A daily wage labourer’s daughter from a remote village of Kendrapara in Odisha has cracked the coveted Indian Economic Service (IES) exam, this year.
The 24-year-old Aparajita Priyadarshini Behera of Mahanangala village has come out successful in UPSC’s IES examination ranking 13 in the all India list.
Aparajita hails from an extremely humble background. Her father Amulya Kumar Behera, a 50-year-old man, is still toiling in a fertiliser plant in Paradip as a labourer. He is on a daily pay roll and his assignment is purely contractual with monthly remuneration pegged at less than Rs 10,000.
She did her schooling from a village primary and high school. Later, she graduated from plus two and degree courses from Marshaghai college near Kendrapara. With a good academic record in school and college, she pursued her post graduation in Economics from the Utkal University. Since then, she never looked back. Congenial and competitive academic environs in the university spurred her to march ahead.
She said that, “My father is my inspiration, guide and philosopher. He sweated it out to financially support me in my studies. He never made me feel the pangs of poverty. Whatever I achieved today is only because of my father. I dedicate my job to him.”
Aparajita further added that, “Parental support coupled with hard work paved way for my success. I did not believe in shortcuts. I read extensively subject wise. After coming out successful in written, I was tensed for the viva. However, the interview panel was supportive and inculcated confidence in me to reply to their queries.”
[SOURCE-“indiatoday.intoday”]
