She had the perfect opportunity to live a lavish life in Zurich, Switzerland with a high-paying job. However, she decided to become an IAS officer instead and serve the country. Daughter of a Major General in the Indian Army, she defined what true patriotism is.
Meet IAS officer Ambika Raina, one of the most loved civil servants, who turned down the job opportunity in a company in Zurich to stay in India and give it back to society.
Born in Jammu and Kashmir, Ambika had to often travel to different places during his school days due to her father’s job in the Indian Army. After her Class 12, she went on to pursue a degree in Architecture from CEPT University in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
After her degree, she decided to prepare for UPSC despite high-paying job offers in her hand. However, it wasn’t an easy journey for Ambika when she decided to give UPSC a try. She had to fail twice to finally realise where she was going wrong. It was in her third attempt, that all her hard work and determination finally paid off. She secured an impressive AIR-164 to become an IAS officer.
Her strategy was to focus on the syllabus, previous years’ question papers, and the answer copies of previous toppers. Her preferred books were M. Laxmikant’s book for Political Science, Spectrum Books Pvt Ltd’s book for Modern History, NCERT books for Geography, Shankar IAS Academy’s book for Environmental Studies and others.
She is among the few aspirants from Jammu and Kashmir to crack the prestigious exam. Today, she is looked upon as an inspiration by other women candidates from J&K to become a civil servant and serve the country.