MUMBAI: Visually-impaired Jayant Mankale, a residence of Beed, fought against all odds to secure all India rank (AIR) 143 in the civic service examinations.
The 27-year-old Mankale, who studied mechanical engineering at Amrutvahini College of Engineering, Sangamner, worked as a maintenance engineer in a private firm before cracking the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination this year. He lost his father, a water pump operator, at the age of 10. Since then his mother and two elder sisters were shouldering the responsibility of his education in Pune.
Jayant Mankale lost 75 per cent of his vision after suffering from retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and loss of cells in the retina. But he continued to work hard to realise his dream with the help of his teachers and friends. The financial situation of Jayant's family was very grim after the demise of his father. As the pension of his father was not sufficient, his mother started making pickles and sold him to support Jayant in his educations.
Jayant said he lost his eyesight but not the vision of his life. “I became 75 per cent blind while working for a private firm in 2015. After that my life was in complete darkness. My father had already passed away and earning a livelihood was a big task. But UPSC gave me hope and a new life. I am happy that I overcame all physical and financial odds in life to achieve success,” he said.
Mankale prepared his UPSC studies in Marathi. “Because of my financial condition, I could not afford the audiobook and screen reader. I listened to the news and, and lectures on All India Radio. The debate programme at Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TV was very useful for me. Besides, I listened to speeches of eminent Marathi writers on Youtube. If we are determined to get success then we can cross all hurdles that come in our way,” Mankale said.
Jayant had cracked the UPSC exam in 2018 with AIR rank 923.
He is the second visually-impaired person to crack the UPSC exam in the state after Pranjal Patil. In fact, Patil was India’s first visually-impaired person who passed the UPSC exam. She is currently working as a sub-collector of Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram district.