Meet woman, daughter of vegetable vendor who mortgaged mother’s jewellery to pay fees, then cracked UPSC exam with AIR…

Some success stories are a testament to the fact that the entire family has to sacrifice immensely rather than just the individual in order to achieve their dreams. One such inspiring story is of Swati Mohan Rathod who secured 492 in the recent Union Public Service Commission 2023 results. 

She is the daughter of a vegetable vendor in Solapur, Maharashtra, and had a modest upbringing. Her family includes three other daughters and a son, and they all battled financial constraints but that didn't obstruct Swati's goals.

"My mother mortgaged her gold but did not let it become a problem for my studies," she said in a media interview.

After Swati finished her secondary education at a government school in Mumbai, but the city was extremely unaffordable for the family to survive, so they shifted 400 kilometres away to Solapur.

Thereafter, she pursued her master's in geography at Walchand College in Solapur. It was during this time that she got intrigued by the UPSC exam. It took her five attempts to finally clear the UPSC exam. "I gave more importance to solutions than problems and worked on them," she said.

Thus, due to her unflinching persistence and determination, she overcame failure and eventually tasted success.