Kashmir To Andaman- Meet the 7 Women Wonders Of UPSC 2012

Shalia Shah

Andaman and Nicobar Islands

By securing the143^rd position in Civil Service Exams, Dr. Shalia Shah became the first women in history from Andaman and Nicobar Islands to make it to IAS. It has been 26 years since this small island contributed a candidate to the Indian Administrative Service. Bikram Dev Dutt was the first candidate from the islands to clear the civil services examination way back in 1986.

Shalia took her MBBS degree from JIPMER Pondichery In an interview to the daily telegrams she said, “Everybody goes to mainland for IAS coaching but I have proved that students from these islands can also do it by attending coaching classes in Port Blair itself. There is no dearth of potential in
these islands." Shalia thanks her husband Purohit Mohan Lal, who had started an Institute called SMILE to offer IAS coaching classes to students from the island who suffer financial hassles of attending classes far away from their home in island. She had also attended the institute.