Meet woman who cracked UPSC exam twice without coaching, became India's first visually impaired IAS officer, got AIR…

UPSC is a tumultuous and impossible dream for numerous people as it demands enormous strength and effort. But, some people have to first overcome personal battles apart from cracking UPSC, and they succeed in both of them.

One such motivational story is of Pranjal Patil,  who conquered adversities to become India's first visually challenged IAS officer. 

Born in 1988, Pranjal Patil belongs to Ulhasnagar, Maharashtra. She lost her eyesight at the age of seven, but she did not quit. She has finished her schooling at the Kamala Mehta Dadar School for the Blind in Mumbai and she pursued a degree in political science at St. Xavier's College.

Thereafter, she did her postgraduate degree in international relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, thereafter, she did her PhD and M.Phil. Pranjal took the UPSC exam twice, first in 2016 and once in 2017. In 2016, her rank was 744, and in her second attempt, she finally became an IAS officer by securing AIR 124.

All this she achieved without taking any coaching for IAS preparations. She used special software for the blind.

After cracking the exam, she was first posted as Assistant Collector in Ernakulam, Kerala, in 2018 after securing the 124th rank in the 2017 Civil Services Examinations. She was earlier barred from joining the Indian Railway Accounts Service due to her visual impairment.

Presently, she is the Sub-Collector of Thiruvananthapuram and is serving in Kerala.