IAS officer Rajesh Kumar Singh, a special secretary in the state higher education department, on Wednesday became the country’s second officer with visual impairment to become district magistrate.

Rajesh has been appointed as the deputy commissioner of Bokaro this afternoon.

Singh, 37, was amongst the 18 IAS who were transferred on Tuesday late evening by the state government.

According to the National Association for the Blind (NAB), Rajesh is the second IAS after Krishna Gopal Tiwari, who was made district collector of Umaria in Madhya Pradesh in August 2014, to hold such a position.

“I am thankful to chief minister Hemant Soren and chief secretary Sukhdeo Singh who have taken a strong decision and shown trust in me and it is going to inspire so many people (visually challenged) in the country. I take this as an opportunity as lack of sight has never affected me,” Rajesh said.

Rajesh, a native of Anisabad in Patna and a 2007-batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre IAS officer, has so far served as joint secretary in the women, child development and social welfare department and project director for the Integrated Child Protection Scheme.

Rajesh Kumar Singh at an event.

Rajesh, who is more than 90 per cent blind, was ranked third in the disabled category of the UPSC exam (2007) did not get a posting from the department of personnel and training and only after the Supreme Court ruling in his favour that he had got a posting letter in 2010.

“My priority would be to help the downtrodden join the mainstream and also integrate skilled migrant workers through a minute skill mapping exercise in the available sectors suiting their desire and interest as soon as possible,” Rajesh, who has done his PG from JNU, said.

The new deputy commissioner of Bokaro is also committed to make the region an education hub.

“I would like to take Covid-19 as an opportunity to develop Bokaro into an education hub. There are several good ranking schools in the region and we would like to establish some higher education centre,” he said.

Rajesh has also penned a 180-page book I: Putting eye in IAS, which is about the journey of a young small-town visually, challenged boy to the highest ranks of the Indian civil service (released in 2016).

Rajesh who has even represented India at the Blind Cricket World Cup thrice (1998, 2002 and 2006) had lost his eyesight while playing cricket at the age of six. He completed schooling from Model School in Dehradun. He was also nominated for CNN IBN’s Citizen Journalist Award in 2010.

Rajesh would be getting an assistant from the state for his day to day activities.