A a tactile campus navigation map entirely in Braille for persons with disabilities created by students of Jadavpur University.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

In a pioneering move, students of Jadavpur University have created a tactile campus navigation map entirely in Braille for persons with disabilities.

Two postgraduate students of the university’s English department, Astyartha Das and Rameshwar Chakraborty, built this tactile Braille campus map, initially ideating it as part of a class assignment.

“We both are part of the ‘Disability in Indian Literature’ optional course coordinated by Prof. Ishan Chakraborty. He would always talk about issues of access that Persons with Disabilities have to face daily,” Mr Das told The Hindu. “We wanted to do something that would be more than just paperwork inclusion, and actually contribute towards inclusivity and Access for All.”

They came up with the idea after their Professor gave the class an open call for a project assignment. “We could’ve rather submitted a term paper or created a documentary. But we instead created this map,” Mr Chakraborty said.

It took one and a half months for Mr Chakraborty and Mr Das to create the map from scratch. Comprising nearly 2,000 screws, the map is set up on a 5-foot wide and 3.5-foot tall particle board at the ground floor of the UG Arts Building, near gate 4 of Jadavpur University.

The duo added that they originally did not know Braille and that the internet had provided them with the necessary resources to learn and implement it on the map.

“We used hardcover pages that were cut in pieces. We scaled the sizes of the buildings which are bigger or smaller, for example, the administrative building i.e. Aurobindo Bhavan is bigger than the ATM,” Mr Chakraborty said. “Then we have the strings fixed which show the lanes within the campus which people can follow to go to a certain place.”

He added that they used different indicators to mark the railway track and main roads outside the Jadavpur University campus.

“On the left side of the map is a list with the full names of the buildings with short forms as indications, those short forms are stuck on the buildings,” Mr Das added.

Professor Ishan Chakraborty, a visually disabled person and professor in the university’s English Department, said he was initially sceptical of their idea but was wowed during their presentation on November 18.

“I was a student at this university for six years, and this was the first time I could visualize the campus in its entirety. It was a liberating experience,” Prof Chakraborty said. He added that even though he had a vague idea of where different landmarks were on campus, it was through the map that he could gauge how close or far they were from each other.

“This a brilliant first step towards the rights of persons with disabilities, as well as the visibility of their rights. This map will have a tangible effect on making our lives easier,” Professor Chakraborty added. 

Kolkata:

The state-run Jadavpur University in Kolkata has set up two new hostels on its main campus for first-year undergraduate students, nearly a year after the death of a fresher following alleged ragging, an official said on Thursday.

One of the two hostels has already been opened, and students have started moving in, he said.

While the one made functional has 70 beds, the other one that will be opened shortly will have 50 beds, he added.

An undergraduate student died on August 10 last year after falling from the balcony of the men’s hostel following hours of alleged ragging by his seniors that included sexual abuse. A total of 13 people were arrested in connection with the case.

To prevent such incidents from happening again, the official said that the decision to set up dedicated hostels for first-year students was made.

The second-year and third-year students will now be housed together at the men’s hostel, which is located off the campus, he said.  

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kolkata:

Almost a year after the death of a first-year undergraduate student after ragging by seniors, another student of Jadavpur University was allegedly tortured in a hostel by inmates on suspicion of stealing a laptop, an official said on Thursday.

The first-year post-graduate student of Computer Engineering and inmate of the boys’ hostel was admitted to a hospital on Wednesday night, the official told PTI.

He said the student fell sick when confronted by a section of hostel boarders about a stolen laptop.

“The student was not assaulted but he was confronted by some other boarders of the C block of boys hostel and accused of stealing a laptop in the hostel compound on Wednesday night,” the official said.

“We are looking into the incident and the allegations,” JU Registrar Snehamanju Basu told PTI.

University’s Medical Superintendent Mitali Deb said the student had a panic attack on being accused of stealing a laptop but she did not find any evidence of ragging or physical assault.

“The other inmates present at the hostel asked me to give them a written statement that I was taking him to a hospital. I explained to them that I have the authority to take a sick and ailing person for treatment to a healthcare facility and went ahead,” Deb, who took the student to the hospital on Wednesday night, told reporters.

The university authorities informed the student’s parents and they arrived in Jadavpur from Purulia on Thursday morning.

“The youth, a student of the evening section, is currently stable and recovering. We will record his statement after he is discharged from the hospital,” the official said.

His family, which arrived from Purulia on Thursday morning, alleged he was physically assaulted on suspicion of stealing a laptop at the hostel and had to be hospitalised.

“We are yet to get details about the incident. We heard the boy concerned has been admitted to hospital. But we don’t know the circumstances,” Tamalina, a member of the JU SFI unit said.

She said the SFI has zero tolerance for the ragging issue. If the allegations of ragging are proved the union will do whatever is required to stop the practice, she said.

On August 9, 2023, a Bengali UG first-year student was ragged and sexually abused at another block of the same hostel. Immediately afterwards he fell from a top-floor balcony and succumbed to injuries at the hospital on August 10 morning.

The incident triggered an outrage in the state and country as the university campus and adjacent streets were rocked by a series of protests by political parties and organisations for the next week.

The university formed an inquiry committee to probe into the incidents while the probe by the state government found five students guilty arresting them.

Twenty-five others, all boarders, were barred from entering campus by the university.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kolkata:

The state-run Jadavpur University in Kolkata on Wednesday withdrew the permission it gave to RSS-affiliated ABVP to celebrate Ram Navami on the campus amid protests by Left-backed students’ organisations.

The varsity had given the permission to celebrate Ram Navami near Gate 3 from 11 am to 2 pm, they said.

In a notice, Registrar Snehamanju Basu said written complaints were received from different groups of students that such a programme may lead to disruption of peace and harmony on the campus.

In view of that, the ‘no-objection’ was being withdrawn, the notice said.

The notice also cited a letter from the Higher Education Department that flagged the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), which is in place for the Lok Sabha polls, and for “safeguarding the right of every individual for peaceful and undisturbed home life”.

Calling the varsity’s decision unfortunate, the ABVP alleged that under pressure from Left-wing organisations such as AISA and SFI, the authorities withdrew the permission.

“Only a day ago, the registrar had given permission for the event, which would have been peaceful. Today, suddenly they took a U-turn,” an ABVP leader said.

An official of the varsity said the authority did not want a re-run of January 22 when several senior professors were manhandled amid a face-off between different students’ outfits during a programme for commemorating the Ram Temple consecration ceremony.

So, the moment certain groups raised objections over Ram Navami celebrations on campus, the permission was withdrawn, he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)