When Chandana Chandrasekhar and Harshitha C, two differently abled students from the Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru made a request to Rahul Gandhi during his visit last November, little did they realize how far it would go.
The request was simple - slash import duty on specialized equipment for the blind.
Speaking to the Times of India, Harshitha said “When Rahul visited our college, I requested him to reduce customs duty on Braille hardware. The customs duty was pushing up the product price, making it unaffordable for the vast majority. He wrote to commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman and even made the request in Parliament and today the taxes have been reduced to zero. I am grateful to him."
During the interaction, Rahul asked Chandana to send him a mail, which he in turn forwarded to Union commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman and also suggested that it be added to the budget.
Also wrote to Nirmala Sitharaman ji forwarding the request of Chandana Chandrasekhar a visually impaired student of Mt Carmel (1/2)
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) November 30, 2015
Speaking to TOI after the budget, Chandana said, “When I switched on the phone after college, I saw a lot of missed calls. It was only then I learnt about the announcement about tax exemption on Braille paper. I am really happy that I could contribute towards this move."
I want to thank the FM though for accepting my recommendation on removing import duty on Braille paper to help the visually impaired!
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) February 29, 2016