The Global Rainbow Foundation (GRF) kick starts its operations in India
Aims to serve people with disabilities and leading to a happy and rewarding life
Chennai, June 23rd, 2022: The Global Rainbow Foundation Charitable Trust, kick started their operations in Ind ia today in collaboration with the IIT Madras Research Park (IITMRP), India’s first University-based Research Par k, and TorchIt. The launch event saw chief guests – Shri K. Rajaraman IAS, Joint secretary, Dept. of economic aff airs, TN, Dr. Homiyar Mobedji, Disability Expert, Program Head – [Asia & Africa], Benetech, Mr. Rajkumar, Found er, Global Rainbow Foundation, India and Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, President – IIT Madras Research Park, IITM Incubation Cell & RTBI, Dr. Bakthavachalam and Dr. Karthikeyan, Trustee, Global Rainbow Foundation.
The event brought together over 50 People with Disabilities (PwD), in addition to experts across the disability domain and incubated assistive tech startups from the IITM Incubation Cell. In alignment with the celebrations, artists and high-achieving individuals from the disabled community showcased engaging performances and we re honoured by GRF. In addition to the launch, ten AI powered “Smart Canes” – developed by Torchit, were also distributed among beneficiaries by Hunny Bhagchandani, Founder, TorchIt Electronics.
Founded by Prof. Armoogum Parsuramen G.O.S.K. in Mauritius on 11th November 2011, The Global Rainbow Foundation (GRF) was incepted with the aim of empowering differently abled persons and vulnerable groups through educating, enabling, and empowering Persons with Disabilities.
Across the last decade, GRF has worked extensively in Mauritius towards educating, enabling, empowering Per sons with Disabilities, advocating for their rights and providing them with the opportunity for holistic human development so that they can lead a happy and rewarding life.
Primary areas of work include:
- Fostering a strong partnership with local and international organizations in the development of capacity-building programs in education, training, health, rehabilitation, social and economic integration.
- Improving the quality of education and training delivered to Persons with Disabilities (PwDs)
- Empowering them through equitable employment opportunities thus encouraging greater self-esteem.
- Enabling deployment of different assistive technology devices to benefit people with disabilities as a means for education, employment and empowerment
Additionally, its role also consists of organizing awareness-raising activities and campaigns aimed at altering attitudes and stereotypical perceptions towards people with disabilities.
Dr. Armoogum Parsuramen GOSK, Founder-President, Global Rainbow Foundation said, “After serving the disa bled community in Mauritius for over a decade, we are now set to bring this noble initiative to India and serve th e community here. We have been very passionately working towards empowering persons with disabilities in different ways, and one way we are doing that is through supporting them with assistive tech devices that helps enable easy mobility. We thank IIT Madras Research Park for their support throughout, it is truly a privilege to be able to collaborate with them in officiating our launch in India.”
Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, President – IIT Madras Research Park, IITM Incubation Cell & RTBI, said: “
IITM Research Park and IITM Incubation Cell have decided to have a major focus on getting India to be a leader in Assistive Technology which is useful for people with disabilities. Thus, we are very happy to support the Glo bal Rainbow Foundation in their endeavours.”
ABOUT GLOBAL RAINBOW FOUNDATION
The Global Rainbow Foundation (GRF) is a charitable trust founded by Prof. Armoogum Parsuramen G.O.S.K. in Mauritius on the 11th November 2011. The aim of the organisation is to serve the most vulnerable groups esp ecially persons with different types of disabilities. Driven by the vision of the Founder, the activities of the or ganisation are oriented towards educating, enabling, and empowering Persons with Disabilities while advo cating for their rights.
For more information, visit: https://grftrust.org/
ABOUT IIT MADRAS RESEARCH PARK
IIT Madras Research Park is India’s first University-based Research Park and a Section 8 Not-for-Profit Comp any home to 100+ R&D companies, 260+ Startups and 9 Centre of Excellence. Envisioned to “Bringing unlike mi nds together”, the Research Park primarily focuses on pioneering Industry-Academia interaction leading to com mercialization of scalable and unique technology-based solutions, several of which have found wide market rea ch. The Research Park holds high eminence for epitomizing an innovation paradigm ecosystem across geogr ap hical boundaries, driving the roadmap towards achieving mammoth technological goals for India through its flagship project- 10X.
For more information, visit: https://respark.iitm.ac.in/
