Vishakha Yadav (IAS Topper)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Vishakha Yadav

• Vishakha Yadav is an Indian civil servant who secured the sixth rank in UPSC CSE 2019.

• Vishakha Yadav was raised in West Delhi, where she finished her formal education.

• After her graduation, Vishakha Yadav worked at Cisco Systems in Bangalore as a Software Developer from 2015  to 2017.

• Although a dedicated student, Vishakha took out time to indulge in sports. She used to be a part of her school and college basketball teams.

• Her father is an Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) who is posted in DCP office Dwarka in Delhi, while her mother Sarita Yadav is a homemaker.

• For her father, Mr Rajkumar, Vishakha’s selection as an IAS officer came as a surprise, he said,
  

  She was working so hard. So I had a feeling that she will get through. But I didn’t know that she will bag the sixth rank.”

• Visakha’s father ASI Rajkumar Yadav says that he would go to the library in the morning and return by late evening. In this way, after studying for hours, he achieved sixth place in the IAS examination in his third attempt.

• Here is a video of Vishakha’s mock interview organised at Shubhra Ranjan IAS academy in Delhi.

• After her selection, DCP South West Delhi, Anto Alphonse called her to his office and honoured her with a bouquet for her success.

• Several prominent personalities facilitated her, including Lt Governor of Delhi, Anil Baijal, who took to his twitter handle to congratulate Vishakha Yadav for her achievement.

• Vishakha quit her lucrative private job of a software engineer in 2017 and started preparing full time for the UPSC Civil Services Examinations.

• For almost three years, she stayed away from social media and concentrated on her preparation. She used to spend an average time of 10 hours a day with her books.

• According to Vishakha, for recreation, she would often indulge in sketching, painting, and solving Sudoku puzzles; furthermore, to get herself relaxed, she also watched TV series of different genre, interesting documentaries, interviews of inspiring people, TED talks and much more.

• In her initial two attempts, she failed to even pass the UPSC prelims. But, eventually, her hard work and dedication paid off when she secured an AIR 6th rank in the UPSC Civil Services Examinations 2019. She was second among the women candidates.

• During her UPSC preparation, she received immense support from her friends & family. She considers her mother as a major motivating factor for her feat, who stood with her as a pillar of strength throughout her journey. Talking about it,  Vishakha says,
  

  When I failed in my first attempt, it was a huge setback. Three years of preparing and taking exams knowing that you may not even get through need a huge amount of psychological and emotional support. My mother has been there to pull me out of every dark moment. She was the biggest support and force in motivating me. She would take care of my food, my clothes and everything. All I would do is study.”

• There were several occasions when Vishakha felt like quitting the preparation, but her mother would say,
  

  I am sitting with you, you study, nothing will happen.”

• According to Vishakha, shortly after she gave an interview for her third attempt, she started preparing for the fourth attempt, as she was not sure whether she will clear it this time. Talking about it, she said,
  

  My interview was on March 18 but as usual, I wasn’t sure if I will get through. So I started studying for my fourth attempt.”

• Vishakha said in an interview that nearly all her friends had got married; despite that, her parents never even talked about her marriage. Vishakha said,
  

  They never put pressure on me for getting married or getting a job or do anything else. They gave me complete freedom to build my life.”

• In her advice to the UPSC aspirants, she said,
  

  In my previous attempts, I could not maintain consistency. If you have set your daily targets, then you should not miss them and put them to another day. You should complete them. Follow the schedule religiously. If you try to break it, then it gets piled up and you will be falling back on schedule. This time, I ensured to set daily, weekly and monthly targets, I will finish them and revise. I kept track of my progress.”

• She considers former Indian president, the missile man Dr APJ Abdul Kalam as her role model.

• Here’s an interesting video about Vishakha Yadav’s biography: