Success Story: Who Is Akhila BS, Who Lost Her Arm At Age Of Five But Defied Disability To Crack UPSC CSE?

New Delhi: "The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it," said French playwright Molière, a quote that Akhila BS, who lost her right arm in a bus accident at the age of five, proved right by clearing the prestigious UPSC civil services examination (CSE). The 28-year-old did not let disability become a hurdle in her success and secured 760th rank in the UPSC CSE 2022. 

Akhila, a resident of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, and the second daughter of K Buhari, a former Headmaster at the Cotton Hill Government Girls High School and Sajina Beevi, met with an accident on September 11, 2000. She lost her right arm and was asked to consult doctors from Germany. However, even after the examination by a medical team from Germany in India, her arms were not fixed as she had lost the tip of her shoulder.

After that, she started doing her day-to-day tasks using her left arm and started to write using her left arm. She then went on to clear her board exams with the highest marks. 

Akhila BS pursued Integrated MA at IIT Madras

Akhila BS pursued an Integrated MA at IIT Madras and then started preparing for civil services.

After clearing the prelims in her first two attempts, she finally cracked UPSC CSE in her third chance.

"I am happy and grateful. I felt reassured about my preparation. I started my preparation right after my graduation in 2019, I gave the examination in 2020, 2021 and 2022. All three times I cleared the prelims but two times I did not make it into the list," she told the news agency ANI.

"The dream of IAS was given by my teacher who told me about the profession of the collector. I was fascinated and liked the idea of service, and thus started my preparations right after graduation," she added.

She took coaching from one of the institutes in Bengaluru for a year and then returned to Kerala and took help from a Thiruvananthapuram-based institute.

One has to experience several ups and downs

Speaking on the challenges faced while preparing for the civil services examination, Akhila BS said that one has to experience several ups and downs along with tremendous hard work to prepare for the tough exam.

"The challenge is that it was a very long duration and it requires a lot of hard work. Also, I found it very difficult to sit straight for a long time. To sit for three to four hours continuously in the examination became a herculean task for me," she said.

"The problem for me was to write for three or four hours. I used to be tired and my body used to ache. For the main exams, I had to write continuously for three days. It was a challenge for me," she added.

Akhila said that her goal was to become an IAS. 

"I decided that I will prepare for the upcoming exam and till I get chosen for the service of my choice, I decided that I will keep on trying. I decided that I will put in maximum effort," she said.

UPSC Result 2022: Ishita Kishore secures first rank

Ishita Kishore, a Delhi University graduate, and daughter of an Air Force officer, achieved the first rank in the UPSC civil services examination (CSE) 2022. Kishore, 26, passed the prestigious examination in her third attempt.

Garima Lohia, who is also a graduate of the University of Delhi, secured bagged the second rank. Lohia hails from Buxar in Bihar and cleared the exam in her second attempt. 

The first four rank holders are all women. While Uma Harathi N secured the third rank, Smriti Mishra got the fourth rank.

Harathi N is a resident of Hyderabad and qualified the exam in her fifth attempt. Mishra is a graduate of the University of Delhi and lives in Noida. She cleared the examination in her third attempt with Zoology as her optional subject.

This is the second year in a row that women candidates got the top three ranks in the prestigious exam. Shruti Sharma, Ankita Agarwal, and Gamini Singla had secured the first, second, and third positions in the civil services examination 2021.

UPSC Result: Over 900 candidates clear civil services exam

As many as 933 candidates -- 613 men and 320 women -- have qualified for the civil services examination 2022.

The top 25 candidates comprise 14 women and 11 men, the UPSC said.

The civil services examination is conducted annually in three stages -- preliminary, main, and interview -- by the UPSC to select officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) among others.