Tina Dabi of Delhi topped the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) 2015 in her first attempt, with 52.49%. A pass out of Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi, Tina scored the first rank in the examination and she chose to serve the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in the Haryana cadre.

After the results were announced, she had said: “I am very happy, I cannot express this feeling in words. I would say the key to my success has been patience, focus and discipline, with support from my family.”

By getting the top spot, she became the first-ever Dalit woman to achieve the feat. After her training, she was posted to Sri Ganganagar as the chief executive officer of the zila parishad.

Reportedly, she began preparing for UPSC at the age of 18, during her first year of graduation. It is also said that she received perfect scores in both history and political science in her class 12 exams.

Born in Bhopal, she did her schooling at Carmel Convent School. Her mother is a former Indian Engineering Service (IES) officer and her father Jaswant works at BSNL.

As she began her IAS journey, she said that her mission is to empower women in Haryana, and wants to be a role model for younger girls. She had opted for the Haryana cadre as her 1st preference but she got the Rajasthan cadre which was her second preference.

Reportedly, she has a dream to become a Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India. And won the prestigious President’s Gold Medal in 2018 during her two-year training program at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie.

A prolific debater, she was the Vice Speaker of the Youth Parliament in 2012.

After her UPSC exploits, Tina Dabi made the headline when she announced that she was marrying runner-up Athar Khan, who also became an IAS officer. Reportedly, their relationship started at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy for Administration in Mussoorie.

The couple tied the knot in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam in an intimate ceremony. Media reports suggest that a reception was held in Athar’s hometown in Anantnag’s Mattan.

However, two years after their marriage, they filed for divorce at a family court in Jaipur, and on August 11, 2021, they got divorced.

The civil services examination is conducted by the UPSC annually in three stages — preliminary, mains and interview. The examinations are held to select candidates for the elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.