Gyanendra Purohit Wiki, Age, Wife, Family, Children, Biography & More

Gyanendra Purohit is an Indian advocate and activist who is the co-founder of Anand Service Society, an organization working for deaf and impaired people in India.

Wiki/Biography

Gyanendra Purohit was born on 25 July in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. His zodiac sign is Leo. He did masters in social work, LLB, and LLM from Indore School of Social Work, which is affiliated with Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore (1997-1999). Before studying advocacy, he was also pursuing chartered accountancy.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 10″

Eye Color: Black

Hair Color: Black

Family & Caste

Parents & Siblings

His father’s name is Babulal Purohit.

He had a brother named Anand, who was deaf and speech impaired; Anand died in a train accident in 1997.

Wife & Children

On 18 May 2001, he got married to Monica Sharma Purohit, a special educationist, activist, and philanthropist.

They have two sons named Sarthak Purohit and Chinmay Purohit.

Career

Gyanendra wanted to become a chartered accountant but gave up his dream to dedicate his life to disabled, after his brother, Anand (a deaf and mute), died in a train accident. He took up advocacy for the disabled (especially deaf and speech impaired). In 1997, he started Anand Service Society, an organization for the deaf and impaired, with his wife Monica Purohit.

The organization helps deaf and speech impaired children in their education, training, and employment assistance, and has its residential centres at Indore and tribal and rural areas in Madhya Pradesh like Dhar and Alirajpur (the most illiterate district of India). Through his organization, he advocated to provide deaf children access in normal schools, provide reservations by the state government to deaf and speech impaired on the teacher post, provide reservation quota for deaf people in government ITI colleges and their admission in it, making BERA testing compulsory in governments job, and much more.

Awards & Honours

• Alex Memorial Award in 2012

  Gyanendra Purohit Receiving Alex Memorial Award

• Honoured with Rashtriya Swayam Siddh Samman by Jindal Steel Foundation on 14 January 2016

  Gyanendra Purohit and his Wife Receiving Rashtriya Swayam Siddh Samman by Jindal Steel Foundation

• Rotary Club Award for Excellent Service for deaf children and women in 2016

  Gyanendra Purohit Receiving Rotary Club Award

• Rotary Nation Builder Award 2017 for Excellent Service for Deaf and Speech Impaired Children and Women

• Registered as Rehabilitation Social Worker at Rehabilitation Centre of India (RCI) in 2017

Favourite Things

Facts/Trivia

• When he required land for his NGO for the deaf, the government denied any assistance to him. Later, Gyanendra’s father, Late Babulal Purohit, gave his retirement money to help in purchasing a piece of land for the good cause.

• Gyanendra and Monica Purohit composed National Anthem in sign language in 2003, which was recognized by the then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

• In 2005, Gyanendra and his wife translated the blockbuster Bollywood films Sholey (1975), Gandhi (1982), Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003), and Taare Zameen Par (2007) in sign language.

• Gyanendra and his wife have also initiated India’s first deaf and speech impaired-friendly police station at Tukoganj Police Station Indore with MP Police. It is the place where deaf and speech impaired people can lodge their complaints in sign language.

• In 2015, Gyanendra and his wife appeared in BBC’s production ‘Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi,’ a talk show hosted by Amitabh Bachchan and aired on Star Plus.

  Gyanendra and Monica Purohit in Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi

• In 2017, he appeared with his wife in the talk show ‘DSC Show,’ which was aired on Zee Entertainment and hosted by Dr Subhash Chandra. In the show, Gyanendra spoke about Anand Service Society’s work and his dedication towards helping the disabled.

• During nationwide lockdown in corona pandemic, Anand Service Society rescued more than 500 deaf disabled persons through video call helpline (launched nationally) in sign language. The most famous case was when they rescued a deaf girl from committing suicide by online video call counselling for 14 hours.

• In February 2020, Anand Service Society’s initiatives became a part of ‘Indian Social Responsibility Network (ISRN) Stories – Volume 4 – propounded by Pt. Deendayal Upadhaya’ by Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

• Gyanendra and his wife also trained Narmada Jhabua Gramin Bank employees in sign language. The bank became India’s first deaf-friendly bank.

• Gyanendra and his wife also helped Sudeep Shukla, a deaf-mute person, to contest state assembly election from Satna, Madhya Pradesh in 2018. The couple helped Shukla deliver his speech. He is the first MLA candidate who is deaf and mute.

  Sudeep Shukla

• In 2020, he appeared in the Karamveer Special of the game show Kaun Banega Crorepati, hosted by Amitabh Bachchan.

  Gyanendra and Monica Purohit in Kaun Banega Crorepati