Minister Puri hails Bihar eye hospital’s ‘football-to-eyeball’ model

The hospital, located in Saran district, Bihar, works to prevent blindness and empower rural women through sports and eye-care training

Union petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said that India’s real strength lies not in its metros but in its smaller towns and villages, where transformative change is taking shape quietly and powerfully.

Union petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri (right) at the second edition of the Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital’s annual donor and leadership conclave, “India for Bharat 2025” on Thursday. (HT Photo)

Speaking at the second edition of the Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital’s annual donor and leadership conclave, “India for Bharat 2025”, Puri praised the Bihar-based hospital’s “football-to-eyeball” initiative, calling it “a shining example of what compassion, innovation, and dedication can achieve”.

“I think if you have to discover the potential of India, it’s not in the metros but in the smaller cities — the tier 2 and 3 towns and the villages,” Puri said, recalling his work as the former housing and urban affairs minister. “I believe an initiative like this is at the core of what needs to be done.”

The hospital, located in Saran district, Bihar, works to prevent blindness and empower rural women through sports and eye-care training. Its football-to-eyeball model uses football to break patriarchal barriers and build women-led healthcare networks in some of India’s most remote communities.

The event also featured a panel discussion with chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran, Pratham Education Foundation CEO Rukmini Banerjee, and Tata Advanced Systems Limited chairman Banmali Agarwal. The panel underscored the need for more initiatives that directly impact India’s most underserved and rural regions, stressing that inclusive development must begin from the ground up.

Among those who shared their stories was 19-year-old Anmol, who flew on a plane for the first time to attend the event. “I recently visited my family in the village for Chhath Puja and found that one of my young cousins is getting married next year,” she said. “It dawned upon me that if I hadn’t had the chance to study at the hospital, her destiny might have been mine.”

At the event, the 2005-founded eye hospital also unveiled its upcoming RLJ Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital Community Centre at Mastichak in Bihar’s Saran district, which aims to perform 300,000 free sight-restoring surgeries annually.

Chhavi, who has been associated with the hospital for nearly 15 years, recalled her journey from a hesitant village girl to a confident professional. “When I first joined, I couldn’t understand why we were asked to play football or wear shorts. I even thought the word ‘coach’ meant a train coach,” she laughed. “My journey has been from a raw village girl to a polished, independent, and empowered woman.”

Applauding these stories, Puri said, “India is moving away from women-centered development to women-led development.”

He added that Akhand Jyoti’s model embodies the essence of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “The initiative touches at least three or four SDGs at the very core — good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, and decent work and economic growth. This demonstrates how one targeted intervention can transform lives across dimensions of human development,” Puri said.