About Department

About NIEPVD

National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities (Divyangjan), Dehradun formerly known as National Institute for the Visually Handicapped is a premier organization under the administrative control of Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India. The Institute is committed to promote rights and dignity of persons with visual impairments. To promote this meticulous objective, the Institute generates trained manpower with quality endurances in terms of higher education, vocational training and rehabilitation services to persons with visual impairment. It also undertakes research and developmental activities ensuring emergence of policies, programmes and practices for persons with disabilities. Its R&D activities have contributed a number of useful tools and enabling technologies for equal participation by persons with visual impairment in different walks of life. The Institute is largest producer and distributor of Braille literature and devices in the country including talking books.

About NIEPVD Regional Centre, Chennai

National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities (Divyangjan), Regional Centre, Chennai came into existence with its inauguration on October 9, 1988 by the then Union Minister for Welfare, Government of India. The campus is located on the 6 acres of land transferred to NIEPVD by the Government of Tamil Nadu. This Regional Centre, Chennai, serves as an extended arm of the National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities (Divyangjan), Dehradun, Uttarakhand, an apex body, governed by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, devoted to the welfare of the visually impaired throughout the country.

The National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities (Divyangjan), Regional Centre, Chennai, has been established with a goal to function as an institution to work for the benefit of the visually impaired, their family members and professionals working with them in the Southern States including the Union Territory of Puducherry. This Centre seeks to open up new vistas of opportunities for the visually impaired adults, including men and women, literate and illiterate, by conducting innovative training programmes and also to facilitate empowerment of the visually impaired through employment and other rehabilitation services.