Meet IAS officer Renu Raj, left her job as doctor to crack UPSC exam in first attempt, got 2nd rank

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated: Mar 06, 2023, 10:19 AM IST

Renu Raj has once said in an interview that it was her childhood dream to become an IAS officer.

There is no denying the fact that UPSC exam is the toughest exam to crack in India and every year only a few hundred people manage to clear the UPSC exam. One such person is IAS officer Renu Raj, who is a resident of Kottayam, Kerala. Renu Raj succeeded in cracking the UPSC exam in her first attempt and she secured the second rank in the exam in 2014.

Renu Raj had left medicine practice to appear in UPSC exam. Renu Raj is known for taking tough actions against illegal constructions and land encroachments in the hill station of Munnar.

Renu Raj has completed her schooling from St. Teresa's Higher Secondary School in Kottayam, Kerala. She then studied medicine from the Government Medical College, Kottayam.

Renu Raj's father is a retired government employee and her mother is a housewife. Renu has two sisters and both of them are doctors by profession.

Renu Raj has once said in an interview that it was her childhood dream to become an IAS officer. While she was working as a surgeon, she realised that she wanted to do something for the common people and make their life better and decided to become an IAS officer.

“I thought that being a doctor, I could have helped 50 or 100 patients, but as a civil service officer, my one decision would benefit thousands of people. After that, I decided to give UPSC exam," Renu Raj had once said.