Story of a visually impaired boy- who cracked UPSC exam despite a 75% loss of vision
Clearing UPSC exam needs some serious piece of hard work, grit and determination. Students who get started on the path towards achieving their goals always give their heart to pull off something special.
There are one set of students with never give up attitude who make attempt after attempt till they clear the exam while there are some who clear the exam in the first attempt and there are others who cracks it despite having personal problems.
Meet Jayant Mankale who cleared the civil services exam despite 75% loss of vision. To be able to crack the exam as a visually-impaired candidate is indeed a staggering achievement. He was not the one who never came up with excuses but his willpower and determination to clear the exam helped him achieve the goal.
Hailing from Beed district, Maharashtra, Jayant Mankale lost 75 per cent of his vision in 2014 when he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, an unfortunate disorder that causes loss of vision. However, this didn’t stop him from touching the pinnacle of success. He was one among the very few persons who did not take coaching classes and also did not give up after his father’s demise. His mother and sister were in charge of financial matters of the family, selling homemade pickles, spices and other foodstuffs.
Even in mother’s business, things didn’t go well as the family ran through financial troubles. His father’s pension of Rs 7,300 couldn’t meet their requirements, and they could not clear the loan taken for Jayant’s college education. So when he contacted Pravin Chavan and Manohar Bhole asking for help for the exam, the two persons offered it to him free of cost.
Jayant Mankale said that due to financial difficulties, he could not afford to buy audiobooks or a screen reader. So, he decided to listen to different debates on the radio. The more he listened, the better he picked information.
He said that he took pictures of pages through his mobile and frequently zoomed in to go through it. Despite facing all such issues in his preparations, he secured the All-India rank of 923 in his fourth attempt earlier this year, a stunning feat that is worth applauding.
Jayant pursued mechanical engineering from Amrutvahini College of Engineering, Sangamner. Jayant now is looking forward to extending his commitment to the Indian Foreign Service (IFS).
In an interview with Hindustan Times, Mankale said, “I could not afford audiobooks or a screen reader. Therefore, I started listening (to) various debates on the radio, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TV. I took pictures of pages through my mobile and often zoomed in to read them. I have never read a National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) book, and I couldn’t use hand-written notes, which made preparation very difficult.”
Meet Sriramanujam- World’s first visually-impaired newsreader from India
For some people like R.Sriramanujam, there is a great scope despite being blind. He was not someone who usually cursed his fate but instead, he decided to change his chapter by achieving something great in his life. This goes to show how determined he is.
He approached his life with a fresh perspective and today he is the world’s first blind newsreader. Hailing from Tamil Nadu, he has received praises for his attitude. He may not see the whole world but he made the whole world see him. This sums up the essential Sriramanujan for you!
The 14-year-old T Sriramanujan is visually impaired since his birth but that didn’t stop him from fulfilling his evergreen dream of becoming a news anchor. He went live for 22 minutes on the Lotus News which is a satellite television channel based at Coimbatore. Thus he became the world’s first visually impaired news anchor as claimed by the channel.
Sriramanujam is a student of the blind school and reads the special news live with Braille-reading technique. He developed the habit of reading through fingers. He shared his first experience that he was petrified with fear when he was actually reading the news for the first time. But after going about his business, he had gone from strength to strength to cover topics such as national, sports and entertainment news.
He told the Hindu, “I was trembling with fear when I read the first news. But, on reading it, I gained confidence and read the remaining 30 news items in my half-hour slot covering topics such as national, sports and entertainment news.”
Sriramanujam was blissfully pleased as punch that Lotus news channel has offered him a wonderful opportunity to showcase his mettle. He can now breath a sigh of relief to say that his long-cherished dream of becoming a new anchor is finally accomplished. He wishes to do it better as the days progress.
Railway Services rejected Pranjal Patil because she was blind, but she clears UPSC exam in her first attempt
Ambitious people never give up on dreams, come what may. In a competitive world, where people sweat it out to give absolutely everything to crack the exam, only very few have touched the pinnacle of success. Ever heard the story of how a visually impaired girl went on to crack IAS exam in the first attempt?
There is nothing that can stop a woman from touching the pinnacle of success. Pranjal Patil who hails from Ulhasnagar has done something remarkable which others can only dream of. She cracked the civil services exam in her first attempt in 2016 with an All India rank of 773. It is not easy to crack Union Public Service Commission exam but Pranjal Patil made it look so.
She lost her vision in one eye at the age of six when a student in her class stabbed a pencil into it. In the next year, she lost her vision completely. However, the disability didn’t stop her dreaming big in life. Her attitude was so strong that she never came up with excuses as she still prepared with grit and determination to clear IAS exam.
She developed a habit of reading through her fingers to grasp knowledge. The fact that she came across software that would help her to listen to word by word and make things simpler. From what we can come to a point is that she had the patience when she went about her business. Ever since her childhood, she was very specific about choosing her career.
When asked about how she cracked the exam, She told about how she got into the scheme of preparations. Having developed the art of reading, she said she loves to read and the syllabus excites her to the core. She stood by her own leg to accomplish the goal.
“I love to read and the entire process of academics excites me. I studied on my own and took test series from ALS academy in Delhi,” Patil told the DNA about her exam preparation.
“There were times when I was marred by doubts and disbelief regarding my ambition. I think that when you have doubts, then only you get motivated,” she added.
For her credit, she got the Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) according to the rank, she secured 773rd after clearing the exam, but the Railway Services department didn’t offer her a job because of the reason that she was completely blind. The Railways who have their own set of rules claimed that someone who is visually challenged is ineligible for the job.
According to a story published in DNA, a letter dated November 8, 2016, the Railways informed the DoPT that Pranjal in not eligible for the job.”Only partially blind (PB) candidates under visually impaired (VI) category are recruited to IRAS. Therefore, it is not feasible to accept the candidature of Patil Pranjal Lahensingh for IRAS,” reads the letter.
Pranjal who pursued PhD from JNU, in an interview said, “In July, I got a letter from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) that I have been allotted a job in the IRAS, and that the training would begin in December 2016. But when I didn’t receive any communication from either DoPT or Railways, I contacted them. I was told verbally that they cannot appoint a person with 100 per cent blindness.”
“DoPT knows that people with 100% blindness cannot get a job in IRAS. Patil’s file should not have come to us in the first place. However, when Patil’s dossier came to us, we returned it to DoPT. The department should have communicated this to Patil,” the official was quoted in DNA.
“I was disgusted, sad, hurt, angry, and all at the same time. Like others, I had also cleared the UPSC exams. But why do I have to face this situation,” she was quoted in DNA.
However, she replied back in style in her next preparation where she secured an AIR of 124 and cracked IAS exam. She proved the naysayers wrong. “All my life I have been trying to prove people wrong and working against differential treatment that society tends to give to the people with disabilities. I would want to carry on this fight until the last day of my life,” said Pranjal.
“Success doesn’t give inspiration; the struggle behind success gives you the inspiration. But success is important because only then people will be interested to know your struggle. The attitude and the approach to do something matters and each individual can become a building block for a beautiful society,” she told in an interview with ABP Majha.
“Don’t give up. Keep trying.” This is Pranjal Patil’s success mantra.
“You will get that one break that you require”, says Pranjal Patil. She was earlier rejected by IRAS, but today, she is a sub-collector!
Her journey was more tough and challenging as she has become India’s first visually-challenged woman IAS officer.
“Never be defeated, Never give up,” she said as she took charge as the Sub Collector of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala, on October 14.
Patil was recruited as Ernakulam Assistant Collector during her training period.
A massive reception was arranged to welcome the 30-year old Kerala cadre officer as she took over from former collector B Gopalakrishnan.
