From a Farmer’s Daughter to IAS Officer: The Quiet Journey of Priya Rani

Who is she? There’s this girl named Priya Rani. Ordinary name, but her story hits different. She’s a farmer’s daughter from a small village in Bihar who somehow became an IAS officer. Not the dramatic movie kind of story—just steady, stubborn, and real. Rank 69 in UPSC 2023, Bihar cadre, 2024 batch. Right now she’s the SDM of Sasaram in Rohtas. That’s her. Early life and education She was born on 1 August 1994 in Kurkuri village, Phulwari Sharif, near Patna. Father Abhay Kumar tills the land, mother stays at home. In that village a lot of people thought girls studying too much was unnecessary. They would say things, try to pull her back. Her grandfather, Surendra Prasad Sharma, wasn’t having it. He basically told everyone to mind their business and made sure she got proper schooling in Patna. Primary school at Don Bosco, Class 12 from St. Michael’s. Then she went to BIT Mesra in Ranchi and finished B.Tech in Electrical and Electronics Engineering in 2018. After that she landed a good software job in Bengaluru—Oracle, the kind of place where the salary looks nice on paper. But after some time she felt empty. Money was coming, future looked sorted, yet something inside kept saying this isn’t it. So she quit. Family was upset at first, obviously. Leaving a stable job for UPSC is scary when your background is modest. She still did it, moved to Delhi, prepared hard. She gave the exam four times. In 2021 she got rank 284 and joined IDES. That was already a big thing, but she wanted IAS. Kept going. Fourth attempt, 2023, rank 69. Optional was Economics. She scored decent marks—807 written, 193 in interview. Total thousand. Mostly self-study, NCERTs, newspapers, previous papers. No big coaching drama. Biography table Family table Family is simple. No big connections, just a farming household that somehow managed to support a daughter who refused to settle. Personal life She keeps things quiet. Likes reading books on economics and self-improvement, cooks Magadhi food, goes for morning walks with her father, writes poems sometimes. When the rank 69 result came, her father video-called her and cried. She still talks about those tears like they meant more than the rank itself. No public talk about marriage or anything personal like that. She just focuses on work—listening to people properly, making sure schemes actually reach them, keeping things transparent. FAQs Q.How many attempts? Four. Cleared twice. Q.Did she really leave a high-paying job? Yes. Straight up quit and started preparing. Q.What was the hardest part? Village people trying to stop her from studying when she was a kid, and later her own family worrying when she left the job. Q.Where is she now? SDM of Sasaram. Q.Any advice she gives? Keep it consistent. Don’t get carried away by coaching hype. Basic books done properly and previous papers analysed carefully go a long way. And don’t let one bad attempt finish you. That’s Priya Rani. Not some perfect hero. Just a girl from a farming family who kept walking even when people said stop. Quiet, determined, and still doing the work. Publisher By – Rohit Manral  Written By- Anjali Pandey 

Tina Dabi – That Girl Who Topped UPSC at 22

Tina Dabi – That Girl Who Topped UPSC at 22 The IAS officer who suddenly became famous in 2015. She was only 22 when she got Rank 1 in the Civil Services Exam on her very first attempt. First woman from the Scheduled Caste community to top it. That itself made people sit up and notice. She’s from the 2016 batch and works in Rajasthan cadre. Over the years she’s been Collector in a few places, including Barmer, and did some solid work on water conservation too. Who is she? Tina was born on 9 November 1993 in Bhopal. When she was in class 7 the family moved to Delhi. Her father Jaswant Dabi was a senior guy in BSNL. Her mother Himani (people also call her Himali) was an IES officer. Mum actually left her job so she could be around full-time while the girls studied. That mattered a lot. Tina has a younger sister Ria, who later also cleared UPSC and became an IAS officer. Early life and education She studied first at Carmel Convent in Bhopal, then Convent of Jesus and Mary in Delhi. In class 12 she scored full 100 in Political Science and History. After school she joined Lady Shri Ram College for a BA in Political Science. She has said she first thought of doing B.Com, but Political Science felt more right for what she wanted. From the first year of college itself she started preparing for UPSC. While everyone else was busy with college life, she was reading newspapers every day and putting in steady hours. In 2015 she wrote the exam and topped it with 1063 marks.   Biography table Family table Personal life During training she got close to Athar Aamir Khan (he was Rank 2 the same year). They got married in 2018. It didn’t work out and they divorced in 2021 by mutual consent. In 2022 she married Pradeep Gawande, another IAS officer from Rajasthan. They have a son now. These days she keeps her personal life quite private and stays away from social media mostly. FAQs people usually ask Q.How did she prepare? Started early, stayed consistent, read newspapers daily, and had full family support. No magic formula. Q.Did she take reservation benefit? She is from SC category, but her marks put her right at the top of the list. The reservation debate was mostly media noise. Q.What is she doing now? Still in Rajasthan cadre, has handled important district postings. Q.Who does she thank the most? Her mother. Tina has said clearly that mum leaving her career so the daughters could study without stress made all the difference. A girl from a service family who decided early what she wanted, worked steadily for it, and delivered when it mattered. Nothing over-the-top, just clear focus and strong support at home. Published By – Rohit Manral Written By – Anjali Pandey 

