Interview: Anjali Birla On UPSC Results Controversy

Anjali Birla, a UPSC topper and daughter of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, is all set to enter civil services. She was recently trolled on social media as many accused her of getting a 'backdoor entry' with the help of her father. The news agency AFP fact-checked the claims and it was found that they are in fact false. Anjali Birla did take all the three stages of IAS exams and passed with flying colours. As a civil servant, she wants to work for the empowerment of women and wants them to feel confident in their choices. Here's the SheThePeople interview with her.

What do you have to say to people who have made an allegation that you may have got backdoor entry? 

It is all so baseless, unfounded and there is no ounce of truth in it. UPSC has clarified on the same and even that was not needed since UPSC is such a respected institution. The whole process is very transparent and I found the allegation too baseless to even comment on them. You don't even come to know who is going to interview you till 15 minutes before your turn. That's how watertight the process is.

You want to focus on women's issues when you start your service, what do you have in mind? 

In the service or beyond the service, all of my work will be concentrated on making women experience the kind of freedom that one has in a non-patriarchal set-up. In India, there are a lot of limitations that are thrown upon women. Even in my individual capacity, I would work towards making women more confident about themselves and making them economically empowered. I think that is very important. If a woman is educationally and economically empowered then she can stand on her own feet, and realise that she doesn't really need a man to get everything going on. She can be independent, strong-headed and then enter into a relationship as an equal. 

Do you think that women have to work harder even today to have validation for their success? 

Absolutely, yes. I am yet to enter the professional field but even in the education field there is a general perception that girls can't take up mathematics, they cannot study engineering or they cannot crack difficult exams because they don't have emotional stability for it. I had maths as an optional subject with Arts. It is perceived that women don't have brains like men. There is another illogical reason given that women don't need to do all that because they are anyway going to get married off. I am yet to enter service so I don't know about the atmosphere there. But I have heard statements like "oh you're a girl but you're smart!". There should not be a 'but' in it and there should not be an exclamation to it. Women can make their own choices and they are smart enough to do that. 

How important do you feel it is for to tell positive and empowering stories of women and girls of India? 

It is very important, I have always felt that when we see a woman leader in a position of power, then we can imagine more such women to be there. We as girls can imagine that we can be one of them. While we see a man, we don't get that much passion, right? There was a study conducted in Europe where they asked people to draw a politician. Naturally, men and women alike drew a male figure. That is the perception in our head that the leader can only be man, just how house-help can only be a woman. That can only be changed when more women get to positions of power. So that we can imagine being in their shoes. We have had men's perspective since the longest time, when women get there they can bring another perspective to the table.