Diana Khumanthem- Manipur's highest rank Woman IAS candidate

Daniel Chabungbam *

Diana Khumanthem- Manipur's highest rank Woman IAS candidate

Every person desire is to be a successful person in their respective fields. But if a person is not dedicated to the field his/her success seems to be dark. A confident person when dedicated succeeds in his or her career. A struggle is not just a normal journey. To be successful in life, many hardships come in our way. The hardships, the luck faced by everyone has to be overcome in order to become a successful person like Diana Khumanthem.

The highest ever Woman ranked holder from Manipur in UPSC's Civil Services Examination is Diana Khumanthem. She secured 24th ranked in Civil Services Examination 2015. Diana was born to Khumanthem Chandramani Singh and Khumanthem ongbi Thounaojam ningol Ibeyaima Devi. She is the fourth child and second daughter of her family. Her father is presently serving as Inspector General of Police in Manipur Police. He is also the Director of Manipur Police Training College and Manipur Fire Services.

Diana's mother is serving as Statistical Investigator in the Department of Census Operations. Her eldest brother Dr. Khumanthem Sailendra Singh is an Assistant Professor in Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) Imphal. Her second elder brother works as a System Manager in MGEL. Her sister Dr. Khumanthem Savana Devi is serving as an Assistant Professor in Himachal Institute of Medical Sciences. Her younger sister is pursuing her MBBS final year at NEIGRIMS, Shillong.

Right from the very initial stage, securing top position has been a tradition for Diana. Her educational record tops in every examination she appeared. She was ranked in First position from Nursery to Class-X. As a student from Nirmalabas School Imphal, she tops in the High School Leaving Examination-2007 conducted by Board of Secondary Education, Manipur. She also secured letter marks in Mathematics, Social Sciences and Science.

She pursued her twelve standard from Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, New Delhi. She secured Five-A1 in all the subjects in the All India Senior Secondary Examination 2009 conducted by Central Board of Secondary Education. She got the Top of Successful Candidate in Mathematics for securing 100 marks out of 100 in the said exam. For her performance in the AISSCE, her school presented her the Proficiency Award.

After her stint performance at the twelve standards, Diana pursued her graduation course at Miranda House of Delhi University. She studied Physics Honours course and completed her graduation as a topper of Delhi University in Physics in 2012. By securing Physics topper she was awarded the Rai Bahadur Brij Mohan Lal Saheb Memorial Prize 2012. She was also awarded the Dr. JN Mitra Memorial Prize 2012 for securing highest mark in the BA-BSc honours exam 2012 of University of Delhi.

Miranda House selected her as the best science student and conferred the Dr. Anjali Kwatra Award for Excellence. Diana cleared National Eligibility Test (NET) in the same and in 2013 she got CSIR-JRF. She got the Inspire SH Scholar award from Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India during 2009 to 2014. Under the Exchange Programme of South Africa and India, Diana also awarded the POCSO Scholar from 2010 to 2012.

Diana Khumanthem- Manipur's highest rank Woman IAS candidate

Her success by getting 24th All India ranking in her second attempt in civil services examination, Diana's dream became true. From her childhood she aims to serve the people as a civil servant. This moment is the happiest moment in her life. She credits her parents for her success. She was confident that she will be among the 100 rank holders in the civil services exam conducted by UPSC. She was more excited when the result was out where she was in the 24th rank. As she was confident in herself she never thought of appearing the exam again. Her parents want her to be an IPS police officer. So, she also relaxed herself even if she clears the exam among the 200 rank holders.

Diana Khumanthem thought of becoming doctor, engineer and teacher during her childhood as she was not aware about other careers. By securing top position in class-X exam and with the inspiration of her father who works as a high ranking police, Diana have the knowledge about the working style and service capability. This evokes Diana of taking a career in civil services. Speaking to e-pao, Diana narrated that Civil service exam is very different with other conventional exams. She deeply studied from twelve standard till Masters. So she doesn't need to make extra efforts during the exams.

Syllabus for civil services is very vast. One needs to acquire knowledge of national importance like international issues, political issues, environment issues. After all, one needs to know everything under the solar system. So, one must not think that preparation has been completed. One needs to read newspaper without fail. Aspiring candidates must know that he/she is not required to be a topper. A disciplined way of preparation is also a means to succeed in civil service examinations.

Diana Khumanthem also cleared the Indian Forest Service. But as her aim was to be an IAS officer she further opted for it. With this, Diana is now the most successful women of Manipur by clearing the Civil Service exam in the 24th rank. She also said that an aspiring candidate should have strong educational base or should give extra efforts. Focusing on time management, evaluation, solving previous years question papers, revision, planning, subject wise plan is also useful. Apart from this newspapers must not be far away from candidates. Fresh candidates in order to get idea about the exam may opt for coaching classes as a guide.

Diana Khumanthem by becoming a responsible officer wants to give her service with integrity. She wants to be an ideal administrator. She also opined that tasks being executed in other places would be brought to the state so that Manipur is developed like them.

She narrated that the prevailing law and order situation, bandhs, blockade, curfew, strikes makes the common people live a hard life. This led to a worse economic status of the citizens. Mostly the daily bread earners are the worst affected. Frequent bandh and blockade directly affects the student's community hence many students dream were shattered. Many students left their own state to get rid of the bandhs and blockades. She was also a victim of bandh and blockade, Diana said.

The foremost thing to solve the problem of bandh and blockade is to settle on a table. Even if one has to impose a general strike or blockade, it has to be last option. The student's community must be free from all such strikes that hamper the academic atmosphere, Diana said.

See profile photo gallery of Diana Khumanthem here