dehradun

Updated: Apr 28, 2018 21:41 IST

Apoorva Pandey has topped Uttarakhand in the UPSC Civil Services examination 2017 by securing the 39th position in all India rankings.

Pandey, a resident of Amravati Colony of Haldwani, said after becoming a civil servant, she would like to work on gender equality.

“I believe in equality and gender equality will be one of my prime areas of concern. I would try to do my best to help people and promote gender equality so that women can come up and excel in life,” she said.

Her father KC Pandey is a lecturer in Kotabagh Polytechnic while her mother teaches in Government Girls Inter College in Nainital.

Pandey did her schooling from St Mary’s Convent in Haldwani and topped Uttarakhand in the ICSE class 10 examination. She later completed B.Tech in mechanical engineering from Pantnagar University.

She is the first person from her family who will become a civil servant. Her brother Manish is doing Bachelor of Mathematics from Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru.

She studied at home for a year after finishing B.Tech and prepared for the Civil Services. She took up political science and international relations as her subjects for the exam.

Pandey said she used to study for 5-6 hours a day initially. Later on, she studied for 12 hours a day.

“Youngsters would have to set goals in life so that they can achieve their dreams,” said the civil services topper from the state.

“You have to believe in yourself and give your best to studies. It is not the number of hours you put in that count, but the quality of the study, the attention and the concentration,” she said.

Pandey said her hobbies include reading and debating and these helped her in cracking the civil services.

She said she was asked a lot of questions on conservation during the interview.