“I am feeling extremely glad and proud after taking this charge. As I start working, I will be able to know more about the district and would plan better for it. I expect support and cooperation from my fellow members and people of Trivandrum,” Patil said while speaking to the media.
Lost her eyesight to cancer, still managed to become an IAS officer
Nagpur’s Bhakti Ghatole was a mere nine-year-old kid when cancer robbed her eyesight. She barely saw anything in this world before she lost her eyes, but that didn’t demoralize her by any stretch of the imagination and in turn, gave her the confidence to do something big in her life.
Bhakti, who lost her eyesight to Retinoblastoma, a deadly eye cancer, always dreamt of becoming an IAS officer which finally came true after years of struggle and hard work and it was a moment to rejoice for the entire Ghatole family at the Nagpur University as their daughter had pulled off something absolutely spectacular.
“It’s never been easy, but I have never felt incomplete. Yes, my disability could be a hurdle sometimes, but it certainly cannot stop me from pursuing my dreams. Life is beautiful and I intend to live it to the fullest,” Bhakti told The Better India.
A many would expect, her school life was never really easy and the turning point of her life came when she met her teacher cum mentor Jidnyasa Kubde, who provides computer training to all the visually impaired students through her NGO Atmadeepam Society.
“I had learnt Braille, but to be honest, I didn’t like it as much. When I learnt to use a computer, my entire world changed. Things became easier for me. Computer was like Aladdin’s Genie for me! Now I can get most of the things done by myself without anyone’s help.”
“I can write my own emails, access my social media accounts and surf the internet. I even wrote all my school exams using a computer! It was only in class 10, for the first time, that I used a writer to write my exam,” says Bhakti.
Bhakti topped SSC 10th board exams with a spectacular 94% tally and followed it up with 88% in her 12th boards. Her performances throughout her college years have also been spectacular and she credits her success to her family.
We search for so many reasons to avert studies but here she is, surrounded by so many predicaments, but eventually came out strong and won the battle of life.
Story of Blind Indian athlete- who did the whole nation proud by winning a Bronze medal
Janki Goud, a village girl from MP might be visually impaired since birth but she didn’t go into a shell, usually cursing her fate or making lame excuses for her failure in life. She was one who rejuvenated herself by building a better self in all aspects.
She made the whole country proud many times. Her story needs to be shared with everyone and let’s find out how she approached life with a different perspective and went on to touch the pinnacle of success.
For the first time, Janki’s parents were frightened to let Janki step out of the house because of her disability. They were always worried about her safety. For Janki, life didn’t end here. It was just a beginning! She proved the world that there is life and success beyond her disability.
For sure, her inspirational story is worth the weight in gold. Well, what did she do to become a champion? It was in the year 2010 that Sightsavers, as well as NGO partner Tarun Sanskar, looked after Janki. From this moment, life took a U-turn for Janki and since then there has been no looking back for the champion.
Since 2014, she was given the much-needed training in self-defence and Judo. She developed an interest in that field and decided to take the sport very seriously as she participated in National championships. In 2016 and 2017, Janki came through with flying colours as she clinched silver and gold medals respectively at the Fourth and Fifth National Judo Championship for Deaf & Blind.
The outstanding performance at the sport made her one of the 14 contestants to feature for India at the Judo Asian & Oceania Championship held at Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 22nd to 29th May 2017. She also led the team of 14 participants from 5 different states of India. Her astute leadership traits helped the team get the better of Thailand, Korea and Uzbekistan in women’s group competition and won India a Bronze Medal.
Janki’s journey to success didn’t come that easy. Her parents are daily wage labourers and they struggled so much to run the family. But now, Janki’s father is immensely proud of his daughter’s success. He was also congratulated over the phone by CM of Madhya Pradesh, Sri Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Her ultimate goal is to participate in 2020 Paralympics Judo competition and win Gold Medal for India.
The one and only disability in life is ‘Bad Attitude’. This is the message that Janki Goud delivered to the world.