Four out of five toppers this year are women. It became a moment in history as the Union Public Service Commission declared Civil Services Results 2014 on Saturday just 4 days after the personal interview; perhaps as an accolade to all the women of India.
The top four women who made the country proud by proving their credentials and breaking the male dominated UPSC stereotype are Ira Singhal, Renu Raj, Nidhi Gupta and Vandana Rao.
Ira Singhal, despite being physically handicapped IRS officer from Delhi topped the all India-level exam.
Following her is Renu Raj who is a doctor from Kerala and secured second rank in her first attempt.
Another Delhi woman Nidhi Gupta who is also an IRS officer secured the third rank in UPSC examination. Talking to focusnews.com, she said that it feels good to have achieved something so big when thousands of people are aspiring for the same.
Nidhi Gupta, who got the third rank in the Civil Services Exams 2014, celebrates her success with the family at their residence in New Delhi (Photo: PTI)
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“I am really happy but at the same time I am feeling responsible for the high expectations that people have from now and will try hard to fulfil those,” Nidhi said.
The moment of happiness which Nidhi is experiencing right now has not come to her easy, but indeed had prepared for years to get through the examination.
“I started preparing for UPSC since 2011 and in 2013 I managed to clear Indian Revenue Services examination, but I wanted to be an IAS officer so didn’t give up and kept on trying,” she recalled.
Talking about the motivation that helped her to hang on to her dreams, Nidhi said that it was the people around her with positive attitude, her parents, friends and family members whose smile motivated her to work hard and harder every day to achieve her final goal.
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She also told focusnews.com how she used to juggle her work with studies and managed to study for four to five hours every day to get closer to her dreams. “Sometimes I could not study for so long, but I made sure for whatever time I study, I put extra efforts and concentration to make up for them,” she said.
She also mentioned that her experience as IRS officer has been phenomenal, but she is looking forward to be a policy maker and will put efforts to simplify the procedure and public delivery after taking the charge for optimal solution in public administration.
In the end, she said that hard work with full dedication is the key and anyone can reach anywhere and achieve anything they want to.