Losing her father to debts, this farmer’s daughter cleared UPSC CSE 2021 in her sixth attempt

A native of Tadakaluru village in Tumkur, Aruna’s life has not been easy as she faced numerous hindrances in her academic journey. While growing up, she stayed with her grandmother in a dilapidated house with no electricity just because of its convenient access to school.

“During my school days I did not realize the state of affairs around me. Lack of electricity, studying under the diya light, staying in a house that is prone to leaks when it rains- none of these bothered me until I went to pursue my higher studies in Tumkur. I realized I must pursue a job that gives me the financial stability to upscale my lifestyle,” the 32-year-old says.

But life had different plans for her. The turning point in her life came when she lost her father Mahalingappa, a silk farmer who committed suicide due to debts in 2009. “My father’s death was an eyeopener for me. He wanted his children to pursue medical education and he borrowed loans for the same. Unfortunately, in 2009 he did not get a good yield for silk because of the low demand in the market. He had to take the extreme step when his income became nil and the debts piled on him. This is where things changed for me. I became more conscious about the agrarian crisis destroying the livelihoods of many farmers and I wanted to contribute to help bring in changes,” says Aruna who worked for two years as a software engineer and then started preparing for civil service examinations in 2016.

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However, the UPSC journey wasn’t easy either. Aruna appeared five times for civil service examinations but could not clear it. She also mentions that her mother had to hear a lot from the villagers who ‘pierced her heart’ with questions about her daughter’s marriage. “All these social pressures only motivated me to work towards my goal.”

Two months ago she and her friends also started an IAS academy in Bengaluru which is named after Aruna. The academy trains public service aspirants from rural areas who are Kannada medium students and children of farmers. “I set up this academy after my final attempt in UPSC. I thought if I could not clear this time, at least I could satisfy myself by training other kids like me who want to pursue civil service.

But I am glad, both worked for me. The academy is actually a result of my lost hopes due to Covid-19 because of which it took a beating on my performance,” says Aruna, who was hospitalized during the UPSC exams and had to write her examination in isolation. “I was discharged from the hospital against the doctor’s warnings. Writing the examination while being affected by Covid is a big challenge. I felt dizzy at times and I even fell unconscious. It took a beating on my writing,” she adds.

Asked about what she aims to achieve as a civil servant, Aruna says, “It is very easy to lose hope after facing failures in repeated attempts but very difficult to start from scratch and prepare all over again. But coming from a place where there was no bus facility and a lack of infrastructure, the development issues kept me fueled up to work towards my goal. I want to be that individual who can bridge the gap between the farmers and the government schemes. I want to take the responsibility of ensuring a good yield for the farmers through effective policy changes and add glory to agriculture.”