In 2012, Komal Ganatra passed the UPSC civil services examination and achieved a ranking of 591 among all Indian candidates. But Komal's story is not like any other UPSC success story. In order to prepare for the civil services exam, she had to drag herself out of a pit of hopelessness and despair.
Komal Ganatra is a role model of fortitude and resiliency for both men and women. In 2008, Komal Ganatra, then 26 years old, wed a businessman from New Zealand. But because she was unable to provide a sufficient dowry, her husband's parents began to demand dowry from her and expelled her from their home.
After abandoning her, her spouse departed for New Zealand. Less than two weeks had passed since her wedding day. In an attempt to secure justice for herself, a distraught Komal went to the authortites but she did not get any justice.
After that, she returned to her parents' Savarkundla, Gujarat, home. She and her parents had to deal with the taunts from neighbors and family back in her hometown. After earning a diploma in engineering, Komal made the decision to live alone in a secluded village some 40 kilometers away from her hometown. She began working there as a primary school teacher, making a just Rs. 5,000 a month.
It was there that she began preparing for the civil services. Her failure to receive assistance from the government served as her inspiration to bring change in the system. Komal Ganatra attended Rajkot Government Polytechnic to complete her engineering diploma.
She also graduated with a Primary Teachers Training Certificate from a college in her hometown and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University. Komal served as an administrative officer in Delhi for the Ministry of Defence. Takshvi, her two and a half year old daughter, is the result of her second marriage.
The irregular power supply and inadequate guidance for her IAS preparation were two of the practical challenges she faced during her UPSC preparation. Furthermore, Komal was unable to obtain an English newspaper there, which is essential for daily current events in the UPSC examination.
She did, nonetheless, spend a brief amount of time at the Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration (SPIPA), a facility run by the Gujarati government that provides IAS aspirant training. Komal took the civil services exam for the fourth time in 2012. She earned a 591 overall ranking and was assigned to the Indian Revenue Service (IRS).
