News

Volume 9 Issue 9 - July 15, 2012

Winners of 3rd N.C.P.E.D.P. - MphasiS Universal Design Awards 2012 announced

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: The winners of the 3rd N.C.P.E.D.P. - MphasiS Universal Design Awards 2012 have been announced. This year, a total of 5 individuals and 5 organisations have been given these awards for their work in promoting Universal Design and access in areas ranging from physical infrastructure to technology to services.

The awardees were selected by a jury chaired by Som Mittal, President, N.A.S.S.C.O.M.

Aarti Dhar, Special Correspondent, The Hindu; Elango R., Chief Human Resources Officer, MphasiS; Dr. Govind, Senior Director and Head (E-Infrastructure & Internet Governance Division), Department of Information Technology; Papiya Sarkar, Chief Architect, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation; and Vinnie Mehta, Executive Director, Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (A.C.M.A.) were members of the jury.

Dipendra Manocha of D.A.I.S.Y. Consortium was awarded in the category for persons with disabilities for his work in making publications accessible to print impaired people. Abhishek Syal, Professor Prabhat Ranjan, R.R. Joshi and Professor Rachna Khare were awarded in the category for working professionals.

Syal has worked on developing assistive technology for people with visual impairment to self-learn from maps and diagrams and also audio based modules that can be listened to on mobile phones. Professor Ranjan has developed a hand gesture controlled remote; Joshi has developed a translation software for 11 Indian languages to Braille and Khare has worked extensively to promote Universal Design, especially from the point of view of autism.

Indian Institute of Management (I.I.M.), Bangalore, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd., National Institute of Open Schooling, Sri Vishnu Educational Society and Travel Another India were selected as this year’s organisational awardees.