Anukriti Sharma honored with Home Minister's Efficiency Medal 2026
Anukriti Sharma, an IPS officer from Uttar Pradesh, just bagged the Home Minister's Efficiency Medal 2026 for her standout work.
She made headlines by cracking a massive inter-state insurance fraud worth more than ₹100 crore tied to Sambhal district and now leads women's safety efforts as Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Women Safety) in Gautam Buddha Nagar.
Anukriti Sharma leaves science for IPS
Originally from Ajmer, Rajasthan, Anukriti started out in science, earning a degree from IISER Kolkata and even working on a project related to volcanoes with NASA during her Ph.D. at Rice University.
But her heart was set on serving India. After a few tries, she cleared UPSC in 2020 (AIR 138) and switched gears from labs to law enforcement, showing it's never too late to chase what matters most.