Pranjal Patil, the country's first blind woman IAS officer

This is the story of Pranjal Patil, a living example of determination and courage who made darkness her path to success. Born in a small village in Maharashtra, Pranjal was just six years old when her eyesight gradually started to deteriorate due to a ruptured retina. Despite several surgeries and operations, doctors could not restore her sight, but instead of giving up, her parents made a decision that changed Pranjal's entire life. They did not let their daughter's disability hinder her education and got her admitted to a blind school in Mumbai, where she learned to read through Braille.

Pranjal was endowed with extraordinary intelligence from childhood. She scored 85% marks in class 12 and then did her Masters in International Relations from a prestigious university in the country. During her higher education, when the books she needed were not available in Braille, instead of giving up, she used a special software that converted the written text into text and sound. She kept listening and learning for hours. After that, she decided to write the



country’s toughest exam, the Civil Services, without any guidance and passed it in her first semester in 2016.

But this journey to success was not easy. When she came to take charge of her job, the Railways department refused to give her a job saying that they could not employ a completely blind woman. Despite passing the exam on merit, this injustice did not break her but made her stronger. Instead of bowing down to the decision, she re-examined the exam the very next year, 2017, and this time, she surprised everyone by securing an All India Rank of 124. After this stunning achievement, there was no stopping her.

Pranjal Patil was inducted into the IAS and her first posting was in Kerala, making her India’s first blind woman IAS officer. Today, she manages entire sub-divisions and signs government decisions that impact the lives of thousands of people, the lives of those she herself could never see. The girl who lost her eyesight before she was even a child is now illuminating the entire system with her inner insight and determination.