From night watchman to IIM Asst Professor- the remarkable journey of Ranjith Ramachandran
Kasaragod, Apr 11: From a night watchman earning a pittance to graduating from the hallowed portals of IIT and now an Assistant Professor at IIM, Ranchi, it has been a remarkable journey for 28-year-old Ranjith Ramachandran, inspiring many to fight adverse circumstances in their lives.
"An IIM professor was born here," reads his post on Facebook, along with a picture of his dilapidated tiled hut covered with a tarpaulin sheet to prevent rainwater from seeping in.
His inspirational April 9 post in which he shared his story, went viral, garnering over 37,000 likes.
Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac also took to Facebook to congratulate Ramachandran, who goes by the name 'Ranjith R Panathoor' in the social media, saying he is a source of inspiration to everyone.
Ramachandran was working as a night watchman at a BSNL telephone exchange at Panathur in Kasaragod, while he pursued his Economics degree from Pious Xth College in the district.
"I attended college during day time and worked at the telephone exchange at night," he posted.
Graduating with honours, he got into IIT, Madras, where he found it difficult to study as he knew only Malayalam.
Despondent, he decided to quit the PhD programme, but was persuaded by his guide Dr Subhash not to do so.
"I decided to fight and realise my dream," he wrote.
Fight he did and earned his doctorate last year.
For the last two months, he was an Assistant Professor at Christ University, Bengaluru.
"I never thought the post would go viral. I posted my life story, hoping that it would inspire a few others. I want everyone to dream good and fight for their dreams.
I want other people to get inspired from this and find success," he told reporters.
Ramachandran recalled in his post that he nearly gave up his school education due to financial hardships
His father is a tailor and mother, a daily wage worker under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
The Finance Minister in his post, praised Ramachandran, saying "From the moment he felt he was defeated, he turned his life and achieved success and it's an inspiration toeveryone.
We have before us the life storiesof great personalities,including K R Narayanan, who attained success with extraordinary willpower and became the first citizen of the country," he posted and shared Ramachandran's post.
"The lives of people like Ranjith, who refuse to get discouraged due to various crisisand use education as a weapon to overcome social and economic backwardness, are an inspiration to all," he said.
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EC will leave no stone unturned to hold free, fair elections in West Bengal: CEC Kumar
New Delhi (PTI): Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Monday asserted that the Election Commission will leave no stone unturned in holding free, fair and transparent polls in West Bengal where the first phase of voting is scheduled to be held on April 23.
Interacting with officials involved in poll management, the CEC said the elections will be fear-free, violence-free and intimidation-free.
Officials said the poll authority will ensure elections are also inducement-free and "booth jamming free".
No employee of the state government, local bodies or autonomous bodies will be allowed to influence the electoral process, they said.
The ruling TMC in the state has accused the EC of playing in the hands of the BJP, a charge vehemently rejected by the election watchdog.
The EC and the TMC have also been at loggerheads over the special intensive revision of voters' list with the party accusing the poll authority of deliberately disenfranchising voters to benefit the BJP. Both the EC and the BJP have rejected the charge while dubbing it as baseless.
The second phase of voting in West Bengal will be held on April 29 and votes will be counted on May 4.
