Meet this IAS officer who got 57th rank in UPSC while working with RBI!

If you are an IAS aspirant, then you can’t ignore IAS Officer Yashni Nagarajan’s inspirational story of having dreamed big and achieved it. For those following in her footsteps as they aspire to do the same, you will be amazed to know that she was a full-time employee while studying for the UPSC exams. It was hard work with better time management that helped her fulfill her dream of becoming an IAS officer by securing All India Rank 57 in the year 2019. Not only did she achieve her goal, but she also motivated many other people to reach for the stars!

She did not let anything limit her from achieving her dream of becoming an IAS officer. This is certainly impressive! According to Nagarajan, it is not necessary to leave your job in order to prepare for UPSC. You just need to do hard work with better time management.

Yashni Nagarajan IAS rank 57 - Making history

IAS Yashni Nagarajan is a native of a village in Tamil Nadu. But due to her father’s posting, she was born and brought up in Arunachal Pradesh. Her father, Thangavel Nagarajan is a retired state PWD engineer and her mother is a retired superintendent of the Itanagar branch at Gauhati High Court Registry. The younger brother is an alumnus of IIM Indore. Most of his father’s service has been in Arunachal Pradesh. Yashni Nagarajan herself was a Grade B officer in RBI.

“Making a study schedule was something that worked in my favor,” says Yashni, who scored the 57th Rank in UPSC while working at RBI. “I made it a point to put in 4 hours after work daily and often tried to read newspapers on lunch breaks in the office.” This helped keep her mind sharp and focused in the IAS exam. Weekends were mostly spent reading newspapers and financial magazines like Fortune.

From former manager in RBI to an IAS officer

Being financially secure was a real advantage for Yashni in terms of making the decision to sit for the UPSC exam. “The way I saw it,” she says, “IAS would be an added bonus to my career, which is already paying off.”

Yashni Nagarajan, who secured 57th rank in the year 2019, got AGMUT i.e. Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territory Cadre. She has now joined as Assistant Deputy Commissioner (Trainee) in the East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. As a full-time employee at RBI, she believes that one should make time for studying even on the weekends. If you are preparing for the UPSC exam, then your studies should take priority over anything else. You must study every single day if you hope to pass this exam, and then join the government sector. This will not be simple. It is important that you find the time to study every day after work hours because this subject matter is much more difficult than what many people realize.

An inspiration to many...

Yashni's dedication is admirable and the way she goes about achieving mastery in her life goals should be an inspiration to all of us.

Nagarajan says that she chose Geography as an optional subject under the influence of other people. To her surprise, her initial attempts at the exam did not go very well. It was after this that she noticed something: she did not want to study Geography at a deeper level and changed her subject. What Nagarajan also realized, later on, is how important optional subjects are for the UPSC which help candidates score better if they focus on mastering them.

According to Yashni, Essay and Ethics are those papers in which you can score the highest. Therefore, it’s very important to give importance to these subjects. She says that it's difficult to prepare for UPSC while having a full-time job but it will benefit you. You will not feel stressed even if you fail in UPSC when you already have a job.

Yashni says that our minds should be our greatest assets while participating in this test, because really, what other things are we tested on except our brains? And if for some reason, one can’t get into civil services, there are many other ways to serve the nation. The opportunities are literally endless. If you don't give up when there are repeated setbacks, then you stand to succeed sooner than you think!

There are different ways to serve the nation through multiple professions one can make a niche for oneself. Not bowing down and getting up after each fall is what it takes. As they say when the going gets tough, the tough get going!

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