Disabled people enter civil services

Beno Zephine, the 25-year-old from the southern city of Chennai has not had a moment's respite ever since she was told by the India's foreign ministry in late June that she had been selected for the esteemed Indian Foreign Service.

Zephine is the first totally blind person to gain entry into the service and she has been traveling around giving motivational speeches in schools and colleges across Chennai.

"I look forward to my assignment which I am sure is challenging. We are living in exciting times and India is making its presence felt strongly on the international stage," Zephine told DW.

Severe odds

Zephine, who comes from a humble background, says that her parents have been the cause for her inspiration and they never once felt her disability was going to stop her from reaching her goal.

To make that giant leap she went beyond the dependence on Braille books by accessing Job Access with Speech (JAWS) software that allows visually-challenged people to read from a computer screen.

While preparing for the civil service exams, a whole lot of reading needed to be done and most of the reading material was scanned and converted either into e-text or into audio recordings.

"Having come so far, I know that I can make a difference as a future diplomat and am thankful to the government for reposing trust in me," says Zephine.

While Zephine's story is an inspiration for other potential candidates to join India's diplomatic corps in the future, she is not the only one to have broken the glass ceiling.

Last week, 30-year-old Ira Singhal (main picture), who comes from the capital Delhi, became the first differently-abled woman to top the civil services examination.

Making a difference

However, Singhal's story is built on true grit and single-minded determination. She has scoliosis or curvature of the spine which disrupts her limb movement and has difficulty in moving and lifting objects.

In 2010, the woman had cleared the examinations but was selected for the allied Indian Revenue Service to join the customs and excise department. But authorities barred her from joining, citing her "inability to push, pull and lift" - an attribute the government deemed necessary if she had to join the service.

But that did not bog Singhal down and she gave the examinations another shot.

"Now I have joined the Indian Administrative Service. I am thrilled, excited and will now work even harder to help out physically challenged people. I expected to do well but not top the exams," Singhal told DW.

"It has been a tough journey. But my physical condition has never been a barrier to chase down my goal. I have done it and will fight on," Singhal added.

It was in 2005 that the government opened the doors to persons with disability to join civil services. Today, at least 12 of the total 26 civil services have been opened to disabled people in the country.

"While it is encouraging that differently-abled persons are joining the services, the government should do much more and increase the quota in other government jobs. That is very necessary," said Javed Abidi, executive director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People.

The number of differently-abled people in India's civil services is few and far between but the examples of Zephine and Singhal is believed to pave the way for more entrants.