Dr. Pratibha Singh, IAS,
Former Director,
Integrated Child Development Services,
Government of Rajasthan, Jaipur

By Dr Pratibha Singh, IAS

Former Director,
Integrated Child Development Services,
Government of Rajasthan, Jaipur

A Brief Introduction

From school time itself, I have been taking lead in sports and cultural activities. In my college, various activities and triumphs included representing the class, participating and winning in group dance, and participating and winning in stage plays. I was the college badminton captain, and played and secured first position in badminton. I also played table tennis and secured first position. Then, I participated and won in selfwritten poetry competitions, and participated & won in debating also.

During my posting as Deputy Inspector General, Stamps and Registration Department, Government of Rajasthan, I was selected for inservice training through Government of India and I attended one-month training at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.

This training was very useful, and proved to be a milestone and a lifelong experience for me to improve my working skills at work place.

How I See Myself

I am quite caring and a helping person, not only in the family but also in society and in the government setup too. I have a special soft corner and sympathetic attitude for needy, poor and down-trodden people of the society, and I try my best to make sure to help them.

I am also quite an adventurous kind of person, and I love to travel and explore new destinations, new places, nature, river sights, historical places, wild life sanctuaries, etc.

My Inspiration

My father, an ex-IPS officer, is my inspiration in life. I have learnt a lot of great things from him. He is very intelligent, diligent, confident, courageous, and a bold personality.

During my college time, I used to dream of becoming a police officer like him, and wanted to help poor and needy persons of the society like him.

I would also like to emphasize that until and unless you don’t get the support and cooperation of your family, you cannot succeed in anything. During my long journey, I invariably received full support of my family and in return I also tried my best to look after them and be with them in times of need.

My Success Story

I was the eldest among my siblings & always wanted to become an administrative officer. When girls in my circle in college used to think & talk about their marriage & other related things, I used to maintain distance from them and their conversations. I used to move away from those girls who lacked ambition in life, and would prefer to sit away and plan my future as an administrative officer.

I would continuously plan about taking the administrative services exams, and how to apply for various such exams, paying their fees, etc. I used to wonder if my parents would support me or not, especially my mother, because during my college she had already started thinking and planning to find an ideal groom for me. I used to continuously contemplate how I would tell my father about my ambitions, and in what way would he react. This was so because in my family or in my relatives, there was not even a single instance of a girl choosing the administrative service and becoming an officer. And, my dreams were to join a high level of administrative service.

This was year 1985, long back when I reminisce it now – 35 years ago – and I was only 19 years old. It was a kind of revolutionary thought for a girl to dream about joining the administrative service at that time.

However, I was confident of getting through and due to my burning desire and zeal, I passed the exam and became the first lady officer in administrative service from not only my family but also my relatives and even in my home district.

The ride was bumpy, but I persisted, and I realized my dream of becoming an administrative service officer. The rest, as they say, is history…

My Share of Challenges

Although being in service for a long period of 31 years in itself is quite challenging, we face a variety of difficulties and challenges at every new posting. Nevertheless, I feel such challenges are an integral part of my job and I invariably meet them head on with a high degree of passion.

One particular incident that I remember distinctly is when I was posted as Additional Collector & Magistrate during 1997–1999 and communal riots took place in the old wall city area of Jaipur, Rajasthan. As soon as I received this information from my higher authorities, I reached on site, with the local police station staff members. People from two different communities were throwing stones at each other, and were burning houses and other public properties. Upon seeing us, the crowd started throwing petrol bombs at us. Some of my male colleague officers asked me to leave immediately and go to a safe place. I politely refused because I felt bombs would not differentiate between the genders of the officers. I stayed there as the Additional Collector & Magistrate of the area fulfilling my duty to maintain law & order. My confidence instilled confidence in others, and we braved the situation together.

Eventually, curfew was imposed to handle the situation. During the curfew, I led the army flag march. Under my supervision, groceries and basic necessities were distributed in the curfew area and that was a satisfactory thing to do.

Reforms in My Field of Work

There are a lot of schemes for the needy and poor. There should be a system that ensures that these schemes reach those who are in dire need of them.

Another thing required is awareness. People should be aware of schemes and legal remedies that exist for them and how they can avail the same.

Girl education and child marriages are still in the grey spectrum of development in our society. It would be great if problems in these areas are taken up more efficiently by the government and solved as soon as possible.

I seek women empowerment not only in my field but in all fields of the society. The footnote of women empowerment for me is economic empowerment for women.

Generally, lady officers face discrimination due to their gender, but fortunately I always worked with very good, cooperative, helping and guiding officers and colleagues, and I never faced any discrimination and best performed my duties in all kinds of postings and field duties. Actually, being one of the limited lady officers in my time, I usually led huge teams of male colleagues, and I liked all kinds of challenges and successfully overcame them.

My Message

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao.