In the heat of the sweltering sun, the men are picking chawli from the fields. One of them holds the sack and clicks his fingers, others come up to him with measured steps to deposit the legumes. Nothing extraordinary – except on closer inspection – one realizes that it is a group of visually-impaired men working in perfect synchronicity.

Spread over 250 acres in Phansa, Gujarat, the Tata Agriculture and Rural Training Centre for the Blind (TACEB) demonstrates how instilling self-assurance and ingenuous training methods can turn visually-impaired youths between the ages of 15 to 35 into adept agriculturists, horticulturists or dairy farmers.

Akshaybhai Ramanuj, coordinator, explains that here the trainees do not even use the cane. Seniors guide students walk hand-in hand wit h them or help button their shirts.

Ganpat Padhiar, in charge of the training for 30 years says, ‘We are just the facilitators. It is the seniors who pass on their practical experience to the newcomers.’ He and dedicated staff supervise the training, urging newcomers to set up a string wit h pegs at regular intervals to insure sowing in a straight line or how to measure a circular pit around the coconut palm.