WHEN HE was in school and early college days, little did he know he would lose his eyesight one day. However, it unfortunately happened… Krishna Gopal Tiwari, 27, lost his 75 per cent visibility due to Retinitis Pigmentosa, a non-treatable disease at the age of 20 but that could not demoralise him. Instead, Krishna decided to proceed with his life according to plan and became India’s first IAS officer with 75 per cent visual deformity. He is also amongst the first visually and physically challenged person as a UPSC aspirant in the history of Civil Services, to have made his record registering rank under 250 ie over all 142 that he cracked at the age of 26, interestingly, without any formal coaching.
Son of a marginal farmer, Swami Nath Tiwari of nondescript Dasvanpur village in Ambedkar Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, Krishna recently completed training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy in Dehradun, is currently finishing his last round of training programme, as Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS, at the state’s RCVP Noronha Academy of Administration in Bhopal. Against all odds, the usual monetary adversities of a person hailing from a relatively poor background, Krishna too had to battle his deformity as he had to answer his papers with the help of two scribes provided by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), as it is given in the case of any writing deformity to the concerned candidate.
Says Krishna, “Though I didn’t have any problem in writing my civil services’ papers, as I used to do self studies during my school and college days with ease, difficulties started growing up during the last rung of my college days at Purvanchal University, Jaunpur. Notwithstanding, I completed my post graduation in Economics from CSJM University, Kanpur writing self. It was during those days I realised I was crippled with the deterioration of my retinas, which eventually left me legally blind.”
Reminiscing about his preparatory days for the civil services examinations, Krishna says, “As spectacles were of no use to me, I used magnifying glasses to study in my early days but gradually got fed up of them. My life was going all dark and I had nearly lost my hope to proceed further. But soon arrived four godsent angel like friends, Pushpendra Kumar Sengar, Vikas Kumar Gupta, Amul Kumar and Ram Prakash Sahu, with whom I befriended in Delhi, the Mecca of UPSC preparations, who came to my rescue and brought a fresh ray of hope into my life.
Besides aiming themselves for the civil services, they helped me in every possible way without any ego to accomplish my mission, of which I was very sure. Pushpendra, in particular, used to record his voice whatever he studied in my audio tape recorder, which I would listen to again and again while memorising. In the meanwhile, a major jolt struck me when Ram Prakash died of electrocution at his native village. I’ll never forget him, as he monetarily helped me as well. Whatever, I am today, its credit goes to all of them and of course, my family.”
What makes his battle-to-achieve more interesting is that he never took any coaching for the preliminary test (PT) and Mains round, however, for interview he got guidance from Santosh Taneja and Charanji Roy of ‘Samkalp’- a paying guest accommodation initiative of the RSS affiliated student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). “Being a general category student, I had just one thing in mind to crack the UPSC in our limited four attempts. Fortunately, it went accordingly and I wrote Mains (subjective exam) twice. Finally in my third attempt, my childhood dream translated into reality with 142nd rank, which was a bit unexpected for me,” says Krishna on phone from Bhopal, where he is undergoing the last leg of training.
Besides friends, he also attributes his knowledge-based success to the All India Radio (AIR) and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). “I have been an avid listener to the news bulletins and talk-shows of the AIR and BBC since my childhood, which in return not only enhanced my general studies (GS) but also aroused in me, a curiosity to do something extraordinary so that I could do whatever possible for the society as well as the nation,” the IAS briefs.
So, despite being an average student apart from handicapped status, how could he sustain the idea of becoming an IAS? “It is one of the few job-oriented examinations where percentage doesn’t matter. The best part is, despite being one of the toughest examinations of the world, the UPSC invites applicants of every stream to test the waters. Being an average, a poor or a bright student is not a big issue here,” Krishna retorts. On sailing against the tide, he says, “Though no one influenced me, I took it as a challenge when my teachers and parents used to say that I would become an IAS someday. My interest gained momentum after my ‘masters degree’ when I qualified National Eligibility Test (NET), missing the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF). Besides, there was a healthy agreement at family front, between me and my elder brother, who too was a NET holder and just started teaching in a local college. As per the enthusiasm-provoking accord, my brother afforded me financial support to move to Delhi for further course of action.”
Meanwhile, Krishna’s greatest challenge during the written examinations was writing answers in Economics (his main subject) that had visual content – diagrams. He says, “It was difficult to explain to the scribes. So, I used wires to make the diagrams, which the scribes copied onto the answer sheet.” Following his troublesome encounter with the diagrams, he appealed to the UPSC to prepare a special question paper for the visually challenged.
Interestingly, in August that year (2008), after he secured the 142nd rank in the ‘Civil Services Examination 2007’, the highest rank ever for a person with a physical disability, the Department of Personnel and Training told him that he was ineligible to join the Indian Administrative Services on three counts: He would be unable to perform his duties as he could not see, he could not read or write and could not walk without help. Following this, Krishna protested, saying he was adept at handling computers and could walk in a secure area without help. Subsequently, the matter was referred to the medical board and the objections were waived. In November last year, Tiwari was finally inducted into the IAS.
Now that he is an IAS, he has many things on his mind to do for the welfare and upliftment of visually challenged. “As blind people get problem in identifying currency notes I would facilitate (if can) to make these notes user-friendly for them, also written on it in ‘Braille manuscript’. Moreover, only 1/4th of the blind children in India are accessed to this manuscript. So, I’ll try my best in getting them know about its technicality. A particular professional training to them will be on top in my agendas so that a proper employment could be given to our type of candidates in government and private sectors,” Krishna sums up.
Going by the 5Ds – Dream, Desire, Determination, Dedication and Discipline shown by this highest ranking visually challenged IAS, who knows our country will soon have more and more talent like him!
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