Tenkasi SC girl clears UPSC despite all odds

MADURAI: Joy knew no bounds for 25-year-old S Inba, who cracked the UPSC exam and secured 851th rank. It was quiet an achievement as the girl hails from the SC community at Viswanathapuram village, Sengottai in Tenkasi district.

Braving all odds, she excelled in the competitive exam in her third attempt. The girl, who studied in government school, said on Saturday that her task would begin to prioritise providing community certificates, which tend to be a barrier to children of the tribal community to get a meaningful education.

The jubilant girl, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, expressed her gratitude for the support received from her family led by her mother S Stella (51), who earns a meager wage from beedi rolling in her house and her elder brother Balamurali, who’s employed abroad. Thanking the state government, Inba said she’s one of the beneficiaries of Naan Mudhalvan scheme that offered her a scholarship of Rs 25,000 in July 2023 after clearing preliminary exam and also receiving stipend of Rs 7,500 under the scheme for 10 months.

She fared well with a score of 919 in the tough test. “I spent almost 14 hours a day preparing for the exam,” she said. However, the girl said that she was not content with the result, which is not enough for her to become an IAS officer. She said that she would prepare to take the UPSC exam again and excel.

To keep her family economically stable, she already managed to get a central government job and has been posted as social security assistant since March this year in the EPFO, Coimbatore, she added.