Image description- Rahul Kumar Bhokta sitting on an open ground with a basket full of fodder while he is putting fodder in the transparent plastic bag for mushroom seed laying.

Rahul Kumar Bhokta, 19 years old, stays in Pipra Village, Sonraithari block of Deoghar District, which is 41 kilometers away from the city centre. He has had complete visual impairment since childhood. His father Sukhdeo Bhokta, 60, is a farmer by profession. His family consists of six members with a monthly income of ten thousand Rupees. Rahul narrates,” I could not continue my studies after the seventh standard. Teachers were ‘kind’ enough to qualify me in the subsequent classes without any formal examination. But beyond a point, I did not see the value of that kind of education as I saw no future prospects in continuing it and decided to quit”. He has a disability certificate and gets disability pension. He was one of the 25 participants who completed the Residential ten-day mushroom production training workshop for Persons with Disabilities conducted by RSETI, Deoghar, in the month of December last year.

Image description- Rahul Kumar Bhokta receiving certificate of completion of Mushroom training in the presence of Shri Manjunath Bhajantri, Deputy commissioner of Deoghar, RSETI, Director, Deoghar and NCPEDP Fellow, Kumar Mahavir.

Before joining the workshop, his father recalls, he was a shy person, though active with his daily chores, but remained largely confined to his house. His only source of engagement was a community bhajan gathering in the village where he sang bhajan. Rahul tells enthusiastically, ” When I start singing, I forget all my inhibitions and feel like giving my best”.

The workshop allowed him to move out of his village and for the first to visit district headquarters. Initially, his father was skeptical whether he would be able to stay in the RSETI Centre on his own. For three days, his father accompanied him in the centre. Even the trainers were not confident whether he would be able to navigate the physical space of centre and most importantly imbibe the training and study materials for Mushroom production. He stayed quiet for the first few days and had difficulty in socialising with other participants. He was the only participant with visual impairment, and the majority had locomotor disability.

On the fourth day of the workshop, after the training session, an informal gathering was organised, meant for socialisation. It was an opportunity for Rahul to showcase his talent. He sang bhajans in affirmation. For the first time, the whole group noticed Rahul, and not only that, but they started cheering for him. That evening gave him the much-needed confidence. The next day, he asked his father to leave for the village as he started feeling accepted in the group. Other participants who were keeping away from him initially started approaching him and assisting him in navigating the centre. He started recording the workshop instruction on his phone and sending it to his brother Santosh, 21 years, who further helped him in finding relevant content online regarding Mushroom production. He memorised all the steps of mushroom production, and in the final assessment, he was the top scorer and received the certificate from the Deputy Commissioner of Deoghar.

After completing the workshop, he immediately contacted the trainers for mushroom seeds. He bought 3 kgs of seeds of Oyster mushrooms and chemicals, which were easier to cultivate. In one month, 10 kgs of oyster was ready. He sold some part of the first batch of mushrooms with the help of the Panchayat secretary. The rest of the mushrooms he sold through family contacts. His brother advertised mushrooms on Facebook and got a few customers from there. Now, after selling two batches of mushrooms, he wants to establish a proper setup for mushroom production, for which he needs a capital of 1 lakh rupees, for which he is interested in availing loans. He is also encouraging other Persons with Disabilities in the area to take up self-employment as a credible option. The boy who was shy and only good for singing Bhajans in the village has become a catalyst for encouraging self-employment for Persons with Disabilities. On a lighter note, he says, “ Now I will even charge for singing Bhajans”. 

Through this case study, we can witness, given the opportunity and basic identification,  a Person with disability can aspire to move up the social and economic ladder in the rural context. It may be an insignificant case for skeptics and may even question the sustainability of his enterprise, and justifiably so. It is not a complete success story with a lot to be done. But the purpose of this blog is to change the perception and perspective of the general public regarding Persons with Disabilities in rural areas. It’s about giving them a voice and a platform, which we sometimes take for granted. We come across many people with disabilities in the field, whose stories need to be told. Not in a patronising manner, often glorifying them or showing them in a state of pity, but in a way that empowers them and something they can relate to.