A loving daughter, a promising doctor, a successful IAS officer. Take your pick. Dr Akanksha Bhaskar fits into all of the three categories.
For most people, being a doctor would be the end of their professional journeys. For Dr Bhaskar, it was the beginning. In fact as an IAS officer, Ms Bhaskar believes she has covered much bigger ground, achieved much more in life, than if she was merely practicing her medical skills in one corner of a big city.
Entering the world of Civil Servants
Dr Bhaskar realized early on that her medical degree would only enable her to help a few people, that too only those who come to her. But she wanted to do more, wanted to move in a bigger playing field. As she told Indian Masterminds, “I always wanted to get into civil services. I became a doctor because my father wanted me to. It’s not like I don’t love practicing medicine. I do, but then I realized that I wanted to increase my share of influence over people. I wanted to reach out to them where I could prevent the illness from occurring in the first place, as opposed to merely treating it.’’
Hailing from the eternal city of Banaras, Akanksha looked up to her father while she was in school. Like many other fathers would wish, he wanted her to grow up and become a doctor. She left her hometown and moved to Kolkata to pursue her M.B.B.S. from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Giving the exam
Dr. Akanksha decided to go for Civil Services examination as soon as her graduate internship in MBBS got over. There is no doubt the UPSC exam is quite tough and challenging, but Dr. Akanksha did not feel intimidated. “I was a medical student, so the syllabus never scared me, even though it was extremely vast. I was used to reading a lot while pursuing MBBS, and therefore,I faced no challenge in preparing for it”, says Dr. Akanksha Bhaskar, who ranked 76 in UPSC in the year 2015.
Posted in West Bengal, Dr Bhaskar reaches out to patients in Government hospitals whenever she gets a chance. She treats them free of cost. It’s her way of giving back to the society what she got from it in the first place.
What inspired her?
In the exclusive interview with Indian Masterminds, Dr Akanksha told us what inspired her of becoming a civil servant. “I always used to read about how civil servants were working really well for the people. At that time social media wasn’t this popular as it is now, but even print media consisted of stories of a number of civil servants who were working wonders for their districts or states.”
As a lay person, she would see for herself how a good and hard-working District Collector of a place would bring changes in the system, thereby making life more comfortable for the people. “I used to read about officers improving roads in their area or supplying better sanitation services and many such stories. These types of small interventions weren’t very Earth-shattering, but it definitely helped and brought about positive changes in the lives of many people. This is what I aspired to do,” she said.
Dr Bhaskar has many messages for the civil services aspirants. “If your intentions are right and you are properly focused, you will get through. It is vital to keep the same motivation level with which you are preparing for the exam, even after entering the service.”
Even for the youngsters who are not desiring to get into civil service, she wishes to tell them, “Especially now, when all sorts of information is available in public domains and social media, I just want everybody to be more vigilant citizens. Know about your country and help it to grow. It helps in having more observant citizens, because then they bring meaningful changes in societies.”
Dr Bhaskar has also done more than her bit in fighting Covid 19. We will be sharing details about it shortly.
