JAIE UTTAM KHAMKAR – 100% Blind
My name is Jaie Uttam Khamkar, born on 15th January, 1979, in Takli Haji, Shirur. My parents are farmers. My vision is completely impaired, but it hasn’t been this way since birth. I lost my vision in September, 1997, when I was in 12th standard. On a routine visit to the hospital, due to a fever, I was administered an injection by the doctor. The injection was past its expiry date, and because of this carelessness on the doctor’s part, not only did I lose my skin, hair, and nails, but also my vision.
From there on, it was a series of lows, rather than highs. First, I opened an STD (subscriber trunk dialing) booth, in October 1999, but the distance from my house to the booth, was nearly 5 kilometers. Since there was no proper mode of transport, I had to walk this entire distance all by myself, without any assistance from anyone. Following that, with the help of Bank of Maharashtra, I started work on developing my parents’ farm. The setback I faced was that nobody was willing to be my guarantor, so I decided to take matters in my own hand, and in what is one of my personal greatest achievements, I became a guarantor for 18 people in due course. On the 27th of March, 2009, I married Mr. Dattatray Kisan Doke. My subsequent pregnancy was a period of extreme tribulation, since everybody was apprehensive about how, as a blind person, I would bring up a child, and because of this thought process, I was left by all my family members, to fend for myself. I was blessed with a beautiful baby girl, and today, I see the world through her eyes. During this time, I started a stationery shop, built my own house, following which my parents, and parents-in-law returned to live with me. With their support, I started a dairy farm. I’ve always wanted to actively pursue social work to assist visually impaired, and differently abled students.
In May 2005, we started a registered trust, Malaganga Andh Apang Seva Sanstha, in Takali Haji, with one sole vision, and mission – to help visually impaired, and differently abled people to overcome their problems, and live a self-reliant, self-dependent, and sustainable life, so as to be on par with everybody else. We started the jute bag training for the visually impaired, and differently abled people and completed the orders from PepsiCo on a regular basis.
The Trust also helped various differently abled people in setting up – Vada shops, grocery stores, two computer centres, a photo studio, dairy farm, and a hotel. We are not stopping here. The visually impaired students do not get any hostel facilities anywhere in the country; for female students it is much more difficult .This led us to focus on building an institution for them, with proper hostel, and residential facilities. The e-platform which has been conceived will allow these students to study, and appear for exams independently.
On 15th June, 2018, I was granted permission by the Govt. of Maharashtra to start India’s first senior college, “New Vision Arts and Commerce College” along with a residential facility, for visually impaired, and differently abled students, and keeping in mind the agenda of our trust.