Taskeen Khan’s journey from a social media star, model, and beauty queen to cracking India’s toughest exam, the UPSC, is truly remarkable and inspiring.
While many people quit their normal jobs to chase their dreams in a glamorous world, very few examples exist where individuals quit showbiz for national duty. Taskeen Khan, a former Miss Dehradun and Miss Uttarakhand is one such example. The former fashion decided to give up on that dream to focus on cracking the tough civil services exam, achieving an impressive all-India rank of 736.
Taskeen Khan is already a popular social media figure with a massive following. In the years 2016-2017, she won both the Ms. Dehradun and Miss Uttarakhand titles. Also, she is known for her mimicry of Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut. Taskeen’s journey is indeed nothing less than a Bollywood movie. Despite her initial aspirations of winning the Miss India title, she chose to follow her passion for civil services and cracked the exam in her fourth attempt.
After winning the title of Miss Dehradun and Miss Uttarakhand, Taskeen Khan’s next dream was to become Miss India. But after the retirement of her father, she thought of pursuing another profession. She wanted to be an IAS officer and started preparing for UPSC. She got the idea of attempting UPSC from an Instagram follower who was an IAS aspirant. After this, she went to Haj House in Mumbai to prepare for UPSC.
In 2020, Taskeen secured admission to the free UPSC coaching offered at Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University. Despite her family’s tight finances, relying on her father’s small pension, she worked hard and stayed dedicated to passing the difficult exam. Her journey wasn’t easy as she failed to crack the exam three times before finally achieving success. Now, Taskeen Khan stands as a true inspiration to many young people who dream of becoming civil servants.