In over 70 years of India’s history, there are many families whose generations have served the country as civil servants. Today we will talk about one such woman, daughter of a senior IAS officer, who had never thought of joining the civil services. She emerged as a multi-faceted bureaucrat who is today an IPS (Indian Police Services) and has also worked in Bollywood films. This IPS officer also cracked UPSC in her first attempt and she did it without pursuing any coaching during her preparation. Her name is Simala Prasad.
Simala Prasad, an IPS officer of the 2010 batch, is the daughter of Dr Bhagirath Prasad who was an IAS officer of the 1975 batch. She is also the daughter of prominent author Mehrunnisa Parvez. 1980-born Simala Prasad hails from Madhya Pradesh. She studied at the St Joseph Co-ed School in Bhopal before graduating in commerce. She did her masters in sociology from Bhopal’s Barkatullah University.
Simala was more interested in performing arts like acting and dancing since childhood and had never thought of becoming a civil servant. Later in her life, she acted in Bollywood films Alif (2017), where she played the role of Shammi, and Nakkash (2019), where she reprised the character of a journalist.
Despite never intending to become a civil servant, Simala decided to pursue the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission (MP PSC) exam after completing her studies. She cleared the state civil services exam and was posted as a DSP. Simala then decided to try her hand at cracking the coveted Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Exam (CSE). She did not join any coaching institute and decided to self-study her way. Impressively, Simala took just a single attempt and cleared the UPSC CSE exam, opting to join the Indian Police Services. In 2023, working as an SP, she was transferred from Betul to Jabalpur.
