Woman IRS officer tops UPSC exam

Nandini KR, a woman IRS officer from Karnataka has topped the civil services exam, 2016. For the third consecutive year, a woman has claimed the top spot in the UPSC exam with Ira Singhal having topped CSE 2014 and Tina Dabi CSE 2015. The second spot was bagged by  Anmol Sher Singh Bedi from Amritsar in Punjab and the third rank went to Gopalakrishna Ronanki. Nandini who topped the exams in her fourth attempt said that she was elated at securing the first position and that it had come as a pleasant surprise for her. Of the top 25 successful candidates, 18 are men and seven women. The exam was also cleared by 44 physically challenged candidates, including 22 orthopedically challenged, seven visually challenged and 15 hearing impaired. Nandini had cleared the exam on her second attempt and was selected for IRS. As she wanted to get a rank that would upgrade her to IAS, she decided to write the exam again, but was down with dengue during the preliums and therefore, she couldn't clear it. She passed with flying colours in her fourth attempt. Nandini, the daughter of a government school teacher said that she wanted to work at the "grassroots" and bring "smiles to people's faces". As she was undergoing training for IRS at the National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics in Faridabad, she could study for only two hours in the morning and four in the evening. Her success was a result of excellent time management.