Tomorrow,, on 21.2.2009, the Airtel Kolkata Marathon will be held...Around 20,000 people are expected to participate in the Sail Celebrity Run...



Almost all of the Kolkatans will be there...



But, will actually all????



Confusion....

Isn't it???

Well, i don't know, how many of the Kolkatans actually know, that there are some of our brothers & sisters who are never invited into these kind of Gala Events...Their access & appearences are only limited to Fund raising Events..

Yes, ladies & gentlemen....

I am talking about the persons with Special Needs..
About 10% of the toatal World's Population are Disabled....
In India, Census 2001 has revealed that over 21 million people (approximately 2.1%) suffer from one or the other kind of disability. This is equivalent to 2.1% of the population. Among the total disabled in the country, 12.6 million are males and 9.3 million are females. Such proportion has been reported between 57-58 percent for males and 42-43 percent females. The disability rate (number of disabled per 100,000 populations) for the country as whole works out to 2130. This is 2,369in the case of males and 1,874 in the case of females.
Among the five types of disabilities on which data has been collected, Visual disability is at 48.5% emerges as the top category. Others in sequence are: In Mobility (27.9%), Mental (10.3%), in Speech (7.5%), and in hearing (5.8%). The disabled by sex follow a similar pattern except for that the proportion of disabled, females is higher in the category, in Visual and in hearing.
Across the country, the highest number of disabled has been reported from the state of Uttar Pradesh (3.6 million). Significant numbers of disabled have also been reported from the state like Bihar (1.9 million), West Bengal (1.8million), Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra (1.6 million). Tamil Nadu is the only state, which has a higher number of disabled females than males. Among the states, Arunachal Pradesh has the highest proportion of disabled males (66.6%) and lowest proportion of disabled female.
But, in such a big & SIGNIFICANT Event like the Kolkata Marathon, the Disabled are sidelined...I, myself am a Regular Marathoner...
But in none of the previous Marathons have I noticed a single Marathoner...
Why?
Are they not a part of us?
Or,
Is it their fault that they have Disabilities???
It is high time to put our thinking caps on....
think friends....
think...
Iam pleading to the Marathon Authorities...
Please sir...
please Maam...
Give them a chance....
this 4.2 Km run is also called FUN RUN....
Doesn't they deserve FUN?????

Acknowledgement: Various Govt reports

current times

Expeling Somnath Chotopadhay from the party is a "Historical Mistake" for CPM party....