Meet Anju Bhatt, daughter of Army officer, scored 312th rank in UPSC CSE 2024 without coaching; Know her success secret

By clear the highly-competitive Civil Services Examination (CSE) — conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) — candidates not only bring pride to their family but their city and the entire state. As the results for the UPSC CSE 2024 were declared some days ago, a few hundred candidates across the country did exactly that. Among them was Anju Bhatt from Dehradun in Uttarakhand. Despite multiple failures and lack of coaching classes, Anju cracked the UPSC exam with an impressive all-India rank of 312.

Anju’s father a Subedar
Anju and her family are originally from Silwal village in Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand. Her father, Kishori Lal Bhatt, is a Subedar in Assam Rifles in Nagaland, while her mother Indu Bhatt is a homemaker. Anju reportedly spent her childhood in Barotiwala village in Vikasnagar, where she studied till Class 12th. After that, she completed a BTech degree in Computer Science from a private university in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. But she had her eyes set on something bigger.

Several failed attempts
Anju decided that she wanted to serve the country through civil service during the Covid-19 pandemic, and began preparing for the CSE exam. She gave her first attempt in 2021 but couldn’t clear it. She failed the exam again in her 2022 attempt. In 2023, she cleared the prelims and mains (the first two rounds of the CSE exam), but could not pass the interview. Anju, however, remained determined and appeared for the exam again in 2024. She cleared all the three stages of the exam, securing an all-India rank of 312.

‘Family never let my courage break’
In an interaction with News18, Anju said she drew inspiration from her father’s discipline and her mother’s unwavering dedication. “I was heartbroken many times, but my family never let my courage break,” she told the news channel.