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Hi, my name is George Abraham and welcome to Eyeway Conversations. My guest today is a young IAS officer Pranjal Patil. Hi Pranjal, welcome!
Thank you so much.
So Pranjal, you are DM of district Shahdara in Delhi. Tell us a little bit about your work as a DM.
Major portion of my work at this moment is COVID management. Right now we are doing the vaccination in mission mode. Of course many people are coming forward on their own but there are many pockets in my district who are registering for various reasons to take vaccine. So I am focusing on those people who don't want to take vaccine, going there, persuading them, doing the counseling and I'm getting wonderful help from World Health Organization as well. And it also includes testing, it also includes making containment zones. Then there are many other things which a District Magistrate is you know an authority. So, right now just before the interview, I was looking into the cases where we know that sex ratio in our country is not very happy compared to boys, girls are lesser in number. So as in Delhi and so as in my district, so I am focusing on that there, how to persuade people and of course, there is law, sex selection is not allowed but along with enforcing the law, how we can do things at a social level, what kind of awareness we can spread at the social level so I was just having a meeting with my doctors and gynecologists. Basically, District Magistrate is the administrative head of the district, whatever problems are occurring in the district, whatever challenges are coming, whatever government projects are coming down to the district level, District Magistrate is supposed to implement all those programs, resolve the problems, look into the things which come you know, kind of miscellaneous kind of work.
I believe, you as a visually impaired person you know, there is a there is an additional dimension to your work. Are there challenges in terms of how you deal with people, how people respond to you, in terms of the government giving you responsibilities, is there any kind of special treatment just because you happen to be visually impaired?
We can't say that there is special treatment because obviously like suppose now, I am posted in our district Shahdara, if some problem comes here which is like let's say, which is very daunting kind of problem but at that time I'm already there, right? So it's very dynamic kind of situation. So one can't think beforehand you know, let's give her a special treatment and let's hence post her somewhere in such a situation. For example, before taking this charge, I was the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Vasant Vihar subdivision that is in New Delhi district. So I was having this airport with me like the jurisdiction of airport was in my subdivision and when I was posted there, immediately after two weeks, the first lockdown was announced in 2020. And before that lockdown, all the international passengers, the international travelers were coming to India because flights were about to get you know, the aviation services were about to get close. So now even if somebody would have thought that let's like give her some very good play but now situation became so dynamic that no matter what issue or challenges I may have, I have to deal with the situation. So I think the administration is very dynamic so in that way, there is no special treatment and it's very good that there is no special treatment also because then you know, as my colleagues are exposed to various kinds of experiences, challenges the same way even I am exposed as a part and parcel of my work.
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Now, you know I belong to Kerala and interestingly, I believe your first posting as an IAS officer was in Kerala. Tell us something about your experiences in Kerala.
In 2018, I was posted in Ernakulam district of Kerala as an Assistant Collector. We know that Kerala is God's own country but somehow I didn't go there before as a tourist but I went there directly as you know, a responsibility related to work and when I joined during the month of May and we know that in August of the same year, the flood happened and flood of such a magnitude came after like 100 years, right. And Ernakulam, it is a central district of Kerala, it is connected through airways, it's a railway junction also. So you know, in that way a lot of responsibility came on the district administration of Ernakulam because of its location, that is number one. The second, it was also facing problems of its own because the water which was released from the dam, it came down to Ernakulam. So you know, we also have people who were displaced who were like near the coastline area, so they had to be rehabilitated in some other places. So that was my initial like 2-3 months of the posting there and the challenge of Kerala for me was I am not from the place and hence, I did not know Malayalam but you know because we talk to local people, like we talk to everyone, they are supposed to talk to everyone. So you know though English is known there but the language of communication is certainly Malayalam and I was learning Malayalam and I could learn also to a great extent but the speed, the speed I couldn't match, half of the time used to go in telling people, "padike padike" (please slow down). And then, of course Lok Sabha election happened when I was there. So that was another kind of experience and I could learn a lot because I think the best system exists over there because you know, like all schemes how well they are implemented and how people are passionate and the visitors who used to come to meet me with some petition, their petitions used to be like, I used to really wonder and I used to really feel glad. You know so I was associated with an organization, they were working in the field of right to walk, so that right to walk you know they were really working for pedestrian rights. And then I worked with transgender community in the field of skill development. After this I also went to Trivandrum, I was Sub-Collector of Trivandrum because Trivandrum being the capital of the state and so you know it has its own problem like more people working outside India hence, senior citizens issues were there so I really connected myself with senior citizens' issues and so that became my major priority there apart from like the work which I'm supposed to do.
