On Cloud Nine: Sonali, Lipi from Bhopal crack civil services exam

Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): Two women from Bhopal and one from Bhind, besides two men from Balaghat, are among candidates from the state who have cleared the UPSC civil services examination, the results of which were announced on Monday. 

They all come from diverse educational backgrounds. While Lipi Nagaich is a student of political science, Rahul Deskhmukh is an IITian and Sonali is a graduate in agriculture science. 

Lipi Nagaich, 23, a final year MA political science student at Nutan College in the city, has cleared the UPSC Civil Services Exam with AIR 140. Her father is a joint director at Jawahar Bal Bhavan, Bhopal, and mother is a homemaker.

This was Lipi’s second attempt. She had appeared in the examination for the first time in 2020. Lipi said that her first preference was IAS. But given her rank, she is likely to be allotted to the IPS. “It’s okay. I just wanted to be selected and that has happened,” she said. Lipi said that she studied for 8-10 hours every day with emphasis on conceptual clarity.

Sonali Singh Parmar, 22, a resident of Shivaji Nagar, Bhopal, has obtained 187th rank. Both her parents are assistant directors, agriculture, in MP government. An alumnus of St Joseph’s Convent School, Idgah Hills, she is an agriculture graduate.

Mini Shukla, has got the 96th rank in the CSE and has opted for the IPS. A resident of Bhind, Mini’s sister, Priyanka is also an IPS officer and is posted as CSP at Jabalpur. Mini said that her sister inspired her to join the IPS. Her grandfather was also an IPS officer. Even as a child, she dreamt of joining the police service. This was Mini’s third attempt and wants to work for safety of women. She also worked briefly as a journalist.

Rahul Deskhmukh, 29, from Balaghat has obtained 349th rank in his fifth attempt. An engineering graduate from IIT, Dhanbad, Deshmukh was working for Indian Oil Corporation as a marketing officer. He quit job to prepare for the exams. Deshmukh said that he studied for 10-12 hours every day. “During my posting in tribal areas, I felt that I should do something for them. And that motivated me to take up CSE,” he said. His father works for the horticulture department of the state government and his mother is a government teacher.