Story of Swati Meena Naik- she became IAS Officer at the age of 22

UPSC exams are one of the toughest one to crack. However, there are some aspiring minds across the nation who have proved that nothing is impossible.

A dream is not the one that you see in sleep but the one that doesn’t let you sleep and for Swati Meena Naik, Civil Service was an ultimate dream that she had nurtured for long. She is one of the youngest IAS officers in India.

Hailing from Rajasthan’s Sikar, Swati Meena Naik was 22 years old when she became an IAS officer in 2007.

Credits: Patrika

She secured an all-India rank of 260. She is now serving in the Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Marketing Federation.

Apart from Swati Malik, there are other young brains who became IAS officers at such a young age. Ankur Garg, Amrutesh Aurangabadkar, Ansar Ahmad Shaikh and Roman Saini.

Ankur Garg successfully topped the civil services exam in 002 at a young age of 22 and thereby becoming the youngest candidate to clinch the feat. He had graduated from Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, is now pursuing a two-year Master’s programme at the iconic Harvard University.

Pune’s Amrutesh Aurangabadkar cracked the civil services exam in 2011 at a young age of 22 with a superb all-India rank of 10. He is serving as the Regional Commissioner of Municipalities, Vadodara.

Ansar Ahmad Shaikh, who is the son of a rickshaw driver from the drought-hit Shelgaon village in Maharashtra’s Jalna district, cracked the civil services exam in the year 2016 with an all-India rank of 361.

During the time of clearing the test, Shaikh was just 21 years old and thereby he became the youngest ever IAS officer till date. He is now plying his trade as an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) at the Department of MSME and Textiles, Government of West Bengal.

Roman Saini had cracked the civil services exam in 2013 at 22 with a superb all-India rank of 18. He was the youngest IAS officer before Shaikh and was appointed a Collector in Madhya Pradesh. However, he resigned from his services in 2015 and co-founded Unacademy, an educational technology company.

Transition in every individual’s life is obvious if s/he gives everything to fulfil the goal. Ask a successful person about how they did it and they would simply say there are no shortcuts to real success.

One must realise that only hard work, great diligence as well as commitment is required to touch the pinnacle of success. Above all, believing in oneself is also one of the biggest strengths to overcome challenges and it is also important to dream big in life.