Visually challenged woman clerk creates history, secures 286th rank in Civils

A 25-year-old visually challenged woman from Tamil Nadu's Madurai created history by securing 286th rank in the 2019 Civil Services Examination. Relentless in her pursuit, Purana Sunthari cracked the Civils in her fourth attempt and stood out as an inspiration to the people.

Madurai (Tamil Nadu): Of all the success stories emerging from the 2019 Civil Services Examination (CSE), the struggle of Purana Sunthari, a 25-year-old visually challenged woman from Tamil Nadu's Madurai district, bears testimony to hard work and determination, alongside her indomitable will to visualise her dream.

Her relentless pursuit to bag one of the most coveted jobs in the government sector, since 2016, has finally bore fruit in the fourth attempt by securing 286th rank. In her first attempt, Sunthari could not clear the preliminaries. She overcame this failure in her second and third attempts, but could not clear the interview. In February 2019, the fourth attempt, she cracked the interview and created history.

Daughter of Murugesan and Aavudai Devi, Sunthari currently works as a clerk in Tamil Nadu Grama Bank and had completed her BA in English Literature. She lost her eyesight when she was five years old. Initially, her vision started deteriorating and soon after it could not be rectified even after surgery.

Overjoyed by the result, Sunthari recalled the sacrifices of her mother - Aavudaidevi, terming her 'a pillar of strength'. The latter used to read out lessons and help Sunthari prepare for the exams, along with her friends.

It may be recalled that the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on August 4 (Tuesday) released Civil Services Examination 2019 result, based on the written examination and personality test held by the UPSC in September 2019.

A total of 829 candidates have passed the exam. Most of the qualified candidates (304) are from the General Category. The candidates have been recommended for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among other civil services.

Pradeep Singh from Haryana has topped the exam. The second rank was secured by Jatin Kishore. Pratibha Verma at Rank 3 is the topper among women candidates. Ganesh Kumar from Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu ranked 7th in the overall list.

This year's Civil Services Examination (2020) was scheduled to be held on May 31. It was, however, rescheduled to October 4 in view of the coronavirus crisis.