From a Sleepy Village to IAS – Surabhi Gautam’s Story

From a Sleepy Village to IAS – Surabhi Gautam’s Story You know those stories that make you stop and think, if she could do it from there, what’s stopping me? Surabhi Gautam’s journey is exactly that. Who is Surabhi Gautam? She comes from Amdara, a small village in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh. Barely a thousand people lived there when she was growing up. Born in the rainy month of August into a big joint family of more than thirty members. Only her parents were happy that day. For the rest of the family it was just another ordinary birth. Her father was a lawyer in the Maihar civil court. Hermother, Dr. Sushila Gautam, taught in the local higher secondary school. They didn’t have much, but they believed in education. School was the government Hindi-medium school in the village. No fancy buildings, books often came late, and many nights she studied by the light of a lantern because electricity was never reliable. Still she was sharp. In class 5 she scored full marks in maths and the teacher told her she was special. That stayed with her. In class 10 she got 93.4 percent with perfect 100s inMaths and Science. Her name came in the state merit list. Around that time a local newspaperasked her what she wanted to become. She said “Collector.” The dream started there. Early life and Education: Class 12 was tough. She got rheumatic fever and had to travel 150 kilometres to Jabalpur every fifteen days for injections. Even then she scored well, got the Abdul Kalam scholarship, and cleared the state engineering entrance. She went to Bhopal for Electronics and Communication Engineering.  College was a shock. Hindi-medium background meant her English was weak. On the first day they asked her to introduce herself and explain something in physics. People laughed. She felt small. But instead of giving up she started learning ten new English words every day. Stuck notes on the walls, forced herself to read and speak. By the end of the first semester she had topped the university and got the gold medal. She finished as a gold medalist. After college she worked for a year as a nuclear scientist at BARC. She cleared so many exams – GATE, ISRO, SAIL, MPPSC, SSC, Delhi Police, FCI. In 2013 she topped the Indian Engineering Services with All India Rank 1. She could have settled into a comfortable life, but the dream of becoming a collector was still there. In 2016 she wrote the UPSC Civil Services exam for the first time and got All India Rank 50. Gujarat cadre, 2017 batch. No coaching, pure self-study. She chose Electrical Engineering as optional.  Here’s a quick look at her basic details:  And her family: Her Personal life: She keeps her personal life quiet. Work comes first. When she went back to the village as an IAS officer the same people who barely noticed her birth welcomed her with garlands and slogans – “Gaon ki beti kaisi ho? Surabhi Gautam jaisi ho!” She still talks about wanting better electricity, better medical facilities, and more chances for girls in places like her village. That quiet fire is still there. Some common questions people ask: Did she really struggle with English? Yes. They mocked her in college. She turned it around by learning ten words a day and wrote the UPSC papers in English. @Rohit Manral FAQs: How many attempts for UPSC? Only one. Rank 50 in the first try. Did she clear other exams? Yes – lots of them, including AIR 1 in IES. Any coaching? None. Just school, self-study and her parents’ support. What keeps her going? The memory of studying under a lantern and the wish that other village kids get better chancesthan she had. Surabhi’s story is not about magic. It’s about showing up every day when people laugh, when the lights go out, when your own body fights you. From a girl whose birth almost went unnoticed to an IAS officer who makes her whole village proud – she simply refused to stay small. And that is why her journey still lights a fire in so many others.