Heads of Amar Seva Sangam Meet Prime Minister Modi in Chennai

• They invite him to visit Ayikudy Village, and take part in the ongoing 40th anniversary celebrations of ASSA.

• Request the PM to incorporate ASSA’s ‘Enabling Inclusion‘, a digital rehab platform for children with disabilities in the National Health Mission.

Padma Shri Mr. S. Ramakrishnan, Founder President and Mr. S. Sankara Raman, Secretary, Amar Seva Sangam (ASSA), a premier organization in the field of disability management, had an informal meeting with Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi recently in Chennai. The meeting took place on the side-lines of the 44th Chess Olympiad held in the city.

Heads of Amar Seva Sangam Meet Prime Minister Modi in Chennai

During the meeting, the heads of ASSA invited Mr. Modi to visit the NGO’s headquarters in Ayikudy Village, and take part in the ongoing 40th anniversary celebrations of ASSA. They also requested him to consider incorporating ASSA’s ‘Enabling Inclusion‘, a digital rehab platform for children with disabilities, in the National Health Mission.

ASSA, founded in 1981, is celebrating its 40 years of meritorious and dedicated service towards the development of people with disabilities (PwDs). It has recently launched ‘Enabling Inclusion‘, a digital rehab platform for children with disabilities. This platform is a technology-leveraged solution that aims at reducing the family strain, improving child functionalities, and increasing the school enrolment rate of children with disabilities at the pre-primary level.

Talking about their informal meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr. Sankara Raman, said, “The meeting with Mr. Narendra Modi was a very encouraging and memorable one for us. The PM responded very positively to our requests with respect to his visit to Amar Seva Sangam at Ayikudy and the implementation of Enabling Inclusion’ in the National Health Mission. He was curious to know how ASSA is implementing early intervention and is rehabilitating and empowering PwDs in Tamil Nadu and four other states. He also learned how we leverage digital technology to achieve our goals such as the improvement of child functionalities and school enrolment rate. We expressed our willingness to be a knowledge partner for the implementation of ‘Enabling Inclusion’ in the National Health Mission.”

He also pointed out that the Prime Minister was cheerful, and cordial. “He interacted personally with us, removing his face mask. He even handled our wheelchairs in a friendly manner. We never felt that we were talking to one of the most powerful persons in the world.”

ASSA has recently signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu Government for the launch of a state-wide Joint program for Inclusive Education. As per the agreement, Amar Seva Sangam and Tamilnadu State Mission of Education for all Samagra Shiksha, Government of Tamil Nadu will implement Enabling Inclusion in Tamil Nadu, to begin with, in select districts.

In its journey of four decades of service to the people with disability, ASSA has focused on rehabilitating PwDs through education, employment and empowerment so that they become economically productive citizens and join the mainstream society. It has been providing homes for poor children with disabilities with free accommodation, food, clothing, medical care, appliances, and education, including skill development through vocational training and employment programs.

About Amar Seva Sangam

Amar Seva Sangam (ASSA) is a premier organization in the field of disability management focusing on rural areas across all ages and all disabilities, located in Ayikudy Village, Tenkasi District. Its approach is to establish a centralized resource center for the development of Persons with Disabilities and extend Rehabilitation through a community participatory process. In the last 40 years, ASSA has very successfully implemented several bold and innovative programs and received several State, National, International and other awards.