UPSC topper Shena Aggarwal a lesson for low female sex ratio Haryana

Mangaloretoday/ CNN-IBN

Chandigarh, May 5: In states that have been in the news for discriminating against the girl child, two women have done Punjab and Haryana proud by topping the civil services examination and bagging the first and second positions.

The first position in the civil services exam has gone to Shena Aggarwal of Yamunanagar in Haryana, while the second position has gone to Rukmani Riar of Hoshiarpur in Punjab.

The final results of the CSE 2011 declared by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) on Friday, May 04, 2012 show that 6 out of the top 25 candidates are female. Shena Aggarwal holds an MBBS degree from the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi and has secured the top rank in her third attempt at the civil services examination.

 

For Shena’s parents who live in the Professors Colony in Yamunanagar, a town in Haryana, the good news made it difficult for them to stop smiling. Through the day their phones continued to ring even as visitors and the media made it impossible for them to get any time alone to allow the news to sink in.

Shena’s feat has made Yamunanagar a symbol of girl power. A district known for its low sex ratio of 877 girls per 1000 population, the second lowest in Haryana has now given the All India Topper – a girl.

A family friend, an IAS officer gave the good news to Shena’s father Dr CK Aggarwal, a dentist. He was working in his clinic when he got the news and he says he did not know how to react as he just could not get the news to sink in. Shena had earlier topped the MBBS course at AIIMS and is also a CBSE topper in class 12.

In her last attempt at the CSE, Shena had been selected to the Indian Revenue Service and had joined it after securing an All India Rank of 305.

"I have no words to express my happiness, I am very happy, I am very happy. You can estimate how happy a parent whose daughter has topped the civil services examination would feel,” said Shena’s father, Dr Aggarwal. He said he hasn’t been able to talk much to his daughter since her phone is quite busy with congratulatory calls. He said he too had been receiving congratulatory calls.

“She will be coming to Yamunanagar after two weeks since she is undergoing training. It is a very good thing that girls are topping these examinations. Those parents who do wrong things against girl child this is a lesson for them. Girls should come forward and show such good results,” added Aggarwal.

Shena’s mother Pinky was overwhelmed with the news and said she is just delighted. “I am very happy to have heard this news. Lots of people are calling up and asking for her number. She is very happy. We are so happy that we can’t express it,” said Pinky.