From Haryana village school to IPS, farmer’s daughter cracks UPSC in first attempt

For Ritu Khokhar, a modest beginning in a Haryana village did not limit the scale of her ambitions. The daughter of a farmer, Khokhar studied at a government school in her village until Class 10 before going on to pursue higher education and eventually clear one of India’s toughest competitive examinations in her very first attempt.

Khokhar, now an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer serving as Superintendent of Police (SP) in Maharashtra’s Dharashiv district, secured All India Rank 141 in the UPSC Civil Services Examination 2017. She subsequently joined the IPS as part of the 2018-batch Maharashtra cadre.

A govt school student with bigger ambitions

Khokhar was born on October 23, 1994, in Bhader village of Haryana’s Panipat district to farmer Tarachand and Sunita Devi.

Her early education began at the government school in her village, where she studied until Class 10. She later completed Class 12 from a school in Panipat before moving on to higher education.

At Kurukshetra University, Khokhar pursued a master’s degree in Mathematics. Her academic performance earned her a gold medal after she completed her MSc in Mathematics in 2016.

From mathematics to civil services preparation

After completing her postgraduate studies, Khokhar moved to Delhi to prepare for the UPSC Civil Services Examination. Her hometown in Panipat is around 90 kilometres from the national capital.

She spent nearly nine months preparing at a coaching institute in Delhi, focusing her efforts on the civil services examination.

Khokhar later said that she had never even filled out an application form for any competitive examination other than the UPSC Civil Services Examination.

UPSC attempt that changed her career

Khokhar appeared for the UPSC Civil Services Examination for the first time in 2017. She secured AIR 141, clearing the examination in her maiden attempt.

Her result paved the way for her entry into the Indian Police Service, where she was allotted the Maharashtra cadre. She is a 2018-batch IPS officer.

Her journey — from a government-school classroom in a Haryana village to the IPS — reflects the path taken by a student who chose to aim directly for the civil services rather than treating other competitive examinations as alternatives.

Khokhar has also spoken about the importance of setting ambitious goals. Her decision to focus exclusively on the UPSC examination was rooted in the belief that achieving significant goals requires thinking beyond conventional limits.

For a girl who began her schooling in a village government school, the journey to the IPS was not an overnight success story. It was built through academic discipline, a clear goal and the determination to pursue it with complete focus.