Shruti Sharma To Gamini Singla: UPSC Top Ranks 2021 Secured By Women

Union Public Service Commission, UPSC released Toppers 2021 list on May 28, 2022. With the UPSC Result 2021 declared, this year, women candidates are the top rank holders. Shruti Sharma has topped the Civil Service Exam, securing All India Rank, AIR 1. Shruti is followed by Ankita Agarwal with AIR 2 for the UPSC Civil Services Exam. Following Shruti and Ankita, Gamini Singla has secured AIR 3. It is after seven years that women have held the top three ranks in the UPSC exam. 

UPSC is considered among the toughest exams in the world because out of lakhs of candidates, only 0.1% to 0.4% succeed in clearing the exam.

In 2014, the University Of Delhi’s Ira Singhal held AIR 1 in UPSC CSE 2014. Ira studied Computer Engineering at Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology and received a Dual MBA in Marketing & Finance from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi. She scored 305 marks in Geography. Back in 2015, Tina Dabi secured All India Rank 1. Tina graduated from Lady Shri Ram College in 2014 in Political Science. Her optional subject too was Political Science and International Relations. She scored 299 marks in her optional subject. She was followed by Nandini KR, a Civil Engineer. She selected Kannada Literature as the optional subject and scored 331 marks out of 500 for her optional subject. She was an AIR 1 rank holder in UPSC CSE 2016.

Women Top UPSC 2021:

Here are the rank holders of 2021 - women securing the topmost slots. 

Shruti Sharma 

Delhi-based Shruti Sharma, an alumna of Delhi University's St. Stephen's College, said that she was not expecting such a result and it was a delightful surprise. Completing her post-graduation from Jawaharlal Nehru University, JNU, she has been preparing for the civils for the last four years while being a student of the Jamia Milia University’s Residential Coaching Academy, reports say. The Residential Coaching Academy, RCA, gets its funds from the University Grants Commission, UGC, for providing free coaching and residential facilities to students belonging to the SC and ST categories. 

Suggested Reading: Who is Shruti Sharma? Delhi Youth Tops Civil Service Exams With AIR 1

Ankita Agarwal

Ankita Agarwal has secured the second position in UPSC. Hailing from Kolkata, Ankita was motivated and passionate about her work and was hell-bent on clearing the exam. With no grey areas in her career plan, she was sure to appear for the exam and crack it at the same time. According to reports, her parents supported her throughout her journey but it was her hard work and dedication which brought her fruitful results. Ankita also revealed that she broke the stereotype of UPSC aspirants and took breaks in between to meet her friends. 

Gamini Singla

Gamini Singla, 23, an alumnus of Punjab Engineering College, PEC, Chandigarh, secured the third rank in the civil services examination, in 2021. Reports say that it was her childhood dream to become an IAS officer. Hailing from Anandpur Sahib, Punjab, she graduated from PEC in 2019 after completing her B.Tech in Computer Science Engineering (CSE). 

Check out the results here.