The Indian Army today shared a post on social media to honour Major Gopal Mitra, the first differently-abled person from India to be appointed at the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). Major Mitra lost his vision in an IED Blast.
"Major Gopal Mitra, SM lost his vision in an IED blast. Despite all odd Major Mitra did Masters in social work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and MSc in Development Management from London School of Economics," said the army in its post.
"He is now the first disabled person from India to be appointed at the UNICEF Headquarters," they wrote, adding the hashtags #Proud #Inspiration and #IndianArmy.
Their post has collected over 20,000 'likes' on Instagram and another 1,000 on Facebook, along with a ton of comments.
"Commendable," writes one person in the comments section. "This is so inspiring," says another.
According to the New Internationalist organisation, Major Mitra was injured in Kashmir's Kupwara in 2000.
In a 2012 interview, he was quoted as saying: "Estimates suggest that there are between 180 and 220 million youth with disabilities worldwide, and almost 80 per cent of them live in developing countries. It is in the benefit of society that children and adults with disability be included in all walks of lives. If they are not included by the government in policy making, it is a violation of the human rights as well as a huge loss of potential."
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