The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Exam is considered the world's toughest recruitment exam. Aspirants put in years of preparation to clear the exam and even then it takes multiple attempts to get through, but IAS Saumya Sharma is an Indian Administration Services officer who cracked the exam in just one attempt.
IAS Saumya Sharma cracked the UPSC CSE in 2018 with All India Rank 9. Not only did she crack the UPSC exam in one attempt but she did it with only four months of preparation that too without any coaching.
What makes her story even more inspiring is that when she was 16 years old, Saumya Sharma lost her hearing abilities. While many people will tend to lose hope and give up on trying to achieve something, IAS Saumya is no ordinary woman.
Always a bright student, after school Saumya managed to reverse a seat at the prestigious National Law School to pursue law. In 2017, she decided to appear for the UPSC exam but by that time only four months were left in the exam.
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Saumya Sharma gave her everything and studied dedicatedly and on her first attempt, she got through. Sharma was only 23 years old when she cracked the UPSC CS exam.
While many might think that a person who has lost her hearing ability must have gotten in through the quota for specially-abled persons, in fact, Sharma refused to apply from the quota and appeared for the exam from the general category.
IAS Saumya is currently posted in Maharashtra Cadre as the CEO of Nagpur Zilla Parishad. She is quite active on social media with over 249K followers on Instagram.
Saumya is married to batchmate Archit Chandak, who is an IPS officer and currently serves as the DCP, Nagpur City. Archit Chandak is an IIT graduate.
