After Losing Arm In Bus Crash, Akhila BS Cracks UPSC In Third Attempt

Akhila BS secured 760th rank in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2022. The 28-year-old girl did not let her disability hold her back and made the country proud by cracking the prestigious exam.

On September 11, 2000, then 5-year-old Akhila met with an accident and lost her right arm in a bus crash.

Since then, Akhila has been doing her tasks using her left arm and learned to write with her left hand. She pursued an Integrated MA at IIT Madras and began to prepare for the UPSC exams.

After her third attempt, Akhila managed to clear the exam. In her first two attempts, she had cleared the prelim exams.

Suggested Reading: Delhi: Visually Impaired Teacher Cracks UPSC, Secures 48th Rank

Akhila B S Clears UPSC Exam

In an interview with ANI, Akhila B S spoke about the difficulties she faced and how she became inspired to crack the UPSC exam. She revealed that one of her teachers told her about the profession of a Collector and inspired her to prepare for UPSC.

Akhila began preparing for the UPSC examination after she graduated in 2019. She gave the exam in 2020, 2021, and 2022. While she cleared the prelims, she did not clear the exam in her first two attempts. The third time was the charge and after years of hard work, she made it onto the list.

Akhila B S revealed that one of the biggest challenges she had to face was the long duration of preparation and the hard work required. She spoke about finding it to sit straight for several hours. Akhila added that sitting for three to four hours continuously with back pain for the exam became a "herculean task" for her.

Akhila revealed, "My goal was to achieve 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."

She also thanked her parents and family for the huge support they provided her.

This year, out of the 933 candidates to clear the UPSC exam, 320 of them were women, making it the highest percentage of women candidates to clear the exam. This year, all four toppers of the exam were women, Ishita Kishore, Garima Lohia, Uma Harathi, and Smriti Mishra proudly hold the top four spots.

Similarly, Suraj Tiwari from Uttar Pradesh lost both his legs, his right arm, and two fingers on his left hand in a train accident in 2017. Despite this, he secured the 917th rank in the UPSC exam.

Feature Image Credit: ANI