Meet woman, young mother, who cracked UPSC exam 3 times, gave mains 14 days after giving birth, became IAS in her last attempt, she is..., her AIR is...

UPSC Civil Services Examination is one of the toughest exams in the world. It has three levels, Prelims, Mains and Interview. Achieving a government job in prestigious positions, like IAS, IPS, IFS officer, is a dream for many young people. Numerous candidates appear for the exam annually, but not everyone is able to crack UPSC examinations. It requires days of hard work and many sleepless nights. Today we'll look into the story of Malavika G Nair who cracked UPSC CSE in 2020, 2022 and even in 2024. She was given the position of an IRS officer, but at heart she wanted to be an IAS officer. She started preparation for her exam and for her motherhood simultaneously. She gave MAINS 14 days after she gave birth to her baby boy.

Meet Malavika G Nair

Malavika is originally from Kerala, she is a native of Chengannur in Alappuzha district. She is a 2020 batch IRS and is currently the Deputy Commissioner in the Revenue Department. She cleared UPSC exam in 2020, but was allotted IRS position. However, Malavika dreamt of becoming an IAS officer.  She hails from a well educated family, her father, KG Ajith Kumar is a retired AGM from Kerala Financial Corporation, and her mother, Dr PL Geethalakshmi is a gynaecologist.She was motivated by her husband Nandagopan M, who himself was undergoing IPS officer training at Malappu

Motherhood and UPSC preparations

However, while her preparation for UPSC to become an IAS officer for her last attempt, the situation was most challenging. Malavika was pregnant, while preparing for her sixth attempt. But she did not lose hope and was very focused on balancing her preparation with personal work. She wrote her PRELIMS during her pregnancy and even wrote her mains exam just 14 days after giving birth to her baby, Adisesh on September 3, 2023. She gives all the credit to her husband who supported her throughout this challenging phase. 

Malavika cleared the UPSC exam, 2024 with AIR 45. In her earlier attempts, she scored AIR 118 in 2019 and AIR 172 in 2022. The 2023 UPSC attempt was her last attempt. Her husband also secured AIR 233 in 2022.

When she got the news of clearing UPSC, she told media, "It was a special moment as my baby was there with me. I was pregnant when I wrote the prelims. Writing the mains was strenuous as I gave birth to my child on Sept 3 and wrote the mains on Sept 20. I could write the exam only because my family supported me," she said. She also said that she took her baby to Delhi during her interview round. She credits her whole family to take care of her son.