A great moment for me and my family, says Ira Singhal

Ms. Singhal had in the year 2010 also cleared civil services examination but was not able to get a posting because of her disability.

July 04, 2015 03:04 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 05:24 pm IST - New Delhi

IAS topper Ira Singhal in Hyderabad. Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

IAS topper Ira Singhal in Hyderabad. Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

Story of Civil Services exam topper Ira Singhal, who hails from Delhi, is truly an inspiring one. The 31-year-old woman who topped the exam in her fourth attempt has become the first physically challenged woman to top the civil services exam in the general category.

Ms. Singhal had in the year 2010 also cleared civil services examination but was not able to get a posting because of her disability. She suffers from Scoliosis, a spine-related disorder, which disrupts her arm movement.

After being unable to get a posting the first time, she fought and won her case in the Central Administrative Service and was finally given a posting in December 2014.

“This is a great moment for me and my family. I think after this people will respect women more and specially disabled women,” Ms. Singhal said.

After not being able to get posting in the year 2010, she gave the test twice afterwards because she wanted to improve her rank. This is her fourth attempt in which she has topped the examination.

The Delhi girl is currently posted as Assistant Commissioner in the Customs & Excise department of the Indian Revenue Services, but will likely move to an IAS posting soon.

Ms. Singhal has earlier worked as a Spanish teacher for a year, as well as a manager in Cadbury India, and a marketing intern in beverage giant The Coca Cola Company.

She holds an MBA in Marketing from Delhi University's Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), and a BE in Computer Engineering from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT).

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.