News

Volume 7 Issue 4 - February 15, 2010

Another disabled youth faces I.A.S. roadblock

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: Thirty year old Ajit Kumar is from Haryana. Blind since the age of three, Kumar was able to beat all the odds and has qualified for India’s coveted Civil Services. According to his rank, he should be allotted the Indian Administrative Service (I.A.S.). Instead, he has been offered a post in the Indian Railways Personnel Service! “It is not befitting of the rank I had earned in the examination,” says Kumar.

“I have not been allotted I.A.S. only because I do not have full vision,” he explains.

According to the Disability Act of 1995, one percent seats in I.A.S. should be reserved for people with visual impairments. However, the reserved seats are not being filled. In some years, a few seats were given to people with low vision but not to people who are blind.

A confident Kumar says, “I am determined to get into the I.A.S. I have earned it and this is what I deserve. My case is being considered and I hope to receive a notification. If not, I am ready to take the matter to court.”