This Assistant Commissioner of Police Started out as an Engineer and Fashion Designer!

“Usually, parents want their daughters to be doctor or engineer or architect. I feel that they should actively think of sending them to the police force as it can be a very fulfilling job,” says Manjita Vanzara, Assistant Commissioner Of Police, Ahmedabad.

Here is her story of why she decided to sit for civil service exams, and how her position is now helping her give back to the society.

Read the full post here:

“I was born and brought up in a family where everyone belonged to the Civil services background. There were many IAS and IPS Officers around me but that never fascinated me and I never thought of becoming one. After completing my schooling I did my graduation in Engineering from Nirma University and right after completing my graduation I enrolled myself into a course of Fashion Designing at NIFT and after the course I worked with one of the most reputed brand of the city. Soon I decided to do my post-graduation in education and completed it by achieving a gold medal. All these years I had experienced a lot of struggle. Although I was born with a silver spoon, my parents always wanted me to experience the struggles that every common man goes through. They never gave me a car. I would always use public transport. So being with the common man I started understanding their problems and decided to work for them. During my post-gradauation a thought occurred to me that I have always received good things from the society, what is the best way to give back to the society? And we all know that the best way to work for the society is by being a civil servant. So, during my post-gradauation I had started preparations for the civil service exam. Everyone knows this fact that the civil service exam can’t be cleared in the very first attempt, you have to work hard and put lots and lots of efforts and mainly you need to have patience. Finally in the year 2011, I cleared the exam and it was in the year 2013, when I became the first female Assistant Commissioner Of Police (ACP) of F-Division. I am slightly different from many others yet at the same time very similar to all of you. I am very good BharatNatyam and Kuchipudi performer. I work with a disciplined approach and work is my top priority. My country and my citizens come first for me. I am really polite and always ready to help the common man of our country but the goons, well they have a hard time with me. If you thought that kicking down doors and nabbing robbers was the only job of cops in India, then you are wrong. We are here to listen to your problems and help in the best way possible. Over the years I had a lot of good experience with people of our city. There are friends of mine who earn in 7 digits but for me bringing a smile on a deprived women, or helping a child get education is worth more than 7 digits. It has never been about money, it has always been about helping the people. I would like to share one pet project named ‘SurakshaSahay’ which was started by our police department. Under that project we decided to change the living standards and profession of women in Chharangar with the help of an NGO. Chharanagar is basically an area in the city where it had a legacy of bootleging. 90% of the women population in that area are widow and all of them were involved in bootlegging business. We decided to change their mindset and encourage them to do reputed work. We paid them the stipend and collaborated with some reputed brands of the city and totally vanished the bootlegging business in that area. And it has been a huge success, we have changed lives of more than a hundred women and have provided good education to their kids too. Today they feel proud of their creations and have improved self-esteem and that’s our success. This was my journey in a nutshell. From an engineer to Fashion Designer to a Lecturer to becoming an Assistant Commissioner Of Police, I have come a long way.

Any Mesaage?

Usually, parents want their daughters to be doctor or engineer or architect. I feel that they should actively think of sending them to the police force as it can be a very fulfilling job. This is a field where women avoid joining so I encourage more women to join police. I also want more and more young people to join Police Force.”

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