Meet lawyer who studied in NLU, suffered hearing loss, cracked UPSC with AIR...

Every year, thousands of candidates appear for the Union Public Service Commission's (UPSC) Civil Services Exam, which is the most difficult recruitment exam in India. To pass the IAS exam, candidates put in years of arduous study and work. While most people take at least three attempts to crack the UPSC exam, IAS officer Saumya Sharma cracked the UPSC exam on the first attempt and secured an All India Rank (AIR) 9. 

Saumya lost ninety to ninety-five percent of her hearing at the age of sixteen. Despite this, she continues to inspire millions of people with her UPSC exam and achieved All India Rank 9 in the first attempt in 2017. Her mark sheet went viral on social media. She received excellent marks in all the tests. 

Saumya Sharma hails from Delhi. She was only 11 when she started to lose her hearing abilities by the age of 16 she had lost her hearing abilities completely. Even with a lot of treatments and medications, nothing helped her, and she was recommended to use a hearing aid to be able to hear properly. 

But she never let that become her shortcoming. Overcoming this physical barrier, IAS Sharma, got into the National Law School to pursue law and decided to appear for the UPSC exam in 2017.

Following her graduation, she made headlines for the Delhi High Court for her persuasive letter asking for the inclusion of hearing impairments in the handicapped quota. At that time, the handicapped quota did not include hearing impairments. 

Her persuasive arguments compelled Delhi High Court Chief Justice G Rohini, at the time, to extend the reservation without resorting to legal action.  

She became interested in UPSC after graduating and began to get ready for it. Saumya put forth a lot of effort and passed the exam on her first attempt without any coaching. 

IAS Saumya Sharma is currently serving as the CEO of Nagpur Zilla Parishad.