Meet India's first visually challenged woman IAS officer who takes charge as Sub-Collector

It must be a proud moment for Thiruvananthapuram as the state got its first visually impaired woman, Pranjal Patil as a sub-collector on Monday. She is the one who battled great odds and became a civil servant.

Know who is she?

Pranjal Patil from Ulhas Nagar in Maharashtra has qualified the UPSC IAS exam in the first attempt in 2016 and secured 733rd ran in civil services. In 2017, she managed to secure 124th rank.

After qualifying the exam, she has taken charge of the Thiruvananthapuram sub-collector. Notably, this is her second assignment since she has been appointed into service in 2018.

The 30-year-old Kerala cadre officer told media persons that “we should never be defeated and we should never give up because with our efforts all of us will get that one breakthrough which we want.”

She was received by the office staff and district collector K Gopalakrishnan also welcomed her at his office in the state capital.

Pranjal also said that she was very excited about her new assignment in Kerala as a sub-collector.

Reportedly, she lost her vision at the age of 6. She completed her postgraduation in internal relations from JNU. However, Pranjal was eligible for various posts under IRS, she was not appointed because of her visual impairment.

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