Your job as a civil servant involves a lot of public dealings, dealing with people and it's not common for people to actually interact with a bureaucrat who happens to be visually impaired. I would be interested in knowing how people actually respond to you.
I think when we are working almost we forget everything because focus is to like how to get work done quickly. So I think so far response has been very good and I don't think so like I don't know maybe they must have noted in their mind or something but nobody like verbalize it that oh something, you know something different. But yeah, they do come that we are coming to you with a lot of hopes and pleas. So I think the response has been so good and so we have to train them also. For example if I'm going for some let's say for field visit and then I have to meet people over there, then you know they try to be very like caring but more than caring, they like so much, " aise mat charo" whatever whatever, then we have to tell them it's fine, I can walk and don't worry and then I think in few minutes only they'll understand that how I want myself to be treated. So yeah, it's about public and also about our own staff because even they haven't worked with someone who can't see. So even like they have to be like told initially that I want things in this way and of course, they learn they learn very quickly. So yeah, I think this one has been good till now.
Not everybody aspires to be a civil servant. When exactly did you decide that you wanted to be an IAS officer and what was your journey?
I was always socially kind of oriented person, inclined person. Right from my school days like we used to read, we used to discuss and we used to think that what can be done about this issue. At that time of course awareness wasn't there how to do the thing but yeah, we were affected by the social things. And when I went to college to be like, to be specific about when I decided, a friend of mine and I, we were just reading a magazine in our library, college library. So we just came across there is something civil services are there and you know, you can do so many things through this profession. And it just came to our mind that let's try this and in younger days and college days everything sounds to be, everything looks very exciting. We just want to do everything, it's like very youthful spirit, very radical spirit. So that just as an information it came to me during my college days but obviously I didn't start preparing from there because I had to focus on my college studies and that was a huge kind of work for me because you know, I was still struggling with knowing the computer during those days. I was still struggling with understanding, improving my English those days. I wanted to somehow like naturally, it's not planned thing but I focused on my college studies and how I can do better at that time. And then when I came to JNU, I did my Master's in International Relations then MPhil and then slowly I could gain a lot of confidence that yes, I know computer well now, my English is also fine, my command over subject like the basic thing where I felt confident about. Then this thought started gaining strength that okay, let me just try this can be done now because you know, let's try. So yeah, in JNU it started.
I've been to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy, there are about 380-400 odd people who were there for training, I guess they are people from different services. But what I wanted to ask you was that when you first went to the academy for your training, it was a huge crowd. How did you manage yourself there? How did you get to know people? What is your equation with your contemporaries and how do you make friends? And how do you engage with your colleagues going forward?
Yes, so as you already said that LBSA is in Mussoorie so it's hilly place and the topography is like a major thing and so you know, though there are stretches and everything but the topography itself is very uneven. So that is one thing, the other thing is like monkeys okay, so monkey was another challenge. So other training academy has done that so they have given me one full time escort for daytime for the entire day for the mobility because obviously that's something very difficult and I think even if we walk with our cane, we can manage with the topography but what about monkeys you know and I was hit by monkeys also and without any provocation okay. So that was one thing the academy has done and it already has this system in place that they do get the assistant for blind people. And then it was very exciting phase because suddenly you know, like you have passed the exam and you are where you wanted to be. That's the approach of everyone over there also yeah, everybody is so excited. And the training is very hectic in terms of because it does want to train us for doing so many things at a time, multitasking, how to manage time and everything. So that was there, like classes were there. There were extracurricular activities, I learned salsa there, though I can't say that I know it but yeah, I tried to learn. Then there was like one foreign language like French was there. So many such options were there so it was very exciting. And in terms of making friends I did make a few of very wonderful friends especially some of us who were staying in the same hostel. So going for lunch dinner together and going for the you know, you must be knowing that there is something called Mall Road where you can go there. Cinema, like going to cinema halls together so it was wonderful experience. I won't say that I made so many friends. I made a few friends but I made some like amazing friends.
In your batch, were you the only blind or visually impaired officer or there were others also?
What you mentioned about 300-400 people so that's our foundation course. And in foundation course, there are people from various services. And the next round is phase one where everybody goes to their respective academies of their respective services. So in foundation course, I was the only person who was visually challenged and in my phase one training, my other friend joined who got delayed for some other reason. I don't remember what was that but yeah, for my rest of my training, we were two of us.
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Changing track now, how did you become visually impaired? Was it something that happened at birth or something that happened later in life?
I lost sight out of retinal detachment and I was having specs, huge like the big number specs since I was so small and my parents would identify that I can't see properly or something so I had specs. We were told by doctors that I will lose sight someday but they predicted maybe in middle age or something. But the process got facile and I lost my complete sight by the age of 6 and it was retinal detachment, surgeries were done but surgeries were not successful. So yes, I learned the alphabets, I learned the numbers, I learned reading, writing till the age of 6 in the script and after that I couldn't see it at all.
