Meet Pranjali Patil, she has become India’s first visually challenged woman IAS officer to take charge in Thiruvananthapuram. Hailing from Ulhasnagar, Maharashtra, it is her second assignment after she was appointed as the Assistant Collector at Ernakulam on May 18 this year.
First visually challenged woman IAS officer
A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step. Having a disability at the age of 8, Pranjal Patil had bigger dreams to achieve. Wanting to be an IAS officer, at the first try in the UPSC exam, she secured 773rd rank, a bit disheartening but she never quit. Pranjal gave a second attempt in 2017 and this time she secured 124th rank, easily qualifying for IAS.
“We should never feel defeated. We should never give up. With our efforts, all of us will get that one breakthrough we all want,” Pranjal told.
A challenging phase
Pranjal was received by the office staff and district collector K Gopalakrishnan at his office in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. “I am feeling extremely glad and proud to take charge. I will be expecting a lot for support from the people in Thiruvunathapuram, my staff and everybody to be able to work for the people. I started here as an assistant collector of Ernakulam in 2018. It was a challenging phase but a great learning experience,” she said.
Before Pranjal, Krishna Gopal Tiwari becomes the first visually challenged IAS officer in India. He joined IAS in 2008 in Madhya Pradesh cadre. Rajesh sing, another visually challenged candidate, who cleared the civil service exam in 2007 had to wait for 3 years to join as he had to encounter a legal fight in the Supreme Court to get his post cleared. He finally joined the Assam-Meghalaya cadre in 2010.
