Man ki Baat or Man Mani by Rajiv Rajan

Man ki baat means talking from the heart.
If man ki baat has to be real it has to be a two way process Man mani mean doing whatever one feel like or dictating whatever one wants to.

Man ki baat never happened with Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 but man mani happened. Actual stakeholders were not even a part of process in the initial stages leave alone listening their man ki baat
Leave alone the the man ki baat of the stakeholders. Even the ratification of United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities never mattered when doing this man mani.
Article14 of Constitution of India provides for equality before the law or equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. It states: "The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India."
This has been violated in this case of man mani

Man ki baat never happened during the abrogation of article 370 but man mani happened
Man ki bath of political starwalts were not allowed leave alone the general public. Man mani was also evident when some foreign delegates were invited to show to the world how normal the situation was in the valley when the situation was not so normal to say the least.
Article 19(1)(a) of Indian Constitution says that "all citizens have the right to freedom of speech and expression. Freedom of Speech and expression means the right to express one's own convictions and opinions freely by words of mouth, writing, printing, pictures or any other mode". This was violated for a very long time in fact even now it is being violated in Jamu and Kashmir.

Man ki baat never happened with Citizens (Amendment) Act but man mani happened.
Article 14 of the Constitution of India provides for equality before the law or equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. It states: "The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India."
In this man mani also the life line article of the constitution has been violated.

Does the government of India really want to listen to its citizen's man ki baat or does it only want citizens of India to listen its man ki bath and accept it?

Results of all the one way traffic of "man ki baat" is there for everyone to see
"Divyang" the most inappropriate lable given to persons with disabilities.
Protests across the country.
Insecurity among the citizens.

Man ki baat or man mani? is the question to be answered but will it ever be answered? Is a billion dollar question.

Does the government have any respect for the constitution? is another big question with out much of an answer.

And for the first time I am seeing the ruling dispensation taking a rally in support of an enactment by the parliament that too when the matter is being heard by the Supreme Court of the country.

Where are we going with all this? 

#wethepeople 

#anticaa

How I got introduced to Boccia by Sathish Kumar R

I am a person with Cerebral Palsy using a Automated Wheelchair. On one working day in early 2016 received a call from Mr. Rajiv Rajan and Mr. Harikrishnan from Ektha they were planning to start to develop a game called Boccia. They said “ we are going to conduct a sports camp & you also come on Sunday”. The first question I asked was " will I be able to play? Do I need to come surely?" The reason I asked this was my hand power was not very good. After much hesitation I went on that Sunday to just see what it was all about. Once I went in person and saw how the game works and its design, I started getting interest in it.

I used to try to throw the balls with both my hands but with much efforts I was not able to throw far, then I started using assistive device (ramp) to throw balls. This is where I got confidence and full interest on the game. I felt that I will be able to reach the target. Thereafter in few days, I was able to grab all informations about Boccia. In a few months, myself and another trainer Mr. Sundar used to manage the weekends training camps, I also used to play in it.
As I got more interested in game, I too joined the organizing team of Ektha.  We Ektha the team ourselves had to get proper informations about the game to train others officially.

I along with Mr. Rajiv Rajan and Mr. Dheepakh went to RDT, in Andhra Pradesh to get trained ourself. We got to know many aspects of boccia, playing methods, rules, categorisation, etc.

After we got trained, we started to conduct regular boccia practice camps on Saturday evening at Vidya Sagar. From then on we slowly started to spread the game in and around Chennai.

We conducted camps in other nearby districts. Though I used to play in weekends, I also used to co-ordinate with others to spread & get support from others.

This continued for a while and after few months, in early 2017 we conducted our first boccia tournament. The response from the teams was very good. Then on we started to expand our wings, by giving many trainings at different districts of Tamil Nadu with the support from Beroe Inc.

We were able to get many interested and talented players through this. We have conducted more than 70 camps, few district level tournaments and 2 state level tournaments so far.

I am a part of coordinating team and we are working with players, teams, volunteers and corporate for the development of Boccia in India.

Our altimate goal is to bring more numbers players to this game and build an Indian team for the 2024 Paralympics.

Where it all started

It was one pleasant afternoon of December 2015 when Mr Harikrishnan or Hari anna as he is known came for his casual visits to my office in Vidya Sagar at that time I was the head of the department of disability legislation unit and hey "let us start Boccia through Ektha" I had heard about the sport a couple of years from Mr Manoj Soma and Mr Jaspal Shani of Choice International from The UK. They were insisting that we do something to develop the game in India at that time (middle of 2013) itself. But I couldn't focus on the game then as a lot of other things were going on including the drafting of the "New Law" for persons with disabilities.

When we at Ektha actually started Boccia?

We started with introductory camp some time in the later half of January 2016 for the aluminai of Vidya Sagar. As usual for persons with disabilities everything is delayed. We wasted almost 3 years after coming to know about the game.

What is Boccia?

