Biography

Gyanendra Purohit is an Indian advocate and activist. He is the co-founder of Anand Service Society, a non-government organization working for deaf and impaired people in India.He was pursuing chartered accountancy before he was an advocate. In 1997, when his brother, Anand, a deaf and mute, died in a train accident, he decided to dedicate his life to the impaired people.In 2000, Gyanendra and his wife, Monica, founded Anand Service Society, an organization helping the deaf and impaired with their education, training, and employment assistance. The organization is centred in Indore and rural and tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh like Dhar and Alirajpur (Indias most illiterate districts). Logo of Anand Service Society.With the organization as his base, he advocated to help many impaired people; he helped in providing deaf children with the access in normal schools; he helped in providing reservation (by state governments) to deaf and speech impaired on teacher post; he helped in providing reservation quota for deaf people in government ITI colleges and getting them admitted in them; he helped in making BERA (Brainstem-evoked response audiometry) testing compulsory in governments job.His father, Late Babulal Purohit, gave his retirement money to help Gyanendra in purchasing a piece of land for the NGO when the government denied to help him.In 2003, Gyanendra and Monica Purohit composed National Anthem in sign language and they became the first one to do so. The then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee recognized the national anthem.In 2005, Gyanendra and Monica became the first ones to interpret the Bollywood blockbusters Sholey (1975), Gandhi (1982), Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003), and Taare Zameen Par (2007) in sign language.Indias first deaf and speech impaired friendly police station was initiated by Gyanendra and Monica Purohit at Tukoganj Police Station Indore with MP Police.Gyanendra and his wife have also trained Narmada Jhabua Gramin Bank employees in sign language. making the bank Indias first deaf-friendly bank.In 2015, Gyanendra and Monica were honoured in BBCs production Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi, a talk show that aired on Star Plus and was hosted by Amitabh Bachchan. Gyanendra and Monica Purohit in Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi.