disabled persons is assigned to the women and child development (W&CD) department. It has to be an agenda of all departments. There should be an independent department for disability headed by a minister so that it gets enough focus and budgetary allocation.

Has the disability commission under the W&CD department not been effective?

Not really. It is just a recommending body. Unless it is given punitive powers and it takes exemplary action in a few cases, nobody will respect it or listen to it. It summons government officers but either no one comes or a lower official turns up. The disability commission has appointed all collectors as deputy commissioners for their respective districts but how much time and effort can a collector, who heads 500 committees or so in a district, devote to the cause of disability? There should be an independent district-level representative in each collectorate.

Have you ever approached the chief minister regarding your concerns and suggestions?

We have met him and told him off-and-on about creating an independent department. The last chief secretary had taken it up seriously and there was some file movement, but I don’t know why and how it got stalled. Disability is still not a priority in any administration. Distributing wheelchairs and other disability aids or even cheap rice is not the solution. Lip service doesn’t help. Include the disabled in programmes such as Indira Awas Yojana or Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

Don’t you feel frustrated?

At times, I get frustrated when things don’t happen the way they should and when there is no transparency in what the government does a lot of things. I feel bad especially when I send out a lot of letters and they are not even acknowledged.

Rumour mills have it that your letter to governor S.C. Jamir inviting him to address the valedictory session of Anjali festival this year was not acknowledged either…

Yes, we did not get a letter of regret till the festival had started. Maybe he had too many engagements, or his office did not brief him properly about the festival. I have decided to meet him personally and talk about our work.

Isn’t arranging funds for the festival a challenge?

A Herculean task! We have created a circle of friends, a group of private individuals, who arrange it for us. But fund constraints forced us to cut down on our activities. When you request people for funds, they mostly ask why we aren’t doing a livelihood programme. Nobody thinks about the recreation of children and joyful learning. We approached a PSU for sponsorship, but their attitude made us feel sick. A major mobile company said they would give us a lakh of rupees if their business head shares the dais with the governor. When we informed them that the governor’s visit is cancelled, they cancelled their sponsorship.

You were instrumental in ensuring government buildings and offices have ramps. Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, claims to have a disabled-friendly campus. Are you satisfied with the facilities in such buildings?

See, disability is a huge area. Just creating a few ramps doesn’t ensure accessibility. At Ravenshaw, we gave them a list of things to do during the access audit but it has been done at a superficial level. There has to be an elevator, a disabled-friendly toilet and a library with Braille books and advanced software for students with disabilities. Utkal University is worse.

You were engaged to be married when you met with an accident. Did you think of marriage after that?

Even after my accident, my ex-fiancé and I were going strong and had decided to tie the knot later. But he got married to someone else and it was a big shock for me. I stayed in a state of anger and resentment and in the meantime, I decided to prove my worth to society. In between proving myself and fulfilling my aspirations, time just flew.

Fighter with a cause

A tireless crusader for the disabled and inspiration for Gen-Y, Sruti Mohapatra, 50, is best known as founder of Anjali Children’s Festival, touted to be one-of-its-kind in the country that brings together differently-abled and those from mainstream schools on a common platform.

Born in Cuttack, Sruti and her family shifted to Bhubaneswar. She completed her schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1 and graduation from BJB College with zoology honours. Thereafter, she pursued her post graduation studies at Utkal University and earned gold medal in zoology.

While doing her MPhil in developmental biology, she qualified for Group A Allied Services. However, a major road accident cut short her ambitions and since then she has been confined to a wheelchair.

Since Sruti could not join work, she went back to the university to complete her MPhil and PhD In 1993, she won the National Young Scientists Award. She has over 100 published works and extensive research on disability to her credit apart from a bunch of poems and short stories.

Until a few years ago, Sruti was running a study circle for aspirants of competitive examinations. In 2001, she launched Project Anjali that gave a vent to the creative side of special children, which later found participation from amongst students from mainstream schools.lAn established social activist, Sruti runs her own organisation, Swabhimaan that conducts Anjali camp every year during Children’s Day.

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN HAD YOU NOT BEEN AN ACTIVIST?

I think civil services would have been my alternative career choice. I was doing my MPhil when I qualified for allied services.

However, a major accident in April 1987 left me quadriplegic and I was not allowed to join work. So, I resumed my MPhil course and also completed my PhD

I applied in a few private colleges for a lecturer’s job and sat for tests, but I guess my wheelchair loomed large over my career. If there were three posts in a college, I would see my name in the fourth place.

Such things happened too many times to be a coincidence.