India’s first visually challenged woman IAS officer, Pranjal Patil has been appointed the Sub-Collector of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerela.
After securing 124th rank in the 2017 Civil Services Exam, she was posted as Assistant Collector in Ernakulam, Kerala, in 2018.
In 2016, she cracked the Civil Services Exam on her first attempt with a rank of 773 but was refused a job in the Indian Railway Accounts Service on the grounds that she was visually impaired. However, a determined Patil cracked the civil services examination again and secured a rank of 124 in her second attempt itself.
“We should never be defeated. We should not give up. Because with all our efforts, we will definitely get that one breakthrough moment that we are waiting for,” Patil said while speaking to media on her first day as Thiruvananthapuram’s Sub-Collector. Patil added that she will chalk out a plan of action for the city’s administration.
According to sources, Patil was an extremely determined and hard-working student in her college and university days at St Xavier’s, Mumbai, and at Jawaharlal Nehru University, respectively.
