Raised by his single mother from the Adivasi community in a small Maharashtra village, Dr Rajendra Bharud has known poverty since his birth.
His family earned their livelihood by selling wine made with mahua flowers. On an average day, the family earned Rs 100 which would be used for daily expenses — from making more wine to affording school fees.
Since childhood, Dr Rajendra dreamed of becoming a doctor but growing up, he realised that to help people, he needed to educate them and provide them with better living opportunities.
“To do this, I had to become a civil servant,” he recalls.
In the final year of medicine at Seth GS Medical College in Mumbai, he wrote his UPSC exam and cleared it on the first attempt.
When his UPSC results were announced, Dr Rajendra was back in his village, and his mother had no idea that her son was now a civil officer.
“When I told her I was going to become a collector, she did not know what it meant. In fact, my neighbours congratulated me for becoming a ‘conductor,’” he says with a smile.
In 2012, Dr Rajendra was posted as an IRS officer in Faridabad. Again, he appeared for the UPSC exam and cleared it in his second attempt to get the post of an IAS officer.
Currently, he is posted as the District Magistrate of Nandurbar where he lives with his mother, wife, and children in the Government quarters, and continues to do great things.
He advises, “When you feel depressed about your situation in life, think about how you can overcome your problems. That will make you stronger. And it is the only way to move forward, and succeed.”