A Long Road To Success In UPSC; Silk Farmer's Daughter From Karnataka Secures AIR 308 In Her Sixth Attempt!

Clearing the UPSC exams is no easy feat. It requires utmost dedication and not giving up to get your names up on a rank list that everyone in India looks up to. While a lucky handful may achieve success in their first attempt, for the others, it involves hard work, dedication, and overcoming several obstacles in personal life.

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Aruna M is a testament to those whose hard work perseveres and eventually takes them higher. The 32-year-old fought against a difficult financial situation while growing up, dealt with the suicide of her debt-ridden father, and still went on to secure an All India Rank of 308 in the UPSC CSE 2021.

Overcoming A Difficult Background

“During my school days, I did not realize the state of affairs around me. Lack of electricity, studying under the diya light, staying in a house that is prone to leaks when it rains- none of these bothered me until I went to pursue my higher studies in Tumkur. I realized I must pursue a job that gives me the financial stability to upscale my lifestyle,” she said.

Growing up, Aruna’s life was not privileged. She lived in a run-down house with her grandmother and her academic career was filled with hurdles. Her father, a silk farmer, was adamant that his children pursue medical education and borrowed heavily to finance the same. However, in 2009, when the prices of silk fell due to low demand in the market, Aruna’s father committed suicide under the pressure of debts.

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The unfortunate turn of events opened her eyes to the evident agrarian crisis prevalent in India and motivated her to contribute to changing the tides. She realized that she had to do something to address the agrarian crisis plaguing the farmers of the country.

“My father’s death was an eyeopener for me. He wanted his children to pursue medical education and he borrowed loans for the same. Unfortunately, in 2009 he did not get a good yield for silk because of the low demand in the market. He had to take the extreme step when his income became nil and the debts piled on him. This is where things changed for me. I became more conscious about the agrarian crisis destroying the livelihoods of many farmers and I wanted to contribute to help bring in changes,”  she said.

Laying The Groundwork For Success

In order to bring some financial stability and upscale her lifestyle, Aruna started working as a software engineer in Bangalore. She began preparing for the UPSC exams in 2016 but her preparatory journey too was met with snide remarks from her community. People started questioning her mother “regarding her daughter’s marriage” and other societal pressures. Yet, the more she faced obstacles, the more her determination increased and she felt encouraged to pursue her goals further.

Yet, after five attempts when the Covid 19 pandemic came, there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel. As a result, after her final attempt, she opened up an IAS coaching academy with her friends in Bengaluru where she trained interested students sharing a similar socio-economic background as Aruna. The motive behind was to satisfy herself by providing all necessary training to the students even if she couldn't make it ultimately.

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Cracking UPSC And The Life After

But fate smiled upon her and she was overjoyed with her results, especially after she was infected with COVID during the exam and was greatly weakened by it.

“I was discharged from the hospital against the doctor’s warnings. Writing the examination while being affected by Covid is a big challenge. I felt dizzy at times and I even fell unconscious. It took a beating on my writing,” she said.

Now that she is finally in the field, she is ready to bring some serious changes to the rural and agricultural sectors. When asked about her plans, she said that it is easy to lose hope after facing multiple rounds of failure. However, the difficulties she faced gave her the motivation to start the preparation all over again.

“But coming from a place where there was no bus facility and a lack of infrastructure, the development issues kept me fueled up to work towards my goal. I want to be that individual who can bridge the gap between the farmers and the government schemes. I want to take the responsibility of ensuring a good yield for the farmers through effective policy changes and add glory to agriculture,” she said emphatically.

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