Meet visually impaired IAS officer, who lost father at 10, mother sold pickles, took loan, cleared UPSC without coaching

It is important to never lose your vision in life no matter what. This was proved right by IAS Jayant Mankale who despite losing his eyesight never lost his vision, and secured AIR 143 in UPSC.

A resident of Beed, Mankale studied mechanical engineering at Amrutvahini College of Engineering, Sangamner, worked as a maintenance engineer in a private firm before cracking the UPSC examination in 2020. 

Mankale lost 75 per cent of his vision after suffering from retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disorder that leads to a breakdown and loss of cells in the retina. He lost his father, a water pump operator, at the age of 10. Since then his mother and two elder sisters have been sponsoring his education in Pune, by selling pickles, as the pension of his father was insufficient. He also took an education loan to aid his studies and continued to work hard to realise his dream with unwavering determination.

“I became 75 per cent blind while working for a private firm in 2015. After that my life was in complete darkness. My father had already passed away and earning a livelihood was a big task. But UPSC gave me hope and a new life,” he said.

Mankale prepared for UPSC in marathi medium while battling an adverse financial crisis. “Because of my financial condition, I could not afford the audiobook and screen reader. I listened to the news and, and lectures on All India Radio. The debate programme at Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TV was very useful for me. Besides, I listened to speeches of eminent Marathi writers on Youtube. 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.” he added.

Thereafter, Jayant cleared the UPSC exam in 2018 with AIR rank 923. However, Jayant was firm on his dream to become IAS, and gave another try and cleared with AIR 143, and finally became an IAS. “If we are determined to get success then we can cross all hurdles that come in our way,” Mankale added.