So tell me a little bit about your education, your schooling and your college education. Which was the school you went to? And what college, what courses did you do and where do you get the support from?
So after I lost my sight for one or two years I continued in the same school where I was studying before that was near my home. And the teachers and the Principal, everybody persuaded my opinion that I should be going to this special school. And since I was so small and my vision loss happened so quickly that my parents were also very much concerned and for them my education was a priority. And obviously in Indian culture, we really respect our teachers and Principals and you know, we find whatever they say is correct. So then I was enrolled in a special school for girl child in Mumbai and that was Kamla Mehta Dadar Blind School. So I started studying their since class 4 and there only in class 4, I learned braille. I learned to do things on my own because it was a residential school. And it was like so amazing. I'm like so thankful to my parents, to my teacher that oh great, I went to that school because I made wonderful friends there, I learned everything. We were taught dance, we were taught singing of course I can't sing but yeah we were taught. I was also a part of rope mallakhamb team, I have performed in so many places rope mallakhamb, it is kind of gymnastic. I had come to Delhi also through my school to represent you know, my school in rope mallakhamb. Then our library was so good, it was in braille. We read a lot, all of us we were so fond of reading, we read a lot whatever was available in braille. And yeah, we had a lot of fun and yes, we did study but that was before the exam and we had a lot of comraderie. I learned a lot of comraderie there, it's like if one of our friends is not able to understand something, it's our duty, it was our duty to let that person understand. So it was like our friendship bond was so good. So there I studied till class 10 and then for my college for graduation, I went to St. Xavier's, Mumbai. That was another wonderful decision of my life and so Xavier's was initially very difficult for me because I felt it was very different environment for me. I studied in Marathi medium school till my 10th, that was my mother tongue also. And then Xaviers was an English so one was the language thing, then you know, since suddenly like the syllabus increased so much. In school we just have one textbook for one subject and that was available in braille but in college, nothing was available in braille and I was so relying on braille only, so I started writing notes, learning notes in my class. But of course, it wasn't enough then you know, I had to learn computer and Xavier's has wonderful center of resource center for visually challenged. There I learned screen reader software, JAWS and with that, then so many avenues opened up for me, I started reading newspaper on my own and yes, it was so wonderful. And after Xaviers, I came to JNU for my master's, that was in master's in International Relations for that I had to write an interest. And in college, I was not so aware that you know why one should go to JNU, why JNU is so good university, nothing I knew because in Mumbai, the orientation is not so much towards academic, it's towards media, it's towards corporate. So all my classmates, they were oriented towards various fields and not so much about academics so I was only among three, like three of us were actually the one who came to JNU. And then the experience in JNU was completely different. It was so enriching that there again you know, I learned a lot and it was not so much about studies, I learned about various social issues, I learned about how there can be multiple perspective to look at one thing. I made wonderful friends there and it was like amazing time in learning, in growing, in growing as a person, that's like most important thing I think and becoming like matured, socially more sensitive person.
Now that you are among the early IAS officers who are visually impaired and maybe the government and the people around are kind of experiencing civil servants who are blind for the first time. Do you feel that you have any kind of responsibility on your shoulders with regards to people who might be following you?
Certainly I think that responsibility somehow it's like, naturally comes to us, right. Like I think that consciousness is always there and I remember not only in services, maybe when we go to college, wherever we go, I think somehow we carry that responsibility with us naturally. And in services as well. Of course like if I can perform well then that confidence is gained that you know opportunity should be given to everyone and like things should be inclusive. The system should be inclusive. So certainly I do feel responsible in making others understand and not so much always by dialogue but also through action by doing my work you know, with utmost sincerity, with utmost capability maybe. Yes, so that responsibility is there.
Now as a young civil servant moving up the ladder, what do you think would be your favorite special posting?
Very nice question. So my present posting is very very special to me because I think so in civil services, especially IAS kind of job is postings are like field postings and office posting. So at the junior level, we get the field posting you know, it's very important to be exposed to the ground level reality of the country, of the society. And there is a lot of scope for working and there's a lot of scope for direct impact. So I really thoroughly enjoyed my Sub Collectorship, my SDM ship and I'm thoroughly enjoying my DM ship and I really want to work in urban governance as well. So after heading the district, I would like to work with the municipal corporations.
So Pranjal, it's been a pleasure talking to you and thank you very much for finding the time and I'm sure a lot of IAS aspirants who might be listening to this program would be inspired and wish you the very best.
Thank you so much, George. Thank you for calling me here. Thank you.
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