Inspiring success stories of three OCS qualifiers who won against all odds

Despite being 100 per cent visually impaired, Prachurjya Pradhan and Prasanna Panda have never let the impairment create a roadblock in their path of success. With their sheer determination and hard work, Prachurjya and Prasanna cracked the Odisha Civil Services examination 2020 conducted by the Odisha Public Services Commission. OTV gets candid with them who have become a source of inspiration for many visually impaired students. Similarly, Prateek Panda from Balasore Baliapal has cracked OCS examination with flying colours. Talking to OTV, the OCS toppers share their mantras of success. Here are the excerpts...

Prachurjya to OTV

Hailing from Padmapur, 25-year-old Prachurjya cracked the exam with a rank of 292 in his very first attempt. Prachurjya, an international chess player, has been criticised many a time for preparing for OCS as a blind. Instead of feeling low, he took the criticism positively and worked hard and prepared himself for the best. And result is here. 

“I was very much determined to crack the OCS from the very beginning. Each and every member of my family motivated me like anything. I used to devote four hours a day for preparing myself for the coveted examinations. I gave the remaining time to Chess which helped boost my analytical power and memorisation techniques. I must say Chess helped me a lot to crack OCS”, says Prachurjya.

What do you want to do for your locality? To this question, he responded: “Ours is a very poverty-stricken area. I will work for its facelift. I will highlight the plight of needy people so that the government will address those problems.”

“What I felt is one should pursue a great aim. We can go up to any level provided the opportunity”, said the 292 rank holder who is currently pursuing Ph.D at Ravenshaw University.

Prasanna to OTV

Meet Prasanna Panda who secured 266th position in the OCS merit list. The visualy-impaired appeared for the OCS in 2019 after completing his Post Graduation in International Relations at Jawaharlal Nehru University but could not qualify the mains. Since his childhood he dreamt of cracking civil services exam. Despite being failed in his very first attempt, he did not get disheartened. Instead, he continued his preparation and finally qualified in the second attempt. 

Prateek to OTV

Prateek Kumar Panda, son of Balipal Akhandalamani temple Kamal Lochan Panda, cracked the OCS examination with flying colours. He has secured 33 position in the merit list.

Prateek had bagged 16th place in High School Certificate examination in 2011. Then, he passed Plus 2 from a private college with 533 marks. He later completed graduation from Fakir Mohan University and was conferred with a gold medal for scoring 1498 marks. After pursuing post-graduation from Utkal University, he got employment in Forensic Sciences Laboratory. In 2022, he got recruitment in Orissa High Court as ASO. Simultaneously, he was preparing for civil services.

Talking to OTV, Prateek said, “I worked for four hours a day. I would like to attribute my success to my family members and the Almighty. Without God’s grace, it cannot be possible to reach the zenith of success.”

His elder father said, “From childhood, he had excelled in study. Like ‘morning shows day’, he kept on climbing ladder of success one after the other. That’s why, his name was christened as Prateek. I am hopeful that as a bureaucrat he will shoulder all the responsibilities ably.”

Report: Somesh Mohanty & Ajit, OTV