Kunwar Singh Negi Biography 
Kunwar Singh Negi was an Indian braille editor and social worker, and also a notable author. His major works include Bhagwan Buddh Ka Updesh and Hazrat Mohammed Ki Vani. For his overall contributions towards the field of education and social work, government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 1981 and Padma Bhushan in 1990. He lived during the period, 1927 – 20 March 2014. During his life time, he transliterated 300 books into braille, which was indeed a great contribution to blind students. But during his last years he struggled a lot with financial troubles, couldn’t afford his medical bills, and got only less attention from government. He couldn’t afford a pacemaker during his last years.
Kunwar Singh Negi was born in 1927 in Pauri, Uttarakhand. He was a member of British Indian army who fought in Burma during World War II. His military career made him a strictly disciplined person with compassion, as Kunwar certifies. In 1954 he joined the National Institute of Visually Handicapped at Dehradun. It was during this time he got drawn towards Braille script. Negi started transcribing books in various Indian languages, and completed more than 300 books during his lifetime. He transcribed books in Punjabi, Bengali, Urdu, Gujarati, Oriya, Marathi and Russian languages. His transcription works several religious books, belonging to Hinduism and Islam.
Negi was also active in social work for blind and he fully dedicated his life for the service of blind people. His various religious works were distributed free of cost through certain religious organizations. Though he dedicated his entire life for the service of blind, he couldn’t get the same mercy from politicians or party. During his last days, he couldn’t afford his medical bills, and received incomplete treatment due to lack of funds at the GB Pant Hospital in New Delhi. It’s so sad and irony that government turned blind towards such a noble man when he was in real need of medical help. He passed away in 2014.
Published: October 16, 2018
Updated: October 16, 2018
