Success Story of Pragati Mishra

"Learn from the failures and keep on moving ahead in life"- Pragati Mishra

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Introduction

My name is Pragati Mishra. I am currently posted at Fatehpur as District Divyangjan Welfare Officer. I belong to Azamgarh but I have been brought up at Allahabad where I completed my schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya, AFS Bamrauli, Allahabad. I completed my graduation from St. Stephens College, Delhi University, and Post-Graduation from Department of Buddhist Studies, Delhi.

My Journey

In school I was good in studies but also participated in many extra-curricular activities like singing, dancing, painting, debates and many more. This overall participation helped me in building my line of thinking. So, I would say a comprehensive schooling is a must for whatever we decide to do in future.

During graduation I volunteered in NGOs and did internship in social sector relates organization. Through these things I realized I have inner drive to work in social sector. This was the reason why I decided to prepare for UPSC.

Challenges

I started thorough preparation after my graduation. The biggest challenge I faced was lack of proper guidance. There were many but none of them was good for helping me align my preparation to clear the exam. I was doing hard work but not smart work.

Second challenge, I was drowning in the zone of under confidence especially with respect to prelims because of consecutive failures. In 2018 I gave BPSC, which I cleared and that gave me the boost.

Beliefs

Study hard and smart. It would be better if you enjoy what you do. Even if you feel under confident or scared then also study. Be very clear with respect to your goal. If you really want to achieve that then do whatever it takes. Most importantly be honest with yourself.

My strategies to achieve the goal-

1) Stick to the syllabus

2) Fix study material. Don't swim in the ocean of books.

3) Use online sources also to make notes

4) Previous year questions

5) Make a separate notebook for data to use in answers

6) REVISE

Rule & regulation that should be followed:

1)      Timeline to complete topics

2)      Revise multiple times

Success

Failures were there but I tried to remain positive. I tried to find reasons why I was not able to clear the exam and tried to rectify them. Throughout the time there were ups and downs but I tried to remain positive. Most importantly I enjoyed my preparation.

I would not consider qualifying some exam or achieving some service should be counted as success. When we spend some crucial years of youth in preparation, we study and experience a lot of things. This is a rare opportunity which a lot of people do not get because people rarely read things with aspirants' level of focus. We study ethics, GS, some subject like Sociology for me, live in PGs, food issue, money crunch, try to handle family and peer group pressure, sometimes we get new friends and sometimes we lose old friends and numerous more things we face. When we decide to come out of our preparation cycle and utilize our study and experiences to become a better person that is what I consider success.

Service

I am District Divyangjan Sashaktikaran Adhikaari in Government of Uttar Pradesh. I have to ensure proper implementation of schemes relates to divyang people and PwD Act in the whole district. I face a few difficulties in the beginning about how things work but I would not count them as challenge. Till date I cannot categorise anything as a challenge. I have received immense inter-departmental cooperation which has made things smooth. Every day I get the opportunity to help someone in need. This is the most satisfactory part of my job. Every day I get to learn something new this is the most adventurous part.

My Message to All Aspirants

I would say be very clear why you want to prepare for these exams. Sometimes it takes time to clear them and your clarity would be the guiding light. Failures are part of life. They do not decide who you are. Learn from them and keep on moving ahead in life.