Helen
Keller had said that "There is no lovelier
way to thank God for your sight than by giving a helping hand to those in the
dark." The students of IIM Raipur and the neighbouring
colleges took this saying to heart when they participated wholeheartedly in the
eye donation registration camp organized by Kartavya. The event was aptly named
‘Vihaan’, which means ‘the first ray of light’ in Sanskrit. It resulted in over
200 people pledging to donate their eyes to the people who suffer from corneal
blindness. The main idea behind the
event was to make students aware about how they can help others even after they
are no longer a part of this world. Students of Kartavya Club had also arranged
Free Eye Check up at IIM Raipur campus in Collaboration with Auribindo
Netralaya, Raipur. This got huge response wherein over 80 people including
students, faculty and staff from IIM Raipur and GEC availed the facility and
got free counselling from Optician.
Corneal blindness is a serious form of
blindness which mostly affects children and young adults. There are over 6.8
million people who suffer from this disease in India alone. Fortunately, it can
be cured by transplanting the healthy cornea from a donor to replace the
affected cornea of the recipient.
Unfortunately, due to lack of awareness, India is not able to receive
sufficient number of healthy corneas and hence a large number of our fellow
Indians are condemned to remain in the dark forever. We burn or bury so many of our relatives
without considering that their eyes could gift sight to someone who has never
seen the light of the day. Every person can make a difference; we just need to
take the initiative.
The students have shown the way, now it is up
to the rest of us to follow them and ensure that we do our part as well. Donate
your eyes and gift sight to others, there is no nobler gift.
