In the true tradition of UPSC achievers regularly emerging from the state of Bihar, this year, Dr. Anshu Priya from Munger kept this tradition alive by ensuring her name in the list of Top 20 in the CSE 2021 results. She was also among the five women candidates who availed the cash incentive scheme for the civil services examination from the Bihar government’s Mukhyamantri Civil Seva Protsahan Yojana.
Anshu emerged as topper in one other area as well. Among the top 50 candidates who got selected for CSE 2021, she emerged as the topper in the interview scores. This was her third attempt in UPSC and her ‘second serious attempt’, as she says.
Today, we will take you through this medical practitioner’s journey into UPSC to know why she chose a more direct job for serving the public and how she made it to the top ranks.
FAMILY BACKGROUND AND EDUCATION
Dr. Anshu Priya comes from the Munger district of Bihar where she completed her initial studies. She then pursued her higher secondary school in the Darbhanga district. Being a biology student, she cleared her pre-medical examination to get into AIIMS Patna. She said, “I graduated in the year 2019 in January and have worked at AIIMS Patna as a Resident Doctor.”
Anshu lives in a joint family where her father work as a school principal following in the footsteps of her grandfather who retired as a school principal. Her grandmother, too, was a school teacher. She has two uncles who are government public servants and two aunts and four cousins who also live together in the house.
After completing graduation in 2019, Anshu moved to New Delhi to explore more about the UPSC examination and clear her basics.
CHOOSING UPSC
While speaking to Indian Masterminds, Anshu said “My motivation for joining the service is many folds. During our MBBS period, we have certain rural postings in which we have to go to the ground level and address people’s issues. I remember that there was a case of breast cancer where the patient, who was in the last stage, wasn’t even aware of cancer despite it being so preventive and detectable these days. We sent her to the hospital, but it was too late.”
“This is when,” she continued, “I thought that there are so many things which can be done at the ground level, but it won’t be possible by only being a doctor. Secondly, the way UPSC has designed the examination, I think that it gives multiple perspectives as I was always excited about learning new subjects. This exam has helped me to develop my personality and, hence, I chose it as a career.”
After graduating in January 2019, Anshu, then working as a Junior Resident doctor, appeared for the UPSC exam for the first time in June 2019 and was unsuccessful in clearing the Prelims.
PREPARATION
After failing in the first attempt, she moved to Delhi to get an idea of how the ecosystem works. As she had her job in Patna, she went back again and completed her one-year period of residency. She then came back to Delhi in 2020 and started preparing for the UPSC exam along with doing various types of jobs.
“Sometimes I used to work as a telemedical consultant and, also, did my residency in Delhi. So, I worked in all these jobs simultaneously and, also, appeared for the UPSC exam in 2020.”
She again failed the exam, but from the next year onwards she left jobs completely to focus only on the UPSC exam.
As she could not clear the 2020 prelims exam, she got a lot of time to prepare for the 2021 exam. During this time, she practiced rigorously for the exam and, also, attempted various test series. Her optional subject was Medical Science.
INTERVIEW EXPERIENCE
In her third attempt, Anshu practiced few question papers as she was already prepared for the exam. She focused more on Paper 2, because of which she couldn’t clear the prelims the previous year. After appearing for the prelims, she dedicated half of the time to revising and the rest to appearing for mock tests. She reached the interview stage after clearing the mains exam.
She said, “As my optional subject was not that scoring, I wanted to give the best in the interview round. I started preparing right after the mains exam and prepared for it for the next two months.”
She scored the highest marks in the interview among the top 50 students to secure an All India Rank 16 in UPSC CSE 2021. Her first preference is the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and health is one sector she wants to focus on in her future assignments.
