She failed prelims in the first two attempts. In the third attempt, she wrote mains but failed, again. In the fourth attempt, she cleared the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) with an All India Rank (AIR) 569. She is Neha Byadwal, a 25-year-old IAS Officer posted in Gujarat. No mean feat, she achieved it with hard work, dedication and reportedly a three-year-long breakup with her mobile phone.
Neha Byadwal was born in Rajasthan and raised in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Her first failure in life came when she flunked class 5. But she wasn’t bogged down by the result. She was motivated to learn and overcome the challenges.
In one of the interviews, Neha said that she moved to Bhopal with her father and the school she was enrolled in was an English-speaking school, where they would “fine you for speaking in Hindi.”
But she learned the language.
Neha, the daughter of a civil servant, a senior Income Tax Officer, decided to follow in her father’s footsteps and take the civil services exam – UPSC. But, here too, she was met with repeated failures. After three setbacks, she reportedly decided to ditch her mobile phone and bury herself in studies.
She studied for 17-18 hours a day and didn’t use her phone for three years.
The decision paid off when, at 24 years, she achieved her dream and became an IAS officer, scoring 960 marks overall.
Neha, however, believes that candidates don’t make sacrifices. It is the parents who do so. In one of the interviews shared online, Neha said, “Not going on a trip or not buying something isn’t a sacrifice. When you return home after a long day at work and put in effort for your child, that is a sacrifice. Within 30 minutes of returning home from work, my father would take my classes – from Math to history.”
The entire family came together to help Neha achieve her dream. From brother to aunt, everyone would interview her to help her prepare for the final interview.
Talking about her journey, Neha said, “Journey teaches us hard work, perseverance, zeal, never say die attitude, and how to hold time and use it judiciously.”
