Meet woman, who rejected job at JP Morgan, then cracked UPSC exam to become IAS officer, her AIR was..

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam is widely regarded as one of the toughest in India, and for good reason. Each year, lakhs of IAS aspirants across the country take the exam, but only a few hundred succeed in realizing their dream of becoming IAS officers. One such inspiring story is that of IAS officer Gamini Singla.

Gamini Singla, 23, is an alumnus of Punjab Engineering College (PEC), Chandigarh, and she secured All India Rank (AIR) 3 in the UPSC 2021 exam.

Hailing from Anandpur Sahib, Punjab, Gamini completed her B.Tech in Computer Science Engineering (CSE) in 2019. Her parents, Dr. Alok Singla and Dr. Neerja Singla, are both medical officers, and her brother is an IIT graduate. Gamini credits her family, especially her father, for providing immense emotional and academic support in her pursuit of becoming an IAS officer.

"My family, especially my father, helped me a lot, both emotionally and in my studies," she shared in an interview with HT.

Interestingly, Gamini received a lucrative job offer from JP Morgan as a Finance Analyst but chose to decline it in order to prepare for the UPSC exam and fulfill her goal of becoming an IAS officer.

After completing her B.Tech, Gamini began preparing for the UPSC exam but didn’t clear the Prelims on her first attempt. However, this setback didn’t deter her, and she successfully cleared the exam on her second try.