Battling disability, Ummul Kher cracks UPSC exam

Living with a disability makes it difficult to achieve ones goal and it also gets harder when your loved ones disowns you for it. 28-year-old Ummul Kher has one such case but she has fought all odds and bagged an all India rank of 420 in Civil Service Examinations of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in her first attempt.

Kher, the daughter of a street vendor, was born with fragile bone disorder which led to 16 fractures and eight surgeries through her childhood.

She had moved from Rajasthan to Delhi with her family when she was in class 5 and was disowned for her wish to study beyond class 8.

Speaking to ANI, Kher said, "I was in second standard when I read about Subhash Chandra Bose and found him to be very inspiring as he was in civil servant too. There were problems at every level, social, economic and financial but I coped with them all. Teachers understood my potential and supported me at all times, which was the biggest support. Also to deal with economic crisis in my family, I started teaching school children and small part time jobs to help my family. Throughout my schooling, I used to teach students".

Talking about her admission in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Kher further stated that it was really easy getting through the University.

"In civil services you don't need money, now even through internet anyone can crack UPSC exams. The advantage of coming to JNU was that it was really easy and the mess is also cheap. This was my first attempt for the UPSC exams and I'm happy to clear it, I also hope that I get through Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Despite having fragile bone disorder and undergoing eight operations, I could only find inspiration with motivational quotes and poems of our great leaders," said Kher.

Further advising the students, Kher said dream big so that your dream can overrule all disability.

"I started my preparations from Jan 2016 and used to study 15 hours a day. I would say to students that dream big, your dream should be powerful enough then no disability can hamper it," she added.

Kher scored a whopping 91 percent in class 12 and took admission in Gargi College. She continued giving tuition in order to fund her college fees and faced an accident in 2012 that bound her to a wheelchair for a while.

After graduating, she earned a seat in the JNU with a 100 percent scholarship with an additional a means-cum-merit of Rs. 2,000.

She then went on to crack the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) through which she started earning Rs. 25,000 per month.

Despite facing many hurdles, she appeared for the UPSC civil service exams and managed to grab rank 420 at the age of 28 in her first attempt.