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Tamil Nadu
T.D. Dinakar The first visually challenged person to enter the civil services, T.D.Dinakar, had to wage a five-year battle to get there. Despite progressive laws for persons with disabilities in India, equal opportunities for them in jobs remain an unfulfilled dream. He shared his personal experience, hopes and despairs with Vidya Venkat. “I was denied a civil service posting though I had cleared the UPSC examinations for a Group ‘A’ post in 2002. This, several years after the progressive Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) (PWD) Act was passed. I approached the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities in New Delhi for help, but in vain. People who had scored lesser than me were given postings, but not me. The Commissioner too never responded to my appeal.” In 2003, Dinakar filed a case in the Delhi High Court. “I had spent a lot of time and money in clearing the exams and decided not to give up,” he says. In 2005, the single judge who heard his case demanded an explanation from the Union Public Service Commission and the Department of Personnel and Training for not implementing the PWD Act. The UPSC preferred an appeal and put the blame on the DoPT for not identifying any posts for the visually challenged. “It was only after an interim order in this case came in 2007 that the DoPT offered me a Group B posting saying vacancies were available there. I refused it. Then the court offered me a job in the Indian Railways Personnel Service.” In March 2007, Dinakar joined the services. It is two months since he started reporting to the Southern Railways office in Chennai. But he is not fully satisfied. His contention is that he should be given an IAS posting. Also, though he belongs to the 2001 batch, he is being paid on par with the 2007 batch officers, disregarding his seniority. ‘Is it my mistake?’“Is it my mistake that the DoPT failed to identify posts for persons like me?” Meanwhile, Dinakar’s case has inspired several visually challenged persons to enter the civil services. Ravikumar Arora, who is partially blind, got the IAS whereas Krishna Gopal Tiwari, who is totally blind, got an Indian Railway Personnel Service posting. Dinakar studied at the PSG College of Arts and Science in Coimbatore. He lost his vision due to retinal degeneration at the age of 20. He gave up his job at an insurance agency to fulfil his dream of becoming an IAS. But today, this trendsetter is disillusioned. “I advice other visually challenged persons not to aspire for the civil services. It has lost its original charm. Besides fighting for my job, I feel I have lost more than gaining.” He is disappointed at how most people are unaware that with enabling technology, visually challenged persons can work independently. “During the UPSC interview most of the questions were centred on whether I could do paperwork or be sure that the peon in office wouldn’t cheat on me.” Despite all these, Dinakar maintains a radiant smile on his face. He borrows from the title of Koestler’s famous book on blindness in American society: “We remain an unseen minority.” He cites an example: Visually challenged cannot use the ATM to withdraw money, because banks have not adapted these facilities for them.
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