PEOPLE SPECIAL..... TRUE Grit (3)

 TRUE Grit  (3)

Many students across India, from economically challenged families, are now conquering limitations to achieve pinnacles of success. 

 

Graft Buster

Born in the Pathanamthitta district in Kerala, life was one long struggle for Lipin Raj MP; first with his own handicap and then with the poor economic conditions that existed in his family’s small house. He lost his vision in one eye after an injury. “The accident also affected the vision of the other eye,” he says. Thus with only 40 % eyesight he passed 10th and 12th examinations with top honours.
    In 2006, he joined the Mar Ivanios College in Thiruvananthapuram for a degree in mass communication. To fund his studies, he took up the job of a part-time correspondent in a Malayalam daily. After completing his degree in 2009, he wanted to go to Delhi and study further. But with no financial support from anywhere he found it difficult to do so. Just when hope seemed to recede, Lipin got a message from State Bank of Travancore that he had cleared a clerical test that he had written earlier.
    Soon he became a probationary officer in IDBI Bank. By then he had completed his master’s degree in history. Lipin says that the turning point in his life was when a government official asked for a bribe to attest a certificate. “It was the incident that changed my life, he said. “It was after that I decided to appear for the civil service examination,” he adds.

STUDYING: Passed civil services exam
FAMILY BACKGROUND:
Partially blind and from an economically challenged family
“I decided to take the civil services exam when a government official asked for a bribe”
Lipin Raj MP

— S Sananda Kumar