Lok Sabha Question No. 1906 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-30
Subject: Divya Nayan Device
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Manoj Rajoria

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

## DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1906 (TO BE ANSWERED ON 30.07.2021)

## DIVYA NAYAN DEVICE

## 1906. DR. MANOJ RAJORIA:

Will the Minister of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY विज्ञान  एिं  प्रौद्योविकी  मंत्री be pleased to state:

- (a)   the details and features of 'Divya Nayan' a device developed by Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) for visually impaired people;
- (b)    whether  it  has  been  made  accessible  for  the  public  and  if  so,  the details thereof; and
- (c)  the details of such other devices developed by CSIR for the benefit of public?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

- (a) Divya  Nayan  is  a  personal  reading  machine  for  visually  impaired developed by CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO), Chandigarh where any printed or digital document can be accessed in the form of speech output. Based on the principle of contact scanning, it can analyse a multi column document and provide seamless reading. User can place the device over the document to be read and manually scan it. The reading device uses language dependent optical character recognition  to  convert  the  image  into  text  and  a  text  to  speech converter, further converts the text into audio. Audio files are stored in the  machine  and  can  be  listened  back.  The  device  is  handheld, standalone, portable,  completely  wireless  and  IoT enabled. It is currently available in Hindi, English, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and  Punjabi  but  is  further  compatible  for  other  Indian  and  foreign languages.  It  has  interfaces  such  as  USB,  Bluetooth,  Wifi,  LAN, Headphone etc. The salient features of the device are as below:

## Feature/s:

- i. Wireless and Portable - standalone, completely wireless and IoT enabled;
- ii. Multifunctional  -  read  printed,  e-books,  e-news,  recording  and reading speech;
- iii. Multilanguage - currently supports Hindi, English, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Punjabi;
- iv. Online Processing - document batch processing organisation;
- v. Document Storage - sync document;
- vi. Page orientation detection and correction;
- vii. Capable of reading Multi-Column document;
- viii. Rechargeable lithium ion battery; and
- ix. Internal memory of 32 GB for document storage
10. (b) Yes.  The  device  is  available  to  the  visually  impaired  individuals  and institutions through an online registration and booking portal https://divyanayan.csio.res.in/registration.php on its website. Additionally,  31  numbers  of  trainings  have  also  been  held  in  various Indian states.
11. (c) Some of the such other significant devices developed by CSIR for the benefit of the common man are as below:
- i. Myoelectric Hand for the persons having below elbow amputation;
- ii. Electronic Knee for the persons having above knee amputation;
- iii. Electronic Control Module for powered wheelchair; and
- iv. 3D Printed Orthosis for children with congenital hemiparesis.

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