Sarika Jain

Balangir, June 14: Undeterred by the physical disability that she suffers, this girl from a non-descript town in west Odisha has proved a point.

Meet Sarika Jain, 29, a physically challenged girl from Kantabanjhi in Balangir district. She has been ranked 527 among the 1,122 selected candidates in the Indian Civil Service (ICS) examination, result of which was announced by the UPSC on Thursday.

Sarika is afflicted with polio in her right leg with 50 per cent disability since when she was only two years old. But she feels that it is the mental strength that matters to achieve one’s goal in life. “My physical disability has never come in my way to achieve the success,” Sarika told The Telegraph.

Sarika had not been allowed admission in primary level in many schools at her hometown due to her physical disability. “As a young girl, I struggled to take admission in schools as they refused to take me due to my physical disability. Saraswati Sishu Mandir came to my rescue. I did my graduation in commerce from Kantabanjhi Women’s College,” Sarika said.

She thanked all her family members, who had co-operated, and said it was the teachers at an institute in Raipur, where she was doing her charted accountancy — who inspired her to take up the civil service examination. “When I cleared my CA with gold medal, the teachers there asked me to try the higher competitive examinations. They inspired me a lot,” she said. She is the third among the three sisters and a brother.

Sarika said that if she were shortlisted for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), she would love to work with people at the grassroots level. “I would definitely like to work in the Odisha cadre and for the people at the grassroots level. My entire interview for the ICS revolved around the issues of irrigation, drought and migration. And I feel the panel really appreciated my answers,” she said. Studying 12 hours a day, Sarika cleared the civil service in the first chance. She divided her time between Kantabanjhi and New Delhi while preparing for civil service.

He father Sadhuram Jain said it was a great day for his family. “She has made us proud. She is the pride of not only Kantabanjhi, but also Balangir district and Odisha. It is the hard labour that she put in which now bears the fruit,” said Sadhuram, a small-time businessman at Kantabanjhi.