In 1994, Corporal Manoj Kumar was part of the Indian Air Force team practising a pilot rescue drill at Pathankot, when he suffered a severe injury to the head. In 1998, he completely lost his eye sight, and was medically boarded out of service. However, he didn’t give up. He leant Braille, went on to get a bachelor’s degree in Education and M.A. in Hindi before completing his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in 2020.
Since 2008, he has been employed as a teacher at the J. P. M. Senior Secondary School for the Blind at Lodhi Road in the national capital run by the Blind Relief Association and is the author of four books. On Thursday, Mr. Kumar met Army Chief Gen. Manoj Pande at his South Block office and presented one of his books, Ghati Ko Grahan published in 2021.
The Army Chief applauded the efforts of Dr. Manoj Kumar in the field of education and noted that he never let his disability come in the way of his zeal to pursue higher education and creating quality literature, a defence official said. Gen. Pande also applauded his spouse for being a pillar of strength to Mr. Kumar despite heavy odds.
