Neha Byadwal, who is now 26, is a name of silent inspiration for India’s competitive civil services circles. She is among the youngest IAS officials in the country and was making headlines not only for cracking the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam but also because of the extreme discipline she maintained. including avoiding from social media for almost three years.
Who Is Neha Byadwal?
Neha Byadwal was born in Jaipur but brought up in different towns of Chhattisgarh, Neha’s childhood was a peripatetic one thanks to her father’s government posting, which saw the family moving about regularly. From Kidzee High School in Bhopal to DPS schools in Korba and Bilaspur, Neha’s educational life involved regular switches, one that she says made her flexible and strong.
It was her father, Shravan Kumar, a senior income tax officer, who set an example of dedicated public service for Neha to take the bureaucratic route. But the road was not smooth. In spite of sincere effort, she failed in her first three attempts at the UPSC CSE.
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What did she do differently during her fourth attempt? It was a complete shift in approach, according to Neha. She chose to go totally offline, excluding social media and even lowering mobile phone usage. Talking during an interview, she said that she understood that digital distractions were encroaching upon her focus, and if she wanted to give the exam every attempt, she needed to go all out even at the cost of isolating herself.
Neha cracked the exam in 2021 with an All India Rank of 569 at the age of 24.
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