Home Newsroom From Living In Slums To Battling A Rare Bone Disease; IAS Ummul Kher Secured AIR 420 In UPSC Against All Odds

From Living In Slums To Battling A Rare Bone Disease; IAS Ummul Kher Secured AIR 420 In UPSC Against All Odds

Shamik Banerjee

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From Living In Slums To Battling A Rare Bone Disease; IAS Ummul Kher Secured AIR 420 In UPSC Against All Odds

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A Difficult Childhood
From Jhuggi Jhopri to UPSC CSE

Ummul Kher moved to New Delhi at the age of 5 and lived in a slum at Nizamuddin where her father was a cloth vendor. As a child, she was diagnosed with Brittle Bone Disease which made her journey even tougher. However, Ummul was not someone to give up on her dreams so easily.

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She got her Master's degree in International Studies from JNU and subsequently secured a Junior Research Fellowship in 2013 to pursue Ph.D. with a stipend of INR 25,000 per month. Four years later, she cleared the UPSC Civil Services examination in her first attempt and secured an all-India rank of 420.

A Difficult Childhood

Coming from a conservative family in Marwar, Rajasthan, IAS Ummul Kher’s life has been fraught with challenges since moving to New Delhi as a child. When the slums at Nizamuddin were being demolished, Ummul and her family had to move to another slum in Trilokpuri. Meanwhile, her bone disorder became worse and she had to undergo eight surgeries after fracturing sixteen bones.

However, in spite of all the difficulties, Ummul did not give up on her studies. She attended Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya Institute of Physically Handicapped till class 5. After that, she moved to a government-run charitable organization called Amar Jyoti Charitable trust where she studied till class 8.

Her conservative family did not approve of her education and tried to stop her from attending school after class eight. But she rebelled against their diktat and moved to Jhuggi Jhopri on her own and started living alone.

It couldn’t have been more difficult, but Ummul Kher persisted with her ambition.

From Jhuggi Jhopri to UPSC CSE

To make ends meet, Ummul started giving tuitions to slum students at Trilokpuri and carried on with her academics. With the help of a trust that funded her education, she secure 91% in class 12 and took admission into Gargi College, under Delhi University. She completed her bachelor's degree successfully and joined Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for a Master’s in International Studies.

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Deeply interested in academics, Ummul wanted to pursue a career in research and she cleared the UGC NET examination in 2013 while also securing a Junior Research Fellowship. She first completed her M.Phil. from JNU and then enrolled in a Ph.D. and received a stipend of INR 25,000 per month under the NET-JRF scholarship scheme.

In 2017, she appeared for the UPSC Civil Services Examination while still pursuing her Ph.D. from JNU and cleared it in the first attempt with an all-India rank of 420. Today, she is a proud IAS officer with a story that can inspire millions of people!