Meet IAS Radha Raturi, who cracked UPSC exam thrice, now becomes first woman chief secretary of Uttarakhand

UPSC Civil Services Exam (CSE) is one of the toughest exams in India. UPSC aspirants have to study religiously to crack it. For some, it takes 3 to 4 attempts to become an IAS, IPS or IFS. However, some serving civil servants cracked it in their very first attempt. One such person is IAS Radha Raturi, a 1988 batch officer. She has been appointed as the first woman chief secretary of Uttarakhand. The senior IAS officer replaced Sukhbir Singh Sandhu whose tenure ended on Wednesday. She had been serving as the additional chief secretary of Uttarakhand. 

Raturi is also the first woman to hold the top administrative post in Uttarakhand, which came into existence in November 2000. Her husband Anil Raturi, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer retired in November 2020 as the Uttarakhand DGP. Her father was also a civil servant. 

Having a background in journalism, IAS Raturi came into civil services to make a difference. She did her graduation from Mumbai in History honours in 1985. She also did her masters in Mass Communication. She did an MA in Public Personnel Management at Osmania University. 

During her long administrative career, Raturi has held several important positions including District Magistrate of Dehradun. She is one of the few people who could crack UPSC CSE in all of their attempts. She appeared for the UPSC exam in 1985 just after her graduation. She cracked the exam and was allotted Indian Information Service (1986 batch). But she again appeared for the exam and got IPS. In her third attempt, she got into the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). She initially allotted the Madhya Pradesh cadre. But later she was transferred to UP cadre after her request. Her first posting in Uttarakhand was in Tehri Garhwal. She had been Chief Electoral Officer of Uttarakhand for 10 years.