JOIN USKPSC fiasco: Second chance dim for this visually challenged candidate
For 31-year-old Kempa Honnaiah, who is among the hundreds of KPSC probationers belonging to the controversial 2011 batch, another attempt means a mirage. The reasons are aplenty.
Visually challenged, Honnaiah’s second chances are dim. As per the procedure, it is only once in six years that disabled candidates are recognised for the privilege, depending on the types of deformities. When Honnaiah was selected, the priority was given for visually challenged. Before that, in 2006, a speech and hearing impaired candidate had got his due.
Honnaiah, from Siddartha Nagar here, was relieved when he emerged the topper (among the specially abled) after the results were declared. Among 15 candidates who appeared for viva voce against the total five posts (including three in the general merit category), Honnaiah was lucky to have been selected for the tahsildar’s post.
He had got through in the GM category, appearing for the main exams in Kannada literature and public administration. On Tuesday, while Honnaiah and fellow probationers were protesting at the Freedom Park in Bangalore, his wife Achinta, along with her aged mother-in-law and two toddlers, was protesting on his behalf in Mysore.
When contacted, a distraught Honnaiah said, “I prepared for the exams through Braille and pre-recorded study materials, and took the help of a scribe during the exams. Now, all the efforts have gone in vain.”
Honnaiah had to brave many odds ever since he lost eyesight owing to a defective retina when he was in class 5. A native of Chowdanakuppe in Kunigal taluk of Tumkur district, he came to Mysore on the advise of a well-wisher. He had to start his studies afresh from class one at the Government School for Deaf and Blind at Tilaknagar here, where he completed his SSLC.
He returned to his native place for PUC before coming back to Mysore for graduation. He completed postgraduate studies at the University of Mysore. After the KPSC selected him as a lecturer in 2009, he is teaching Kannada at B Matkere in H D Kote taluk of the district. On Tuesday, 37 KPSC probationers from Mysore district took out a protest rally up to the deputy commissioner’s office, demanding justice.
Among them was Shruti R and Reshma who were selected for the tahsildar’s post and Sneharaj who was selected as DySP. Ravi Ramaiah, a constable attached to Metagalli police station here and the sole Soliga tribal who made bagged the DySP post, also opposed the decision.