News

Visually-challenged Indian youths demand ATM cards

May 2, 2012

Visually challenged youths in India took to the streets of Bhubaneswar on Monday to protest banks' denial of ATM cards to them because of their disability. According to an article at IBN Live, the protestors demanded that they be issued ATM cards and that terminals be made accessible to them.

“As per the Reserve Bank of India’s directive, all commercial banks should provide talking-facility with Braille keypads at one-third of the newly installed ATMs and place them strategically in consultation with other banks,” Lekharam Bhoi, secretary of the All Odisha Students’ Union of the Visually Impaired told IBN Live. Bhoi said that many banks do not follow the RBI regulations.

Protestors rejected bank officials' argument that the visually-challenged cannot protect ATM cards due to their disability, saying that bank customers with no visual impairment lose or damage their ATM cards in broad daylight.

Later in the day, the youths met with State Bank of India officials over the issue, the article said.

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