Bihar girl scripts History, clears UPSC and becomes IAS in her 2nd attempt

Clearing UPSC exam needs some serious piece of hard work, grit and determination. Students who get started on the path towards achieving their goals always give their heart to pull off something special.

Everyone dreams to clear the Civil Services Exam, but very few are fortunate to crack the exam. Today, we are talking about such a woman named Divya Shakti who cracked the exam in just her second attempt, while there are many people who do not dare to appear for the second attempt.

Soon after the UPSC Civil Services Result 2019 came out, several success stories started doing rounds on social media. As many as 829 candidates have been selected for various posts of IAS, IPS, IRS, IFS etc.

But this story is quite inspiring. If you come to know the story of Divya Shakti, you will be perplexed for sure. Hailing from Bihar, the 28-year-old woman not only cleared the notoriously tough exam but also secured an all-India rank 79.

When asked about her feelings at the moment, she said, “human potentiality is inexhaustible.” The 28-year-old comes from a doctors family in Bihar. At a tender age, she knew what she wanted, to become an IAS officer. Divya did not take up biology as a subject in her intermediate boards which is an essential subject to appear for all competitive exams for admission in medical colleges.

“All our siblings have the liberty to study what we wanted to and all of the three are now settled in professions other than medicos,” Shakti said. She did her engineering from BITS and completed her masters in economics in 2016. After this, she started preparing for the UPSC CSE exam and chose geography as her optional for CSE Mains. In her first attempt, she could not qualify the Preliminary exam of UPSC. But she did not give up and continued her studies. She made more efforts for the next year and cleared the exam with 79th rank.

When her parents were asked about her success they said, “Her success means a lot and is also full of  learnings and experiences.” Her father, Dhirendra Kumar Singh who is an ex- superintendent of Government Medical College Hospital, GMCH, Bettiah, Bihar proudly said that his daughter had always made her own decisions. He did not try to superimpose any of his wishes on his daughter. “Every sincere student is his or her best judge and guardian should cooperate and enlighten the dream they nurse,” he said.

She has now become a source of inspiration for many youths who dream to be IAS or IPS. She has achieved what others dream of. Many people read her inspirational story and get motivated. Let’s praise her for a big achievement.

Writer, historian, and activist Dharam Sikarwar is a very active author The Youth. He writes on national and international issues, environment, politics. He is an avid book reader as well.