Who became the first woman IPS officer to reach the South Pole?

Aparna Kumar, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre (2002 batch), became the first woman IPS officer to reach the South Pole, in January 2019. At the time, she was serving as a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). She skied about 111 km to the South Pole while pulling a sledge weighing about 35 kg, in temperatures far below freezing and in strong winds.

Her other mountaineering achievements:

• She climbed Mount Everest in May 2016.
• She has completed the "Seven Summits" challenge, climbing the highest peak on each of the seven continents:
• Mount Everest (Asia).
• Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa).
• Mount Elbrus (Europe).
• Mount Aconcagua (South America).
• Denali (Mount McKinley) (North America).
• Mount Vinson (Antarctica).
• Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya) or Mount Kosciuszko (Australia/Oceania).
• After reaching the South Pole, she also went on an expedition to the North Pole.
• She received the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award.

About the Indian Police Service:

• It is one of the three All India Services, along with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Forest Service (IFS), under Article 312 of the Constitution.
• IPS officers are trained at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad.

Kiran Bedi was the first woman IPS officer, joining in 1972. She later became the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.

Other polar "firsts":

• Roald Amundsen (Norway) was the first person to reach the South Pole, on 14 December 1911.
• Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu became the first Indian woman to ski to the South Pole, in 2010.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Kiran Bedi was India's first woman IPS officer (1972).
• ✗Santosh Yadav was the first woman to climb Everest twice.
• ✗Bachendri Pal was the first Indian woman to climb Everest (1984).