Eight visually-impaired clear exam
BHUBANESWAR: Of the 670 candidates that made it to the Odisha civil services examination’s merit list last week, eight personified not just a triumph of mind, but also of grit and determination.
Sannyas Behera, who was turned down every time he applied for a government job, topped the list of visually-challenged candidates. Visually-impaired Sukanti Dash, who despite being a post graduate in history could not land a government job, too made it to the merit list. So did Sasmita Kumari Jena, the daughter of a driver from Koratpur, who overcame her impairment.
The UPSC started allowing visually-impaired candidates to write the civil services examination in 2006. The Odisha Public Service Commission, however, did not care for them till 2015, when the Odisha HC, responding to a PIL, asked the examination panel to allow them. This year, eight visuallyimpaired candidates managed to make it to the final list, passing through the rigours of the examination, making them eligible to join the government service as Class-I officials.“The feeling is nothing less than that of scaling the Mt Everest,” said Behera.
Dash, who took the help of audio books and a talking software to prepare for the exam, said, “I did not have the luxury of revising a chapter. So, I had to remember everything that I had listened from the audio book.”
It was also the maiden attempt for Jena, a 23-year-old post graduate student in Indira Gandhi National Open University.
“Though I have about 30% visibility, I could not look at books for more than a few hours. I had to depend on audio books. I had to work extra hard,” said Jena.
UPSC ALLOWED VISUALLYIMPAIRED CANDIDATES TO WRITE THE CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION IN 2006