Meet IAS officer Surabhi Gautam, who overcame all odds to secure AIR 50 in UPSC exams

Surabhi Gautam belongs to Amdara village in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh. Her father is a lawyer in the Maihar court of MP, while her mother Dr Sushila Gautam works as a teacher in high school. Surabhi has completed her education at a government school in her village, where basic amenities were also barely available. It was a Hindi medium school.

A diligent girl, Surabhi secured 93.4% marks in her class 10 board exams. She had scored a perfect 100 in Maths and Science. Surabhi found a spot on the state merit list in classes 10th and 12th because of her good marks. 

Surabhi also battled Rheumatic Fever in class 12, which made her travel to Jabalpur every 15 days with his parents to see a doctor 150 kilometres away from the village. Despite all this, Surabhi never let the focus go away from her studies. 

After completing her class 12, Surabhi also passed the State Engineering Entrance Examination with good marks. She enrolled in Electronics and Communication Engineering from an engineering college in Bhopal. However, she suffered from an inferiority complex because of poor English speaking skills. But she didn't let that take the better of her. Surabhi started talking to herself in English to improve her English and learnt the meanings of at least 10 words every day. Surabhi used to write meanings on the walls and repeat them several times a day. She listened to the phrases and words she heard from anywhere and learnt them and worked to improve her English. 

The result was that Surabhi topped the first semester of her graduation and was also awarded the College Chancellor's Award. She was always focused and worked hard to achieve her dreams.

Surabhi got a job in TCS through college placement as soon as she completed engineering. But she quit her job midway because of the desire for civil services. She then appeared for several competitive exams. During this period, she was selected for competitive examinations like ISRO, BARC, GTE, MPPSC, SAIL, FCI, SSC and Delhi Police. 

She was also selected for IES Services in 2013 and was ranked first at the All India level in this examination. In 2016, she also cracked the IAS exam and became an IAS officer. (All photos: Social media)