Ambika Sharma
Tribune News Service
Solan, September 25
A progressive eye ailment did not deter Umesh Kumar from clearing the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) civil services examinations, the results of which were declared last evening. He hails from Kolar village in Nahan subdivision of Sirmaur district.
Umesh managed to bag All-India Rank (AIR) of 397, even after he lost his vision over a period of time. He has topped the category of blind candidates.
Having missed the merit list by a whisker twice, Umesh feels that it was a challenge to keep oneself motivated while preparing for the third attempt. "Besides current affairs, nothing changes, and to beat monotony, I always tried to learn something than merely grasping".
He completed schooling from the village school and did graduation from Government Degree College, Nahan. He later did postgraduation in political science from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla.
He attributes his success to his father Daljeet Singh, who is a farmer, and his mother, a retired primary schoolteacher.
"It was in August 2017 while doing M. Phil at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) that I realised that I was going nowhere in my career and started preparations for the UPSC exams," he said.
Umesh could not make it to the UPSC merit list twice, though he had successfully cleared the written exams. "As I was pursuing PhD while preparing for the UPSC exams, I depended on self-study".
All praise for the JNU, Umesh said that the university offered him the most congenial atmosphere for a person with disabilities. He opted for political science and international relations subjects in the UPSC exams.
Courtesy: Tribune News Service