About Ira Singhal

IAS Ira Singhal, All India Rank-1 in UPSC Civil Services Examination 2014, Ira Singhal life and journey in UPSC  is unique in many unique ways from others. Every IAS topper has a unique story of an inspiring story for millions in the country. Ira Singhal topped the IAS exam with 62% locomotor disability of age 30.This shows how factors like age and disability are no barriers when it comes to dream about becoming IAS. The topper of the 2014, Ira Singhal, showed the world she is no less. Neither in physical terms nor in mental terms and She has become an inspiration for many aspirants who dream to become an IAS with lots of challenges.

Education of Ira Singhal

Ira Singhal has completed her primary education at Sophia Girls School, Meerut and Loreto Convent School, located in Delhi where she was among the school toppers.

Ira Singhal then went on to pursue her Graduation in Engineering from Netaji Subhash University of technology and MBA from FMS Financial Management System Delhi. As she is capable of doing MBA from IIMs but her parents did not want her to study somewhere else other than Delhi, because they have a fear of her disability so she decided to pursue her Masters from FMS Delhi.

After her Post Graduation MBA, Ira Singhal has worked as a “Marketing Intern” at “Coca Colas and Strategy Manager at Cadbury”. While working there, during her stint at Cadbury’s, she felt the desire to appear for a public services exam and become an IAS Officer, namely UPSC. During the UPSC exams Preparation, Ira Singhal also taught Spanish at a language institute. 

Ira Singhal- Challenging UPSC

“Irony is that on medical and physical grounds, I am not eligible to be an IRS, a clerk or even a sweeper, but the rules do allow me to become an IAS (officer)” - Ira Singhal

Ira Singhal had a disability mark of 62 %, so due to that UPSC denied her the seat as her condition did not fit into any of the disability categories enlisted by the UPSC according to them .After first appearing for her UPSC exam in 2010, she found her file rejected in 2011 but she not lost a hope in IAS and Ira Singhal had decided to challenge the verdict and filed a lawsuit. She firmly believed that this decision may violate the Persons with Disability Act and Article 14 and 16 of the constitution. Ira Singhal moved to the “Central Administrative Tribunal” CAT after which she was inducted as Assistant commissioner in the customs and central excise service.

 Ira Singhal – UPSC Score

Ira Singhal secured less marks in her UPSC Prelims but exceptionally very good marks in Mains in CSE 2014, because she was more focused on her UPSC Mains Preparation 2014.

Ira Singhal- Attempts in UPSC

Ira Singhal, who has not just qualified UPSC but also topped the toughest exam in the country not  for once but four times in a row.

• During 2012 she didn’t appear as she was waiting for her court case result, as she was fighting for herself.

IAS Ira Singhal Prelims Marks (2014)

Ira Singhal- Prelims Strategy

She said she has never prepared for prelims as she was only prepared for Mains but she suggested studying the prelims course. As it’s not required to top prelims exam, as it doesn’t count in your final Score. So if you do the mains course properly, you can generally pass prelims. Marks matter only in Mains and not in prelims. 

But These days Prelims has become a very crucial portion so you must obviously do that but you cannot ignore the static portion. In fact it is best to finish your Mains prep once completely before the Prelims exam.

For the CSAT exam, since she comes from an MBA background, She didn’t need to prepare at all. But the books that helped her during MBA entrances she mentioned are “Quantitative Aptitude” by “R.S. Agarwal”. She believes that the aspirants should also try to solve CAT exam papers and past year CSAT papers as they helped her during preparation of UPSC.

IAS Ira Singhal Mains Marks (2014)

Ira Singhal- Optional Subject in UPSC 

Ira Singhal’s Optional Paper was Geography and She secured 1082 marks out of 2025. Ira secured 162 marks in her personality test. Ira secured 305/500 total marks in her optional subject.

Ira Singhal – Optional Booklist

Ira Singhal has a more focus on her Optional Paper ,and she shared her Booklist individual for her optional paper which is given below,

Ira Singhal- Essay Writing Strategy

• Choose the Topic wisely– As she chooses topics which can have something substantial to write. During her Essay time she wrote on “Standardized Testing and Tourism”. Both of them have multiple dimensions to talk about and a right measurement.
• Skills on Language – During the essay she  wrote a nice grammatically correct one but did not use too complicated words. just to keep it easy to read for the examiner. She  focused on not writing colloquial language and did try to keep my spellings in check.
• Subheadings – She said “I learnt from reading the blog of Gaurav Aggarwal Sir, last year’s AIR -1 in 2013” 
• Presentation in Essay– She underlined in a couple of places in the essay as well as she understood the importance of presentation in Essay also she made one or two diagrams where she finds it is necessary to put.

Ira Singhal- Interview Strategy

Her strategy in Interviews she mentioned that Interviews are generally about the three topics 

1. As per your educational background/your job if that is what you are doing it will include everything written on your DAF and other stuff like hobbies, interests etc.
2. As per your personality and how you will handle situations and For situations they will give you 3-5 situations and ask you how you will handle them and you need to elaborate it.
3. Based on Current Affairs you should prepare just like you prepared for UPSC Mains and make sure you read 2-4 newspapers in the week before the interview for better understanding.

