News Analysis India

Tag: Shubham Kumar

  • Civil service exam results 2020: IAS toppers all for going back to roots

    By Express News Service

    PATNA/BHOPAL:  From starting education at a government school in village to graduating from IIT-Bombay, Shubham Kumar has seen enough of ups and downs. Perhaps, that fuelled the zeal of Kumar —  the son of a bank cashier from Bihar’s Katihar district — to top the 2020 UPSC civil services exam.

    Kumar said that it was the dream of his late grand father and father Devanand Singh to see him in IAS. Now that a new career beckons him, Kumar is clear about his choice.

    ALSO READ | Dream to join IAS and serve underprivileged realised: Civil services exam topper Shubham Kumar

    “Since I have a strong connect with village, I would like to mitigate the loss of life during flood through flood management and explore the ways as how to empower women also promoting food processing agro initiatives.” he told the media.

    Kumar, who hails from Katihar in Bihar, is currently undergoing training at the National Academy of Defence Financial Management (NADFM), Pune.

    In Bhopal, the media swarmed at the house of  Jagriti Awasthi, who emerged the woman topper and second overall ranker of UPSC Civil Services Exam, 2020.Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murthy inspires the young engineer. 

    ALSO READ |  Electrical engineer from Bhopal emerges UPSC Civil Services 2020 woman topper in her second attempt

    Jagriti  quit her job of an engineer in BHEL in 2019 after failing to clear the UPSC exam  to focus on chasing her dream of becoming a civil servant.  “I want to replicate the competence and simplicity of Sudha Murthy and usher rural development and empowerment like Bhakti Sharma, the young sarpanch of Bhopal’s Barkheda Abdullah village,” she said. “I was confident, but to do it with such flying colours is like a  fairytale coming true.” 

    Elder among the two children, Jagriti cracked the exam in her second attempt. “My aim in life is to script a unique saga of rural development and empowerment as a competent and honest civil servant, who is accountable to people and not to the politicians,” Jagriti said.

  • Dream to join IAS and serve underprivileged realised: Civil services exam topper Shubham Kumar

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Civil services exam topper Shubham Kumar on Friday said his dream to become an IAS officer and to serve the underprivileged has been realised.

    Speaking to PTI, he said development of villages, employment generation and poverty alleviation in rural areas of the country would be his focus areas.

    Kumar, aged 24 years, topped the civil services examination in his third attempt.

    He got selected in the Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS) after qualifying the civil services examination 2019.

    Kumar could not make it in his first attempt in the 2018 examination.

    A Bachelor of Technology (civil engineering) graduate from IIT Bombay, he has qualified the 2020 examination with anthropology as his optional subject.

    Kumar, who hails from Katihar in Bihar, is currently undergoing training at the National Academy of Defence Financial Management (NADFM), Pune.

    “My dream was to get into the IAS as it gives a wider platform to work for the betterment of the people. It has been realised and I would like to work for the underprivileged people, especially in rural areas,” he said.

    Kumar said areas like poverty alleviation and development of villages and its people would be his focus area while in the service.

    “There are lots of areas in which we all can work to uplift the underprivileged and bring positive changes,” he said.

    Kumar said he got a lot of support from his father and the academy, especially its director, in preparing for the examination.

    Younger of the two siblings, his elder sister work as a scientist in Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).

    “My father used to motivate me a lot and helped me in maintaining a positive attitude that helped me in clearing the exam,” said Kumar, adding that his father works as a bank manager in Bihar.

    Second rank holder Jagrati Awasthi, who hails from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, said she would also like to join the IAS and work for rural development, besides women and child development.

    “I have opted for IAS. I got motivated from people around me. I would like to work for development of rural areas besides women and child development,” she told PTI over phone from Bhopal.

    Awasthi, aged 24 years, believes skilling women, especially from rural areas, in handicrafts can make India a world leader in the sector.

    She completed her schooling from Maharishi Vidya Mandir and graduation in electrical engineering from Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal.

    Awasthi qualified the examination with sociology as her optional subject.

    Awasthi said she had left her job at Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Bhopal to prepare for the examination.

    “I worked with BHEL for two years after completing my graduation in 2017. I could not clear the examination in first attempt. This was my second exam,” said Awasthi, who is also the overall topper among women candidates.

    She said her brother, who is pursuing medical studies in Bhopal, was the biggest source of inspiration for her.

    Awasthi’s father is a professor and mother is homemaker.

    A total of 761 candidates — 545 men and 216 women — have cleared the civil services examination 2020, results of which were declared on Friday by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

    The civil services examination is conducted annually by the UPSC in three stages — preliminary, main and interview — to select officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.

    The UPSC said that the top 25 candidates comprise 13 men and 12 women.

    Ria Dabi, who is the sister of 2015 civil services exam topper Tina Dabi, has secured 15th rank in the examination.

    Tina Dabi, an IAS officer, is currently posted in her cadre state Rajasthan.