Pratisksha Singh’s story is one of hard struggle and high achievement. Just a few days after her birth,her father went away from home and have not returned till date. After her father’s disappearance, a property dispute with his family forced Pratiksha’s mother to return to her maternal home. It is here, in Lucknow, that Pratiksha grew up in her maternal grandfather’s house.
Her mother Guddi Singh is the warden of Navodaya Vidyalaya, and from her,Pratiksha learned to face struggles head on. Today, with AIR 662 in UPSC in her cap, Pratiksha has finally brought her mother’s struggles to an end. Even before the results were out, Pratiksha had also got selected to the post of District Youth Welfare Officer in the state UPPCS exam. The commendable thing is that she cleared both the exams without any coaching.
UPSC GOAL
Pratiksha studied in a Navodaya Vidyalaya in Lucknow and did her B.Tech from Amity University in Electronics and Communication. After her graduation in 2017, she started preparing for UPSC.
She chose Political Science and International Relations as optional but soon realised that she needs more in-depth knowledge in the subject. So, she enrolled for a MA course in Political Science from Lucknow University as it would help with her optional paper preparation.
OPTIONAL CHOICE
What made her choose this subject as her optional? Pratiksha says, “When I read the international relations portion in the GS3 paper, I found it very interesting. Immediately I made up my mind to opt for this subject. Although the subject matter is very dynamic and the syllabus changes every year, still, studying well covers everything. I had covered most of the international relations portion by just reading newspapers and the basics were thoroughly studied during MA.”
EXAM PREPARATION
Pratiksha studied for 8 to 10 hours in the beginning, but in the second year of preparation, she cut it down to 5 to 6 hours a day as she was also doing MA.In her first two attempts, she could not even clear the prelims.So,she started focusing more on it. She studied NCERT and other standard books, watched lectures on YouTube, went through test series, and used the social media sites, Telegram and WhatsApp, to be in touch with aspirants and seniors who offered suggestions and notes.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
She was asked many questions about her optional subject in the interview. Why she chose it? After she replied that she liked international relations, most of the questions were on this topic.
One of the questions was: Five things that can become a threat to international peace and security in the future. Pratiksha’s reply: “Terrorism, Maritime Security, Climate Change, West Asia Problems, Threats to International Organizations.”
Another question was: Why should India get a permanent member seat in the UN Security Council? To which, Pratiksha’s replied: “India is one of the largest and oldest democracy in the world. We are one of the oldest civilizations. Our contribution to the UN Peace Operations is our greatest contribution, and, also, our acceptance in all other UN organs. When the UN was formed, the situation was different. But, today, we are the fastest growing economy, and we are moving ahead in every field. Therefore, the population of 1.25 billion must get representation.”
ADVICE FOR ASPIRANTS
To all UPSC aspirants, Pratiksha has this piece of advice: “If you are determined to prepare for UPSC, then do not hold yourself back. Here, the success rate is low, but if you keep working, and keep working very hard, it will definitely happen!”