Ira Singhal- Coaching For UPSC

Ira Singhal said Coaching is not necessary for her to become an IAS Officer. She believed in herself and the resources Books and Internet sources she mentioned below. According to Ira Singhal Coaching’s is just about helping you make a routine, Coaching is only required for those who are starting their aim to become an IAS Officer. Sometimes it does not matter if you took coaching or not. Coaching can be helpful to some and not to others. It is very individual and about how much of a background you have and how much help you need. 

Ira Singhal – Current Posting 

Ira Singhal is Currently Posted as Special Secretary (Education) in Government of Arunachal Pradesh since Feb 2023. Before that she was posted as Deputy Commissioner in office of Divisional Commissioner. Arunachal Pardesh.

Ira Singhal – Success Tips For UPSC Aspirants

Ira Singhal IAS Topper shares some valuable tips for UPSC aspirants for writing answers;

• According to Ira Singhal, try to use bullet points for solutions whenever it’s  feasible.
• Always remember to Highlight crucial points during writing the solutions.
• To make the presentation a little better and attractive, make Incorporate diagrams if suitable.
• Only attempt questions if you are confident about it, don’t try to fool the examiner.
• Without worrying about word count, focus on writing the solutions.
• Whenever you find use headings and subheadings where it’s necessary to make the presentation better.
• Ensure the answers grammatical errors properly.
• Make your base strong so that you can Read the NCERT books for the UPSC exam.
• Stay updated with current affairs ,topics whatever is currently trending so that you can read regular newspapers.

Ira Singhal- Achievements and Accomplishments

Ira Singhal has received numerous awards during her journey.

The list of some of her prominent accomplishments given below;

• Ira has Received, Brand Ambassador or Department of Disability, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
• Ira has Received ,Brand ambassadors for Ministry of Women and Child Development & NITI Aayog.
• She got a National Panel for Accessible Elections, Election Commission of India.
• She also became Part of the Designing committee of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Examination Policy with regard to children with disabilities.
• She was awarded as “India Today’s Woman of the Year, 2015”
• She was Awarded with “President’s Gold Medal for Topping the IAS Training.”
• She was awarded the “First Ladies of India Award by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.”
• Ira has Recorded in the Limca Book of Records.

Personal Life of Ira Singhal

Ira Singhal was born in “Meerut on 31st August 1983” Ira Singhal’s Father is Rajendra Singhal who is an Engineer and Ira Singhal’s Mother is Anita Singhal, an Insurance Advisor.

IAS Ira Singhal’s father was a businessman and after sustaining a huge loss in business, he moved to Delhi. Ira Singhal was born in Meerut as a normal child. But as days passed by her rare disease of Scoliosis emerged.
“They never treated me like I was physically handicapped. From childhood they taught me to take things like a normal person does. My struggle in this world was not because I am physically challenged but as a woman…like any other woman subjected to discrimination or some backward thinking,” she said during an interview .

Ira Singhal- Disability

Ira Singhal was born as a normal child but later on she was diagnosed with scoliosis, a locomotor disability during her early childhood due to which she had suffered a lot throughout her journey. Scoliosis is a progressive disease that grows till one reaches adulthood. Due to her disability Ira was unable to twist her arms or legs because of problems with the spinal cord and short height .This also caused a restriction in her movement of limbs. Ira has got IRS (Indian Revenue Services) but put it on hold even after clearing the exam as her joining letter never came and she was so disappointed at that time by the event and she also lodged a formal complaint against “UPSC in Indian Penal court.”

Due to her disability Ira was selected thrice but she never got selected ,she was frustrated that time she fought against it with a brave step.

Ira Singhal – Age

Ira Singhal was born on the “31st of August in 1983” and is currently 37 years. She has become an inspiration for many aspirants in a very short age.

Ira Singhal – Marriage

Ira Singhal is currently unmarried.

Ira Singhal- Blogspot

Ira Singhal’s Post is a blog which is very helpful for aspirants who have currently started their preparations. Ira Singhal has a blog on the famous platform called “Blogspot”. There Ira  posts answers to some frequently asked questions related to her preparation, journey.  https://irasinghal.blogspot.com/

Ira Singhal- Physical Handicapped Reservation in UPSC Exam

There is reservation for PH Category Candidates but you will be surprised to know that Ira Singhal has never used her PH status for reservation. Ira Singhal is topper as a “General Category candidate’, not under any sort of reservation which she could have easily gotten.

Conclusion

ias Ira Singhal Journey was so difficult but it takes hard work, single-minded determination, passion and strong will power to never give up. Ira Singhal journey has been nothing short of an inspiration. This article is all about the fiery “Ira Singhal” who is now one of the “Top Government Officers” in the country. Let us know in the comments if Ira’s journey motivated you to achieve your goals as UPSC Exam.

“This is my country and it is my responsibility to change it for the better.” Ira Singhal

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