By Express News Service

Sandhya Samarth is the sort of girl people read about and admires, and yet often fails to emulate in their own lives. Hailing from the Maoist fortress of Salimi, she exhibited admirable determination and willpower to dethrone all impediments from her path and secure the 91st rank in the Odisha Civil Services (OCS) examination. A commendable feat for any student, let alone someone who is making her maiden attempt. Realizing her own potential, however, Sandhya is not content with her performance.

She commenced preparations for the examination while pursuing her MPhil from Ravenshaw University in Cuttack. "As I was working on my MPhil research, I could not focus on the OCS examination completely," she said.

To make amends, Sandhya, whose father Ramdeb Samrath works in the field of agriculture, is now preparing for another challenge - that of the UPSC examinations. After completing Class X and XII from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya at Malkangiri, she moved to Bhubaneswar to pursue her graduation from BJB Autonomous College. Needless to say, her academic performances have been exemplary throughout her student life. As a testament, she completed her post-graduation in Geography from Ravenshaw University before applying for her MPhil at the same institute.

When she was asked the recipe for her resounding successes so far, a confident Sandhya replied that, "If one is determined and has a strong sense of willpower, nothing can stop him or her from reaching new heights. There is no dearth of talent in the remote blocks of Malkangiri. All they need is the right opportunity and appropriate guidance."

The OCS examinations have been particularly engaging this time around - 106 candidates have successfully cleared the Odisha Civil Services Examination in both categories this year. Ayushi Mahapatra, Sanjita Mahapatra and Punam Mahapatra have secured the first, second and third ranks respectively. With five women figuring in the list of the top 10 successful candidates in the state, things are finally looking up for the members of the fair gender.

(This article was originally published in Edexlive)