There can be nothing worse than losing a part of your body. It’s a trauma both, physical as well as psychological that can, for want of a cure,  often go unhealed. For such disabled and physically-challenged individuals, a marvel of “Gandhian engineering,” offers a second chance at restoring mobility.

The Jaipur Foot project is an “epitome of frugal” or Gandhian engineering that has played an international role in helping victims of civil strife around the world regain their dignity. The artificial limb costs about $60 as compared  to about $15,000 price tag of prosthetics abroad. This means doing the maximum with the minimum, says Devendra Raj Mehta, founder of the project and chief patron of Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti.

A graduate of the Sloan School of Management at MIT in the United States, Mehta’s innovation has helped over 1.7 million people with disabilities gain mobility in 34 countries over the past five decades.  In India, his team provides no just affordable but free world-class artificial limbs, rehabilitation aids and other appliances to physically-challenged individuals below the poverty line.

To mark the 50-year journey of Jaipur Foot helping people with disabilities across the world, India’s Permanent Mission to the UN and the BMVSS organised a panel discussion at UN  this week. Following the panel discussion, an exhibition on Jaipur Foot was also inaugurated in the UN Secretariat Building.

Addressing the gathering, Permanent Representative of Colombia to the UN Maria Emma Mejia Velez hailed Jaipur Foot’s contribution to South-South cooperation, saying the organisation has played a crucial role in providing mobility to the differently-abled persons in her country. She said 6 per cent of Colombia’s population has some sort of disability due to the conflict, civil war and impact of mines.

Iraq’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Mohammed Hussein Mohammed Bahr Al Uloom voiced appreciation that Jaipur Foot helped shape a better future for the disabled people across the world. He said there are about 25 million unexploded landmines and IEDs in Iraq and his country is still facing tremendous challenges in removing them.

Bangladesh’s ambassador to the UN Masud Bin Momen also appreciated that Jaipur Foot is soon opening a centre in his country, saying that 160 million people will be potential beneficiaries of the organisation’s work.

Lanka’s UN envoy Amrith Rohan Perera paid tributes to the work done by BMVSS and for reaching out to his country “at a time when we were confronted with a long conflict”. Jagdish Dharamchand Koonjul, Permanent Representative of Mauritius to the UN, said his country was proud to be associated with the work of Jaipur Foot in Mauritius and in the Indian Ocean Region.

The BMVSS is now partnering with the Santa Clara University on developing a prosthetic known as the myelectric hand. A major research project on below-elbow artificial hand is also underway in collaboration with the Stanford University. The model is likely to be functionally more efficient and inexpensive.

Prakash Bhandari, member of the Executive Committee and Media adviser Jaipur Foot, said the focus is on building a smart hand that is low on cost. He added that now 5,000 people every year across foreign nations would be provided with assistance from Jaipur Foot, starting with Vietnam, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Iraq.