কৌন্তেয়।  সুবোধ ঘোষ। Kaunteyo by Subodh Ghosh-One file-a Bengali short story prescribed under postgraduate Bengali syllabus of Kalyani University-SVH audiobook for Blind & Print-Disabled students pursuing higher education & research-SVH Recordist & Digital Editor Suparna Mandal-uploaded by Hena Basu on 16 April 2024 from SVH Braille Section, State Central Library West Bengal, Kolkata 700054.

Kountyeo by Subodh Ghosh

Founded February 23, 1983 by 12 dedicated members with the aim of REACHING EDUCATION TO SIGHTLESS CITIZENS. 
1983-2010 Education Empowerment Project Interaction with Blind persons & their families,
 acquiring & distributing educational aids
1985-2013 Talking Book Project Recording audio books for Blind in cassettes
1989-2013 Braille Transcription & production Project by sighted volunteers. 
1989-2001 Likeskill Training through Adventure sports; mountaineering for the Blind at HMI, Darjeeling.

In 1989 the first step was worked out with the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India and the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, 
New Delhi, to mainstream Persons with Low Vision, Vision Impairment and total Blindness by imparting Life-skill training through Adventure Program such as Rock-climbing, Mountaineering and high-altitude treks upto Dzongri 13000ft in the West Sikkim. This course covered Blind young men and women joining from different parts of India, making it the first organized mountaineering training of the Blind in the world. This annual course continued till 2001 when SVH opted for Nature Study Camps for rural Blind children to comply with budgetary constraints.
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1989 onwards volunteers began recording audio books for Blind students and giving live readers’ and writers’ service to Blind students pursuing higher education within West Bengal.

15 September 1996 on behalf of the Library Ministry, Government of West Bengal, Amitava Bose, Chief Librarian, State Central Library West Bengal, an apex Library of the State Government, invited the Society to open and manage a Braille & Talking Book Library in their newly constructed Library building at Kankurgachi on PPP model where the space and infrastructure were extended by the Government while SVH raised funds to manage expenses and investment cost of this unit with the help of volunteers who worked hard to meet with limited resources academic demand of students.

1996-2010 SVH has been tagged by Government, non-Government, private organizations, special schools for the Blind and special educators serving the cause without sufficient knowledge and appropriate aids and appliances for the Blind to share resources and expertise to bring a qualitative change in lives of Blind people. In 2010 The Hans Foundation contacted SVH as a God-send source of support and since then there was no looking back. We work hard to fulfill our passion “REACH EDUCATION TO SIGHTLESS CITIZENS.”

Over the years many new volunteers, some of them are trained special educators, have joined and we chose to pay them cost of job depending on the provisions in the Grant. Our friends and wellwishers continue to support us with their modest contributions in cash and kind which forms our General Fund to enable us to manage some special expenses for our Blind beneficiaries.
