Visually Impaired Odisha Girl Cracks State Civil Services Exam

Tapaswini Das, a visually impaired student from Odisha, has cleared the Civil Service Examination 2018, despite all odds that come along the way. The exam was conducted by the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC), and Tapaswini secured 161st position in the exam among over five lakh candidates. This was her first attempt and she is among the 218 students who have qualified.

Key Takeaways:

• Visually impaired student Tapaswini Das has cleared the Odisha Civil Service Examination 2018.
• She secured 161st position in the exam for which over five lakh candidates had appeared and only 218 have qualified.
• A native of Bhubaneswar, Tapaswini lost her vision due to the alleged negligence of a doctor during her eye surgery.

A native of Bhubaneswar, Tapaswini is now an inspiration for many. As per reports, her vision was compromised due to the alleged negligence of a doctor. She was admitted to the school for blind and deaf in the State Capital after she lost her vision. Not letting her disability determine her future, the 23-year-old girl now has cracked the Odisha Civil Services Exam the results of which were announced on Monday. “When I was seven-year-old I started experiencing headaches and my eyesight started decreasing gradually. My family took me to the doctor who told us that I have lost vision in the left eye and partial vision in right. The operation was done for the right eye after which I lost full vision”, she told ANI.

Tapaswini was studying in Standard 2 in Bhubaneswar’s DAV School when lost her eyesight. She appeared as a general candidate for the exam, unlike UPSC, here, there is no reservation for visually-impaired candidates.

“I expected to sail through the examination. Strong determination and patience are required to achieve success and I was determined to crack the exam in my first attempt,” said Tapaswini, who is now pursuing her Master's degree in political science from Bhubaneswar’s Utkal University, Hindustan Times reported.

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Battling challenges ever since

When in 9th standard, she decided to be a civil servant. Last 16 years was not easy for the Odisha girl since she was not prepared to deal with impairment at this early stage. “People who have clear eyesight, they can read from books directly. But I had to depend on recordings of several books that I stored in my laptop. I used to get books scanned and turn it into audio format. I have never shied away from challenges in life. So I told myself let’s give it a try,” she said.

Proud parents

“I was heartbroken when a botched up surgery took both her eyesight. She was in Std 2 then and used to top her class. I then put her in a school for visually impaired from where she passed her matriculation exam with flying colours using Braille script. She passed the higher secondary examination in arts stream topping the list of successful students. She did extremely well in her graduation too. All throughout her career she has been a persevering student,” said her father Arun Kumar Das, a retired deputy manager from Odisha Cooperative Housing Corporation.

Her mother Krushnapriya Mohanty, a teacher, is also proud of her daughter.

With a rank of 161, Tapaswini is now determined to crack UPSC. She is inspired by Pranjal Patil, India’s first visually-impaired IAS officer who in October last year took charge as sub-collector of Thiruvananthapuram.

“In UPSC, there is reservation for visually-challenged persons and she can crack it. She is a fiercely determined girl,” said her father.

Inspirational achievement

Tapaswini said, “I don’t see this as a success, I see this as my victory. I consider this my first step in the path to success.”

Feature Image Credits: ANI

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