Boccia is a Paralympic sport that can be played by anyone, with or without a disability. Originally designed for people with severe cerebral palsy, it is now enjoyed by players with a wide variety of disabilities. It’s easy for a beginner to pick up quickly, but builds in intensity and complexity as players hone their skills.

Boccia is a co-ed sport of control and accuracy, similar to curling or lawn bowling. Games last four or six ends. Players propel balls towards the target or “jack” ball. Each side has six balls (red or blue) per end to try and score points. The closest side to the target ball when all the balls have been played, scores. If the game is tied after all ends have been played, a tie-break end is played. Boccia can be played head to head, in teams of three, or in pairs.

Boccia has roots in Greece, where players threw large stones at a stone target. There were also objects and mural engravings relating to a similar form of the sport that were found as early as 5200 BC during the excavation of the tombs in Egypt. The sport was also played in market places and in the streets during the Middle Ages, and the word ‘boccia’ is derived from the Italian meaning to bowl.

Moments I want to forget but.......

It was 3.30pm and i was in a meeting room of youth group in Vikalp Sangam at Bhopal. I received a call from an unknown number, a number i have not saved.Normally i would not attend such calls when i am in a meeting. But this time i asked my friend Balu to attend the call.He came back after a couple of minutes saying that our flight routes to Chennai is diverted via Mumbai instead of Delhi and that the flight would depart from Bhopal at 9.30pm and the connecting flight from Mumbai was at 2.00am. I just then realised that i would be in the nick of time to reaching Chennai for an important personal ceremony for which i had to be there. This compulsion has changed me to be a passive receiver of the tortures that was to follow during the entire journey.

The Long Ordeal:

We started from our place of accommodation in Bhopal around 6.30 pm to reach the airport at 8.00 pm. I had prepared myself to reach Chennai at whatever costs it may take and that was the only goal for me in the next 10 to 12 hours. I entered the airport as usual and asked for my personal wheelchair to go until the aircraft. To my pleasant surprise, that would last for only a couple of minutes though, the person at the Jet Airways counter agreed to it.

Then came the first of many instances that could have provoked the activist in me, if it was a normal course of journey. The person at the Jet Airways counter informed my wheelchair assistant from the airlines to make me sit on a nearby chair and get the wheelchair screened. It was enough for me to get provoked. At that time my memory went back to an early morning in 2007. On that miserable day, I was not  given a Boarding pass despite holding a valid ticket and an invitation from the Government of India to attend a working group meeting organised by MSJE, GoI. That incident created a lot of flutter resulting in the Civil Aviation Rule for the Air Travel of persons with disability and reduced mobility in 2010. I was a part of the drafting committee of this version of the rule. I also filed a defamation case in the consumer court, which unfortunately never took off. Those memories and the importance of the rituals waiting back home made me agree to whatever the ground staff told me to do.

After the first screening of the wheelchair, fortunately my condition does not prevent me from shifting from chair to chair by myself,  i reached the security check. There again as usual the security personnel asked me if i could stand up. I said, i cannot. Then he murmured something and frisked me. But again asked the wheel chair to be screened.3 the activist in me was at the brim. But another incident in my life told me to calm down as my aim was to reach Chennai. It was sometime in 2011, at IGI airport Delhi, a group of us were returning from a meeting. Here again, i was coming from a GoI meeting. The security at the airport said that they cannot let the personal wheelchairs of the group near the aircraft. We had a long argument which lead to the group almost missing the flight had it taken off on time. We were lucky enough that the flight was delayed on that day.But i was not sure whether the lady luck would be with me this time also. So again i gave in.

I never realised that the worst of all is waiting for me in the Mumbai airport. But before we go to Mumbai, in Bhopal the flight was put on an aerobridge, but i was carried up the backdoor as a backdoor entrant and as a sack of baggage by 4 people on a small aisle chair without even a seat belt. After landing in Mumbai, i was brought down the same way and was almost dropped by the airline staff. I reached so far without realising that my wheelchair would not be given to me at the door step without shouting and fighting. Subsequently i shifted to my wheelchair, my 5th transfer since i reached the airport in Bhopal.

Once i reached the boarding gate of my connecting flight the leading staff noticed that i had permission to take my wheelchair only till Mumbai and not up to Chennai. Remember all this is happening in the middle of the night!! Then my friend has to rush to the counter and get the stamping done and from thereon my travel was kind of accessible as the aircraft was on aerobridge. After i reached Chennai also there was a huge delay in getting the wheelchair. Finally i got out in Chennai at 5.15 am after a grueling 9 hours.

I know that these stories are not one of cases but are happening throughout the world despite laws and technological developments. We persons with disability are left wondering as to What prevents the Government, Airlines, Airports Authority from implementing the laws and in using the technology for easy movement of all persons with disability and reduced mobility? Will the dark tunnel see some light at the end?!! A BILLION DOLLAR QUESTION WITH NO ANSWER.