Meet Vandana Singh Chauhan, Who Cracked IAS With AIR 8, Despite Family’s Objections – News18

Girls have been raising the bar of success in every field for a long time. The domination of ladies is evident in the list of top scorers, whether the examination is a board exam, UPSC, or other competitive exams. Some families, however, do not take the education of girls seriously. Today, we’ll talk about one such family and the story of IAS Vandana Singh Chauhan.

Vandana Singh Chauhan is from a very humble family. She was born and raised in Nasrullagarh, a small village in the state of Haryana, where her family still resides. Vandana’s family is conservative and has a traditional attitude toward girls’ education. They did not favour her getting an education. To complete her education, Vandana’s father, Mahipal Singh Chauhan, took her to Kanya Gurukul near Moradabad, breaking several village norms. Following this, Vandana’s grandfather, uncle and other family members turned against her father. Vandana was inspired to strive harder to become an IAS officer one day by her father’s kind gesture.

After completing her intermediate, Vandana was enrolled for LLB at BR Ambedkar University, Agra. Since her family was not very supportive, she did not go to college but stayed at home during her graduation years. Vandana used to order her Law books online or send her brother to get them for her in those days.

Vandana started studying for the UPSC civil services exam after graduating. She started her preparation at home because she was unable to leave the city to enrol in a coaching program due to her family’s financial situation. She spent 12 to 14 hours every day studying for the UPSC. Except for her brother, no one in her family assisted her in studying. Vandana got success on her first attempt in 2012, she secured an All India Rank of 8 in the UPSC which she took in Hindi Medium. After this, she became a motivation to millions of village girls who could not study in English medium schools.

Currently, Vandana is posted as the District Manager (DM) of Uttarakhand’s Almora district. She received the guard of honour at the collectorate last year to celebrate her appointment as the DM. She is regarded as one of the most dynamic officials our nation has ever seen and is known for her prompt decision-making and no-delay policy.