Meet IAS officer Surabhi Gautam, who overcame all odds to secure AIR 50 in UPSC exams
IAS Success Stories: IAS officer Surabhi Gautam has cleared all the competitive exams in the country and had also secured AIR 50 in UPSC exam in 2016.
It will not be wrong to call IAS officer Surabhi Gautam a go-getter. Belonging to Amdara village in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, Surabhi Gautam completed her schooling from her village school. She featured in her state's merit list owing to her brilliant performance in class 10th and 12th exams. She has, in fact, cleared all the competitive exams that she has appeared for.
From fighting an inferiority complex because she was from Hindi medium background to cracking one of the country's toughest exams - the UPSC - and securing AIR 50, Surabhi Gautam has an inspiring story to tell.
Surabhi Gautam belongs to Amdara village in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh. Her father is a lawyer in the Maihar court of MP, while her mother Dr Sushila Gautam works as a teacher in high school. Surabhi has completed her education at a government school in her village, where basic amenities were also barely available. It was a Hindi medium school.
A diligent girl, Surabhi secured 93.4% marks in her class 10 board exams. She had scored a perfect 100 in Maths and Science. Surabhi found a spot on the state merit list in classes 10th and 12th because of her good marks.
Surabhi also battled Rheumatic Fever in class 12, which made her travel to Jabalpur every 15 days with his parents to see a doctor 150 kilometres away from the village. Despite all this, Surabhi never let the focus go away from her studies.
After completing her class 12, Surabhi also passed the State Engineering Entrance Examination with good marks. She enrolled in Electronics and Communication Engineering from an engineering college in Bhopal. However, she suffered from an inferiority complex because of poor English speaking skills. But she didn't let that take the better of her. Surabhi started talking to herself in English to improve her English and learnt the meanings of at least 10 words every day. Surabhi used to write meanings on the walls and repeat them several times a day. She listened to the phrases and words she heard from anywhere and learnt them and worked to improve her English.
The result was that Surabhi topped the first semester of her graduation and was also awarded the College Chancellor's Award. She was always focused and worked hard to achieve her dreams.
Surabhi got a job in TCS through college placement as soon as she completed engineering. But she quit her job midway because of the desire for civil services. She then appeared for several competitive exams. During this period, she was selected for competitive examinations like ISRO, BARC, GTE, MPPSC, SAIL, FCI, SSC and Delhi Police.
She was also selected for IES Services in 2013 and was ranked first at the All India level in this examination. In 2016, she also cracked the IAS exam and became an IAS officer. (All photos: Social media)