Beno Zephine became first 100% blind officer in IFS

Beno Zephine, 25 years old from chennai has become the first 100% visually -challenged person to be inducted into the IFS

• A postgraduate in English, Beno had cleared her exams last year securing 343^rd rank but according to IFS parameters, 100 per cent blind people were not considered for the job. She was informed by external affairs ministry on Friday that she has earned the entry to the 69-year-old service. Beno is one of more than 100 candidates from Tamil Nadu who made it to the civil services this year.
• Beno cleared her exams while working as a probationary officer with the State Bank of India and pursuing her PhD in English. It was a tough few years of work, but Beno, 24, enjoyed it and has secured an all-India rank of 343 in the UPSC exams. “Preparing for the civil services made it easy for me to clear other competitive exams,” she said.
• Instead of Braille books, Beno used Job Access With Speech (JAWS), a software that allows visually challenged to read from a computer screen, to scan Tamil and English books.She got a few books Brailled, but much of her preparation was done with the help of her father and friends.

“Nothing is impossible if you are strong willed and know how to work hard. NL Beno Zephine is a living example of  this, and a great source of inspiration for all the youngster”.