From polio patient selling bangles to IAS officer: Ramesh Gholap's story
Ramesh Gholap's father was an alcoholic who ran a bicycle repair shop. Being the sole breadwinner, his alcohol problem affected the family's financial condition as much as it did his own health. As a result, Ramesh's mother Vimal began selling bangles to support the family.
Despite his left leg being affected by polio, Ramesh, along with his brother, helped his mother sell bangles. Polio has been just one of the hurdles lining his path to the IAS.
Ramesh is from Mahagaon in Barshi Taluka, Solapur district of Maharashtra. Mahagaon, being a remote village, had only one primary school and therefore Ramesh went to stay with his uncle in Barshi for further education. Tragedy struck when the star pupil was in the 12th standard — he received the news of his father's death. Unable to afford even the Rs 2 a disabled-quota ticket cost, it was with help from his neighbours that Mahesh managed to make it for his father's last rites.
Despite doing well in school, Ramesh did a Diploma in Education because it was the only course he could afford. While he was at it, Ramesh also pursued a graduate degree in arts from an open university. In 2009, he became a teacher.
This was a time when Ramesh began to be frustrated by the rampant injustice that surrounded them. Sharing a room in his aunt's house, which she had received through a government scheme, with his mother and brother, he found that his mother was ineligible for the same scheme because of a problem with her below-poverty-line card. Earlier also, Ramesh had been dissatisfied with the level of care his father had received when he had been undergoing tuberculosis treatment. Then there were people like the ration shop owner, who sold kerosene on the black market instead of giving it to the needy.
Gathering inspiration from a tehsildar he had visited during his college days, Ramesh wanted to be one too. After his mother borrowed some money from a self-help group, Ramesh quit his job and went to Pune for six months to prepare for UPSC.
He told The Better India,
"The first teacher who met me was Mr Atul Lande. I requested him to write down the answers to a few of my questions, like what is UPSC, can it be taken in Marathi, am I eligible for it, etc. And he told me there was nothing to stop me from taking the UPSC. It is only because of that one statement that I finally did it."
Ramesh attempted the UPSC exam in 2010; however, he did not qualify then.
According to a report by The Logical Indian, Ramesh cleared the State Institute of Administrative Careers (SIAC) exam, which gave him a hostel and a scholarship. He painted posters to take care of his expenditures and finally cracked the UPSC examination with an all-India rank of 287. In a few months, his MPSC results were also out — he topped with the highest-ever marks of 1,244 out of 1,800.
In the meantime, his mother contested the village panchayat elections and lost by a tiny margin. It was in 2012 that Ramesh turned his dream of returning to his hometown an IAS officer a reality.
Currently, Ramesh works as a joint secretary in Jharkhand's energy department. Besides that, he continues to interact with the youth, inspiring them to take MPSC or UPSC.
"Whenever I cancel the licence of a PDS shop owner who has been black-marketing kerosene, I remember my days when I had to turn off the lantern for lack of kerosene. Whenever I help a widow, I remember my mother begging for a house or for her pension. Whenever I inspect a government hospital, I remember my father’s words when he had left drinking and just wanted better treatment. He would ask me to become a big man and take him to a private hospital. Whenever I help a poor child, I remember myself, I remember Ramu," he told The Better India.
Do you have an interesting story to share? Please write to us at [email protected]. To stay updated with more positive news, please connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.