IAS Topper Bala Nagendran's Success Story: Know the story of visually impaired Bala who became an IAS officer in 9th attempt

IAS Topper Bala Nagendran's Success Story:

“I never consider my blindness as a weakness, but consider it as my strength personally. My blindness has helped me in understanding people in a better way and it has made me realise my inner vision.” - Bala Nagendran from Tamil Nadu who secured the All India Rank 659 in his 10th attempt of the UPSC Civil Service Exams. In the article further, we will get to know more about his success story and preparation strategy. 

 

Born a blind person, Bala from Tamil Nadu has always been an optimist and was preparing for the UPSC Civil Services Exam from 2011 which he finally became after constant labour of 9 years. Bala completed his schooling at Little Flower Convent and Rama Krishna Mission School. Bala pursued his B.Com. from Loyal R College, Chennai. Bala’s father, currently a taxi driver in Chennai, is a former Indian Army Officer and his mother is a housewife. Bala was an above-average student from starting and due to this, one of his school teachers inspired him to become an IAS officer. 

 

Bala initiated his preparation to become an IAS officer in 2011 and it was quite difficult for him initially to convert the study material into Braille language. After appearing for the UPSC Civil Services Exam for 4 times, Nagendran failed miserably, but didn’t lose hope and remained firm towards his preparations to become an IAS officer. This 31-year-old boy named Bala never considered his vision impairment as a hurdle because he was born that way. 

 

In 2017, Bala Nagendran cleared his UPSC Grade A exams and secured 927th rank. Bala was then selected for the Grade A services, but Bala decided not to join for the same and remained determined towards preparing for his ultimate goal to join Indian Administrative Services as an officer. In 2017, Bala again appeared for the UPSC Civil Services exams but failed just with the difference of 1 mark.

 

After appearing for the 9th time in the UPSC Civil Services Exams, Bala finally became an IAS officer. Bala Nagendran believes that he always had that self-confidence in him, but was not initially capable to achieve his goal. But with every attempt, Bala worked on his mistakes and finally achieved his goal to become an IAS Officer in 2019 by securing 659th rank. Bala considers IAS Armstrong Pame his idol and has been immensely inspired by him. 

 

Bala wishes to work for child welfare and wants to child abuses in his career as an IAS officer. He also wishes to improve the education system of the country and work in the education sector.