CHENNAI: Beno Zephine broke the glass ceiling last year when she fought against all odds and became the first ever Indian Foreign Service officer with 100 per cent visual impairment. Now, following in her footsteps is another youth from Otteri — Bala Nagendran (27). Nagendran is also cent per cent visually challenged, who has successfully cracked the Indian Civil Services examination (2015). After four attempts, he secured the 923rd rank in the exam, for which the final results were announced on Tuesday.
Battling severe odds to achieve this landmark, Nagendran said the shortage of Braille books for UPSC aspirants was a major stumbling block. “For instance, Indian Polity by Lakshmikanth, a basic UPSC preparatory book, costs around Rs 410 in the market. I had to spend six times more to get it printed in Braille form,” he told Express.
With 95 per cent of the websites inaccessible for the visually challenged, Nagendran overcame this challenge remarkably well and is aiming to become a top official at the Ministry of Disability Affairs or Ministry of Education as, according to him, “both inclusiveness and education are the birth right of any individual”.
Armstrong Pame, an IAS official of ‘People’s Road’ fame who constructed a 100 km road in the Northeast without government aid, is one of his inspirations. He also takes inspiration from former TN Chief Minister K Kamaraj.
“More importantly, it was my father who battled all odds, spent every penny he had to ensure that I made this,” he smiles with tears of joy rolling down his cheek.
His father K Devadoss is a taxi driver and the sole breadwinner of the family. Nagendran was the first to complete his schooling with flying colours from the family. He studied in the Ramakrishna School, T Nagar.
Joining Loyola College, Chennai, in 2007 to pursue a BCom, he was the first visually challenged student in the history of the institution to study BCom.
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