Pranjal Patil has successfully become the first fully visually-impaired woman IAS Officer after taking charge as the Assistant Collector of Ernakulam district in Kerala. Thirty-year-old Pranjil is from Maharashtra.
She had lost her vision at the age of six due to retinal detachment and multiple surgeries that were not successful. Even with the struggle and difficulties, she secured the 124th rank in UPSC 2017. In 2016 too, Patil had cleared the UPSC exam but was offered a job in the Indian Railway Accounts Service where she wasn’t considered fit due to her negligible vision. Pranjal had studied Political Science for her graduation and completed her Masters in International Relations (IR) from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, followed by an MPhil and Ph.D.
After completion of her first phase training at Mussoorie's Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, she was appointed as the Assistant Collector in Central Kerala's Ernakulam district for a training period of one year.
