Meet woman, daughter of a milk seller who gave tuitions to pay fees, cracked UPSC twice to become IAS officer, got AIR…

Self-made success stories are testament to power of unwavering determination and persistence. One such motivational success story is of IAS Anuradha Pal, who cleared the UPSC civil service examination despite facing various obstacles in her life.

Anuradha was born and raised in a modest family in a small village in Haridwar. They faced numerous financial adversities in her childhood. Her father used to fend for the family by selling milk.

She then completed her schooling from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Haridwar. Anuradha then shifted to Delhi to complete her college education. She went to GB Pant University and completed a Bachelor of Technology.

Due to difficulties at home, she then worked at Tech Mahindra. After working there for a while, she left her job as she realised that UPSC was her true dream and goal. Then she worked at a college in Roorkee as a lecturer and prepared side-by-side for UPSC. She also gave tuition to students to fund her coaching fees.

Thereafter, she cleared UPSC in her first attempt in 2012. But at that time, her AIR was 451, so she joined an IAS academy in Delhi, which elevated her preparations. As she was working also, she carefully managed time to achieve smaller targets in a smart way.

Finally, she cracked UPSC in 2015 with an AIR of 62 on her second attempt. She is currently posted as Bageshwar's District Magistrate in Uttarakhand.